1966 F100 Short Bed Styleside Metal/Body/Paint Work

[mongocanfly]

I hate a tease....hahaha

[theastronaut]

I didn't go into much detail about this earlier, but the F250 bed floor had four flat areas for a fifth wheel hitch that looked really out of place for use in a '66 F100. I contacted Robert (MP&C) about having him make dies for his Lennox to reshape those spots into continuous ribs to look more like the original bed floor. I sent a sample so he could make dies a while back, and yesterday our schedules finally aligned so we could work on the bed floor.




We started by gas welding plugs in the four holes that won't be used on the F100. I didn't want to weld those with a MIG at our shop since the weld would be more brittle and would probably crack during the reshaping process. Gas welds are much softer and more workable.









The welds were smoothed down and the flat areas were pre-stretched in the english wheel with a bit of guesswork as to how much we should pre-stretch.




Then into the Lennox to add the ribs. This was done gradually in multiple passes, adjusting the depth of the dies after each pass.





Slightly reworking the dies to gain more rib height.




Finished ribs. These are hard to photograph so I stripped an area with the two new ribs in the center of the outer original ribs to show the matching profile.









James (duallyjams) dropped in to hang out for the day, it's always good seeing him! He was a big help and also shot vids of us working.

Shaping Full Length Bed Floor Ribs- ?66 F100 -...

[mongocanfly]

Speechless at the kind of work yall turn out on a regular basis....very impressive.....

[Russell Ashley]

You guys are magic.

[duallyjams]

Had a great time hanging out for the day.

[MP&C]

John and James, good to see you guys again, even better to work on something in the shop. John, thanks for letting us help out on the 66!

[theastronaut]

Thanks for the comments! I'm currently working on fixing a '39 Ford that had an encounter with a deer, once I'm done with the fender I'll start back on the F100. I'll replace the grill with one from Alumicraft, this one is an original that's been smoothed with a lot of filler so we decided it would be best to not get into trying to fix it.








Headlight opening roughed back in.





Top of the fender lip was busted up and bulged out, after stripping it I found a pretty rough patch attempt so I ended up making a new section to weld in.









I started with a square panel and rounded the J-shaped edge over a section of straight 5/8" tube, then used the planishing hammer with a linear stretch die along the top of the outer panel to match the curve of the opening. I had to open and flatten the inside part of the lip so I could shrink the inner half of the lip to match the front-to-rear curve of the fender, then closed it back up using by hammering it over a die I made from curved 5/8" round bar. The outside was lightly domed with the planishing hammer to match overall shape of the fender.

[mongocanfly]

Dang deer...some more great metal work..

[MP&C]

John, I see what you meant about the color. How did the deer not see it coming?!!

Nice job on the repairs.

[nsb29]

Originally Posted by MP&C

John, I see what you meant about the color. How did the deer not see it coming?!!

Nice job on the repairs.

I am sure it was color blind
I am probably as good as most With patch panels even making My Own When I have to but you and Robert make me look like a First grader. I love looking at the stuff y’all do and thinking how would I have done that with my limited skills and equipment lol
Somebody probably paid good money to have that car done, I wonder how many more repairs like that or hiding under all that Bondo and high build

[Ol Blue K20]

Remarkable the work you do. I love watching!

[67ChevyRedneck]

A 40 Ford is near the top of my must own list someday.

[duallyjams]

As Robert would say, everything in the shop is a tool, if you can touch it you can make it a tool.

[theastronaut]

Quick update on the '39, I now remember why I don't like going behind other people's body and paint work! I'm guessing whoever did the bodywork before didn't have a flexible sanding block, there wasn't a properly shaped spot on it. Really fun to try to blend in good bodywork into "friendly" bodywork. It's in epoxy now and at the paint store for color matching. It'll be a few more weeks before we get the new grill for fitting.











Back to the '66. The bed tops are fully bodyworked and ready for epoxy sealer except for adding and shaping the seam sealer.

?66 F100 Bodywork Check - YouTube

I started prepping to weld the bed floor in by using tubing to align the side panels and leveling/squaring the bed on a body cart. The header panel was slightly out at the front so I pulled it in with ratchet straps to correct that before tacking the front corner panels in place. As usual, I applied epoxy between the layers to prevent future rust.














The bed floor had a few high spots where we accidentally over-stretched before adding the ribs. That was an easy fix with the shrinking disc. Still need to fine tune it before welding it in but the overall shape is correct now. I also trimmed the floor to the correct length so it can be dropped in for a test fit.

Before/after.

[mongocanfly]

As always John...Great work!!

[jhrusk]

Always great!! Caught a glimpse of goldilocks👍👍😁

[MP&C]

That’s like NOS right there....

[67ChevyRedneck]

Top notch man.

I'll have my house paid off in 4 years. Should I get in line for my Bird now?

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

As always John...Great work!!

Thanks Greg!

Originally Posted by jhrusk

Always great!! Caught a glimpse of goldilocks👍👍😁

Thanks Jay, I just put the fenders on and was playing with a mock up wheel and spacers to see what backspace I'll need.

Originally Posted by MP&C

That’s like NOS right there....

Instead of 50 years of shelf wear it already has 1,000 miles under it's belt

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Top notch man.

I'll have my house paid off in 4 years. Should I get in line for my Bird now?

Sounds like a plan!

[theastronaut]

The '09 bed floor was too long to fit the '66 bed so I trimmed 3 1/4" off the front to make it fit. It dropped right in place after slightly trimming the 90* flanges at the front to clear the crossmember. I also stuck the fenderwells back in place to see how they fit against the floor. It looks really good for just the initial test fit!






Tight fit against the header panel.




The rear flange fits the recess in the rear crossmember exactly like the factory floor did. I was a little worried that the raised sides might not fit flush with the four side panels but they line up very well. The end of the raised stamping on the floor needs to be moved forward about 1/4" to close up the gap, but that's an easy fix.

[theastronaut]

We decided to weld studs into the crossmembers and braces to mount the bed to the frame instead of using bolts from the top side. Two reasons for that; the existing flat mounting areas from the '09 floor didn't exactly line up with the '66 mounting pattern and it would look better without bolt heads showing.


Since there wouldn't be any flat areas needed for mounting bolts, I extended the ends of the ribs all the way to the edge so all ribs would match. I did the rear edge first using the leftovers trimmed from the front edge. Unfortunately each rib is a slightly different height so they didn't line up exactly and the filler panels had to be manipulated into place.





The process was to get one area to line up, tack it, then work around with a hammer and dolly to make other areas line up. The small, square face hammer with a pointed end that I found a swap meet was perfect for fitting within the narrow flat spots and inside corners.




Close up of the misalignment.




Ready for welding solid.




Welded and smoothed.





The front edge only had one row of ribs missing and the ends run straight out instead of having a flattened end. I made my own filler panels since they would be easier to fit and I didn't have enough leftovers after extending in the rear ribs.




Filler piece welded in.




Welds leveled with 2" 36 grit discs.






100 grit used next to remove the 36 grit scratches and to fully blend the weld areas smooth.






100 grit scratches smoothed with 80 grit on a DA sander, ready for epoxy primer.

[mongocanfly]

That's some nice fixes John..its a shame that most people will never recognize the amount of work you put into the little details thatll make this a sweet truck in the end.....

[67C10Step]

Man, that is some quality work. You put more work into the parts people aren't going to see than most do in the visible pieces.

[Low Elco]

Awesome.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

That's some nice fixes John..its a shame that most people will never recognize the amount of work you put into the little details thatll make this a sweet truck in the end.....

Originally Posted by 67C10Step

Man, that is some quality work. You put more work into the parts people aren't going to see than most do in the visible pieces.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Awesome.

Thanks guys! Greg, that is somewhat annoying... the bed floor is going to look like it's supposed to now so people will just glance in and it'll look "normal" and assume it came that way. But I guess that's the point.