MTH fixed pilot on E-8

I have the same set to convert as well.

I'd also like to add better detail to the pilot. Hopefully, some one will have some nice photos of a finished conversion to give us something to aim for :-)

I'm thinking the conversion would be similar to conversion of an F-Unit. Soo Nut fixed the pilots and put drawbars on his FT's (I haven't had a lot of time, but I'm going to be doing the same.)

The problem is that fixing the pilot has the effect of raising the pilot. The coupler then sits too low in the hole when using a Kadee coupler height gauge.

There have been different methods. Pete K shimmed the pilot down and tried matching the paint on an MTH F unit as I remember.

On this engine I lowered the body down on the frame. It was too high on the trucks anyway.



Trevize - MTH used the wrong pilot on some E8's. You need a pilot like the on on my F3 above. I have thought about the MTH E8's and that is one of the things I noticed. If I were you I would see if the curve of the Atlas F unit pilot, which you have, matches the curve of the front of the E8 enough to use. If so, order a pilot from P&D Hobbies and use that. It would be the easiest.

See the E8m picture below. I think it became #84.

Thanks Marker I've been looking for a reason to get over to P&D
Clem

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Trevize - MTH used the wrong pilot on some E8's.

Definitely, you need to check the prototype before you change. While I was researching the Seaboard E7s I noticed they had a variety of pilots on their units.

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Thanks Marker I've been looking for a reason to get over to P&D

Clem - The curve on the front where the pilot mounts is deceptive. Atlas/PD pilots will not work on Lionel F units the curve is different. They may not work with MTH units, you will have to check. I don't know where you are in Michigan but if you could go in with your E unit you could size it up before you buy.

Bob Delbridge makes a good point. You should try to find some prototype pictures to see what the pilot should look like. If you have a Santa Fe unit, it will be the same as above. There are other design pilots for the F units that P&D made so they may very well have what you need.

Awesome! Great info!

I have some extra pilots from Atlas F units. I will see how those compare/fit the E8.

I actually did the conversion to both fixed pilots and to 2 rail with a set of MTH E-8. The one thing I would do is instead of attaching the pilot directly I would create a spacer out of styrene. I have not yet had a chance to do it over. But for the most part it looks ok.

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I actually did the conversion to both fixed pilots and to 2 rail with a set of MTH E-8.

Michael, whose pilots did you use and how well did the contour match?
Did you use Kadees at the rear of the A units? If so what do you think is the minimum radius. I see your operating on a club layout, so the I would guess it isn't a problem there. I want to put Kadees on the rear of my E's but am worried that it wouldn't work with a tight radius (45").

Looks great. The video was superb!

Michael

Spectacular video! Thanks for sharing.

Marker

I think you should be fine on 45 inch radius, even if you have some relatively short head end cars with body mounted couplers. We have been running fixed pilot F units with long head end cars, all with three rail flanges, down to 36 inch radius with out derailments. The long locomotive short head end car combo (E unit/short express car) should produce about the same lateral forces as a short locomotive/long head end (F unit/bagage car) car combo.

Marker,

The pilots are the original MTH I just added a few touches like painting the steps and cut levers yellow. Yes kadee front and rear so they can be close coupled. My solution for the tether bar was to cut a hole on the rear doors. This solution works very well to hide the big cable. Because it is close coupled A-A I also replaced the rubber diaphragms with more prototypical ones.

One other detail, if look closely at the photo, all of the steps are mounted directly on the body as it is on the prototype instead of swiveling on the truck. To make the model go around 66" radius curves without the truck hitting the steps, I also modified the truck side frames moving them inboard closer to the wheels. Before they used to over hang so grossly wide. The one thing I could not do was correct the wheel size, I used 40" steel wheels to clear the truck block of the rails instead of the 36" wheels.


The only correction in the future for this is to put a spacer in the pilot so its at the proper height and re-shim the kadees.

Thanks Mike and Ted. I'll have to see what I can do.