Rufus: Bed Time

(11/29/05) This is what we started with.

(12/19/05) Bolt cutters work great to remove rusted bolts, especially carriage bolts with a rounded head that you can't get a grip on.

(12/21/05) We measured to see if we could get by without having the cutout for the spring perch. Nope. It sticks up too high. I suppose we could have raised the bed a bit, but that was a more drastic change than I wanted to make.

Looks pretty empty, doesn't it? You can see the wooden bed mounting blocks on the frame. These were installed by the previous owner.

(01/06/06) A package arrived from Kelly Hanna (a friend and member of the El Camino mailing list.)

The package contained these beautiful white oak boards that he'd cut and finished for me.

(06/19/06) The inside of the bed and the frame crossmembers got a going-over with a wire wheel mounted in a drill. It's ready to be painted with the Rust Encapsulator. The planks have already been fit to the bed and The new mounting hardware is just waiting to be installed.

(06/20/06) It took a lot less time to slap some paint on (carefully) than we thought it would.

(06/22/06) Then the fitting of the wood pieces and the hardware began.

Even though Kelly had cut the wood to the exact dimensions specified, they needed a little trimming to get them to line up with the old metal. Here they're being tested for fit with the rear spring cover box. It's not in the picture, but you can see where it goes.

The planks, the stainless strips and some of the hardware is laid out to get it lined up correctly.

(06/22/06) We got the spring perch cover installed and tested the fit of the trimmed planks.

They seemed to line up pretty well.

Then the carriage bolts were inserted. We had to do a bit of drilling to get them to line up properly.

The protective plastic was removed from the rub strips and nuts and washers installed underneath.

From another angle.

We used pre-drilled strap to hold things together where there was no support.

It may seem strange to have a rusty old bed with a brand new wood deck, but we gotta start somewhere...and since this is gonna be a rat...well, who cares? All in all, we think it turned out pretty nice.

Next page: A new wiring harness.

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