 Part Three: Tailgate And Sides...  Part Three: Tailgate And Sides Cont'd
6a. To minimize the amount of work necessary to create the side panels for the inside of the bed, two long pieces of 18-gauge sheetmetal were once again plasma-cut to the desired floor height, which in our case was 16 inches, and were then TIG-welded together |  |  6b. This allowed us enough...  6b. This allowed us enough length to make the entire inside panel out of just two pieces of steel. After grinding the welds down, the metal was hammered flat to remove any distortion created by the welding heat. |
 |  7a. The long pieces of sheetmetal...  7a. The long pieces of sheetmetal were then fed into the machine while four guys held it tightly against the guide, which kept the machine punching the body line into the metal nice and straight. |  To put the body line taken...  To put the body line taken from our stock wheeltubs into the side panels, Justin switched mandrels on the Pullmax to this tapered combo (inset). |
7b. |  8a. Next came the scary part....  8a. Next came the scary part. After all of the hours spent welding together the side paneling and then punching a perfect body line in each piece, the guys had to put two bends into each panel so that it would slide perfectly into the bed, with just the right length between the bends to make the panels fit tightly in the corners. A simple fixture of 3-inch round tubing clamped to a table was used to bend the metal. |  8b. A framing square was used...  8b. A framing square was used to make sure the panels were set square to the tubing, and a 1/4-inch gap was marked to account for the amount of stretch the metal would encounter as it was bent around the tubing. The guys got it right the first time, which was amazing. |
 9. The side panels were then...  9. The side panels were then temporarily affixed to the bedrails, using 3/16-inch Cleco body panel fastening pins. The pins are spring-loaded and were easily inserted into a hole in the panel. When released, they grab onto the metal behind the panel to hold both firmly together. These little babies make mocking up parts a one-man job. |  10. Aside from the two doors...  10. Aside from the two doors cut for the sunken compartments, a third door was also cut above the rear differential to allow access to the adjustable shock reservoirs and surrounding suspension components. Rather than bending a huge notch cover across the floor to cover up the A-arms, Justin bent this unobtrusive pair of sheetmetal covers that just fit over the arms without taking up too much room in the bed. |  Part Four: Two Wheels In A...  Part Four: Two Wheels In A Tub
The last major fabrication project involved tackling the wheeltubs. The width was fine, but we needed to relocate the tubs upward, just to the bottom of the bedrails, in order to provide enough room for the wheels to travel upward through the bed floor when the air is released from the 'bags. |
 1. To extend the lower portion...  1. To extend the lower portion of the tubs, the bottom flange was cut off, then a cardboard template was made of the tub below the factory body line. That area was then cut out and replaced with a single piece of sheetmetal that was bent to match the tub, only 2 inches taller. |  Here's a look at the stock...  Here's a look at the stock tub on the left and the new version on the right. | |
The Final Word
As you can see, even the best of us miss some minor details. By extending the wheeltubs downward, they grew wider and ended up covering up a portion of our compartment lids. This wasn't a big deal because we needed to do some additional patch work on the floor anyway. So, we just recut the lid and then welded the offending portion back to the floor. Essentially, all that was left now was to cap the rear portion of the bed where the tailgate skin met the inside panel and weld the whole bed together, permanently. We're still undecided if we'll take the time to grind down all of the welds and paint the inside of the bed or just wimp out and spray a bedliner inside. Stay tuned for more sheetmetal mods on our '67 in an upcoming issue of ST.