Wampus Cat

[TxCajun]

I wasn't very happy with the look of the fuel tank lower brackets after I initially trimmed off the front lip. I thought about filling the front of these in with some fabricated plates, but ultimately decided to do a little more trimming with a side grinder and cutoff wheel. I also added some plug welding in place of the bolts that previously secured the front of the bracket.

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[TxCajun]

I decided to put the bed back on the truck and figure out mods required to accommodate the rear fuel tank and fuel filler.

I needed to trim the rear bed brace to clear the fuel tank and the upper tank supports. The bed on my truck is steel tread plate which is skip welded to the braces, so I don't think that the notches to the brace will have much affect on bed floor stiffness.

[TxCajun]

I started a mock-up for the fuel filler in the rear corner of the bed.

I found an old piece of tread plate in a junk pile, so it has some nice patina to match the existing bed. This tread plate is tough to bend, so I used a side grinder and cut off wheel to cut the plate to size, cut a relief line of the back side of the bend, and then used the torch to heat the area while bending it using a vise and a hammer.

The pictures show the first pass at the mock-up, but I think I will shorten it a quarter inch or so to match the top plate height with the body line on the inner bed wall. The fuel filler it self is a 316 SST marine piece; White Water Stainless Deck Fill, Gas w/Vent 1-1/2" Hose #6005S-SCV.

When I sent a picture of the mock-up to my brother, he commented: "Should easily sustain the sliding cargo test." :-)
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[SCOTI]

I like it. Function & form.

[TxCajun]

Finished the fuel filler in the rear corner of the bed. Still need to route the line to the tank. The vent can just be 5/8" flex hose, but I think the 1 1/2" fuel line will be some combination of flex hose and maybe a mandrel bent 90 degree tube.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by TxCajun

Finished the fuel filler in the rear corner of the bed. Still need to route the line to the tank. The vent can just be 5/8" flex hose, but I think the 1 1/2" fuel line will be some combination of flex hose and maybe a mandrel bent 90 degree tube.

Another thing I will be addressing,the siting of my filler as it is about 200mm from the corner.

[TxCajun]

Rubber Floor Mat Retainer Studs

When I repaired the rusted floor on my '66, several of the Rubber Floor Mat Retainer Studs were rusted too badly to re-use on the patch panels. The floors appear to have six (6) of these studs, but three (3) of mine were badly corroded and were removed when installing the patch panels. It looks like the originals may have been swaged in place.

I don't have access to a lathe to make these, so I looked for something similar in size and shape that could be welded on the repaired floor from the back side.

The approximate dimensions of the remaining "good" retainer studs are shown in the sketch below.

I did a little research on nail sizes and found that a 60D nail is about the right size. However, they do come with different head sizes/shapes. The best one that I found was at the orange big box store, called a 60D PoleBarn Nail (the one on the right in the pictures).

Following suggestions from this forum, I ordered a floor mat from the Truck Shop in Ca (http://www.truckandcarshop.com). The mat has the holes pre-punched for these retainer studs, so I laid the mat in place, aligned it with the three remaining studs, and then transfer punched the locations for the other three. Then I drilled holes in the floor, trimmed the nails to length, and plug welded them from the underside of the floor.
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