There were 2 more things that I wanted to take care of now, which was the exhaust and the bad shape of the bedsides. But with lifting the bed came another problem and that’s that my propane tanks were bolted to the underside of the bedfloor, so that meant I had to fix that as well.
Of course every bolt was rusted so badly that I had to grind of every single one of them!
And now for some advice, when your local supermarket has grinding and cutting discs on discount offer, stay far from it!
Luckily I was wearing protective gear, so no harm done except a bruised ego.
Eventually all the bolts were gone and it was time for lift-off. Always handy to have a winch, to save you from heavy lifting.
Here are some pictures of a rusty tailgate
More rust
Apparently I am inside the circle of rust
Here’s my new RH Bedside panel, got one for the left as wel
I then started mocking up a new frame to hold my propane tanks and the more I thought about it, the simpler I wanted it to be. Seeing that the bed sits 3” above the frame, I took a square 2” tube and made it to sit on top of the frame. They sit between the cross sills, so if I measured correctly, the bed should go on without any hassle (famous last words…)
With the bed off, I also tackeled another hurdle and that was the exhausts. I had to side pipes without a cross exiting just in front of the back wheels. In a tunnel it sounded great, but on a normal road the 4 cilinder thump on my left annoyed me and I didn’t like the noice it made, plus I thought it was to loud. Knowing I only have a 283 engine, I made an executive descision and concluded that a single 2,5” exhaust would be sufficient. So with some stock bends and pipes I went to work. The front part (I need to make some more pictures) is stainless, but seeing it’s all a mock-up it will all be cleaned up
Temperary bracket, I’ll see what I make of it, with the bed on.
Years ago I had gotten a box with 6 metal dice in it. I never used them until I suddenly had a moment of clarity. Look at my new light and windscreen wiper knob
