stepside bed

I know I have seen one before, but is there any 86-93 mazdas that have a stepside on them. I have been looking and think an s10 has some pretty close body lines, but I am wondering if I should cut my bed up to make a stepside out of it, and use the stepside fenders off an older truck.

I thought it would be cool to use an s10 bed, but after looking on car-part.com and beds going from 1k to 1,500, I think it might be cheaper, not to mention cooler to make my own bed.

so if anyone has pictures of 86-93 mazdas with stepsides on em, please post em up or if you have any other ideas, please let me know.
thanks,
Mike

i've seen one on here @a year ago that someone posted a pic of that has a mid 90's ford ranger stepside bed...it was pretty sharp! if you want to use the mazda bed you would probably need a spare bed off a parts truck to cut some spare pieces off of...& some good metal workin skillz....would deff. be sharp!

yeah it was just a link to ssm but there was no picture on the link anymore. I actually think it would way better to get a spare bed like you said, and use both beds to cut up to make a stepside. I can pick up some fenders from an old ford and weld them to the mazda fender line, leave the front step and dont make a rear step.

I am going to go pick up my sketch book and start drawing.
thanks
-Mike

the ford bed body lines line up pretty good would not take much to mod it to work And it did look pretty cool

Company in California that used to make a fiberglass stepside for first gen Bseries. Dont know if they are still around or not but might want to check with some CA speed shops and see if they are still in business. BJ

last night I couldnt sleep so I sat up all night with my sketch pad. did some sketches of a stepside using mazda beds, and it looks pretty awesome, not anything I would want to post up, cuase I was really tired and they dont look that great, but the basic look is pretty awesome.

the indent body line would still run over the fenderwell, but it would also curve around the old ford style fender then meet back up with the bed. the very top body line would also be added to the old ford fender. Under the main body line, would make the step in front of the fender, the rear step would be shaved, but since I am not putting one on, it wont really be shaved.

the one thing that is bothering me is should I weld the fender to the bed and mold it on, or leave it like the old style stepsides and leave the fender detachable. The other thing is, I am thinking of putting a wood bed in it, or maybe a wood bed insert to go over a sheetmetal floor, the notch would stay sheetmetal, just wood everywhere else.

I can pick up a few 2wd mazda beds real cheap, so I am not worried about that, and I am a pretty good sheetmetal welder, never tried anything thicker. If I use 2 beds from other trucks, then I leave the bed on my truck so I can still drive it. I want to make it look like it was a factory option on the mazda, but then it was modified.

thanks,
Mike

sounds like a cool plan.... you could do it two ways....start by sectioning the center of the bed out the width of the "steps", or by cutting the area of the steps & moving them in the width of the steps.....either way i think you will have to move the two bed mounts closest to the cab & the one just behind the axle to the inside of the frame instead of the outside, otherwise your steps will be into the mounting points...

I also have to create a support system or weld on the original supports if I want to use the bed, cuase I dont think sheetmetal would hold up pretty well with nothing supporting the backside.

I am going to start on this after the 2wd gets bagged and the 4wd gets running, so I already have the beg system on the 2wd so I can build the bed around it.

does checkmate bed covers make custom ones if you give them the measurements? I want a flush mounted cover but I know a mazda one would be too big if I section the bed to make a stepside.

does anyone have a newer truck with a stepside that could measure their front step and tell me how wide it is? I dont want to make the step way to big, I want it to look like it could have been a stock option.

-Mike

checkmate makes any size cover you want. just give them the #s. *edit* oh, and good luck on the stepside project.

my buddy nate! hes doing a bunch more work to it now, dropping in a 350 and i think it'll be painted