Sheet metal the inside of Bed panels?

[72blaz]

I'm putting repro bed panels on my 72 blazer.. I'm eventually gonna Line-X the interior..but was wondering if anyone has welded sheet metal on the insides of the bed panels as apposed to the vinyl wrapped plywood?.. Since I'm in the body stage.. I think this would be a cleaner look...but I don't see any out there..so maybe there's a reason why?...also thinking of cutting speaker holes before they are welded to panels.....

[truckster]

Welding is kind of permanent. With panels, you can remove them and make changes pretty easily.

[briank]

Also depends on if you have a double or single wall top doesnt it? Dont you have to access the top hold down bolts from the bottom (from behind the panels if you have them)

[72blaz]

hmm.. didn't think of that.. although I think with the custom old school roll bar I'm putting on it.. it not be able to put a top on it.. The original design was to make it a permanant convertable..so I wasn't worried about the height of the roll bar... (Line-X, Marine grade seats, radio, drain plugs..etc..) however the more I go along..the more I think I may wanna have a top on it eventually.. guess I'll measure the roll bar height which will determine which way to go from here... thanks for that information.

[cwsohm]

I made panels out of diamond plate - the diamond plate fits in the original upholstery bracket at the top, and then I attached to some L shaped metal brackets I installed on the bottom. I assume you could use any type of metal panel. One thing I added right after installing is sound deadening material to eliminate any rattling.

[cwsohm]

Here are some pictures I dug up.

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by cwsohm

Here are some pictures I dug up.

When you said you used diamond plate, I was kinda doubtful about how it would look. But it looks wicked! Nice job.

[mcmlxix]

I am covering the Blazer in Line-X as well.. If I decide to build bed side covers, it will be out of the material they build boats; marine-grade high-density polyethylene. It can be routered, screwed and glued just like wood (special glue.) Perfect material for the Blazer. Comes in a couple different colors or could be upholstered to match the rest of your interior.

http://www.kingplastic.com/products/...king-starboard

[notsolo]

Our Home Depot has 4' x 8' sheets of Aztex Plastic sheet in white about 1/2" thick not the same as what you were looking at but pretty nice stuff. Probably made from recycled polypropylene $99..... cuts and routers easily.

[rayray767]

((((((CWSOHM))))))
Wooooweeeee that's sexy I'm liken that bud !
I like the speaker cut outs too. WeLL Done !