stepside bed

thats prety sweet but he should mould the mazda tail lights to it so it looks a bit more factory. but i kinda like it and i generaly hate step side

hey, are those ranger beds metal or fiberglass sides. If I can find one of those I can just move all the bodylines from a standard bed and weld them on if ti was metal.

so just to clear things up, if you want to go with 20" rims you have to use 4x4 fenders, and 18" are the largest you can have with 2wd fenders. The 4x4 fenders really go good with the bed.

how big of rims can you fit under that stepside?

the only thing I would do different is move the body lines from a mazda into the bed and open the fender just a little to make it look like a 4x4 bed fender, and cut out my stamped mazda logo and weld it into the tailgate. maybe move my mazda taillights over to confuse people

that truck is awesome looking. it is so cool and old school looking and he is going to put a v8 in it, that just makes it more awesome.

thanks for the pictures, they really helped me, put my rendering to shame
-Mike

Woo hoo... I get to be the dick.

I think it would look like ass... the ford box doesn't look to bad if you are running 4x4 fenders. But I still dont like it.

Step side beds are generally rounded... mazda's are not round trucks... they are pretty boxy and have straight lines. I hate seeing people put things that look totally out of place on any kind of truck.

IMO the best mods/conversions are the one's that look like something the factory would have sold it as... like you look at it and think, hmmm is that factory??

I used to get all kinds of wild idea's in my head... but then i stepped back and thought how stupid they would look.

that is what I am going for. If I can find an edge bed cheap enough, I will use that and move all the body lines from a 2wd bed, including the fender lip over to the stepside.

I will also move my tails, my stamped tailgate logo and a few other things, If I can find a good side shot and back shot of a ford edge bed, I will do some photoshoping to show you guys what I mean. That guys truck is pretty cool, but I want my truck to still look mazda. not a mazda with a ford bed on it. no offence to him, cuase his truck is pretty cool, but I want mine a little different.

dont get me wrong, I understand what your meaning. If I didnt think it would look good when I am done, I wouldnt have even asked about it. The other thing I have been considering is stretching my frame and putting a longbed on it, as I have an ext cab, but I am still trying to see if a stepside would look cool.

-Mike

Stepside looks better than longbed any day. IMO And it sounds like you have a good plan to work from!

I dont know, I found a pics and have been playing around on photoshop and it doesnt look as good as I thought. could just be the pics I am using are low quality.

I think I will just use mazda beds and make one myself. At least if it looks bad, I can take the bed off my 4x4, put it on my 2wd and put the stepside onto my 4x4 and say I had to do it to clear my large tires .

I dont know, maybe I should just take the bed of my 4x4 and put it on my 2wd anyway. I have till next spring to decide cuase the trucks getting bagged this winter and I dont have to put a bed on it till spring/summer so I have a while to decide.

too top everything else, my 2wd motor is going out. 2 days ago it starting smoking like no other and it feels like it hickups everyonce and a while. I have lost lots of power too, so it getting a new heart while its getting bagged, a mopar 318, modified to be well over 400 hp.
-Mike

i have a stepside bed but i have a 94 mazda <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif" alt=":oops:" title="Embarassed" /><!-- s:oops: -->

Stepside beds on mini-trucks look a little weird to start with and if u r trying to make one fit there is a real opportunity for it to look like crap.There was a guy on this site awhile back that had a long bed black truck that was lowered a bit and it looked great-also the black 86 long bed in Florida with the turbo Merkur engine.I think because there arent many of them.Just my 2 cents.BJ

I don't remember where I found this picture,but I saw it somewhere and thought it was cool so I saved it. Looks like a Ford Ranger bed,and looks pretty sweet. I've always liked step sides. Note how he also has the 4x4 front fenders,which help look more proportional with the step side fenders.

that is tight