So, I picked up an "82 F100 that was owned by a city who then sent it to a camp to be used. It shows 90k on the odometer and the body is in pretty decent shape. The bed however is another story. I've seen a couple guys on here re-do theirs but haven't been able to find a whole lot. Someone did some repairs to it using old road signs to reinforce the sides a bit. Is there any significant differences between the Bumpside bedsides and the Bullnose ones? It seems that the newer model year I search the less is available. I know I can get a Ford tailgate for around $500 lol.

 

I can't see much on my phone so when I get on my pc and look what you have I will answer.
BTW I used a style side metal floor to bolt on the sides I repaired for my flare side bed.
I will post a link to later also.
Dave - - - -

 

Yes, they're quite a bit different. The fender mounting studs are all different for one, and there's no fender hump on the inside of the bumpside panels. You could buy them, but by the time you were done making them work, you could probably get Mar-K to make you a set of "blank" sides that you could put your own fender studs in. I just bought an almost complete Flareside box for $500 bucks, and it does need some rehab work, but it is mostly complete. If you look around you will find the sides...used that is, but they are still out there kickin' around. Where are you located?

 

WOW! My sides were not that bad only had to fix the rear & front most lip on both sides and 1 or 2 holes on the rest.

First I go to ask what is your skill set and do you have a welder?
You can get the front & rear sills and all the cross members for about $1000 when I checked.
You saw the tail gate for $500, was that the one that had the FORD letters on it if so it is cheaper with out the letters.
You can also get the front panel or header panel think was $250?
That was as far as I went as I could not swing the $1000 for the sills & cross members.
The wood part (ply wood local) and metal strips you can also get but did not price it out.

That bring us to the sides! At first I was looking for a 90* sheet metal strip that I could over lap weld to the sides making the bends around the wheel area with shrinker/streacher I have and drill or punch the holes in the bottom side of the lip to bolt to the wood. Not being able to find the 90* sheet metal lip I looked over my sides and went a different way.
I was able to make a pattern from cardboard from what was left of my lips and used them to cut & mark flat stock that I used to fix the lips. Flat stock cut and holes made for the bolts before welding to the bed side.

On the front & rear there are flat parts that "hang down" you can see in the picture above, I just welded in patches as needed after I welded in the lip.

Primed & bolted to the floor



Now the floor.
I used a long bed style side floor in place of the wood floor and as you saw bolted the side to it ......... But it is not quite that easy! I did a lot of measuring and asking but mostly measuring to see if this would even work.
After the side were cut off and the front to make it shorter we test fit the bed sides & front panel, had no tail gate so the opening was measured and clamped to hole that measurement.


All the cross members fell in the right place but the front one so I had to drill out spot welds and move it back a few inches.

The floor was also a few inches too long so I had to cut that also. The panel just above is the outer part of the FS rear sill. I welded that to the floor to finish it to look like a stock FS rear panel.

Front header panel had rust across the bottom but because of the ribbed metal floor it had to be shorter so I cut the rust off and used 1 of the style side floor cross members I was not using to make a new lip.
Sorry none of it welded up.


Floor done and bottom side painted

I have since gotten a tail gate and because I have added duel tanks I added the rear fill door.


It was a lot of work but if you did not know it was to have a wood floor you could not tell, like the duel tanks, and how I like to do my custom touch.
Dave ----

 

I read through your whole thing Dave. Very detailed and informative. I'd like to keep the wood floor. I was thinking c-channel or square tube for the cross braces. Then add some angle to replace what rusted away. I may follow your lead and steal some styleside bed panels to rehab it. I only paid $166 for the truck and am not planning on dumping $1k+ for a bed. I just want to keep the flareside look.

 

LOL and I only paid $800 for mine and had no plans of doing a cab off frame rebuild of the truck or doing what I did for the bed and still keep the look of a flare side.
Being a ex-body & fender man and mechanic I could not do a half azz job fixing it. I also like doing the metal work just not body filler work.
Oh I think OCD had a lot to do with it too LOL

The cross members are not square and are different on how high each one is as the frame is not flat.
If you can find a style side bed long or short that the body is bad but the cross members are good (and cheap) you might be able to use them turned upside down and hard wood blocks in the channel, they have the blocks in a kit, then you would need the front & rear sills and fix the bed sides.

I will be following to see what you do.
Dave ----

 

Does it need wood blocks, can't I do something else? Seems like wood is a bad idea

 

The studs could be moved for the fenders right? I'm in Michigan so most is rusted.

 

had a long answer typed out on phone and lost it.
will answer when on pc.
Dave - -- -

 

[QUOTE=FuzzFace2;17972544
Being a ex-body & fender man and mechanic I could not do a half azz job fixing it. I also like doing the metal work just not body filler work.
[/QUOTE]

Uh oh, Dave. I think I just found a friend to help with my crunched driver's-side rear corner of my bed ....and you aren't that far away from me haha!

by the way, NICE FIND VIC! $167 is an amazing steal for that truck, even with a trashed bed.

 

Thanks! It runs, drives, stops (kind of). Trans needs a rebuild but it will drive.

 

The hard wood does 2 things. 1 keeps the metal on metal from squeaking as the blocks are a little taller than the channels. @ because the blocks are taller when you tighten down on the bed bolts the blocks stop you from crushing the channels.
You could make your own from hard wood or if you don't care of the noise, I don't know how much noise there is, you could use pipe to put the bed bolts thru cut a little longer than the channels to keep from crushing the channels.
The metal floor has the channels turned up and welded to the floor but it also has pipe spacers the bolts go thru so not to crush the floor.

I think Dennis Carpenter has instruction on how the floor goes together may want to get a set so you under stand how it was from the factory.
Dave ----

 

You know why I am an ex-body man? My dad said I had to learn it as he was a B&F man and I did learn it thing is I hate doing it. I am 58, I knew B&F before I started high school, and this truck if I get paint on it will be the 2nd car/truck I have owned that I did the full B&F and painted. I have a drag car I built but never painted.
I hate it so much I am finding other things to do on my truck and all I have left is the hood and 1 small dent in a fender I missed but for I can do final prep for paint. Yep hate it!

Now how bad is this crunch? Maybe PM me a picture to see if it can be fixed or best to replace. Also my job has crazy hours so only time to work on my truck is weekends if not too hot and after the honey do list is done.
Dave ----

ps: I just checked you are 3 hours from me. Guess that is closer than 4 hours LOL

 

Sorry for the high jack above.
I think the studs are welded to the side panel. It looks like the hole was made the stud put in the then it is like a spot weld the stud it heated/welded so not easy to remove.

I guess you could grind the studs flat on both sides and then drill new holes and weld in new studs but that is a lot of work in my book for a side panel that is not made for the bed floor.
Then you still need to have something to bolt them to. Stock they bolt to the wood floor and the wood to the cross members.

Also start spraying the fender nuts so it works in before you try and remove the fenders. I removed the sides with the fenders still bolted, laid them inside down so the nuts were up and the spray could work down into the threads. As above if you snap one or 2 not bad but any more could have issues. Cant really use heat / flame on the nuts as the fenders are fiber glass and if they catch fire it will be hell to put out.
Dave ----