1967 Custom Sport Shop Truck

[67ChevyRedneck]

No alcohol drinks on surgery days... only Dr. Pepper.

The metal doctor will see you now...

I know, I'm going cross eyed too just looking at it...

[67ChevyRedneck]

Snip, snip, cut cut... and some clamps and glue...

*those are some weird ass looking cuts...

[67ChevyRedneck]

...and I HAVE HALF A SHORTBED!!! WO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*almost* I was pooped and just mocked the back up. I still have to shave it down a bit, line it up a bit better, then tack it all in. But it looks cool!

I'd also like to add, not only is the front panel rust free, but the damn thing is straight as can be. I found one tiny ding in it I already popped out.

[flashed]

Looks great Jesse , I would have loved to had that bed prior to it getting cut down for my 72 4x4 longbed .

[GR8-68]

Looking good, you going to also remove the center pocket and square out the front of fender well to look correct ?

[GR8-68]

I was up late ? Who was up at 2 in the morning cutting and welding on his truck ?

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by flashed

Looks great Jesse , I would have loved to had that bed prior to it getting cut down for my 72 4x4 longbed .

I'm glad it popped up when it did. I think I can save the real shortbed I bought, but it's going to require even more time than this bed, probably a lot more as I would have to split the inner and outer, and time I just don't have. I'm going to store it in my shed for the time being. I think I might have paid the most money ever for a longbed without a tailgate, but man, was it worth it

Originally Posted by GR8-68

Looking good, you going to also remove the center pocket and square out the front of fender well to look correct ?

I am absolutely going to "fix" the wheel arch. It would drive me nuts if I didn't. I really don't want to even try the aftermarket patches, so I'm going to have to find someone with some wrecked or rusty shortie sides that wants to cut those off for me? Not sure about the stake pockets. It adds a lot of strength to the bed rails and I don't know how many people would actually notice? What I am going to do as well is fill in the stake pockets. I will never use those. I guess it would look "cleaner" above the wheel arch without it?

One thing I NEVER noticed about these beds until I started cutting one up is that the top inner side is actually arched like 25-30* under the bedrail. I always thought it went up "straight."

Originally Posted by GR8-68

I was up late ? Who was up at 2 in the morning cutting and welding on his truck ?

No, I usually quit in the garage around 7-9-ish. I'd like to stay on good terms with my neighbors I was actually trying to catch up work stuff so I can play in the garage all day again.

[rusty76]

Awesome work. And thanks for sharing the pics.

[tutone]

Looks good so far, those marker lights make the back half a pain in the rear.

[GR8-68]

I have this 67 bed I can make some cuts off for you, I have decided against doing anything with it as it is just more than I want to mess with

[67ChevyRedneck]

That would be great if they're not too rusty (light pitting is OK) or caked with bondo. I need the dimensions in the pic below, but an inch or two extra each way wouldn't hurt to make sure I line it up straight.

I hate to see a bed "go to waste" but she was pretty rough...

I actually made the pics below to make a WTB post, you read my mind. Just to clarify, these are the pieces at the front of the bed. It really does look goofy curved.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Awesome work. And thanks for sharing the pics.

Thanks! They actually keep me motivated as well.

Originally Posted by tutone

Looks good so far, those marker lights make the back half a pain in the rear.

You're not kidding. I don't want to curse it, but the front was actually pretty easy. Just go slow, never let your straight edge out of your sight, and don't be afraid to push and pull a bit and it came out great. I'll go so far to say the back half was a *****. I'll get into that later. I think the back would have been a lot easier if I didn't try to eliminate the markers at the same time, but I think it was worth the effort to not risk warping the panels with a rectangular enclosed patch. Those seem to be the easiest to cause warpage. A single line, or even 2 sides are pretty manageable, but when you get to patches that are welded on 3 and 4 sides, you have to change your approach.

[67ChevyRedneck]

We're supposed to get some good rain tomorrow and this week so I cut my grass short and overseeded and fertilized my yard in hopes it will come back from last year's drought decimating it :/

So, I was already kinda tired when I started. This crap is heavy to be constantly moving around too. That extra 20" adds a lot of dead weight to the longbed floor and sides.

I wanted to paint the backside of my welds, so I cleaned out the end, welded up all the trim holes, and painted it. I will be installing the 67/68 CST trim, but no holes, it will all be 3M tape.

I'll quit showing how stupid clean the inside of the bed is soon. I grew up in NY, so a bed in this condition blows my mind. These trucks were rusty garbage where I grew up 25 years ago, and here this one is almost 50... and looks as good as a used 2 year old one.

I never knew the inside of these beds got coated beyond the spray on liner on the lower half. From what I'm seeing from my cuts, this bed had some sort of black primer or paint the whole way up on both the inner and outer bedside.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Things were going well, I thought I had everything lined up good, started tacking everything in place.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I seriously don't know WTF happened here. I'm at a loss as to what I did or how it moved so much??? This is something I may have to look into for the PS. I'm still going to do the cut the same, but maybe the bodyline moves up as it moves back? I just don't know. I haven't read of anyone having this issue, so maybe I just screwed up.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I just got over it, cut it back out completely and started over, making sure to match up that lower bodyline first!

[67ChevyRedneck]

So, everyone always wonders about this part. Yep, it looks like it totally won't work, right?

But if you throw a straight edge on there, it's just out of sorts. I had a clamp on it the first time (has to be slid on while pieces are put together) but I was kinda pissed the 2nd time and forgot about it, but even with the clamp, it still was off.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Hence, for round two, I just used a well place dent stud

I pulled it out the best I could just to tack it. I was then able to get the upper part of the bed lined back up and tacked. When that was done, I cut my tack, looked at it with a straight edge, and saw the left side needed to be pushed in and the right side pulled out. Not sure how I pulled it off, but I somehow did it and got it tacked in place. It's amazing that section just fits right together with the right push/pull.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Not as good as the front, but will require not even a skim coat of filler.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Everyone also wonders about the bottom too. That's actually the easiest part. Get the area above where it matches tacked really well, then just slowly roll the bed under, clamping/tacking about every inch as you go down and it will eventually look like a factory shortie. I had to stop because my head was getting burned with weld sparks. I can finish it when I pull the bedside off.

[67ChevyRedneck]

...and throwing in a pic of Shelby basking in the sunlight. She was pissed she was trapped in the garage for almost 3 weeks because the Cheyenne Super had the door blocked. I took her for an hour or so cruise on Saturday. I love ripping through the 5 speed with the windows down on a sunny day...

[67ChevyRedneck]

Oh, that's not what you wanted to see? Oh, you wanted to see the bedside done, well tacked, anyway.

I'm not going to fully weld it until I get the PS done and the tailgate mocked up... you just never know... and yes, I will cut something back apart if it's not right...

But I think I got it. I was only off 1/16" compared to my factory bedside, and hell, that could have been from factory tolerances...

[GR8-68]

I will inspect them over well today and see how good they are, I would cut you plenty so you have room to trim as needed.

[hewittca]

Nice job on the bed shortening and THANK YOU for including so many details about it. As you mentioned, many people post their shortened sides and say, "look, see!", but never post the details. That staggered cut line is definitely the way to go, and after reading through your process I have to say, man am I glad I just bought some short sides!

I may have missed it, but did you mention what your plan is for this bed once it's done?

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by GR8-68

I will inspect them over well today and see how good they are, I would cut you plenty so you have room to trim as needed.

Awesome!

Originally Posted by hewittca

Nice job on the bed shortening and THANK YOU for including so many details about it. As you mentioned, many people post their shortened sides and say, "look, see!", but never post the details. That staggered cut line is definitely the way to go, and after reading through your process I have to say, man am I glad I just bought some short sides!

I may have missed it, but did you mention what your plan is for this bed once it's done?

It's going on my truck. I've always wanted a fleetside.