Originally Posted by mkassab

Yesterday was a break from the interior and I started installing the bed wood with the help of my buddy Steve Ortiz. I must admit, it took a lot longer than I thought to install the bed. Hole alignment being the biggest issue and watching you didn't scratch the trucks gloss black paint and the clear on the wood. I wet sanded each piece of wood with 1000 grit and then a DA polish/foam pads with several different polish compounds. The wood is Wormy Maple... so it's very hard and distinctive. It contrasts well with the black paint. I prefitted each peice and drilled holes as need to accept the external polished ss gas tank and associated mounting bolts and gas lines. The clear on the wood is from Bed Wood and Parts... their EZ Seal and Shine kit, Catalyzed clear Acrylic Urethane Finish... here's the link: EZ Seal And Shine Bed Wood Finish Kit 951 Bed Wood and Parts It's not cheap, but well worth it. The wood and polished ss strips came from them as well. They custom cut the wood for the side rails and posts. This shows a close up of the posts. I used ss flush/insert style nuts for the posts. I then sealed the nuts with silicone and the fronts where the bolts will pass through the bed sides through the posts I made rubber washers. So between the front rubber washers and the rear sealed with the silicone, little to no water should get into the drilled hole in the wood. If it does, I also applied sever coats of the urethane with pipe cleaners. I also ran a tap through all threads to ensure the bolts had no issues. After many hours, the bed wood installed and bolted down tight with ss hardware. All threads were coated with anti-seize. The polished ss gas tank is mounted. I have four lines connected to this 13 gal tank... 2 - 3/8" lines that gravity feed the 17 gal tank located in the truck's frame; 1 - 3/8" line for the return from the fuel pressure regulator and one from a vent tube in the tank. The vent tube is welded to the bottom outlet and to the top of the fuel fuller neck by the twist off cap. Lastly, if you look very closely to the front right bed post I installed you'll see a metal shelf I made that I mounted the AM/FM antenna, the GPS speedo antenna and the Sirus/XM antenna. I also grounded the metal shelf to the truck frame. Since everything is satin black and the bed side rails will make them virtually disappear. You can't see it in this picture, but the lower tank also has a filler cap. I'll fill the lower tank first, then the top tank. The lower tanks is completely sealed and vents through the gravity feed gas lines to the top tank. I also have started to mount the tailgate.... more pictures later. The "FORD" script logo was hand painted with the same Light Platinum metallic paint used elsewhere on the truck as the accent color. Back to work to "get'er done". Mark