Lookin good! Takin mine to the body shop today to get a couple of dents smoothed out

 

Welp... go figure... can't get the entire bed side like we had thought, so it looks like I will be patching the bed I got. I have a call to a salvage yard trying to source a straight, rust free bed, but I don't think that will happen. I could even go for one with dings in it, I'm just sick of rust work. Guess it is what it is though... part of me wishes I would have jumped on the chance i had a few months ago to buy a 50's chevy, and then just drop the damn Cummins in the thing and call it a day!

But... I didn't, so I guess I won't.

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Tow truck will be here in about an hour

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All ready to pull onto the tow truck:

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And she's off!

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Hopefully will have the cab and chassis done within the month, and then they can start work on the bed. Got my work cut out for me on the bed, and not a whole lot of time left in the summer. I am definitely cutting this close to my deadline!

 

not a whole lot of time left in the summer???hell summer hasnt even started yet! looks good brotha

 

Well, I am moving in July, so basically my summer ends then, haha.

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Welp, stopped by the body shop and picked out my colors. Went with 2 Ford colors (sacrilegious, or no?), Shadow Grey Metallic (Ford Code CX) and Royal Red Metallic (Ford Code UK).

I think it should turn out very well, I am excited to see the end results.

 

 

should look B.A man. cant wait to see some pics of it painted up.

 

Well, been working on the bed since the cab shipped out. Having a bit of trouble finding the wheel arch patch panels that I need. Parts place 2 hours round trip doesn't stock them any more, but can special order them, and SHOULD be in contact with me by the end of the week... Or a parts place 5 hours away (one way) has them in stock. Do I save on time and pick them up, or do I wait and save money on gas?

Anyway, here are some pics of the progress... as you will see, I have alot of work cut out for me. Still have to figure out a way to get the wood floor to work, since the bed sides are spot welded onto the bed floor for some added support. I could make it work, but I am afraid the bed sides may end up being kinda flimsy. So, I am faced with another decision... repair the metal bed floor, or somehow reinforce the bed sides and continue with the wood floor. Both are going to be a bunch of work, but I think the wood floor would be much more rewarding. I have a junk bed out back, I may cut some of the support out of the bottom of it to extend the supports on the better bed and then weld the bed sides to it for the strength I need, then do the wood floor. Running into a bit of a time crunch since i will be driving across the country the first 2 weeks of June, and I would like the bed out to paint by then, but I don't see that happening. I am going to start cutting on the bed this afternoon, so hopefully it will go smoothly and I can get her done...

It needs bed sides, obviously. Everything around the rust is very solid, which will be good for bonding the new panels on:
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Inside the tail light housings need sandblasted and primed... gotta call the sandblaster and see how much thats going to hurt:
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The underside of the rear of the bed floor. Obviously very weak and rusted through in a few places:
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The front bottom of the bed is rusted through too, so I will have to make something work there:
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Got the front of the bed prepped, not too bad there just a little rust at the seems that needed brushed and primed:
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And started prepping the tail gate for primer:
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Still have alot of work ahead of me, but I have plenty of time to work on it now that we have everything inside. Hopefully I will be close to my time frame... but who knows!

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Well scratch that... guess I am just gonna junk the bed. The supports are too far gone, and I can't save it. Can't justify buying another bed, so I am just going to throw together a flat bed. Have a few ideas in mind, and we'll see what comes out of it...

 

Try Raybuck auto parts, they have 2nd gen patch panels so they may have 1st

 

Yeah, Raybuck is where I got the rockers and cab corner. Only thing is I was trying to avoid truck freight. I am scrapping the bed idea anyway and going with a flat bed, so I don't have to worry much about it any more.

 

You could also try LMC. nice project