2000 Chevy S10 - Custom Tailgate and Tail Lights - Retro-Billy Stylin'

6.With the buckets done, a template could be made to see where to cut the holes for them in the roll pan. One side was positioned and measured so that the other side was at the same place. The hole was cut out with a hole saw, so it would ive a perfect circle. At that point, the roll pan was welded to the sides of the bed.

7a.The buckets were set to the depth that we wanted them at and were marked at where the excess was to be cut. After they were cut, the buckets were welded on and ground down. Now the fun part, the lights were put in, bolted down, and wired up to the harness.

8.Since it's better to weld the center piece to the skin of the gate when it is off, the skin was cut off. Because the tailgate is one piece folded over, the top was cut with the other sides to release it from the back.

9.The tailgate is to be a full-functioning gate and not welded to the bed. That meant a locking system had to be figured out, so we could open and close it when we want. A hole was drilled behind the locks, and a peg was welded to it so that it can be opened from the back side.

10a.Now that we could see how much room we had on the inside, we cut the old tailgate to the piece we needed. There was enough room to fit the Chevrolet logo but not the cool edges, so it was sectioned 6 inches on each side. The edges were cut, and the sides were clamped on with a brace to keep things straight when they were welded on.

11.Even though the tailgate looks like it is flat, it is not. The new section was shaped with a stretcher tool, so that it would line up to the skin.

12a.Since the skin is 20-gauge steel and the center is 16-gauge, a piece of 18-gauge was needed to mend in between the two. The extension piece was shaped and welded to help with the rigidity. Then, side pieces were made the same way to close up the skin.

13.Before the skin was welded on, the back was braced with square tubing, so the tailgate could really be used once it was finished.

14.The new lights were wired up, and now the old light holes could be welded up for a clean look.

15.As all the welding and shaping on the skin was done, it was placed on the rest of the tailgate and welded all together. After it was all complete, we could see the benefits of all the hard work done. It took about 40 hours to complete, but that was mostly due to it being done correctly and that takes time. We added enough to it so that it has more shapes without going overboard with design. With the new styling added to the rear of this S-10, you can see that it adds to the look of the truck in a retro way.