BlackTruck Build 65

[unibody madness]

Awesome!!!!!

[grump]

I'm sure that little cruise felt so good and made you feel like you're getting there. Looking good.

[JeffinMooresville]

K, big weekend… got the bed installed and a few other items.



Hoist thru the center 4 bolt holes went great… used some small wood blocks when I sat it down to remove the eye bolts. Doug’s suggestion… thanks Doug. Previously, I had put straps thru bed post holes… but was concerned with what it might do to paint…



Wanted to get it out and get pictures of final stance, but had to tweak around with bed alignment… initially I had an issue with clearance on inside of left wheel well… so was able to bump it over 1/2” and all is good…

[JeffinMooresville]

Finished wiring and installation of taillights this afternoon.





Went with 67 buckets and lenses so I would have backup lights. Decided to leave the chrome trim off… I think it turned out good.



Started working on tailgate.

[My wife's nightmare]

She's looking better and better every day!! You're forcing me to drag what's left of my bed out and start working on it

[JeffinMooresville]

What ? And lose those cool fenders… Naaa.. I like the flatbed look… shows off all of that frame work you did.

[JeffinMooresville]

Final assembly completed… at least all of the parts are bolted on.

















Still a lot to do, but looks like we are going to make it to the F100 show in a couple weeks.

Been a long time coming, we brought the truck home in July of 2019. Has it really been almost 4 years ?

[grump]

Wow, that looks great. Hope to see it in person in a couple weeks in Tennessee.

[JeffinMooresville]

Looking forward to it… I have seen you mention your 66… but I didn’t see any pictures, tell me what your your truck looks like so I can find you.

Goes for anyone else on slicksixties, would love to meet some of the people in person at the F100 show in a couple of weeks.

Jeff

[jamesdfo]

Lookin' Good Jeff!! And it's sits right too!!

Have fun in Pigeon Forge!!


**And remember, drive it like ya stole it!! lol

[grump]

Unfortunately my 66 is is in pieces in my shop. I just got a pair of inner fenders from Desert Valley in Arizona and that's my project right now. I've got the cab pretty much done but still a lot to do to make it look as nice as yours.

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, got title and tag on Friday, and 4 wheel alignment. So was off to the races, Debbie and I were out for leisurely shake out cruise… and all of a sudden, smoke out of the back and oil pressure dropped to nothing. Pulled over and oil was pouring out of somewhere… my heart just sunk.

Doug came and picked us up and we helped go back and load it up on the trailer and bring it back home. I was going to grandsons football games, so was not able to dig in and determine the damage. I thought the worse and did not sleep a wink last night.

This morning I got up bright and early and started to figure out what happened.

When I changed the oil after the initial break-in… I guess the gasket did not come off with the filter and I double gasketed the Oil filter.



Ok, so stupid mistake on my part, but good news was that it wasn’t some rod thru the side of the block. So I put everything back together, added fresh oil and filter and hoped for the best.

It started right up and appears to be back in business…. Oh my god, I was so relieved, Doug stopped by to give me some much needed moral support.

Now I just have to get all of that oil cleaned up from under the truck.

After all of the chaos , everything is back together… and as I was sitting and soaking it all in… it started to rain..

How could Sunday afternoon be any better than this, working on the truck in the shop while listening to rain on the metal roof… life is good !

[JeffinMooresville]

With outside mostly assembled, I started working on the bed. I wanted to put a wood bed insert in to give the look of a wood bed.

There is a guy around here with a nice dent side that built one and it looked good. This is his bed below.



He used a plywood underlayment, and told me that he had moisture problems… so I decided to try an aluminum frame under the wood. I found this 2020 extruded aluminum and am using that.

It has a T slot on all 4 sides … people are evidently using for 3 d printers so has become more affordable and there are a bunch of fittings and accessories available.



I bought an aluminum cutting blade for chopsaw, and it makes smooth cuts like butter.



So this is the frame that I built.



I was able to break it up into 3 main pieces for easy assembly in the truck bed and then reconnect once installed for rigid frame. Here is the front piece in the front of bed. I used some 1” spaces to center from sides.



Here is the full frame installed in the bed.



The idea it to lay in the wood and attach to the frame with some countersink fasteners. They make a sliding m5 T-nut that slides in the track.



Now that the frame is done, I can start working on the wood.

[JeffinMooresville]

With bed frame done, I used this plastic insert on bottom of frame to provide some padding.



Now to start on the wood, I am using old mahogany paneling from a house installed in the 50’s… so I ripped the boards down and created some glue ups.

Ran them thru the planner to make flat and remove existing finish.





Then ripped down to size , started to layout and cut to a rough length.





Laid out to do some dry fitting in bed.



The board on top is the sample final finish…… I think the dark mahogany is going to go well with green…..

[JeffinMooresville]

Making some progress on my wood bed insert. Putting the gears and lightning bolt as an inlay in the bed.

Initial inlay fit and sanding.





Fitting the corner pieces to the frame… now for test fit in the truck.

[unibody madness]

your workmanship is astounding! Hoping to see you and your truck at Slickstock

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, been a while…. But I am slow…. Decided to go with epoxy for the finish…. My first epoxy project, so some lessons learned. Still have some odds and ends to wrap up, but Doug stopped by last night and helped me get it in the bed.

[JeffinMooresville]

Wanted to catch up on some work that I have done to the truck. I had some of the mahogany wood left, and I wanted to to a slat style headliner…

Started with empty slate


Added some kill mat.


And then put in some plywood bracing to attach the boards to. 3/4” in back and center and 1/4” in the front. I just used self tapping screws to attaché to center brace and rear flange.





Next, milled up all of the wood pieces, made them about 1/4” thick so they would bend. They basically bend up in the center for slight curve.





The center pieces went pretty quick, but the ones along the side took forever as I had to shape them so they would fit in the curves. I used some abs plastic and a heat gun to finish out trim. Still not 100% happy with this trim ,especially in the corners… project for another day.



Then I pulled it all back out and put the mahogany stain and clear coat on.


I was happy with final result…. Added trim piece in the rear and some small LED lights which work great !



Catch up more later.







These are the 12v LED spots that I used, just wired into the courtesy light circuit, so stock switch turns them on.

[chris401]

A huge thanks on the headliner idea. I've been working with hardwood floors in the house and I think if sealed correctly would make a durable bed floor. Only issue with your wood etching is it can be spotted from the air. Likely not the attention you would want if you decide to cut loose one day.

[shipwrecked]

beautiful!