Inside bed finish quality

[SactoJim]

I've been working on making the inside of my SWB fleet (steel floor) bed nice enough to put shiny paint on it. Got all the obvious body work done and grafted in my bed fill gas lid and put primer on it. While the primer was shiny, I could still see lots of little imperfection and there is no frickin way I'm patient enough to make it dent free.

Let me see some pics of some beds that are finished inside so I can decide to either keep fixing more dings or call it good and paint it!

[wibilly]

i just blasted mine yesterday and gave it a coat of epoxy primer today. it's not pretty but i'm not going to try to make it perfectas much as i'd like it to be. i'll smooth the sides and wheel tubs and paint. i plan on working mine gently to start with

[BowTieMan]

Do a bed liner


http://www.classictrucks.com/tech/05...lining_how_to/

[Alvin]

I have a picture at home of a '68 short/fleet with a painted steel floor. It was at GoodGuys a couple weeks back. I'm not sure how they got the floor so perfect and smooth, but it looked amazing. Definitely an attention grabber. So I think if you can find the time and patience it is definitely worth it.

[John Fabris]

If I were to make a steel floor ready for paint, I would start by making a bondo spreader from a section of steet floor from another truck so that you have the same shape as the floor. Then you can spread bondo front to back (skim coating it) and then I would use either the same section or a second one with sticky back sandpaper to flatten out the bondo.

That make sense?

[PICKMUP]

We spent a lot of time & money on this one! The inside is base/cleared, just like the outside...and no overspray in there. It still is not perfect.

[wibilly]

pickmup that one looks very nice, my armsjust arn't long enough to reach around with the hammer and dolly

[SactoJim]

Bed looks good Pickmup.

I'm just hoping that the few misc small dings I miss don't stick out when complete. I'm just not going to skim coat the entire bed and worst case scenario is that I'm not happy with it and them will put a light texture on the bed floor and reshoot.

John - I wish I were that patient to make the pieces and attempt to make the bed flawless. Did you see that episode of Dream Car Garage where they were restoring a 70 LS6 ElCamino and they made an aluminum bondo spreader that was profiled just like the bed and then made an urethane sanding block to finish it..........That's what you HAVE to do when you have $150K highly collectable ElCamino!

[Alvin]

Here is the pic. See what I mean, this makes the truck stand out from the rest of the crowd.

[72Chevrolet]

Theres was a couple dings in mine before I painted it and I didn't take them out. You really have to look close to see them in the pic or in person.

[72Chevrolet]

Heres the pic.

[Sweet72]

Nice looking truck beds! I think that filler skim coating is the only option on mine as it is heavily pitted from the fender wells back.

[SactoJim]

All those beds look great! Pictures don't always tell the whole story, but that Gold bed looks perfect.

I'm Surprised no one offers a aftermarket bed floor.

[BowTieOgre]

Originally Posted by SactoJim

All those beds look great! Pictures don't always tell the whole story, but that Gold bed looks perfect.

I'm Surprised no one offers a aftermarket bed floor.

Im pretty sure ive seen one somewhere but after you pay the "oversize" shipping you might as well have gone with a nice wood bed kit.

Im liking the skim idea. I bought a swb truck that has a steel floor but decided to go with an entirely new wood bed so I may just fix the old one up and put it on the market.

[see ten]

Here's a couple pics of the bed of our K10. It's not perfect but I think it's pretty good. The old guy who did the bodywork built a steel block with the same shape as the ridges on the floor. After that there was quite a bit of hammering to make this happen. The bed was painted everywhere it bolts together while it was disassembled. Once this dried it was caulked/sealed(?) and reassembled and then the whole bed was shot.






Most people never look in the bed due to the height of the truck!








My C/10 has a spray in liner which at least makes it useable for light hauling. It was a pretty straight bed before the liner but again, not perfect.

[SactoJim]

OK See Ten.......I'm gettin a little tired of seeing your trucks plastered all over this website!! You have not 1, but 2 very nice trucks (one lowered 2 wheel drive and a lifted 4wd) and both of them appear to be completely restored!!!.....so just stop it!!

The green bed looks real good and it's a shame it's too high for most people to notice........idea...put a motorized bed cover on it with a mirrored underside and when you park it, just raise it.....I'm always thinking. LOL!

I'm a little pissed at the moment because for some reason, all the primer I put on my "many hours invested, still not completely dent free bed" is not adhering like it should @#!*@&%!. Put epoxy down with urethane over it........looks like a got some more fricken sanding ahead of me......it NEVER ends!!!

[wibilly]

has anyone used bed liner on the floor only? anyone used sem tintable spray on liner?

[Sweet72]

Keep on plasterin' them pics see ten, your pics motivate me. Now if I could motivate my wallet a little, I'd get the GMC done!

[N2TRUX]

You might consider getting the inner bed sides as smooth as possible, and put a color matched liner on the bottom. If you really want the floor painted, get is smooth as possible and put a rubber bed mat down.

My 77 Cheyenne had a really nice paint job on the sides and floor when I bought it. I wanted to be able to put cleaning supplies and lawn chairs back there when I went to a show. The rubber bed mat was the best solution I could come up with. Since my truck is black it doesn't really stand out...

[72CSTC5]

Yeah right N2TRUX, you know that bed is so slick it looks sic!!! When are you going to join the 67-72 crowd!?