Fopar's 72 F-250 project

[Fopar]

i see your rollers your using ive got the same one they dont roll wrth a darn does your work ok or these things just junk

I have to say they work good for what I paid for them ($70.00) for all 4, I never would have been able to do this project without them. I've put my complete 77 Dodge Aspen R/T up on them and rolled it around no problem. But with the truck I can't drop the 460 & trany in, because they just won't move with the extra weight. The one thing I always do before I try to move it though, is to do a real good job of sweeping the floor before I try to move it. If your floor is not smooth that might be the problem to. Just a thought.

 

[Fopar]

Not much of an update but for me this is one of the most beautiful bumpy mess of spot welded sheet metal I've ever seen and do you now why I say that? Because I'm finally finished spot welding the bed back together and welding the seam on both sides of the bed. It's very nice to be done with this part of the build, that is for sure!

Why do I keep seeing bright flashes of light every time I close my eyes.... oh yeah 10,000 spot welds later might have something to do with it....lol

 

[6pakattack]

So when all is said and done with your project,not only will you have an awesome vehicle,but you'll be a professional Flasher !!!:eek2:

 

[bremereric]

It's time to grind. :bump:

 

[Fopar]

6pakattack

So when all is said and done with your project,not only will you have an awesome vehicle,but you'll be a professional Flasher !!!:eek2:​

Nice... but I know no one would want to see that...lol

bremereric

It's time to grind. :bump:​

& grind, & grind, & grind.....lol

 

[Fopar]

Pulled out the 36 grit sanding disc and went to town on the passenger side and got it all striped down to bare metal. Then mixed up some filler and started coating it. Yep the dreaded "B" word "Bondo " lol but hey I'm a realist, I know I'll never get this old bed straight without it and I've already filled in with metal filler. So all the bondo is for is to find the lows and fill them in.... hmmm... isn't that what body filler was for??? oh yeah it is...lol Anyway started to knock it down today and you can see that I have a lot of sanding to do but most of the filler is sanding off and should only be a skim coat in most places by the time I'm done.

Over all not perfect but working on it, the body line is starting to show, just a few more hundred hours of blocking ...lol

 

[Fopar]

Finally made up my mind about the bed stake holes on my truck. I've seen other guys weld them up and I really liked the look but I still plan on using it as a truck when it's done so just wasn't sure about it. The 2002 bed had bolt in tie downs, so I'm going to use them. So I got to work cutting out little plates to fit each hole.

 

[Fopar]

Labled them all (because I found out that eventhough they all look the same they are not)
Then flipped them over and sprayed them with weldable primer on the bottom.

Then put them back in place and started tacking them down.

 

[Fopar]

 

[Fopar]

With that done I got out the grinder and smoothed it all out

 

[Fopar]

Nice and flush with the top of the bed.

 

[Fopar]

With the passenger side stake bed holes filled I moved over to the driver side and got to work filling them in to. They went in nice and easy, then I ground them smooth. I never did finish grinding down all the welds on the driver side seam or where I welded the bed back together so I put the ear plugs back in and got to work.

 

[Fopar]

So it's starting to look like one piece of sheet metal....

 

[Fopar]

So I filled in all the welds and the bed seam with metal filler and then sanded it all down. Then more block sanding on the passenger side. Mixed up more body filler and filled in the lows and also hit the driver side with some filler too..... Then more block sanding.... and more block sanding....

 

[Fopar]

So much fun I can hardly stand it.........not!

 

[bremereric]

4 ibuprofen after that much sanding. :bounce:

 

[Fopar]

yeah, no need for the gym membership, a few hours in the shop and my arms are rubber...lol

 

[Fopar]

Ok very burned out on all the block sanding so I had to do some creative stuff again. I've wanted to do something to the tail gate but didn't really know what. As I was look it over I noticed a ton of dents in my original one that were made when the tailgate was down and then stuff hitting it as it was loaded and because these are single wall sheet metal where the stamped "FORD" is at, the dents the show on the outside. I hate worrying about the new paint on the other side in an area that gets used as much as a tails do. So thats when I knew what I was going to do.

I grabbed my good tail gate and cut out the stamped "FORD".

 

[Fopar]

I picked up a 4' x 8' sheet of 16ga metal

Prepped the tailgate and then cut out a patch panel and tacked it in.

 

[Fopar]

After that I made a dish area around the handle.