W350 Crew Cab - The ultimate first gen - Pics and history

[RSchwarzli]

And Robert We would be Proud to Roll with ou Any Day of the Week .You have the Top Truck as Far as I'm Concerned . *

Wait wait wait....did you just refer to it as a finished truck? Yay! Sounds like you are now not able to mock me anymore as you also see it as complete!

I'm still waiting to see that contraption that Robert installed in the w350 that's supposedly suppose to administer a clandestine shot of ether to keep up with a passing Ford.

I thought that was Only needed when dragging a Broken down Ford .we all know they are Found On Road Dead. *

Wow wow wow. Slow down boys.... No drugs in my truck. Cause when the spray is empty, the party is over. So I build that all day horsepower that doesnt need a tank of giggle gas to create fun.

 

[SRay]

Well said Robert! *We sure don't need to ask someone to pass the gas just cause we run out. *

 

[Simplysmn]

Wait wait wait....did you just refer to it as a finished truck? *Yay! Sounds like you are now not able to mock me anymore as you also see it as complete! * *


*Yes we we say it's Done Maybe we will see it before the Older Member's are TOO OLD To drive *

 

[ENafziger]

Well this is...almost exciting! Glad you've been making progress. And we have been trying to be patient. But WHERE ARE THE PICTURES???

 

[DVolk]

Those that are done can come help on mine

 

[DonFitzwater]

Robert, I've followed this post for years and am really glad you are still at it. Any more pictures to date?

 

[RSchwarzli]

Robert, I've followed this post for years and am really glad you are still at it. Any more pictures to date?

Hey Don,

Glad youre still following!

Yes, I have many more pics. I just havent sat down to upload them yet. Thats the issue. I am about 400+ photos behind posting right now. Daunting task to catch up. But I will soon. Finally got the camera loaded onto the computer. Now to start uploading. Then to get the descriptions written. And then all together upload..... should be in the next week or two.*

 

[Simplysmn]

So the Second week of March 2018 ???????:-laf:-laf:-laf-laf:-laf:-laf-laf:-laf:-laf-laf:-laf:-laf

 

[RSchwarzli]

So the Second week of March 2018 ???????:-laf:-laf:-laf-laf:-laf:-laf-laf:-laf:-laf-laf:-laf:-laf

What a winner. :-laf lol

 

[DonFitzwater]

I've got a half dozen or so people in Fairbanks, Alaska hooked on your build. They ask me weekly if you are done yet! *

 

[RSchwarzli]

I've got a half dozen or so people in Fairbanks, Alaska hooked on your build. They ask me weekly if you are done yet! *

Oh poop. I have disappointed the folks in Alaska too now! Hahaha

 

[RSchwarzli]

It is update time....

 

[RSchwarzli]

Well, it has been a long time since I did an update on this. Now is March 2017….last update seems to be 10 months ago… sorry. (EDIT: Actually, it took me a month and a bit to actually finish writing this and it is now May….sorry guys and gals) Truth be told, I didn’t touch the truck much during the summer last year but although I have been quiet so far on the forums this winter, I have been cooking with bacon on the truck with my goal of having it at a few shows this summer (2017)!








I have been trying to spend more time working on the truck and less time farting around online as it is time to get this sexy beast done and we all know how fast we can use up playing online…. So I haven’t updated much. But that means there is lots to update now. So I will try to pick up where I left off….








I left off with the interior wiring beginning and some exterior work being done. Both have continued. As we left off with the interior, let’s start there.








THE OVERHEAD CONSOLE








So I started on the overhead console. It is time to get this done as it is time to get on the interior wiring and headliner. So I started with the actual sheet that will become the rigid sheet that will support the rockers. So I started with some 18 ga sheet metal (if memory serves).












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Drew my templates as to how I wanted to group the rockers. I did them by function. Ie, all lighting rockers together. All pneumatics related. Etc.












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So the panel was cut out and filed so the rocker housings had an exact fit and didn’t rattle around.












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Then came the test fit.












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Then came the fun part: mounting this into the overhead console. Issue is, you can’t use screws, glue won’t hold long term, so you have to be creative. This is how it will look.












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But for the backside, that’s where you have to get a bit creative. As the console is bowed, and the switch panel can’t be, I had to create a small bridge to block the hole. This was welded to the panel.
















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But now we have to hold it in. So I determined it will need to be an exact fit press in design. The theory will be to block it in via wood, so it holds tight but can be removed if needed. It will also give me a good solid rigid backing against flex.












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Slowly getting the shape in…












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And now to plane the wood to make it exact fit…












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And then at 4 hours and a lot of trial and error, and it all fits.












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[RSchwarzli]

Next up is the prep of the door panels. The driver’s door panel will have to be modified as it will also have to house the switches for the rear power windows. So getting a bit crafty, I used a switch retainer ring from a donor panel, cut, welded, and installed it into the door panel giving me a place to add two more switches.




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You can see here how much smaller it is compared to the original size.




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And with a bit of modifications, it now fits and I now have a set of switches for the rear door.




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[RSchwarzli]

The next task was a bunch of smaller jobs. First was the finishing of the splash guards on the front of the running boards. When the tires turned, they would make contact so needed to be relocated back slightly.




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Thus giving me some clearance:




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Rear bumper connector panel for the air jack, 7 pin, and winch connection:




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Finishing off the custom door wiring harnesses with connectors in the event you ever need to disconnect one of the power window motors or harnesses.




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And yeah. The wiring is really starting to stack up inside the truck!




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Cold Air Intake Box
So next up was to actually finish the cold air intake box. You have seen parts of it, so to help others replicate it, here is the general layout.




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Painty painty….. I prefer rocker guard over powder coating for these cold air intakes as you will find they make a great spot to rest tools when working under the hood and as normal power coating or rattle can will chip/scratch over time….




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And that gives the final box. To give you an idea, to make this box, ad have it seal and fit right, figure about 10 hours of work.




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[RSchwarzli]

So, I have been looking at doing a big brake kit for the truck. Only issue is, no one makes a kit! So I found that Willwood makes a awesome TR6 Off Road truck caliper and rotor. So it was time to do some measuring….




This is the unit:




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So the measuring began….




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The conclusion? As you can see, it fits. Just. Like .100” clearance. Lol Now, as much as it can fit, I had a choice here. I suspect it will take about 100 hours to design, modify, fit, paint, and install the big brake kit from start to finish. And as I want this truck on the road this summer, and it won’t be towing this summer as I work out the bugs and potential reliability issues anyways, I decided to leave this for next winter and just use stock parts so I can at least drive it this summer. I don’t *need* big calipers and rotors at this moment per say… Also it allows me the funds to finish all of the other small things as I cant imagine it will be cheap all said and done. So I will leave this and come back to it. This part isn’t over yet as the fat lady hasn’t sung.

 

[RSchwarzli]

Center console

Next was time to get the center console finished. I needed some extra USB and 12v outlets, so I fabricated up a plate that will be mounted onto the console and will house all the power I need. So I started with the console and the plate I made:


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Marked the holes…




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Chopped out the section of material so I can start cutting…




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Fast forward a few weeks so I can keep this all together…. Parts are back from powder coating…




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And you will see here my power option selections. To keep it all uniform, I chose the same style plug body. But, the center of two of them are actually USB power: one high voltage, and one regular.



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[RSchwarzli]

Head Studs


Next up on the list was head studs. I had installed a set of ARP studs back when I built the engine, but with the compounds now on the engine, I wanted to upgrade the studs to Haisley L-19 studs to handle the higher boost pressure. So a set was ordered up and one by one they were swapped to I didn’t have to redo the head gasket.


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If you look real close you can see the higher grade steel used in the L19 studs. These handle a much higher stretch resistance that is common with higher than normal boost applications. AKA, compound turbo.


L19 is left side:


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Here is a look at all three sizes of L-19 studs.




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Not much to show here but removed valve covers…




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[RSchwarzli]

Headliner




When the crew cabs were being sold new by Dodge, that was still in the day that trucks were considered just that: trucks. They were a tool for a construction site, farm, etc. They were not the glorified cars they are today nor did they need creature comforts. As is the case, these crew cabs were never sold with a headliner. Now as I am sure most of you know firsthand, 12Vs and a big open non sound deadened cabs, don’t mix. For the 16 months I drove this truck before I pulled it apart, that was my biggest complaint. I was had ringing ears by the time I would get back from a long drive. So I wanted to put a headliner in. But being they were not available, I decided to make my own.


Over the course of the last few years, I had collected a few regular cab headliners when I could. This allowed me to chop a few up to make one. This process has taken approx 50 hours spread across a few weeks to give you an idea of time that is involved in doing this right.




So I chopped up headliner 1….


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Headliner 2….




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I then held them both up to the roof to be able to measure headliner 3.




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And headliner 3 was then used as the donor for the center section….










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This would give me the foundation of my new headliner.




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Next was to prep the three sections. That included cleaning off all the old headliner foam bits. I used a semi soft brush so as to not damage the delicate foam.




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Fast forward a few hours….




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I then chopped a 4th headliner, but instead of the fiberfoam, this one is of cardboard. I will use this as the backing joiner.




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[RSchwarzli]

Overhead console




So in order to fit the headliner, I will need to know how the overhead console will sit. I will also need to know how it will sit against the sound deadener/dynamat. So that became the next task. So I took the console and did a test fit. As I was working solo today, I used a few 2x4s to hold it up while I measured.


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So in went the dynamat….




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And then a test fit.




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Then to make sure I could trim the rear on final resting position, I installed the overhead gauge pod to set the space needed.




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Buuuuut, the back didn’t fit:




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So it needed a haircut:




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And the cover:




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And then came the moment of truth: the full test fit.




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Now I started to cut holes for the console to mount:




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And then the test fit without and 2x4 assistance:




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These openings are for the screws that hold the console up, and for the overhead console.




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Now, with all of the in and out, in and out of the console to test fit, I made a mistake. While not fully paying attention, I didn’t really notice that as I trimmed the console edges, the console was starting to contour more and more to the roof line and its final resting place. What I didn’t calculate was that as the console sits higher, the gap between the console and roof becomes less and less. That’s a good thing. But that means the screws don’t need to be as long to hold it up. You know those screws. That temporarily go into the INNER roof to hold it up? Well, they got a bit friendly with the outer sheetmetal. And yes, I had a few choice words to say. Add in some major disappointment and anger and frustration, and well, I have a new shape to the outer roof of my truck that will have to be tended to before the truck sees water. Thankfully it is on the roof, but even still, not really what I wanted to see at this stage of the resto. This oopsy did result in a few day separation between the truck and I.




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