I own a 64 Chevy short-fleetside. I tore out all the old bedwood, and want to replace it with diamond plate metal. However, since the 3/4" bed wood helps the body lines match up, how can I do this with 1/8" diamond plate? Any suggestions? Regards, Arizona64 }>
That's what I was thinking, but what about the risk of rot? How would I replace the wood, after tack welding the floor in? If I do put in a plywood subfloor, what's the best way to treat it. Would 1/4" diamond plate be too heavy? Regards, Arizona64
I'm in the middle of doing this myself, I'm going to use 3/4 exterior grade plywood which will put the bed at the right height for the bodylines to match up. I'm not going to weld the diamond plate to the bed, but use it as a protective cover for the wood. In other words, it will butt up against the sides of the beds and wheel wells. The carriage bolts will go through both the wood and the diamond plate so I'm sure I'll have to do a little grinding on some of the diamond plate to get the bolts to lay flush. Not sure if I'll use 14 gauge steel diamond plate, or 1/8" aluminum diamond, since it will be just cosmetic and not structural. The aluminum looks great but gets torn up pretty easy compared to the steel. Granted, I'd rather put in some nice oak boards, but this truck will be used as a truck so that's why I'm going with the diamond plate.
Oops, left out one thing, even though it's exterior grade plywood, I'm going to hit it with a serious dose of Thompson's water sealer. Not sure if you can paint over Thompsons, but if you can, I'll paint it with a high quality oil based paint. That should keep it in good shape for many years.
Have you considered a solid stain? it can be applied over paint so it may also work in the reverse (paint over stain) I believe it last longer and provides better protection than water sealer. Butch
