48 chevy truck

[kb426]

O&S has the bed cover frames welded and the bed covers cut and bent. The center post and hinges and latches are left.

[kb426]

O&S got plenty of exercise today. Not much accomplished. The bed sides received some finish work to make it easier to assemble after painting. I made nut inserts for the center bar and welded them in. The bed cover frames were an 1/8" out of square after I finished welding them. I clamped them to the side of the gantry crane and bent them. The pics show the bed covers tossed on. Lots more to go.

[jaybee]

I'm really starting to dig this thing.

[kb426]

O&S made little progress today. I cleaned up the 72 to go to the Hooker Ok show tomorrow. I made some pivots for the bed cover hinges. They don't work as I wanted. I spent a couple of hours messing with parts to make the bed cover work. To use the pivots, the linkage is substantial in size and the bed cover frame will need to be modified. I made a cad mock up of the rear roll pan. The radius on the bottom will be tighter than the pic shows. 2 taillights per side. Still thinking about layout.

[chimp koose]

That type of cad I am very familiar with !   

[kb426]

O&S had one of those days. I turned something simple into an all day job. I decided to add raised panels to the roll pan. It was too long to rotate in the bead roller. I cut it in half to do that. The piece was 48" long to start with so I had to add another 3" to it. That was my plan in the beginning. There's trimming to do and alignment before doing mounting holes.

[kb426]

Another day in O&S land. This morning, I cut off the left end plate and moved it .125" and welded it back on. By the time I lined everything up this morning, the roll pan was too wide and the side panel was too low. I must have had more than usual brain damage yesterday. The taillights are mounted and 2 mounting holes are drilled for the tag on the right raised panel. I have 3 holes for the tag light and the 2 back up lights to drill. I thought about frenching the back up lights on the gray truck and wimped out. I'm thinking about it again. O&S is tired.

[jaybee]

Love it, no one is going to mistake this for another truck from behind.

[kb426]

O&S had a half day. I took a simple project and blew it up, again. I was going to make matching panels for the front of the bed to mount under it. I cut 2 parts and laid them out. Ran them through the bead roller. Flanged the ends and looked at them on the truck. I didn't like how it looked. I flattened out the flanged end on the straight end. The panel had warpage from the bead roller. I took them to the english wheel and rolled them with a flat roller. I wasn't impressed with the results. I bent up some 90 degree parts and welded them to the straight end of the panels. They're bolted on but I have mixed emotions about them. If they were primered or painted it would be easier to make a decision.

[chimp koose]

they look like they belong there    

[kb426]

O&S spent half of the day doing yard work. After lunch I tackled the under dash console. It took almost 4 hours for layout and machine work. O&S at it's best.

[kb426]

Unproductive day for O&S. Too many distractions.

[kb426]

O&S did stuff today. Not much of it was on the project. When I quit yesterday, I decided that the waterfall console would come back out. The ac control slot was .187" off to one side. I added two holes for pushbutton switches. I'm not sure what they will control. More decisions. I spent more time on the bed cover  hinge design. Anything that works like trunk hinges is too large to not invade what little storage space is available. No decision made yet.

[jaybee]

Not a lot of space in that sporty little bed, but it suits the truck. Here are some ideas, just to think about the geometry if nothing else. This first one is the Bilt-Right hinges from Yogi's.


These next two are from a 2000s Ford Focus, first one is in the open position.


Here they are in the closed position. In an OEM application the flanged end of the hinge bolts to the trunk opening and the flat end attaches to the edge of the deck lid.

[kb426]

Jaybee, thank you for the input. The focus trunk hinges could be an option. I have piano hinges tacked in place to see how this will work out. Back to work. I use that word loosely.