Stiggy Pop
In the cool kids club
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2011
- Location
- Granville, MA
That's pretty bad ass. I'm enjoying watching this, and it seems like you guys are having a ball with it.
So far so good in terms of keeping it a good time! Actually having to force myself to motivate on the 242 because this project is in a much more fun stage.
I sliced up the d-pillars from the donor car so they laid on top of the rear cab pillars. The idea is to pull the d-pillar out so it is in line with the body lining we are creating with the top of the bed (and carrying back from the front fenders). This way the rear of the cab and the bed will blend in rather than have an odd step out.
Will have to see how it works out. It shouldn't be too hard to blend the piece in
Also did some initial 'proof of concept' work on the tailgate. Couple of requirements:
- we don't want a big flat piece of sheetmetal across the back of the car, so it should use the lower section of a tailgate.
- needs extend out so it doesn't hit the bumper and so it's far enough out that the back wheel of my dirt bike can sit on it.
- needs to be strong enough to be stepped on while loading the bike/having the bike on it.
I ended up buying a pair of industrial drawer slides rated for 500lbs. Plan is to build a steel frame and mount it to the slides and use the aluminum tailgate as a facade. Drawer slides will have a bushing welded to them, which will ride on a long shouldered seatbelt bolt bolted to the body.
Drawer slides tacked in, pivot point set in a bit.
tacked a frame together
So the gate will lift up, pivot out and extend.
It works awesome!
I brought in the tailgate from the parts car and stripped it down. Because the steel frame is set inwards a bit, the tailgate sits right in where it does normally
It lined up really well, and should work out perfectly. We'll finish framing out the steel, then make short brackets and just mount the whole lower half of the tailgate to it.
finally got our load of steel.
shape of the bed rail
can kind of start seeing how the bed will look
and how the d-pillar and top of the bed will line up and look more complete
Lots more welding to do. Might have to take a couple weeks off for the 242, but I'll be driving this thing this summer for sure.