1963 J-200 SLOOOOOW Build

[Kaiserjeeps]

Ha, I laughed out loud at the Greging something up.. That is funny. Hey congrats on the wedding. That is super news. The grill looks really good.
Good things are happening down your way. Great to hear about it!
Again congratulations! Good things are ahead.

[SJTD]

Is that clear or "chrome" powder? Looks pretty good.

[63J200atLSU]

Is that clear or "chrome" powder? Looks pretty good.

It's Eastwood's chrome powder. I too think it came out pretty good. Not perfect, but literally nothing on this truck is so there's that... Mine was originally painted body color too, so clearing it was a non-starter...

Originally, I tried a chrome spray paint, but that proved to be a tragic substitute... Powdercoat isn't exactly like chrome but way closer and waaaaay tougher than the chrome paint

[SOLSAKS]

love the truck

powder coat looks great

max is cool !!!
(what an expression)
and Sophie is cool too

I know they have a good home.

dave in NC

[Kaiserjeeps]

Eastwood chrome powder is also what Sadie is wearing up front on the razor grille.

It has a nice mild pearl effect in it. I took a catalog to the powder coater and asked him to use it. The silver he was going to use just was not right.

Greg, what temperature do you have to be at for it to flow and do it's thing?
How long do you keep it in the oven?

[63J200atLSU]

Eastwood chrome powder is also what Sadie is wearing up front on the razor grille.

It has a nice mild pearl effect in it. I took a catalog to the powder coater and asked him to use it. The silver he was going to use just was not right.

Greg, what temperature do you have to be at for it to flow and do it's thing?
How long do you keep it in the oven?

Al, I'll double check but I think it was 400 for 20 minutes. I followed whatever the package recommends, I believe.

[Stumplake]

Looking good Greg.I was gonna chrome my grille and bumpers
But yikes,very pricey.
time to do a little research.
Congats on the engagement!!!!
Wade

[63J200atLSU]

Looking good Greg.I was gonna chrome my grille and bumpers
But yikes,very pricey.
time to do a little research.
Congats on the engagement!!!!
Wade

Yeah, totally understand, I couldn't justify it (and I can normally justify a lot, lol) on a truck that I originally bought for $500-ish... the oven was $100 on craigslist and I spent another $15 on the 10/3 cable and the 220V plug plus a few moments understanding the wiring necessary to convert from a 4-wire hard-wired to a 3-wired plug-in setup. Powder coat gun from eastwood wasn't bad and now I can powdercoat whatever I want!

And thank you! We're pretty excited!

[Frank Ziebert]

Greg,
" But you're probably right and I should just leave well enough alone... "
Its lookin man don't f### it up.

This is from the guys that does everything 3 or 4 times

[toddthewelder]

careful spraying it on heavy, it will run right off of there when it starts flowing out. ask me how I know.

[Kaiserjeeps]

You guys are lucky to have the set up's you have. Think how much you are saving in the long run. 4 wheels runs 200 and up here. Greg you have answered my questions. Don't worry about any more detail.

[63J200atLSU]

Holy cripes, it's been a while

Ok, so first things first, I GRADUATED MECHANICAL ENGINEERING! Last Saturday was completely surreal, standing with the guys and girls who I've been struggling with for 4 years, all in our caps and gowns. Phew. What a relief.

So, for some time, I've been contemplating how exactly I wanted to fabricate the bed of the truck. I've had, more or less, a general idea, but I've learned many times over that I need more than that if I want to avoid building things twice... That being said, my design for the truck bed looks like this.



And here's an exploded view of it so you can more or less see how it goes together.



The inspiration for getting this done NOW is that I needed the stand from the garage that was currently holding the fenders I'd painted the better part of 2 years ago. So I decided the best place for them to sit, temporarily, was on the tires of the truck.



Thought to myself, "Man, this silly little plywood truck bed has got to go, it simply doesn't do the truck justice (which is a pretty low bar considering all the work was done by ME... lol). Not to mention the fact, that with no fenders, I was perpetually terrified that I'd throw a rock through my back window.

Here's some of the pieces of 1 1/2 square tube cut and laid out.



Once I had that all done, I got out my square and my corner jig and started tacking them all together. The finished product is extremely solid.



Here it is mocked up in its new home, and then I couldn't help but mock up the fenders to try and get an idea of the proportions of the whole thing when it'll be done.







So now, I've got to get the measurements all made for how high off of the various parts of the frame the bed mounts need to be. It would've been great if I'd had a set of bed support rails handy, but I think what I've got in mind will be fine for now. Forgive me if I don't run a FEA (finite element analysis) stress study on the design for now. My brain hurts and I start work in a little over 2 weeks. So now I get to "play" for a little bit...

I'll post more soon, I'm sure there will be widely varying opinions on the finished product, lol.

[rang-a-stang]

You got your ME in 4 years?! Wow! That's impressive! I know an ME is considered a 4 year degree but of the probably 30 engineers we have hired since I have been here, 20'ish of them were MEs and only one got her degree in 4 years. Everyone else takes 5. Good on you!!!

I think your design looks great and will compliment your truck well. Do you know what wood you would use for the sides? What is the bed bottom made of? It looks like you have a plywood base with some sort of cover over it.

Some ideas (I won't offended if you use none of them, feel free to laugh):
1) make sure you make a way to tie stuff down. Some pad eyes on the top or bottom, somewhere, maybe? But the way it is now, if you throw a suitcase, cooler, or box in there, its going to slide around and scratch up the wood and possibly come out.
2) are you going to run a tailgate? if so, you will probably need to add some more structure to the back to hold it.
3) I would also add more strength to sides where the fenders will bolt on. As you drive down the road, they will wiggle and could crack your welds.
4) You should make a spare tire mount somewhere before you install your bed. Whether that is under the bed or on the side of the bed (my vote is for the side of your bed, forward of the driver side fender) it would be much easier to incorporate it into your design before you get much further.

[Frank Ziebert]

Congratulations on the degree!!

[SJTD]

Yes, congratulations. Took me nine years but I liked to take a lot of classes twice. Some even three times.