Way too hard wheel wells

[Jimmyrig]

My 85 ranger came to me with "custom" wheel wells'a'la'Sawzall. It's actually not that bad looking from a distance. The girlfriend has inspired me to upgrade the interior to death on my poor $100 truck and that got me thinking about the outside. Current paint....ruddy brown fizz can primer. Body panels are straight with the exception of one rusty fender, and hacked out wheel wells. But that was part of the appeal, 34" tires, no lift. So what to do? I'm thinking about giving two junkyard trucks the same Sawzall job, taking the factory wheel well openings home, cutting them up and making them the same size as my current openings then spend about three hundred years welding them in and making it look factory. I've done body panel repair before and understand what I'm getting into, and it's a hobby so the time isn't a major concern. I'm looking for opinions, if it's stupid say so, I know the truck isn't monetarily worth it, but I think it would be a neat mod, something different. And something that will test and show off my abilities or my over estimation of them. Any thoughts?

 

[BLOODBANE]

I say go for it. I did the mods on my Ranger because I wanted them. Its not for everyone, but it works for me and I like it. I think personally you have a great idea and would like to see a lot of pics on the process. Body panel repair is tough and it might give someone else an idea on how to do repairs...

 

[adsm08]

Sounds like fun to me. Lots of fun and lots of wire.

 

[Jimmyrig]

Thanks for the support guys. Now I just have to figure out if the wrecking yard will charge me for the two sets of fenders and four bedsides I'll have to destroy for donor metal. If they will I'll have to wait until I can scrounge the pieces from trucks going for scrap. My uncle has one already stripped that has two good wheel wells for sure, two are maybe's. Crappy thing I'd I got rid of my parts truck a week before I got the idea. Might have to see about borrowing it back. I will definitely be taking a lot of pictures. I'll probably start a build thread soon, chronicle what ive done so far, then post them up there. It's come a long way already and will definitely be unique when it's done, especially after this mod. I have some minor floorboard repair that will probably get done at the same time, but thanks to carpet I won't be spending as much time making it look like I didn't do it. Just a quick cut out and repair, might not even grind down the welds. I'm sure I'll be sick of grinders and sanding wheels by the time I'm done. Hopefully I will be able to do it this summer, as the truck is my winter driver and time consuming work will all be done when the wheeling and potential snow are done for the year.