Wooden You Know Part 1 - 1953 Chevrolet

You'll notice there are no holes for the bedside carriage bolts-Horkey's doesn't want the customer to enlarge or even redrill holes, so they leave that up to you. To get the holes drilled in the exact right location isn't that difficult, either.

After sliding the end pieces under the bedside channel, make sure you have at least 1/8 inch between the wood and the panel. I used a specialized tool-a Bondo spreader-to determine the spacing.

Once you've got the wood positioned right, simply mark the holes through the side channels as shown.

Fortunately, I'd just received a fancy 19.2V Craftsman cordless kit for a recent birthday, so this portion of the job was a lot more enjoyable than it would have been with the old drill I was previously using. Placing a brick beneath the area being drilled helps prevent splintering on the backside

Unless there's wood going in the bed, the forward-center cross sill doesn't have anywhere to go, as it relies solely on the wood for mounting rather than the chassis.

With the holes drilled and the sides carefully slipped in place (the corners of the steel channel like to gouge the wood), start by inserting the smaller carriage bolts in the sides. When aligning the larger carriage bolt mounts, don't be alarmed if things look a little off-that's where the "offset" washers come in.

The second time the planks were laid in the bed was to ensure proper spacing for the coming stainless strips. As you can see, things were in good shape so far.

With the stainless in place, all worries about making any adjustments were put to rest. But I still had some pre-assembly left. Notice how the gap between the ends of the wood/stainless and the rear main cross sill is on the money from one side to another. Things like this make a big difference in the end.

That little sticker makes it pretty clear-your warranty is null and void if you don't take the time to assemble the entire kit before painting or varnishing, so do it! I opted not to once some time back, and I'll never stop regretting it.

Even without instructions, assembling the wood kit is really straightforward. The longer of the six carriage bolts go up front; the larger of the small carriage bolts go along the bedsides; the fat washers sandwich the wood with the stainless on the smallest carriage bolts. We'll go over this again next month when the wood goes back in for the last time.

Along with the stainless fastener kit, I also ordered a finishing kit from Horkey's. Included are two quarts of his Old Masters Spar Marine Varnish, thinner, and foam and bristle applicators. All I had to do was set up an adequate area to perform the work, which is very important, as you want to be in a clean and stable environment, obviously.

With the garage as clean as it was going to get at the time, the planks were positioned on sawhorses. One of the first things you'll want to do is take a file (one with a "safe" or smooth edge) and deburr the edges of any splinter hairs. Also, take the sharpness off the edges, slightly rounding them, which allows the varnish to adhere better.