Finally able to work on this again, removed the exhaust heat shield and sidewall supports that I couldn't get off before because of well, Rusty bolts! No photos of heat shield removal(my bad). I broke all but 3 of 8 bolts that hold on the heat shield! Guhh, I'll worry about it later!
I tried heating bolts with cutting torch, no good! Had to cut off bolts for the sidewall supports, one pictured is gunna get replaced with one off of my current bed.
I drilled 43 spot welds to remove front portion of bed! The factory spot welds I used a 1/4" drill bit. The passenger side had been redone since a new bedside was put on, I had to use a 3/8" drill bit paired with a air hammer chisel and lots of hope and luck was involved to not tear up the panels. That being said I've dealt with much worse, so it went pretty smoothly.
I also got some 16 guage steel to replace driver side wheel arch, shaped and cut it then called it quits for the night!
Next step is to scrape, wire brush, and clean underneath the bed with por15 degreaser and then metal prep, it will be dirty wet and time consuming. So I've been putting it off needless to say. I should have done it before I brought the bed inside, but there is a center drain and por15 product is environmentally friendly water based.
Hopefully by the end of this weekend the bottom will be painted and then I can install the new wheel arch panel, weld the makeshift wheel arch, and take bed off my current truck and take off the front portion and install on this bed.
We'll see if I can get it all done by Sunday evening! I'm really not looking forward to not driving my truck for a few weeks or months depending on how much hidden rust I find and have to repair, it's seems to keep popping up on this "new" bed.
My temp car is a 1974 Pontiac LeMans that has no AC or radio, but it'll be fun to drive for all of 2 minutes! It runs and drives but needs to be restored! I hope it holds together as it's all original with 70,000 miles and sat for 20 years in a barn before I got a hold of it, when I say original, I mean it has all original rubber hoses and vacuum lines. The tires might be original but show no signs of dry rot so who knows, it'll get me to work and back, but I won't go cross country driving in it lol. If it doesn't last I have another car, but it's a show car and not technically mine yet! (1966 Chevy Impala convertible that me and my dad restored a few years ago) I guess technically the LeMans isn't mine either but I'm the one who takes care of it! It's only been driven by me in last few years, kinda took it without asking and nothing was ever said about it. My parents are awesome!
Enough rambles! Last pic is current status of build.
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