my 65 fleetside build
 

well here we go,my 65 is in dire need of a refresher,any tips or opinions welcome.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

man, just look around on this site. If you've got an idea, its probably been done and documented. Use the search function on the top of the site page and bookmark your favorites...the options are endless. there are no rules to your own build, find what you like and go with it

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

here we go

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

and here is some more

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Man, it looks great in pics. Drive it and find another one to redo. ;) Unless there is more too it than what we can see.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

I'm with Alan... From the pics that thing already looks mint!

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

I agree......looked to me like you were done.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

i have a tip...... give me your engine and start over with a newer one.....j/k the truck looks great. i dont know what else could be done..... but seriously give me your engine

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

the engine looked great. the whole truck looked good, i'm with everyone else i woulda drove the **** out of that one and got another project.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

there is alot more than meets the eye, very little rust but pretty rough to my eye, just started stripping the bedsides yesterday and got a terrible surprise, the whole side looks as though it has been sideswipped hard,po must have been one heck of a body man bondo was 1/2 inch thick in places, cant have that! so now i am on the look out for a bed side. my drivers side is in great shape, oh well guess i should have polled you guys first, to late now though.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

ell, here is where i am at now, passenger bed side was very rough after i got it stripped(side swipped) drivers side is beautiful, repaired inner lip and applied epoxy primer, may have found a bedside for passenger side, still waiting on the guy to make up his mind. here is some pics of driver side.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

one more, a couple of them kinda blurry ( cell phone)

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Nice work on the bedside, flips. I built my SB out of a '66 and a '62. Hours upon hours to get it even somewhat nice.

What size is your steering wheel? I love the look of those but dont know if I could yank around my manual steer '66.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

i believe its 14 inch cant really remember.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

hey Flip, Very nice looking truck. I just want to get mine in the state your starting at. Cant wait to see how yours turns out.

my 64 C10 build:http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=439559

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

thanks , just checked out your build (allaboutchevelles) looks good to me, also looks as though you have some skills. i wish i could find a bed like the one you did, looks like i will be cutting a long bed lower skin down to fit mine, oh wellthats my luck just got back from moultrie ga swap meet there was hardly anything for our trucks, kinda disappointed in the whole meet, not many vendors, probably the weather. i hope to get back to work monday .

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Good looking truck

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Just remember that the short bed wheel openings are smaller than the longbed wheel openings.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

i sure didnt know that, i just took it for granted they were the same in the wheel well opening area i figured it was twelve inches longer in the front and eight in the rear, never even considered the wheel well, cant seem to catch a break when it comes to this bed side. thats what is so good about this forum, there is a whole lot of knowledge here. thanks capt.fab you probably just saved me a lot of time and work.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Hey Flip. The guys on spike TV show called TRUCKS cut down a 66 C10 long bed a few years ago. They did what you are talking about cutting the front and rear and it seemed to turn out fine. I dont remember them doing any work to the wheel openings. http://www.powerblocktv.com/site3/

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

just checked my wheel opening against a long bed seems to be about 1 1/2 inches longer from the front of the wheel opening to the rear fo the opening, my question would be if i could cut that out of the center of the wheel opening and make it the same as a short?my brother did one like they did on trucks looks good but i am just wanting to do the lower section of my bed.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

well after a couple months and many miles with no luck finding a good bedside, i finally made up my mind to fix mine so i could get back to work. went to pull a part in niota tn and cut the lower side panel out of a long bed truck they had,75.00. brought it home and cut it down to shoet bed deminsions (3 inchs gone) cut my bad part out which was mainly the wheel well lip area. bought a flanging tool from northern tool(60 bucks) flanged my bed and welded in the new panel. and to my surprise it turned out pretty good for a amatuer. here is some pics now maybe i can get back to work, its killing me not being able to drive my truck, although i did get it out and drove it sat morning,man you can do some mean burnouts without a bed almost cost myself some more work,lol

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

here is some more

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Looks really nice. Great job.:metal:

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

thanks alot alan, thats one good thing about this forum, when you are about ready to throw in the towel someone is always there to encourage you to keep plugging.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Hey Flip, I hate that you couldnt find a good bedside. It took me over a year to find my bed. The work you did on the bedside turned out nice and straight. It looks very good to me. I have one of those flaring tools from harbor freight also. I have the one that also punches holes out for your welds. That saved me alot of time not having to drill all the holes in the rocker panel where it has to be welded on at. Great work, keep the pics coming.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

That bedside turned out nice :thumbs:

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

well the bedside is finally coming along,here is some pics after it has been roughed in and primed, now time for lots of blocking.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

one more

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

bed panels are looking very slick. I wish i was that far along with mine. Keep up the good work!!

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

here is a few more pictures of my super slow progress. got bed sides mocked up, had to move lower bedside braces because of using the long bed patch panel. the mounting point is diffrent even though i took the three inches out of the center. so far i have guide coated the sides twice, but ikeep finding small things that annoy me, puttied a couple more spots and hopefully final primer and one more guide coat, then paint, yahoo!!!!

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

a few more

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Super-slow? Compared to Delmo maybe.....

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Wow, that bed looks awesome to me!! Want to finish mine for me?? Im slower than you, im still working on my cab floors, supports, rockers, and cab corner. I cant wait to get all that done and get my bed to your current state. Great job, keep pics coming.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

Lookin' great!!

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

thanks guys, just inpatient i guess sure do miss driving it. mocked up tailgate so i can get a idea whats instore on it. done a little blocking its not to bad, it has a high spot on upper right and low spot on upper left bottom looks pretty good. here is afew pics last one kinda blurry but you can get a idea of what it looks like.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

well i got tired of body work so i tried some wood working, here is a few pics of my bed wood ,sanded, stained with a honey oak stain, then three coats of automotive clear, color sanded, three more coats, color sanded again, three more coats. now i need to sand and buff and i believe it will be ok. let me know what you think.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

a couple more, the close up looks kinda gray in the pictures must be the lighting in my shop or else the flash of the camera. thinking about putting the bed back together for the rod run in pigeon forge tn next weekend, my buddys got a 70 bronco and he is wanting me to follow him up. need more parts anyway maybe i can save on shipping charges.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

floor boards are looking very good. You should have seen all the stuff at charlotte sat. You really need all 4 days to look at everything down there. I bought a new radiator support for my truck. I wish I could go to the rod run your talking about but its too far away for me this time.

Re: my 65 fleetside build
 

we had every intention to go to charlotte, just got our dates wrong. oh well i got my wood in now i just need a couple or three volunteers to help set it back on, who wants to come to tennessee and give me a hand, here is a few pics.