1967 VC DODGE UTE

[747mopar]

Very cool.

 

[Martythetrimmer]

the two halves of the hard cover are joined.....



sitting in place on the ute....sides need to be trimmed to size





next stage is to make the rolled edges....these will be made by casting a rim around the entire tray then bonding the top to it in place on the ute

 

[LocuMob]

Nice work Marty!

 

[bear]

Man , that's looking good !

 

[Martythetrimmer]

the sides for the hard cover have been cast from the body of the ute and bonded to the frame....a week later it was removed and the top section bonded on, the sides were then strengthened and the frame fully attached to the frame...just have to finish the sides ready to prime...

 

[Martythetrimmer]

hard cover is now primed ready for final block back...had to get it back on the ute for a couple of day as the court yard is back to being used as an entertainment area instead of my work area! I will make a liner for the underside of the cover before finishing off the sanding...quite happy with the results but I think after all the work that has gone into it I fell a bit "is that all" when I look at it.....think I will be happier once I'm on to other parts of the ute, spent so long on the cover!!

 

[LocuMob]

quite happy with the results but I think after all the work that has gone into it I fell a bit "is that all" when I look at it.

If I did the work, I'd still be looking at an open bed!

 

[Martythetrimmer]

back onto the steel work....the spear wheel well had a bad repair or two done in the past and had a couple of other problems so the whole floor was removed

I had a piece of heavy gal folded which I then cut to size

I cut a section of 25mm box to make the mount for the door hinge

cut some 25 x 50mm box to make the ramps for the wheel to slide on then cut some more 25 box for the cross brace...

tacked back in place...should finish the welds this weekend...

 

[Martythetrimmer]

while the mig was out I fitted the new fuel filler.....1968 Barracuda recessed flip cap....I was lucky enough to be given this by a guy in the states, had enough of a job just giving him money for the postage!!

trimmed the panel to size and had to make cuts top and bottom as the curve of the Barracuda is different to the Dodge, just enough to be a problem!





clamped in place ready to weld...





this was the old cap that came from the States, will look a lot better with a repro from Hemi performance in Melbourne!!

 

[Martythetrimmer]

back to the fibreglass again....couldn't find a good spare wheel door anywhere so started to make one.....

this is the braces for the outside of the panel & the recess for the number plate...





assembled ready to bog up the joints and make the bevel around the plate insert...



the brace for the rear section of the door...



assembling the components...






primed ready for final sand and colour coat ready to make the moulds...



a bit of a change from the old to the new....

 

[Tincup]

Nice job Marty....

 

[bear]

Some good work there!

 

[GoosePoop]

Ver impressive!!!!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

No kiddin' NIICE work man! (the things we do to "build" when ya just can't find anything for replacements!!!

NOW that you made this, you'll find one! LOL (Normally how it goes for me!)

 

[65 sporty]

Just read through the whole thread, awesome work, can't wait for more updates.

 

[Martythetrimmer]

Well I had forgotten about this site for almost 5 years!! A lot has happened in that time as this build has become the most involved I have ever started. I'll recap some of the work done in that time. I'll restart with the custom fibreglass hood I made. This post is all the mods to a spare hood I had, and takes the work through to the point of ready to make a mould from.

 

[Martythetrimmer]

Making of the mould and casting the new hood.

 

[Martythetrimmer]

a few more images to test getting images bigger!

 

[65 sporty]

Thanks for the updates, you are quite the craftsman

 

[Martythetrimmer]

thanks 65 sporty....I wanted a custom front bumper but didn't want to modify the Dodge's bar and couldn't find a Valiant bar to work with. So it had to be a double job. Make a mould of the std bar, cast a new bar to modify. Once all the mods were done, make a second mould and cast a new custom bar. Months of work!! The new bar has a Frenched in number plate, the corners have been brought in close to the body, no mounting bolts, top edge has been rolled, and the bottom edge extended to come close to the spoiler I later made, posts to come.