Fig. 01 - Today's supplies

     Saturday, February 17, 2007  -  If you recall from my last update, I got the bottom of the cab pretty much stripped clean and ready to be coated with POR-15, so that was on today's agenda. When I was last in the shop I found a quart of POR-15 that I'd forgotten I even had, as well as another can of Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator, so even though I figured I'd probably have enough to finish this project, I decided to go ahead and order one more quart, just to be sure. I also ordered two tubes of POR-Patch, which is basically a thick POR-15 in a squeeze-tube, which works great as a seam-sealer or for patching small holes. I decided I wanted to use the POR-Patch to seal up the seams on the welded-in floorpans and front cab mounts. Anyway, that shipment arrived several days ago, so I was set for today's tasks.

There was a little cleanup left to do to get ready for the POR-15, but not much. Once that was taken care of, I applied the POR-Patch over the floorpan seams, as well as using it to fill a half-dozen small drilled holes in the floorpan. If the aim of this project was a show truck, I'd have welded up the holes and ground them smooth, but considering the 'rat-rod' angle on this one, I wasn't overly concerned with making it look pretty....I simply wanted the holes filled.

Once the POR-Patch was tacky, I then started applying the POR-15 with foam brushes. Again, where in previous applications of this on my '67 SWB project I took care not to leave brush strokes, I wasn't concerned with that on this truck. Even so, the POR laid down very well, with very few discernible brush strokes. After the cab floor was completely coated with POR-15 and allowed to set up for an hour or so, so that it was tacky to the touch, I then coated the floorpan with several rattlecan layers of Krylon Semi-Flat Black paint.

Then I gave everything several hours to get very tacky, I decided to go ahead and carefully lay the cab back down onto the frame, so that I could get access to the rear part of the frame for the next task on today's agenda....which was to start the modifications necessary to install an aft-axle Super Camper Special fuel tank.

Fig. 06 - A shot of the Super Camper Special aft-axle auxiliary fuel tank.

A couple years ago I sold a pickup box to a FORDification forum member, who made the drive from Illinois to come pick it up...and he also came bearing gifts, in the form of the semi-rare aft-axle auxiliary fuel tank from a '73-up Super Camper Special. Since the frames on these trucks retained the same framerail spacing as the '67-'72 trucks, this tank would fit very nicely between the framerails under the bed. Or so I thought.....

Fig. 02 - Using POR-Patch to seal up the seams

Fig. 03 - About half done coating the floorpan with POR-15

Fig. 04 - Here's the finished product...a good coat of POR-15 and then several coats of semi-flat rattlecan paint.

Fig. 05 - After allowing the POR-15 to tack up, I then carefully laid the cab back down onto the frame.

Fig. 07 - The frame crossmember removed

Fig. 08 - A view of the mounting bracket which serves double-duty as the fuel tank's skid plate.

Fig. 09 - The mocked-up tank shows how it's too tall to fit under the bed floor.

Fig. 10 - A view from the rear. You can see that the crossmember is angled up. If it were flipped end-for-end to that the crossmember angled down instead of up, the top of the tank could fit, but it would still sit too close to the ground for my tastes.

      In Fig. 06 you can see how the tank doesn't quite fit between the two rearmost frame crossmembers. After assessing the situation, I decided that the forward crossmember would be the one that would have to be moved. The rearmost crossmember is strategically placed by the factory to support the rear spring perch area, and I didn't want to compromise any frame rigidity. The crossmember was riveted to the frame, so I dug out the grinder and spent some time grinding down the factory rivets and popping them out, which would allow me to remove the crossmember and move it forward several inches.

     After getting the crossmember out, I then slid it forward several inches in the frame and mocked up the mounting bracket, which also serves as a skid plate for the tank. The tank is actually strapped to the skidplate with retaining straps and then the tank/skidplate assembly is bolted to the underside of the frame. In Fig. 08 you can see the mockup, where I had the skidplate setting on top of the two crossmembers, just for the visual...and for marking the necessary mounting holes in the crossmembers. I went ahead and centered the skidplate between the framerails and then drilled the holes in the rearmost crossmember and bolted it down to hold things still while I positioned the forward crossmember.

     However, I made a very disappointing discovery when I dropped the tank down onto the skidplate:

IT'S TOO TALL! It's not going to fit under the bed!

     It never even dawned on me that the tank would be too tall to work. You can see the problem in Fig. 09. With the tank sitting down on the skidplate, the tank is a full 5½" above the framerail. Yes, I COULD add some dropdown brackets to lower the tank and skidplate, but that would put it VERY low to the ground...too low. In fact, the bottom of the skidplate would almost be even with the bottom of the differential! And after taking a lot of measurements (something I suppose I should have done before getting started on this phase), I found that I simply can't lower it enough for the filler neck and vent tube to adequately clear both the rearmost frame crossmember and box. Just out of curiosity I'll have to see if I can find a Super Camper Special so I can see how the rearmost crossmember is different to allow proper clearance. I believe the difference is how the rearmost crossmember is angled. Mine is angled up and would contact the filler neck and vent hose, but if it was flipped over so that it angled down, it could conceivably fit...although it would still be WAY too low.

Therefore, after MUCH pacing and a full hour's worth of thought, a decision was made. If this was my '67, the one I'm fixing up to be a very nice daily driver, I'd scrap the idea of using this tank. But in the spirit of the 'use what you got' philosophy of this particular project, I'm going to be cutting a hole in the bed to clear the tank, and then boxing it up on top. Since this truck is strictly a fun cruiser and will never be used to haul anything, and since the bed will be covered with a tonneau cover that'll rarely be up anyway, the bed floor modifications will be completely hidden, so I decided that this is the best choice for this particular project. After all, it's not like anything else has been chopped on this truck, right? ;)

     So anyway, I then continued with the mounting of the tank and skidplate. As shown in Fig. 11, I had to notch the forward crossmember to clear the tank hold-down straps. I then carefully measured and centered the crossmember and used Vice-Grips to clamp it into place so that I can mark and drill the necessary mounting holes in the frame and the crossmember.

     This was as far as I got today before having to head home. All that's left is drilling 8 holes to bolt the crossmember to the frame and four more for attaching the front of the skidplate to the crossmember.