Check out what I made......

[Metalshapes]

I've had this idea for quite some time and decided to go ahead and put it together. Here ya go fellas a '67-'72 mixed with an '81-'87. Hope you like it. I think it looks *****in'.

[moregrip]

looks great brother!

[Metalshapes]

Thanks man! I will try to get some pics of it on the truck tomorrow.

[bigwheel15]

Ive always disliked the look of shaved tailgates on ours due to the fact it just looked so plane afterwards, but yours is EXACTLY what I would like to do with one. Looks awesome dude!

[BLE 'BURBAN]

N-n-n-n-n-n-n-nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pop's C-10]

nice

[towmater]

Damn Nice!!!

[chevybuilder18]

Originally Posted by Metalshapes

I've had this idea for quite some time and decided to go ahead and put it together. Here ya go fellas a '67-'72 mixed with an '81-'87. Hope you like it. I think it looks *****in'.

Need to know how you do this!!! Looks great, original and factory. i wanna do stuff like this but do not know how....

[BrutonLS1]

Excellent work! please explain how you did it

[Wrecked1982]

very nice too bad i dont have a tailgate on my wrecker

[88Jimmy4x4]

Thats a great idea, nice work

[Metalshapes]

Thanks for the feedback guys, and as you wish, I will put together a pictorial build as soon as I get all of my pictures together. May take a few hrs as I have taken pictures with 3 different devices so stay tuned.

[K20chevy]

That looks killer!! WOW! That would fit mine well.. jsut a little something extra that is custom but looks stock on my beast! Looking forward to the pictures!

[LEEVON]

This is the third time I looked at this thread and I finally get it...duh! Looks good, factory subtle. Only a truck guy will notice (except maybe me LOL).

Got me thinking, reversed would be a conversation piece.

[cfan10]

Very nice, agreed with not liking the usual shaved look. But this is badd a$$!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Metalshapes]

Alright fellas, I searched through everything I have and found out that all the "in progress photos" were on a phone that cooked this summer while working mainline for at&t. It turns out that my phone didn't appreciate 12 hour days in 117 degree heat! So I will do my very best to explain how this was done, the following pictures should at least give you some idea.

[Metalshapes]

The first thing I did was I went to the salvage yard and found a cherry gate off of an '81-'87, and a wasted one from a '67-'72. (I have a deep appreciation for the '67-'72s I've owned 35 of them so I picked the crappiest tailgate I could find to avoid cutting up a nice one that someone else could use for their truck.) I paid 75 for the cherry one and the '67-'72 was so bad that the salvage yard just gave it to me, which was awesome because I was going to cut it up anyway.

I measured the recess in the '81-'87 gate to figure out how much of the other I had to remove. Once I had that measurement I took a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and carefully cut out the section containing the stamped letters. The measurements were taken approximately 2/3 of the way up the radius in the recess towards the outer edge. It took me 9 hrs to straighten the piece I cutout with my body hammers and my anvil.

NOTE: when you measure the '67-'72 gate you will find out that you have to cut out a good portion of the recess up by the handle to get enough material to fill the recess in the '81-'87 gate. You will then have to straighten the factory bend to get enough to center the piece you cut out with where you are going to put it.

The next thing to do was to start test fitting the cutout into the recess, by now you have figured out that it is not a custom skin, 100% of the '81-'87 gate is intact with the original skin, all I did was fill the recess.

Once I had the cutout trimmed meticulously I test fit it again and repeated 2 more times until I was satisfied with the fit.

Next, I laid the new piece in and set it in its location with 45 degree arrow magnets. The arrow magnets set the piece flush and held it there for spot welding. I have 8 of those magnets that I placed around the perimeter. I put spotwelds on each side of each magnet then moved them around and repeated. Go slow and and don't concentrate on one area too long the metal will warp and you will have more body work to do.

When all was said and done I ended up with a spotweld about every 3/4" or so, then it was time for the body work. I ground the spotwelds only to the point where they were flush then started in with the lead, I don't expect everyone to know how to work lead as it is a lost art so any of your polyester resins, plastic body fillers or fiberglass resins should work just fine. This is the point where you will find out if you were patient enough because bodywork around stamped letters is pretty tricky.

Once I was happy with the lead work it got its 1st coat of primer to help figure out if there were any high or low spots and where they were. A sanding block was used to obtain that information. Luckily this wasn't my first rodeo so about 98% of the body work was handled by the lead, the rest was close enough for glazing putty.

Now it is at the point where I have shared it with you, just have to get some color on it. Here are some pictures on the truck so you can check out my symmetry.

[K20chevy]

Thanks for the great "how to"! Man that looks so cool, I really would love to do that with mine too! The problem is to find a 70-72 tailgate that is not too good to be cut up but good enough to use! I can´t stop looking at the pics! Will you paint the letters different than the rest of the tailgate???

['79squared]

Ya that is pretty dam cool.

[Metalshapes]

The factory color scheme for my truck is code 64 lightsaddle over black and the tailgate will be painted accordingly. I will then order the black letter kit from year one, that should give it a nice pop. I will post pics of the finished product as soon as I get it done.

[85crewcab]

Nice work, lots of people will look at it and try to figure out what's different!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Transformula]

What did you do for the release handle? Did you use a flip kit or build something?

[Metalshapes]

I purchased a handle relocator from MAR-K here in OKC, they are only about 3 or 4 miles from me, so I just drove up there picked one up and drove home. I have the extra materials to make one but I figured for the price vs engineering my own it just made more sense to buy one rather than make it.

[chevybuilder18]

Originally Posted by Metalshapes

The first thing I did was I went to the salvage yard and found a cherry gate off of an '81-'87, and a wasted one from a '67-'72. (I have a deep appreciation for the '67-'72s I've owned 35 of them so I picked the crappiest tailgate I could find to avoid cutting up a nice one that someone else could use for their truck.) I paid 75 for the cherry one and the '67-'72 was so bad that the salvage yard just gave it to me, which was awesome because I was going to cut it up anyway.

I measured the recess in the '81-'87 gate to figure out how much of the other I had to remove. Once I had that measurement I took a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and carefully cut out the section containing the stamped letters. The measurements were taken approximately 2/3 of the way up the radius in the recess towards the outer edge. It took me 9 hrs to straighten the piece I cutout with my body hammers and my anvil.

NOTE: when you measure the '67-'72 gate you will find out that you have to cut out a good portion of the recess up by the handle to get enough material to fill the recess in the '81-'87 gate. You will then have to straighten the factory bend to get enough to center the piece you cut out with where you are going to put it.

The next thing to do was to start test fitting the cutout into the recess, by now you have figured out that it is not a custom skin, 100% of the '81-'87 gate is intact with the original skin, all I did was fill the recess.

Once I had the cutout trimmed meticulously I test fit it again and repeated 2 more times until I was satisfied with the fit.

Next, I laid the new piece in and set it in its location with 45 degree arrow magnets. The arrow magnets set the piece flush and held it there for spot welding. I have 8 of those magnets that I placed around the perimeter. I put spotwelds on each side of each magnet then moved them around and repeated. Go slow and and don't concentrate on one area too long the metal will warp and you will have more body work to do.

When all was said and done I ended up with a spotweld about every 3/4" or so, then it was time for the body work. I ground the spotwelds only to the point where they were flush then started in with the lead, I don't expect everyone to know how to work lead as it is a lost art so any of your polyester resins, plastic body fillers or fiberglass resins should work just fine. This is the point where you will find out if you were patient enough because bodywork around stamped letters is pretty tricky.

Once I was happy with the lead work it got its 1st coat of primer to help figure out if there were any high or low spots and where they were. A sanding block was used to obtain that information. Luckily this wasn't my first rodeo so about 98% of the body work was handled by the lead, the rest was close enough for glazing putty.

Now it is at the point where I have shared it with you, just have to get some color on it. Here are some pictures on the truck so you can check out my symmetry.

nice. that was very simple. i like things like this, because it does make you think about how different you could make your truck. can i ask something? whats the shaved design mean?

[Metalshapes]

Originally Posted by chevybuilder18

nice. that was very simple. i like things like this, because it does make you think about how different you could make your truck. can i ask something? whats the shaved design mean?

I'm not completely sure I understand the question, please elaborate, I would be happy to answer.