Marten's '53 build

[Marten]

Not sure where to post this or if it is acceptable or not. I am not a big computer guy. First some background. I am a self employed carpenter by trade. I have always been a gear head kind of guy but have never built anything related to cars. or trucks before. Lots of dreaming. I have done a lot of woodworking in the past and still have a shop for that. Life changed for both my wife and I about 5-6 years ago and we had to make some decisions about what we are doing, where we are going and why we do what we do. There is a long story to that but nothing of general importance to the truck you will see. Other then I an now the owner of a pile of parts that look like a '53 Ford F100. I bought it from a guy in New Hampshire, right at the bottom of the state. Through several phone calls and emails we came to an agreement. Took my brother with me and this is what we found.
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From there we brought it back....insert lots of stories here..... and then had to figure out what to do.
Much talk, some reading, and then decided to take the frame to my brothers to have it boxed in.
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It had an '86 Corvette suspension system from Flatout Engineering installed, well started and I finished it off.
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[bmarler]

like any worthwhile project, starting with a solid foundation is key. i think you got that covered. that suspension looks so nice...

[Marten]

After some thinking and reviews I came to the conclusion that it would be better to build a new box then rework the old one. there are to many issues with the old one that I wanted to change. So I did some measuring and ordered some steel up. This would also be good practice for welding. That is a skill I have never tried either.
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Also liked the look of this roll pan so I bought it.
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first thing was to create the original roll top on the sides. Used a piece of tube, scribed a groove in it to make a straight line and welded the sides into the groove.
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[bmarler]

good thinking, building a new box. they're so dead simple to do, and the originals are always dented beyond belief. now you can have perfectly straight bed sides. do you have a sheet metal brake or did you rig up something on the bench top?
i'm curious to see what you did with the rear fenders too.

[Marten]

good thinking, building a new box. they're so dead simple to do, and the originals are always dented beyond belief. now you can have perfectly straight bed sides. do you have a sheet metal brake or did you rig up something on the bench top?
i'm curious to see what you did with the rear fenders too.

HI bmarler, good to see someone is interested in this build. I will continue to post bits of it. Kind of keeps the excitement going. I bought the metal bent up. It is 16 ga and that is hard to bend using normally available tools. As for the rear fenders, well that will come later. They look totally cool though.

[Marten]

Next up was to tackle the front panel. I wanted the inside of the box to be just a square box. I took a piece of 1 x 3 rectangular shape and cut some holes in the bottom to allow for condensation and moisture to drain out. Then cut the ends to match the bend in the box sides. For the vertical sides I used 1 x 1 angle. Later the sides will get spot welded to that piece. Once on the truck you will not be able to see what I did as that is going against the cab. When all is said and done the goal is to have the front and sides all line up at the top. One an original box the front is cut a bit short of the sides. If you look at an original box that rectangular shape was on the inside of the box. On most trucks this old that front panel is shot. These were trucks and were used as such to haul stuff. When you put on the brakes things went to the front.
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[Len]

Marten just make this your thread by showing us your excellent work. I'm glad your here, your work is excellent.

[bmarler]

i get what you're doing with the front of the box. nice detail that nobody will ever notice. that's what makes a good build even better. take a look at ronf's hotrod sometime, same mentality, awesome quality of workmanship.

[Len]

i get what you're doing with the front of the box. nice detail that nobody will ever notice. that's what makes a good build even better. take a look at ronf's hotrod sometime, same mentality, awesome quality of workmanship.

I agree, Ronf is another artist I'm glad is posting here.

[Phil V]

Mr. Marten. You have my respect. I have worked with professional bodymen who couldn't do what you're doing. Especially the newer "professional" bodymen, most of them are bolt on parts changers. I think you are probably one of those people who would be good at whatever do. Definitely looking forward to more pictures as your project progresses. I haven't done a big job in quite a few years, getting old and lazy don't help. LOL !

[Marten]

Mr. Marten. You have my respect. I have worked with professional bodymen who couldn't do what you're doing. Especially the newer "professional" bodymen, most of them are bolt on parts changers. I think you are probably one of those people who would be good at whatever do. Definitely looking forward to more pictures as your project progresses. I haven't done a big job in quite a few years, getting old and lazy don't help. LOL !

Hi Phil
I had to laugh at your comments. I have 3 boys, well adults now. They all believe that same thing in that I can excel at anything I do. Not sure about that but I will always try. My goal in doing anything in life is to work at it until I get it right. Driven? perhaps. I love the challenge of trying some thing new.

Side story then another update. My youngest is into motorcycle racing, well lapping days anyway. So one day he comes to me and says "an anonymous person has put up the money for you to drive my motorcycle on the track in 2 weeks. I smiled and said "oh" Now to put this into some perspective, my parents hated bikes, my wife hates bikes and because of that I have never driven a bike. So I agreed to try anyway. What could possibly go wrong, right? We went to an empty parking lot and practiced starting, stopping and turning. Enough to get started anyway. So the next weekend he did the track day Saturday and I was on the bike all day Sunday. During down time my son was walking around the pits telling people what was going on. A couple of people came up to me and were really impressed by my riding and the fact that I would even do this. I was the slowest by far on the track but hey they all ride on the street already.

[Marten]

Next step was to build a frame. I bought some 14 gauge steel for this and had it bent into a 'U'. Along with some 'L' for the edges.
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For the rear crossmember I took some 2 x 4 steel, cut in some holes in the bottom and welded up some tabs for mounting it to the frame.
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to mount the whole thing to the frame I made up some tabs and welded them to the frame.
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And made up some matching plates for the bottom of the box the frame.
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All together and upside down.
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The gray is epoxy primer. Sprayed as I went along.
Hope I am doing this right so far.

[Marten]

I agree, Ronf is another artist I'm glad is posting here.

OK so I need a hint please, where can I find his build? Sorry I am on a few forums and they are all different and I am not good with this stuff at all.

[Art]

Ronf doesn't have a single build but several posts. Try this to start. http://autobodystore.com/forum/showt...or-paint&=ronf

Just use the search box with ronf as the criteria. You'll get a lot of hits but there are a few that he started.

[Marten]

Next step is to take the rear roll pan and attach it to the frame.

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Then I attached the sides to the frame. Drilled out and made a bunch of spot welds to do this. Attached the sides and front together.
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View from the rear. Where the roll pan meets the box sides you will see some extra steel welded in. That will be where I mount the hidden hinges for the tail gate.
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I was trying to keep this in order but I messed up. Here is a pic of the stake pockets during fabrication. I wanted no holes in the top of the box. I also like the look of a cap on the bottom of the stake pocket. I don't have any pics of how I made them but took the same piece I had bent up, did some cutting and heating and eventually made the bottom round.
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Being concerned with moisture in the closed off areas I drilled some holes that will later be hidden to allow for some drainage. Bottom of the tube and top of the stake pocket. I also cut some 1/4" slots in the bottom of the stake pockets.
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