Had an hour or so to dedicate to the truck today before the NASCAR race so I started rough cutting some more steel for the bed.. I got the front of the bed next to the cab frame cut and fit. 1 x 2 14 ga....no welding today. Then I moved on to the "stake pockets". I used 2 in sq 14 ga tube for those. I purposely cut them extra long for later use.
I also tried just setting up one of the rear fenders to give me an idea about clearances.. with the mini tubs and the wider fenders I have 18 of internal clearance so I will be able to put a nice wide rim with some decent dish and back spacing and run a fatass tire on the back..That was important for the look I am going for.

 

Today I had a chance to get the front (back) of the bed tacked in place and started getting the goodies together for the tail gate. Big thanks to Drewski 2 for the help with copying his design for the hidden hinges!

 

Today I finished the tailgate hinges and roughed up the frame for the tailgate..Again..a huge thanks to Drewski2 foir sharing his photos for the rest of us to benefit from!

 

Today I spent an hour or so on fixing the lower rear shock mount... now it will have the correct geometry..

 

Don, somehow I've been missing your recent posts on your build. Looks like your bed is coming along nicely. I'm glad to have been able to give you ideas to work with on your build. Looking forward to seeing your progress. You might as well get ready.........you'll probably be asked if you'd be willing to build another bed. I've had several people ask me if I would be willing to build one for them. Unfortunately, I want to keep this a hobby and not turn it into "work".

 

Thanks...I haven't had much time to dedicate to it lately... I will try to make more time for it...still working full time and family/grandkids make it hard to work on it as much as I'd like...

 

Great build you have going there Don,nice to see talent in action

 

Yesterday I started to find the floor in the shop..an hour or so into it...hey look...there's my truck....
Managed to get the running boards and rear fenders mocked up.. and the old part loaded on the trailer for a salvage run...

 

What rear leaf spring setup are you using and what gas tank is that?

 

How do you find out the rules of each state? Is NC one of the states?

 

I finally got sick of not having a good clean place to work. So today it took me 6 1/2 hours but if found the floor of the shop today.

 

I'll answer my own question here. It took so research but I found the TCI kit:

TCI Engineering ~ 1-800-984-6259 ~ American Made Street Rods, Hot Rods, Classic Trucks, Ford & Chevy Muscle Cars Suspension and Chassis Parts. Street Rods, Hot Rods, Classic Trucks Pickups

http://www.totalcostinvolved.com/pdf...Spring_Kit.pdf

 

Don,
It has been twelve months and we are dying for an update - how goes it?

I would especially like to know about the running boards and whether you made those of were they an 'off the shelf' item?
If you made them yourself then nice work, and perhaps some close-up photos?

Cheerz,
Tricky

 

Believe it or not.....AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS OF WALKING AWAY FROM IT...... I actually found the truck again... after ALL THIS TIME!
I have been extremely busy but some things are in the works where I will definitely be getting back on the ole girl!
Effective 1 Feb, I will be officially retired and the plan is to get back on it until its DONE!
Money will be tight for a bit but I have managed to amass MOST of the parts I think I will need to finish her up.. I'm sure I have a few things missing but I will cover that when I run into them.
This week I finally decided not to go with the original instrument cluster and started working on modifying the original housing to accommodate new white faced SpeedHut speedo and gauges. I went with those for the ease of GPS based speedometer.. plus I like the vintage styling.


Getting EXCITED again!

 

Glad you are back at it Don, I will be reading through the rest of your thread later. Have a great one