Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Vic1947
I'm determined to use it as a daily driver and not over restore it like my other truck. My goal is to address the safety and reliability issues as well as the sheetmetal shortcomings. I doubt it will get anything other than a good coat of epoxy primer and I currently have no plans to convert it to discs or 5 lugs.

Originally Posted by RatRod68

Guess that went out the window huh?

Ahh, man it's been a long time since I have been on here, and I am never disappointed with your build Vic. The amount of attention to detail in your builds is nothing short of spectacular.

From what I can decipher, it looks as though you are going to a fleetside bed on this one?

Yep, fleetside it is ...more room to haul gravel. As for the DD goal, it's still the plan. I just happened to find more "safety and reliability" issues than I'd envisioned.

[Vic1947]

Well, the fix is in (almost). Removed the wheel well attachment area from the old bedside, cleaned it up and traced a cut line on the new bedside. Took a deep breath and sliced that malformed sucker out of the brand new piece. Trimmed the edges and mocked up the patch. Not too shabby. The lip that tacks to the outer wheel opening was a bit out of whack due to the damage to that panel behind the wheel opening. Marked where the formed OEM break was originally located and dollied the lip down. It still needs a little bit more but the line is crisper and it's laying down better.

[Vic1947]

These photos don't tell the full story, but the center to center dimensions for the holes are now where they should be. It will really be obvious when I set the panel and wheel well on the floor. I'll do that before any welding to make sure everything lines up correctly. Then it will be time for welding, grinding and hopefully just a tiny bit of filler.

[RatRod68]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Yep, fleetside it is ...more room to haul gravel. As for the DD goal, it's still the plan. I just happened to find more "safety and reliability" issues than I'd envisioned.

Going to definitely be one of the nicest trucks on the road. Looking forward to following along a little closer

[Vic1947]

Had to spend the night out of town yesterday in order to take my Dad in for cataract surgery this morning. While I was in Sedalia, stopped by best bud Steve Smith's shop and picked up the air/fuel ratio gauge faces he modified for me. I wanted them to match the rest of the gauges from Classic, so he did the artwork, got them printed on vinyl and then transferred the decal to the spare gauge face they ship with the AEM units. When my old school engine finally fires, I'll be rockin' the caveman version of an ECM. Below is before, after and side by side comparison with the tach.