I was gonna say a 'love of labor'........but that's what we do. Fix old Fords.

 

I asked my kids. My daughter says purple, which would be cool looking and not common. A deep violet with some metallic flake with newly plated chrome would be sweet. My son said green or blue, which is nice too, but common.

More like a love/hate relationship. Kind of like a marriage.
(good thing my wife doesnt lurk here)

Its not as bad as you would think. Go back and review my cab repair thread and the pics in my Picassa album for some ideas. Im not saying Im perfect, but thats how I did it. And by all means, ask questions. I dont look at the other forums much, but dont be afraid to ask! The big thing is having the right tools and materials to start with. Everything falls into place after that.

 

Well, being the 'Kids'' are helping with some grinding and thing's you might have to make it
all three colors, ..lol'' anyway, I have seen one in ''Purple metalic'', it looked pretty sharp!
As for the Green, The old '' Dark Geen'' metalic they used on some earlly Mustangs is also a nice choice!, the one I think they called the car ''Bullet'' they made a reproduction of this car a few years back?...anyway? I'm sure you'll do it Justice!!

 

Wow good work! You definitely inspired me to take on the bed floor on the 63! Keep up the good work!

 

Another very busy Saturday. Everything went really well today, except for when I touched a freshly welded cross member. Needless to say, I left my finger print from my right hand's middle and ring finger on the metal.

Me and my buddy Rodger pretty much worked at a rapid clip today to get things finished up on the box. I did miss a bunch of pics today, but manged to hit the high lights as we worked throughout the day.



This is to get an idea of where Im headed for the bottom of the bed. Not pictured is the cross member that will go between the wheel wells. That one will be put in after the wheel wells are in.



Crossmember setup to weld.



All 3 of the long cross members done.



Had a couple more spots in the bed sidewalls to fix.



Layout for the cross members. The bed is roughly 98 1/2" long. I dropped the 1/2, measured from the front and spaced them on center at 24 1/2", 49" and 73 1/2".



Front cross member welded in place. I just cut a couple 3/4" holes in the side wall for spot weld holes, clamped it tight, and welded it in place.



Same with the front. It worked out really nice actually. The cross member hit the existing metal form the front of the box and gave me a nice place to weld to.



Setting up a jig to get the center cross members in place. I did measure up from the top of the bed rail and it was within a 1/16" to an 1/8" so at least I know my rails are fairly straight.



The back of the front of the box mostly in place. The top edge as it sits right now is welded to the cross member. The lower edges are just tacked into place with self tappers for the moment. If you look close at the picture, you can see that with a couple of cuts, a little hammer and dolly work combined with some heat from the torch is flattened the ribs in the front of the box to meet up with the flat sheetmetal I used to replace this part of the box.

Like I said, worked really fast today, so I missed a ton of pics. I should have taken a few more of how I tapered down the front ends ribs to mate is up to flat steel. Worked out really well.

I have a couple more pics in my album. Link is in my signature.

I would say that barring any major issues, the box will be done and really for the blaster in 2 weeks.

 

Looking great! The work you're doing on this makes me far more confident that I'll be able to repair my bed rather than replace it!!

-Andrew

 

You are doing a yomans job on that truck. I know where you live it would probably be hard to come up with a box in better condition. Out here where I live Id probably just come up with a box in better shape. Im a piker when it comes to doing what you have done with that cab and box. Im just wondering did you measure for square on that box before you welded in those braces you didnt say but I suspect that you did. That might be part of the pics you didnt have time to shoot. Take care great job.

 

Vic
I looked at the issue of squareness but I have only welded things in across the box, so I can still adjust the squareness as needed. Its really not that secure, yet. I did take a couple of quick numbers, corner to corner, and Im pretty close right now, around 1" off. Not a huge deal as I only need to pull 1/2" to get square.

The first pic I showed had a couple of C channels running the length of the box. I will square the box, then weld them in. Those will be the absolute last thing I weld in, and should hold everything square. If they do not, I will add a pair of cables corner to corner using a turnbuckle to square it up and hold it in place until I get the aluminum diamond plate in place after everything is painted.

If everything goes to plan, it should be fine, I hope...

 

a couple of things...first, on the forward wall...how far down is it to the paint color split and is it straight or haphazard?
On the unibody bed floor another poster mentioned tackling, I would be leery about that given that the bed floor itself is a major structural part of these trucks. I would farm that job out to an experienced shop myself if I had that issue.
On the squareness of the box...it does make a difference...you will see the ultimate effect at the tailgate fit..parallel to the rear edge of the bed floor w/o contacting it. Also being a smooth transition on the outside skin of the bed end caps to the tailgate. if the gates adjusted right it will be fully down in the hinge pockets on the gate giving you a smooth transition across the top of the bed and tailgate area. It can all affect how well/easy the gate opens and closes and latches as well.
Its just my opinion but I wouldnt want you to go through all the floor work and discover when fitting the gate it doesnt line up as well as it should.


- cs65

 

Its as straight as I can cut with a grinder on a Sharpie mark. Checked against my repair panel which is perfectly straight, it looks pretty good. I do have some 1/16" gaps to fill in where the ribs come into my piece because I had to cut the flange off otherwise the ribs would have made my life difficult putting it back together. By the time the welding is done, you shouldnt be able to tell that the ribbing was designed to go all the way to the bottom of the floor. Time will tell on this one.

Having never worked on a unibody let alone seen one, I would say it all depends on how far you have to take it apart to get it back together. Does the unibody still have a rear cab mount? Or is the box the rear cab mount?

Oh you have no idea how much sleep Ive lost over the tailgate! My new roll pan aligns perfectly with the original rear tailgate posts so I shouldnt have to worry about any interference from that.. The BIG issue here is getting the lower hinge mounts in exactly the right place. You can see that I completely cut the old mounts out, and have to make new ones entirely, including the curve for the rear bottom box corner, and I have to ensure that I can get it all together. No small feat, but its on my list for next weekend. Also have to whip up the plate that is inside the rear corner that the tailgate mounts actually bolt to and figure out a way to hold it in there. I agree 100% on the square aspect causing a ton of alignment issues. But I figure if I can get with a 1/16" and keep it there, Im probably as good as it was from the factory.

 

On the unibody trucks...theres not a rear cab mount per se given its all one piece...but there is a mount location at that same area as in seperate cab/bed designs.
On the tailgate...small gaps are to be expected...One the hinge pocket area...if theres a wrecking yard close by...or you have the remains of the original I would think the plate would have enough meat left to be usable...if not the tailgate mounting plate would be the same given the hinges are on those trucks...As to the plate retention...I would copy the original as the cage its in allows dirt and crap to fall through to a degree, I have the same issue on mine as I have a snapped bolt...do you have any pics showing how that area is all put together...That would be a huge help to me in fixing that problem on mine...I also have a snapped bolt on one of the side straps in the hinge pocket which will be a fun one as well.


- cs65

 

CS65:
I dont have any pics taken, but I will snap a few next time Im at the shop. I do have the original piece, both the outer sheetmetal area, and the internal bracket that you bolt to. I need to fab both. The real issue is how am I going to hold it in? The original had that cage thingy over it that let it be somewhat adjustable. I can make a cage I guess, but its not that easy either. I need to get out to my storage area at the farm and pickup the tailgate so I can ensure it all comes together correctly.

 

MR ''FORD'' would be ''PROUD'' of your WORK!!...as I am to watch it!

 

Keep it up, awaiting the outcome. I'm so blessed to live on the West Coast! Although I do have to put a trunk pan in my Starliner.

 

I took this pic of the inside of the tailgate post where the upper arm bolts onto the post. It looks to be quite a bit thicker, and its not a movable plate like the lower hinge is. I hope this helps. I will post a few more pics later tomorrow when I have some time.