After spending an entire day behind my desk, I ran outside at 5:20 to continue fitting a flat sheet of metal to the floor of the truck. I’d set up the cardboard template, fit that, traced it onto a sheet of 18 ga. metal, and cut it out on Monday, but wasn’t able to get it fit properly before I had to close up shop. Thankfully, the work I did with the cardboard paid off, and I only had to trim two sides by about 1/8″ before it fit right in.

I talked a big talk about creating some kind of press to add a dimple for the floor support, but threw that completely out the window and started tacking the metal into place. I put butt-weld clips in place and tacked the perimeter in on the trans tunnel side and in front of the seat base before it got too dark, and I’m pretty happy with how it looks so far. Next I’m going to drill some holes for plug welds along the rocker and on top of the cab mount and add those. When that’s in place, I can cut and bend the section for the toeboard, which is going to require some finicky geometry.

I have to say, it felt really good to get the welder out and melt some metal.