Over the past few months Project Get Shorty has seen a number of stories thrown its way. From suspension to frame hacking, and from welding to bolt-ons, it's undergone quite a transformation from its starting point as a long, non-acrophobic "This is our country" everyday working man's truck. However, one aspect to the build we haven't really delved into is the transformation of the skin of the Chevy.
Now that the chassis and vital functions of the chassis are pretty much in the bag, it's time to start thrashin' on the exterior of the '71. Granted, the door handles, marker lights, tailgate, and emblems have all been shaved, but that stuff is all minor compared to what's to come. To kick start things off this month I'm going to get out the torch and Sawzall and hack off the driprail.
When it comes to the driprail on '67-'72 C10s it's not one piece of metal hangin' out over the edge like Sylvester Stallone on the set of Cliffhanger. It's actually a combination of mostly three, and at certain spots four, sheets of metal all compressed together and spot welded in place. Therefore, in order to shave the rail clean the protruding portion of the driprail is removed and the three layers of metal are then welded together. The process is simple. Cut a small portion of the driprail away, weld it up, and repeat. Eventually you get from corner to corner and the job is done. However, if you're like me, you like to do things different.
By "different," I mean in terms of style, not work. I did the job just as described above, but around the windshield I took my own road. One thing I don't like about the driprail being removed from the cab of these trucks is the distance between the windshield and forward edge of the roof line. There's just too much metal there. It doesn't flow back into the cab nice and clean, and it looks all around too robust for me. For that reason I removed a portion of that metal and laid the roof forward a little more than an inch. It sounds complicated, but it's not. I did this in my garage at home with simple hand tools and a torch. Check it out. CCT
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There's nothing wrong with a driprail, but if you ask me there's nothing right about one either, so this one has to go. | |