Part 6 - FiberwerX Replacement Bedside Panels

So at the beginning of the build you may have seen our crate of fiberglass fenders come in from FiberwerX. We mounted up the front fenders and we were working on the front suspension at the time. Now it's time to cut up the stock bedside panels for a more appropriate looking fender.

 

 

This is what we're starting with and what we're going to achieve

 

 

First, lets get rid of the stock panel.

There's about a million spot welds holding these panels on so we invested in a spot weld removal drill bit to make life much easier.

(Also drilling a 1/8" pilot hole through the weld helps prevent the bit from skating all over the place as you can see)

 

You'll have to look very careful for all the spot welds, sometimes they're hard to see through the paint.

 

To get at the front we needed to move the box away from the cab and drill out more spot welds

 

On the inner fender we opted out and used the plasma cutter to make short order of the wheel well support

 

Now it's time to remove the panel

 

 

 

The lip that we cut previously now has to be ground down flush

 

Now for a test fit....

 

At the back of the box there's a rear brace that hangs down. We marked a line in what we needed to cut off and out come the plasma again.

 

It's a good idea to spray some sort of rock guard protection on the inside of the fiberglass panels. Reason for this is to help strengthen and protect against rocks and debris from puncturing through. 

 

 

While we're at it, might as well give the inner box panel a shot of rock guard as well

 

Next all the provisions for the Taillights and Fuel Door have to be cut out. All we used was a die grinder with a 3" cut-off wheel.

 

All that's left to be done is to mount up the bedside panel to the truck box using some self-tapping machine tech screws. Make some support brackets for the bottom of the wheel well's and that's pretty much it.

 

Not that difficult to do but takes a bit of time and patience.

That's if you don't mind cutting up your truck to get the look .....

 

 

A glimpse on how the profile of the F150 is looking now

 

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