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Because the pipes are 3 inches from the bed wood I made some heat shields by using an aluminum drive shaft I got from a scraped 98 F150 and shot the topside with BBQ paint to help hide them...

 

Today turned out to be a bit of a disappointment when I was filling the radiator with coolant and found that the thermostat housing was cracked . So will have to wait until Monday to see how soon one can be sent up to me..

 

I had filled a 5 gallon Jerry can and poured it in the Bronco tank, barely moved the needle on the gauge. With our new gas prices we figure it's going to cost around $135 to fill it...

 

While waiting for my thermostat housing to arrive at the parts store I decided to get back on a project I started a couple months ago

 

I picked up a tire carrier that was on the back of a wrecked Toyota Rav4 in hopes of making it work for this project. Only $30 so nothing really to loose in trying.
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The carrier was made to fit the deeper off set rims and bigger diameter so I had to cut 1 -1/2" for the depth then used straps and pop rivets to refasten the pieces together and have the tire sit on the bottom of the tray.

 

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Here you can see all the pieces joined together

 

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I roughed up the surfaces and applied fiberglass matting to both sides.

 

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Not that anyone will see it but gave it a coat of paint anyway

 

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I only had some 1/4" plate handy so at 15'' square I drilled the outer holes to match up with the holes in my bed strips so as not to compromise the bed wood or bed strips. The plate will sit on oak spacers to keep the plate from touching the bed floor.

 

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I squared the holes with a file so carriage bolts could be used

 

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Here you can see the oak spacers cut to match the profile of the bed strips.