Ok I got my inspiration from the tailgate Charlie made awhile back.

It's not as homemade as some of the others but I started it last night at class and instead of inlayed letters my plan is to have them raised. The first thing I did was look all over for the Ford font. I found the Ford font that is on the 48-50's but when I enlarged it, it just didn't look right. Since I didn't like the way it looked, I used the Edwardian Script in paint. I like the way it looks with the extra swirling to it. To make my template I opened microsoft paint, clicked on the text box and made the font size 600. I couldn't make the text any bigger or it wouldn't show up in the print preview as 1 page (important for printing and piecing together). Once I did that I used the image stretch/skew and enlarged it 150x to get the size I wanted. It took several pieces of paper to print it on. It was like a puzzle but it was easy to put them all together to get the letter and then all I had to do was cut it out so I could use it as my template. I bought a 4'x10' sheet of 16 gauge hot rolled steel to use for this project. After I traced out the "F" onto my piece of steel I used the plasma cutter to cut it out. I still need to do some grinding and sanding to get the rough edges nice and clean but this will give ya an idea of my plans, the F is 10 inches tall by 16 inches wide so it should take up a decent amount of room on the back of the tailgate along with the rest of the letters.

I haven't found a place close by that water-jets stuff so I have to use the plasma cutter. I also used the plasma cutter to cut the center section out of the original tailgate this way I removed the 2 lines at each end of the Ford. I will be cleaning up the cuts and squaring them up before welding in the new metal.






I left about 3/4 of an inch on the sides so I could weld in the new flat piece of steel. I also made sure I left the little indent at the bottom of the tailgate so it kind of gives it that factory look, some people like them some dont.



Thursday night I will cut out the rest of the letters and get some more pictures posted as I continue with this project. Once I get the main part of it done I'm going to try to do like bobbytnm did with his latch system...

 

Great work

 

Looking good so far. When it comes time to start making the latches theres a few things to keep in mind.

I used several pieces of 1/2" pipe and whatever the next size up that it will slide into. When you are at the hardware store looking at pipe, make sure to trial fit the pieces to make sure they will slip into one another....some do, some don't. If you have any questions, drop me a line.

I cant wait to see how this comes out
Bobby

 

Hey tardster! thats really cool!

 

Thanks guys, I don't know how it will turn out but it doesn't hurt to try right? I have the rest of this semester to use the plasma cutter so once I'm done with the tailgate stuff I plan on making me some patches for the front roll pan since the front bumper is gone, maybe french in some fog lights or something there. I would love to make some of the seatbelt anchor panels but I need one to make a template with but who knows maybe ill run into 1 before the semester is up. I will have lots of metal so I'm trying to thin of other things I can make while I have access to everything...

 

hey stuck up !!! seen you twice early in the am now as i'm sitting at the light leaving the chatham p.o in yer shiny new truck and honked , obviously in the big dirty white thing , and you just stare straight ahead in a daze . so i'll quit honking and waving and just run ya over , maybe you'll see me then .......... LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!! cool work , get it finished so we can see the end results !!!! no progress here just a garage full of parts in total disarray .....................

 

Well crap you just might have to run me over, when its early thats my normal quittin time so the only thing on my mind is gettin home...lol On a serious note, did you ever find those lower fender patch panels, I bet I could make some copies of those. While I have some of this extra steel laying around, ya need anything?

 

lets just say i think i know where they're at , but not for sure ........ typical of me to lose things in the clutter . hades i'm trying to find the new rear leaf spring eye bushings and pins etc. i bought so long ago for this thing as i'm working on the springs and getting the suspension together .... if my " assistant aka my granddaughter reese ever gets in here to paint some things . she had told me she wants to paint them { just spray paint for now till it's all finished then some real paint } and i better not till she does or she'll be mad at papa .................. i'll try to remember to look when i get home this am in between dude !

 

Well it sounds like I'm not the only 1 who has a little one bossing him around huh. As for losing things in the clutter, lmao yea, lets just say been there still doing that... I bought a brand new set of dremel bits not to long ago, boy those sure would come in handy to do the finishing touch up work on these letters, if I could find them...lol

 

I had to wait until to do some more to my tailgate, something about the neighbors and grinders at 3am doesn't go over to well with many... Anyway I got the new piece of metal cut out and she fits like a glove.


So now once its in its time to tack it up and make sure all the edges are flat...




Not close to being done welding it up but I couldn't resist. I had to see if its close to what I imagined it to look like and by golly gee she's lookin perty good so far...





hope ya'll like so far...

 

Nice! It's gonna look great. A few months back, I so an effie that the guy had made raised flames on his fenders in a similar manner that you're doing. He cut them out of an old pair of fenders and then draped them over his better fenders, welded them in ans viola! He had flames. Good luck, Jag

 

Lookin' good, keep the pictures coming.

Paul

 

Quick update. I got the rest of the letters cut out. I still need to finish them up but this will give you an idea of what I'm trying to do. Hope ya like...


The template on the tailgate to see if the size is ok.



a better idea of the overal look and size...



and the actual letters...

 

Nice nice nice nice nice

 

It's lookin' good. Keep up the great work. Come on Mercury owners.