Dang the weekends sure seem to scream past! Here it is Monday morning already, so I guess its time to tally up. I know from some of the postings in the "weekend plans" thread and other threads that there was quite a bit of progress made.

I missed out on the Saturday Night Chat time as I had to fulfill my part of he compromise and go shopping with the boss.

On Friday night I managed to fabricate my other spring pin latch. On saturday I pressed them both into the top rail of the tailgate and drilled the holes in the bedsides for them to pin into. I am very excited about how it all worked out. These things are very cool! (and in accordance with my tightwad nature, they were cheap.....roughly $20)



After I got that done I went to my donor bed floor and cut off the bed front panel. Its going to be a bit of a trick to cut it to fit (might take a 12 pack or so of frosties to come up with a plan)


On Sunday I decided to fill in the 2 lower corners of my tailgate. I took AX's suggestion and cut off the taps from where I had to relief the angle to make the bend. I trimmed a piece of gauge material to fit the corners and welded them in place


All in all it was a fine weekend, on saturday afternoon my son and I took the truck for a cruise and I made some decent progress.

So, spill the beans, lets here how it went for you all
Bobby

 

Of course, I didn't get as far as hoped, but I did make some good headway. I spent about 4 hours Saturday touching up my metalwork in prep for the filler. Sunday I started on the inside of the hood, treating some surface rust before filling around the hinges and the rear return flange.

I'll be out of town until Saturday night, so next weekend will be a short one, but I should get a start on the major body filler work. I have the week between Christmas and New Year off. That's where I hope to make the big push toward paint.

 

I got started on the passenger side floor of the 53. Got the old cut out and the new ready to go in, but I have a couple "while I'm at its" to take care of before I actually weld the new section in.
Bought a stud welder on ebay, tried it out on a couple of dents. It works pretty good and doesn't leave a hole like the old way of drilling a screw through the metal.
All in all, decent progess for just a Sunday afternoon.

 

I like the way you made those latches. You can buy that type but they cost well over a $100.00. I would like to do something like that on my 48 F1. What size spring did you use? Also what was the dia. of the pin? I was thinking of putting a flanged bushing in the hole in the bed to prevent peening out from road vibration. Sure does make the back end of the truck look better. I put a rear roll pan on mine this past spring to clean up the back end. Getting rid of the chains would help make the back of the truck look a lot better.


Terry

 

lookin good!!! that tailgate is awesome and im sure your bed is going to turn out great! /tony tiger

 

Terry,
Thanks. For the springs I just went over to the local hardware store. I found some 1/2" diameter x 3" springs that worked really well. The pins are actually 5/16" axle bolts, any bolt with a shoulder should work.
Here's what worked for me, keep in mind that I made my own top rail so I don't know if it will fit a stock rail or not.
Main housing...3/4" pipe
Inner slider.....1/2" pipe
1/2" diameter x 3" spring (to fit inside 1/2" pipe)
1/4" allen head should bolt (for ****)
5/16" shoulder bolt (for pin)


Not all 1/2" pipe will fit and slide easily in 3/4" pipe. I used 6" nipples from the local hardware store and had to rummage through the whole selection to find suitable pieces.
I slightly ground the edges off a 5/16" nut and pressed it into one end of the inner slider (1/2" pipe) then welded it in place. I cut down the 5/16" bolt leaving 1/2" pin that would thread into the inner slider.
I welded a washer across the back end of the main housing (3/4" pipe) to give the spring something to rest against.
The **** is a short 1/4" allen bolt with a small shoulder. I drilled the inner slider (1/2" pipe) and threaded the hold for the ****. For the main housing I drilled two 5/16" holes approx 5/8" apart and used a cut off wheel in a Dremel tool to cut out between them to make a slot for the **** to slide in.
Now you just slip the spring inside, slide the inner piece in the outer until the threaded hole lines up in the slot, thread the **** in place and there you have it.

I had to drill the series of holes and cut between them to make the slots in my upper tailgate rail. It was a very tight fit for the 3/4" pipe to slip into my upper rail (I had to persuade them a bit) The hard part was pressing them in place so that the slots lined up. I had to do a wee bit of final trimming of the slotted hole with a small burr mounted in a Dremel tool. Since these were such a tight fit I'm not worried about them moving about...

I considered using a rubber grommet in the bedside at the pin hole. I might add it later


Randy, I can't wait to see your truck painted. From the quality of work you do I just know its going to be amazing.

Bobby

 

Squirrel Reduction Program.

 

Does that mean a case of 22 shells and a 12-pack?

Sounds like fun

 

Friend of mine had a bumper sticker: I swerve for squirrels! (and he did!)
Bushy tailed rats, but they are really tasty.

 

I posted in the weekend plans thread but to repeat:
Sat AM we went to dealer and ordered our new (race) car, Solstice GXP Turbocharged 260 hp! We are now sponsored by Rick Hendrick Pontiac (yes that RH.)
Went to work after that, we are open Saturdays in Dec.
Sunday I finished the rear door hinge pocket work and took out the dents in the door's outer skin after making a couple body tools. Rear doors still need a little gap match refinement.

 

Bobby,

Your weekend threads work the same way for us - if we respond with what we plan to do, we know we gotta "git er done" too or look bad here on Monday a.m........

Having said that, I got about 70% done what I planned to;

- stripped both outer sides of the bed of all paint so it's nothing but bare metal.

- we got the patch panel onto the front on one of the rear fenders. Don't know what they used for a pattern for the patch panels but we had to split it up the middle and add 3/8" to it...... We shortened the front leg of the fender while we were at it. That is, we cut off 7 inches and replaced with 6 inches. Since I'm not forced to mount the fender in the very same place as stockers would, this will effectively pull the top of the fender down an inch from stock. The idea is to reduce the amount of air or rubber showing on the top....

Would like to have gotten the 2nd fender done but......

We're debating whether to cut up the fender also and pull the top edge of the wheel opening down a further inch or two.....

- this morning I made a couple of wooden bucks to use to make the patch panels which will replace the stock Silverado tail light assys. Pictures of said bucks are in the end of my box gallery.....

- Also made most of the frame to hold the fenders for marking the narrowing cuts....

Hopefully this coming weekend we'll get the other fender fixed. Want to mark and cut them both when I off over Christmas....

 

I am jealous... your Solstice is going to be sweet.

 

Bright yellow with black interior and top. Right now I'm thinking I may do the graphics in copper, black and white, but that may change as I work out the design. Should look good with Gracie's planned purple and silver paint scheme.

 

Bobby,

That bed is looking better and better. Now you gotta do something about those trailer lights...

 

Well, I got my heater apart to replace the motor with a 12v piece. The only modern motor that fits is special order, so I'm waiting... Also shipped my MSD disrtributor back to them to find out why I am having such a hard time getting the drive gear on.

Bobby, one thing about your tailgate latches (it looks great!). It doesn't tie the two sides of the bed together, does it? Do the bedsides flop, or can the gate brace them? I'm seriously thinking of a system that ties them together as a unit for rigidity. I won't be using the gate much.