I got started on the raised bed floor. I tried my best to keep everything as low as possible, but with the large step notch, I will loose about 7.5" of bed height. It's not ideal, but I have seen much worse. It will still somwhat resemble a real bed.

My intention is to have it look "stockish". I purchased some stainless bed strips, but I am still on the fence about what to use for wood. It might get some rough sawn plywood for the time being. I plan on having a removalable section, so that I am able to service the battery, air ride, etc. More pics of that plan to follow.

Here is my rough layout, thus far....

 

Rolled it outside, for a few pics....My neighbor across the street is a big 56 f100 guy, but he doesn't currently have one. My plan is to continue to photograph my truck, with his house in the background, and send them to him. I figured that, along with some obligatory rolling burnouts, might spark his motivation to start his own project......seems like the neighborly thing to do, right?

 

Very nice!

 

More work on the raised bed. Bodywork will wait until later, so I put a coat of primer and some satin black on the wheel tubs and bed framework. Hopefully, this is all going together for a semi-final time. I will drive the truck without doing any major paint or bodywork for a while....



Before re-installing the bed, I capped off the framerails. I was able to see a little more of the fuel tank and frame rails than I liked. This should clean it up a bit from behind.

 

Definitely not some of my best work. That 22 gauge sheet metal and my .035 wire were not seeing eye to eye today. Regardless, I fabbed up a little fuel cap recess, that will french into the filler panel beneath the bed. It will make a little more sense in the following pictures...



Bed frame work bolting in. I left some spacing in the framework intentionally, so I would be able to shim some areas during installation.




Here is the filler panel coming together. I frenched the filler into this panel, so it wouldn't be visable at all, with the tailgate closed.

 

Looking so cool. Love it when someone does things differently.
did you check to see if a gas nozzle will go into that filler?

 

Good question! I didn't. I will post my shame moment, if I am using a funnel at the first gas station....haha

 

A little more work on the bed wood. I am attaching it a little differently than most, so that the center section will be easily removable, for access to the battery, air management, etc.

First attempt at my layout. Just cheap old pine boards, from the lumber yard. I ripped them to width, added a rabbet for the bed strips, and cut them to length. Dirt cheap in comparison to buying a bed wood kit. I have to save some money for engine work! Plus, I got to make some sawdust with my old table saw!


I did some light sugi ban (torching) on the boards, prior to staining. I am trying to keep it semi-rustic looking. I dont think a beautiful hand rubbed furniture piece would look right with my build. Before final assembly, I will give it a couple coats of matte clear.


Got the girlfriend involved, staining the boards. Miniwax Driftwood. The combination of the torching and the stain gives off a lightly weathered look.


I played around with about 5 or 6 different colors of stain, different sugi ban applications, wire wheeling, sanding, etc. I was trying to get the color to work well with the wheels and get the level of rustic that I thought would match my plans. The purple on the truck may go, but the wheels will most likely remain this color. Ultimately, I came up with this.



Having the center section removable in one piece, will allow me easy access to this area. I am currently working on fabbing up a metal tray to fit between the frame work, basically where the mufflers and that chunk of 4x4 is laying. This will be where I mount the air management. More on that as it progresses.




Still a few fasteners here and there, and I still need to build crossmembers, so that I can lock it all into place. But, here is the general idea...

 

Nice out of the box thinking, pardon the pun. It looks really good. I am also just going to use pine boards. Nicely done!

 

Not much work lately, but I was able to accomplish a little on the air management tray. I ended up locating the air tank under the cab, which loosened up a lot of room in the tray. My original plan would have worked, and it would have looked great, but servicing those items would have been a nightmare. This setup will be a lot more user friendly, especially given the nature of my build. I'll save the pretty stuff for a later project. This one is getting function over form. My tray is broke up from 10 gauge, a little heavy, but it will be solid. I was not looking for a water tight enclosure, just something to mount to, and to add some level of protection from road debris, spray from the tires, etc. All of the lines will get firewall boots or sealed bulkhead fittings, and the tray itself will get a coat of spray bedliner to quiet things down a notch. The bed wood will cap it off.

 

Trial run on the plumbing, and everything is ready to install for the last time




Still need to finish up routing lines and wrapping up the wiring, but everything is going together well. Barring any unforeseen issues, this is pretty much the last steps, before getting this Jalopy back on the ground!

 

Really like what you're doing, you've put a lot of thought into this build..

 

Thank you, 56panelford! It's been taking up a lot of my time and efforts, but it has been a fun little project.

 

A little update on the front suspension. I finally took the time to correct the issue with tie rod clearance.I didn't need much, only about 1/2". So, I ended up slicing a piece of tubing and channeling it into the frame rails on each side. That gave me just enough room to lay frame up front. I knew I had to address this at some point. Not rocket science, but it was something I wasn't looking forward to. Welding upside down on your shop floor is never a fun job....haha

Here are a couple pics I have, that show them tacked in.

 

and the fruits of my labor!