86 GMC, Porterbuilt Mild front and rear

[mud.man.rj]

Be extra nice to see the gauges lit up I bet.

[bigguy]

I haven't been able to get much done lately, I've been dealing with a broken ankle. Anyways, I did find a bunch of pictures from the first build of my 86!

[bigguy]

[bigguy]

This is how the truck looked when I first bought it.

[mud.man.rj]

Easily twice the truck now than the before pic, which was still nice.

[tinydb84]

Do you have any pics of you raising the bed floor? Or closer up pics of the mounts??

Truck looks amazing.

[bigguy]

Thanks Mud Man. Tinydb84, I can get you some pictures of the bed floor. It was pretty simple. The floor unbolts from the sides and bulkhead, then there are several spot welds at the front. I measured how high I needed to raise which was 7 1/2", and welded in a support at the front of the bed (tailgate side). I welded the floor to the sides instead of bolting it back in, but you can always just drill more holes and run bolts. As for the tubs, I cut 1/4" off the inside that mounts to the bed side. This makes it fit flush with the bed sides, then bolted it back to the bed floor. Seam sealed and raptor lined.

[tinydb84]

Thank you for all the detail. I have seen pics of people doing it but haven't got any details.

I am leaning towards welding it. Did you do a series of tacks or beads? I don't want to tack 20 feet of metal but don't want to warp anything.

More pics would be awesome.

[bigguy]

I plug welded where the bolts used to be. It's pretty thick metal so no worry about warping. I did bolt it back to the bulkhead tho. Then I made some spacers to mount the bed. I will take some pictures tomorrow.

[tinydb84]

Awesome man. I appreciate it!

[bigguy]

I used self tapping screws to hold in place when I welded. I need to coat the underside. The yellow stuff on the bed is pollen





.

[tinydb84]

Thank man! Helps a lot. Doesnt look as much work as I thought it was going to be.

[bigguy]

Got some work done today. Cut off the pinch weld and made a firewall filler panel. 16ga steel, rolled on my beefed up harbor freight bead roller.

[northeimcustom]

awesome build! in the picture in post #25, do you have air gauges mounted in the upper part of the dash? what size are they?

[bigguy]

Thanks! The gauges are 2" dual needle. I cut a piece of aluminum plate to fit the opening were the a/c vent was.

[bbbc10]

looks good!!! I need some of them firewall panels been thinking bout getting a beadroller but never used one before

[bigguy]

I hadn't used one before either. Just gave it a shot. I had my wife turn the handle while I kept the panel straight. There are a few imperfections, but nothing that can't be fixed.

[rip2174]

Nice looking truck

[bigguy]

Thanks rip2174! Got started on the firewall this weekend. It's hard to see, but I used aircraft remover to strip the paint.

[bigguy]

Tubz!

[79azc10]

Looks great

[rip2174]

can you post more pics of the tubz. thinking about buying them. they pretty easy to install

[bigguy]

If you tell me what you're wanting to see, I can take pictures for you.

[rip2174]

looking from the hood in?

[bigguy]

It's been a while since I've worked on the truck. Here's a shoot from the top of the tubs. I have been building a small garage for it as well.