81 F100 flare side custom with 300 six & T18

kramttocs wrote

Was thinking the same thing - the only logical conclusion is that he picked up a hitchhiking Wolverine (or possibly Shredder) on a hot day. After that he switched to electric...

(Sorry, lame joke but was watching X-Men to get my wife up to speed for Dark Phoenix...  )

OT My grandson is named Logan and when I first heard his name I thought of Wolverine LOL
I kind of got a little laugh from them so I guess he was named after him.

BTW no one in mine or her family is named Wolverine or Logan LOL
Dave ----

Out in the garage about 4:30 got measurements for a member then got on the truck.
When I was prepping the cab for paint I found 1 of the 2 gas tank vents was loose and I knew it would leak so I ordered 2 new valves and grommets and installed them before the bed goes back on.

I then installed the front shocks to get them out from under foot.
I also saw I did not install the grease fittings for the kingpins so need to find them and install when I nut & bolt the truck before it hits the road.

With that done I moved the truck out so I could get intimate on the bed
I saw some of the primer on the top of the bed rails that was peeling off so I hit it with the sander and fond the rails were not too flat and would stick out compared to the cab so mixed up some filler and made them flatter.

I then figured how I was going to hang the bed panels and took the bed apart.
I was going to paint the white on the fenders like I did the cab but I don't have the room to hang everything at 1 time.
I also had to put the truck in the house garage leaving the wife's can out side, my other project car is on the other side of the house garage. We are also going on holiday and did not want to leave my DD outside.
So I will get the red paint on the rear sill on the bed floor the 2 side panels and the front this way I can mount the floor and the painted panels on the truck and stick it back in my garage when we are away.
When We get back I will then do the fenders and mount them to the bed and painting should be done.

I wet sanded the fenders, primed the bed rails and a few places on the fenders.
Used drip check sealer on some seams so water cant get in and cause rust, still have a few more to do yet.
Washed the bed floor to get the dirt up as I want to roll on a coat of bed liner so it looks good again as I had to use white paint to mark where I needed to trim the floor.

So this is what I started with

and 6:30pm this is what the bed looked like.

And if that was not enough I cut the grass till 9:30pm
Dave ----

Looking good Dave. I can't wait to see it all finished up.

Wow, that makes me feel both tired and a slacker!  You young'uns can sure get things done.  

But it is sure coming together nicely.  And I can't wait to see the finished result.    

I want your garage Dave... I have a tight 1 car garage. If it wasn't for these tire dolly's this would be nearly impossible for me. I think I would just get a portable set up in the back yard at that point.

Gary Lewis wrote

Wow, that makes me feel both tired and a slacker!  You young'uns can sure get things done.  

But it is sure coming together nicely.  And I can't wait to see the finished result.    

Don't know about young'uns, will be 60 next April, but you got to do what's got to be done!
I had not cut the grass in a few weeks, that a slacker
So I had to do the front and back yard by the house so I would not loose the cats.
Then I had to go thru the weeds to get to my garage so did that area and that just made the rest look like crap so 3 hours on the tractor, last 2 with head lights on, we got it done.

Now that I am caught up on the forum out I go for some painting.
Dave ----

TheScatch wrote

I want your garage Dave... I have a tight 1 car garage. If it wasn't for these tire dolly's this would be nearly impossible for me. I think I would just get a portable set up in the back yard at that point.

I had a small 1 car and like you needed the dollies just to work on the sides of the car.
I had no room for anything else as my car trailer with car was parked in drive in front of garage and our 2 DD were out on the street.


I had to move from CT to NC to get a nice garage.


Bigger garage just has more room for more stuff
Dave ----

Got paint on the bed sides, front panel and the rear sill of the bed.
I had no room for the tail gate or the 2 fenders & running boards with my sons stuff in my garage.
I also put a coat of bed liner on the floor of the bed as I used white paint so I could mark it for trimming and the rest was looking nasty, now looks pretty good.

With that done I can mount the bed floor the 2 sides & front panel and part the truck back in my garage till I can get more red paint for the other parts and have time to paint them.
I also primed yesterday the bolts that hold the sides to the floor and gave them some paint today.

I still need to paint the rest of the bolts & nuts don't know just how I am going to do it yet and not mess them up when I install them?


I also forgot I tested the intermittent wipers yesterday and they work. I got the switch & box off Ebay and they said it worked but I had no way of testing till I got the wiper motor assy. installed.
Dave ----

Cool!!  Loving it, Dave.  

As for protecting the nuts and bolts, I use electrical tape on the flats and pick a socket that fits tightly.  Then once the fasteners are torqued down I repaint the threads and any damage done by squirting rattle can paint in the cap and using a Q-tip as the brush.

Gary Lewis wrote

Cool!!  Loving it, Dave.  

As for protecting the nuts and bolts, I use electrical tape on the flats and pick a socket that fits tightly.  Then once the fasteners are torqued down I repaint the threads and any damage done by squirting rattle can paint in the cap and using a Q-tip as the brush.

Thanks for the tip.
I have to get them all together on cardboard and give them a coat or 3 then do as you said.

I went thru bins this morning and pulled all the baggies marked for the bed.
I was looking for the nut for the fenders as I wanted to place them on the studs so I would not need to tap them up. Well some how I came up 4 short? And I had the 1 broken stud & nut in the bag, will need to get 4 nuts & washers when I mount the fenders back on.

IIRC each running board uses 5 bolts to hold it on and they need to be painted too if I have enough.
Dave ----

When I got out of work today picked up a roll of peel & seal I will use for killing the drum sound in the doors.
I also hit the hardware store for washers & nuts for the fenders I was missing.
Also when I was painting the floor 1 of the nutsurts (sp?) popped out. I checked a few places and work, they build their own trailer trucks, and no one has them and I don't remember where I got the ones I used?

I also think it popped out because the floor deformed so I picked up some fender washers & nuts.
I will weld the nut to the washer and washer to the floor and should not have this issue again.

I wanted to get something done today but up at 1am for work and not home till 4pm was a long day and never made it out.
Dave ----

It is always the little details that hang you up.  But you are still making progress.

NutSert is a brand name of round rivet nut.  RivNut is another.  What Ford used on these trucks is just a rectangle of ~1/4" steel with a smooth hole and a step on each end.  It was held below the sheet metal, and the edges of the steps were chiselled (staked) outward to overlap the sheet metal, holding the nut in the body.  As you see, it's not particularly suited to repeated removal & installation of the fastener.  You can snag a few in the JY, or try to copy them, but it's easier to just weld a scrap of steel to the body, drill the right-size hole, and run the bolt back through (with a little motor oil on the threads).



Only the original bolts are hardened enough to self-tap that way.  If you use any other, you have to tap it first.

Steve this is for the bed side panels front bolt on each side.
Because I am using the style side bed floor and this front bolt is inside the front bed cross member and the side panel has a panel that runs down to the running board.

If I am going to do as you posted and "weld" that steel block in place, need to find a steel block and not hit the junk yard, the welded nut to fender washer, that I have both of, will have to work.
I will try and get pictures of this but I am tight on time as it has to be done by midday tomorrow so I can mount the panels to the bed floor that will be mounted on the truck so I can get it back in my garage.

BTW I think the upper mirror screws go in to that steel block.
Dave ----

FuzzFace2 wrote

this is for the bed side panels...

In general, Ford uses a ~1" (~25mm) long ~3/16" (~6mm) diameter ~5/16" (~8mm) hex-head bolt with large captive washer, and a matching U-nut for joining body panels.  For panels with few fasteners, a larger 5/16" (8mm) bolt with 3/8" (10mm) head & matching U-nut might be used.

1 & 9 in this diagram are the larger later (metric) fasteners:



An earlier example would be the horn bracket to the core support fasteners, or the ones at the top of each front wheelwell holding the hard plastic to the fender (not the tiny screws around the wheel arch).

When I could not find the nutsert or rivet nut at the hardware store they offered the U nut and I got 2 but the U part is to long and the side panels drop down to the running board would hit it and push it in so the nut would not line up with the hole in the floor or the hole in the side panel.

I think when I was building tis bed floor I placed the side panels on lined them up and drilled the holes to use a  bolt & nut. When I got to this front bolt hole to put the nut on is when found I had no access but was too late to use a self tapping bolt as the hole was to big at this point.

On the front panel to floor I also looked into the U nuts and a few other things before holes were drilled and I went with self tapping bolts.
At this point the welded nut & washer to floor is the way to go but thanks for pointing out what else might have worked.

Its hard being me just ask my wife LOL
Dave ----

Dave,

The Flareside bed is enough of a pain to assemble even the way the factory did it, so don't feel bad!
Everything was held together with bolts and nuts (either hex heads or carriage bolts), and they were all metric, at least on my '84 they were. The only exceptions would be the top bolts on the front/head panel...they have a welded threaded insert, and then the taillight brackets and tailgate hinges. They had a large 1/4" thick hex nut welded inside the stake pockets.

When I made my new stake pockets, I just used 1/4" steel squares welded inside the stake pockets, and then drilled and tapped them (M6). The originals were a hex shape, but they didn't need to be since they were stationary.

Can you tack a little plate in the end of the floor crossmember and then drill and tap it?

Rembrant wrote

Dave,

The Flareside bed is enough of a pain to assemble even the way the factory did it, so don't feel bad!
Everything was held together with bolts and nuts (either hex heads or carriage bolts), and they were all metric, at least on my '84 they were. The only exceptions would be the top bolts on the front/head panel...they have a welded threaded insert, and then the taillight brackets and tailgate hinges. They had a large 1/4" thick hex nut welded inside the stake pockets.

When I made my new stake pockets, I just used 1/4" steel squares welded inside the stake pockets, and then drilled and tapped them (M6). The originals were a hex shape, but they didn't need to be since they were stationary.

Can you tack a little plate in the end of the floor crossmember and then drill and tap it?

Flare sides are fun to put together!
I was able to run metric taps thru all the places that the bolts went into like the front panel top bolts, tail light brackets and the tail gate hinge so they are all good to go.

As for this 1 bolt I got it covered with pictures to follow to show what I had to do.
I used a larger ID flat washer that the flats of the flange nut would fit inside of and welded the flange to the washer then fit the flat side of the nut thru the hole in the bed floor.
I checked the other side and it was solid so I left it be.
I don't know why I did not do it this way to start with. The hardest part was dragging the welder across the garage just outside where the bed was.

I took the day off from work so I could get the bed together some what to get it out of the house garage and back in mine to make the wife happy as its been taking up her spot.
Should have pictures of the bed floor with the side panels on the truck by days end.
Dave ----

On protecting the nuts and bolts.

We used to use a combination of earplugs and thick gloves. You can put a foam ear plug in the socket, it will make the socket more shallow and hold the nut/bolt. But if you put a glove over it, then it wraps the bolt head up with the glove in the socket. YMMV. Worth a shot.

TheScatch wrote

On protecting the nuts and bolts.

We used to use a combination of earplugs and thick gloves. You can put a foam ear plug in the socket, it will make the socket more shallow and hold the nut/bolt. But if you put a glove over it, then it wraps the bolt head up with the glove in the socket. YMMV. Worth a shot.

Thanks I will give that a shot along with what Gary posted.
I will try each one on a bolt not seen to good and see what works best.
It most likely will not be for at least a week as wife & I are going to see our grandson in FL and celebrate his first year birthday.
Besides I have to let the paint dry on them some as I just got done spraying them.
Dave ----