48 chevy truck

[jaybee]

Thanks, food for thought at least. I described the attachment backward, but it shouldn't matter to the motion. The flat end attaches to the body, the flanged end attaches to the decklid, but the relative position of the parts should be exactly the same if you reverse them.

The decklid initially lifts almost straight up from the weatherstrip, then the whole decklid rotates almost in place. It ends up with the edge of the lid about 1" clear of the body, about 3" toward the rear of the car from its closed position, and the lid rotates to about 110 degrees before hitting the integral stop.

The flanged end is about 3" from the hinge pin on one side and the strut mount. Maybe you could cut the rest of that off and attach a different bracket.

[kb426]

O&S almost has a bed cover. After spending way too much time trying to come up with something very functional that didn't take up space, I decided that I needed to get on with it because of the time factor. The 1st item was to cut .250" out of the cover frames. The hinge pin moved the frame over so clearance became an issue. Issue, LOL., the frame didn't clear the bed side. Issue is for pc people. I clamped and checked for clearance before welding the frames to the hinges. The covers are clecoed in place. The cover is a little too long where it attaches to the hinge. I have to decide what to do about that. The overhang allows the covers to open 45 degrees. I want them to be close to 90. More thinking. The bear claws are bolted in and the latch pins welded in place. The pins I purchased were too long to clear the bed sides so a quick trip to the lathe took care of that.

[jaybee]

Ah, nice. I was mistaken about what you were trying to do. the center hinged setup looks good and should work well. Will the bed cover be able to lift out if you want it to?

[kb426]

The bed cover is removable. Not easily, though. The center bar comes out with all of it. I will have to be real careful after painting to assemble.

[kb426]

Random thoughts from O&S. One pic is of a bed cover corner welded up. All 4 were done. I had 2 gas struts left over. I was kind of excited. Then I found out they weren't strong enough to do the job. I think I may use a mechanical strut just to avoid the twist that one strut would cause. The bed cover will be glued down with silicone. If that doesn't hold the center adequately, I will install a few more fasteners. The hood is riveted to the center rail for the hood hinge. Enough thinking for one day.

[idrivejunk]

I dig what you did for tail lights.      Keep on thinkin' 

[jaybee]

I like it. Will the center be sealed or guttered somehow to keep water out?

[kb426]

Flexible rubber of some kind. Maybe held with velcro?

[kb426]

O&S put in quite a few hours, not much accomplished. One pic is of the 2 small filler panels that go under the side panels next to the radiator. The next 2 are of the panels I'm almost finished with that will be non-removable for any normal maintenance. I tried using the extended side panels and a short cab panel but that didn't fit worth a (fill in the blank). I used my 30" roller to roll the bottoms and then put a little bend to the upper panel. I made a pattern that was close for both sides. I found out before I punched the mounting holes that they are way different from side to side. I was double checking when I noticed that.

[kb426]

O&S spent the last couple of hours on the patio enjoying the last of summer and contemplating how to finish the side panels on the project. One of the thoughts was a early corvette alcove. No thoughts past that. I fabbed 2 panels for the underneath part of the side panels. They are nutserted on the frame and the lower rail for the engine side panel. My plan was to make the side panels removable without any attachments. I failed. The front lower panels are bolted to the side panel. because the a-arm rises up, the side panels have to be slid reward to remove than. Unbolting the lower front panel is required. The rear panel stays in place. The last panel to be fabbed will fill the area in front of the lower cab corner. Many thoughts about this including how rocks from the tires will impact it. I hope the idea god will smile on me tomorrow.

[jaybee]

Nice, I like how your lower cab corners are coming out. I think that will help the cab look a bit stretched toward the front, which will make the cab itself look sleeker. I have thoughts, as always you'll probably come up with something better than my ideas, but maybe something will help.

First thought is 70's style, thin and flat cycle fenders, which does nothing to solve the challenge of finishing off the new cab front. So we move on.

Maybe something like this, transition panels which would run under your hood sides but at an even steeper angle to close off the cab front and flare inward toward the frame. That might be a flat taper, might be a curve/recurve thing.


Or something swoopy-scoopy like this Ferrari, with a curve that would start right at the front of your new cab side panels and go no higher than your existing hood sides.


This one kind of combines both those things.


Or go Detroit style, will still closing off your cab sides. Again, you'd obviously wedge inward to match your hood sides.

[idrivejunk]

The idea fairy said hey how about some acorn nuts for the control arm stuff. 

[kb426]

That's interesting, Matt. CAD time. The lower cab panels have tension on them from the rolling. Trying to put a bead in them might be best done by welding a bead to them. More thinking. Making the acorn nuts would be a lathe experiment. I might be able to machine a bullet and place an oring or set screw to hold it on. All of the front suspension is metric so I would see if I could use the metric change gears that came with the lathe. That would wait until paint is applied and it's cold outside. Jaybee, those are good examples. Off to work.

[idrivejunk]

I was just messin with you about squirrel bait.    But yeah... machining!

If you had a step you wanted to extend onto the cowl lower side panels, (I was trying to draw just a couple inches worth tapered out there) I'd expect a slice / bend out / weld up gap for that. A bead on the lower filler panel could terminate at any point along it, abruptly or tapered out. Maybe only have it on the diagonal part and not along the bottom. The bottom edge I suggested was just a my eyeball thing as far as shape tuning. That would be the CAD study plus then a marker to see a step.

I'm not selling steps but having one there is a place you can use a little of the hood / grille era styling to blend out onto the cab. No step for a stepper and I am sure you are a step ahead of me by now.   Step on it!

[kb426]

Matt, I did some measuring on the cab bead. It is around 2" wide with a 3/16" crown. I would make dies for the bead roller to do that. I might be able to turn that in to a full day job. LOL.
O&S knows in the morning if there's brain power to do much. Today wasn't that day. I started off with doing mentally unchallenging items. I had talked about this on the gray 51 but chickened out. I frenched the back up lights. While the roll pan was off, I added reinforcements on the lower portions of it. I used cad for 2 mock ups for the lower side panels left. One of the pics shows the tire clearance that has to be respected. One of the pics has embossed areas such as most of the rest of the truck. The other has an attempt to show a cab bead along the lower edge. Because of the bead sticking out some, the panel would need to be shortened some to give tire clearance at full lock. I used 1/4" rod to make some supports for the bed cover.