BURNEDORANGE620

Thank you! Thanks for the compliment!

What would have been a better option? Just zinc-plated screws?

Thanks! That's a professionally sprayed on textured bed liner. It's very tough stuff, but a little pricey at $500 and I had to grind off all the rust before they'd touch it...it's called Linex.

Yes, of course! I messed up!

I wanted to make my tail gate not only for butt-friendly to sit on, but more practical like when loading my motorcycle into my truck. I started by buying some 1/2" X 1" rectangular (not square) steel tubing. I used my 4" grinder and Dremel tool to shape my supports as seen in this picture. I added four supports somewhat evenly spaced. And, I bought some diamond plate aluminum, 1/8th or 3/16" inch thick and had the industrial metal supply shop cut it 1/4" smaller in length and width than my tail gate measurement. After welding in the supports, I planned where I was going to position the screws and then drilled through the aluminum plate and into the frame of the tailgate and into the supports I had just welded in. I then tapped each hole in the tailgate. I meticulously countersunk each hole in the aluminum plate and used stainless steel countersunk Allen head screws to fasten down the aluminum plate. It is solid, strong, good-looking and practical. Total cost, about $100, mostly the cost of the aluminum diamond plate.

Sure! Will do!

I could send you a sample and you could check it out and see if you think it'll work for your application... New to the forums, don't know exactly how to exchange comm info....

Datzenmike, the baseboard I used is a thick, heavy, commercial grade rubber one - it is stiff enough to hold its shape. The spoiler "wraps" from the front of the truck to the wheel wells and that bend helps stiffen it up too. As mentioned, I had to use a heat gun to get it to wrap nicely around the bends. The temps are cool now, I'm hoping it won't sag in the hot SoCal summers. But, I think it'll be fine. For guys with super low vehicles, it's nice that it's flexible...

I made a template of the shape of the bottom edge of the valance using cardboard I bought a steel strip 1" wide by 1/8th" thick and 6 feet long from Lowe's. (~$10) I bent the strip (I used my hands) over a round radius (I used a closet rail about 1 3/8" in diameter) to match the shape of the template. A hammer helped too... Got this... I made 6 mounting tabs from extra material not used for the spoiler mounting bracket Then, I drilled holes every 3-4 inches in the lower half of the steel strip and then threaded (tapped) the holes... Alternatively, you could drill through and use nuts and bolts. Meanwhile, I drilled holes (1/4") in the tabs and bent them to allow the steel strip to be positioned perfectly vertical when mounted to the lower valance on the 620... Then I welded the tabs onto the steel strip in 6 places. Alternatively, you could drill holes and use nuts and bolts. Here the tabs are done and welding completed. You could alternatively drill holes through tabs and mounting strip and use nuts and bolts, instead. Mounting strip was trial-fitted and attached. It will be removed one more time for finish painting and attachment of 4 inch rubber spoiler lip. License plate also removed temporarily to help with drilling holes into the valance and installation of brackets. You have to look carefully, but the mounting strip is attached to the bottom of the valance- you can see the 4 screw heads - they will eventually be painted to match the body color. Here I have taken some masking tape and punched holes to align with the holes in the metal strip. Then, I peeled off the tape and transferred it to the rubber spoiler lip. The rubber (not vinyl) is 4" black flooring baseboard from Lowe's. Unfortunately, it is only sold in 4 ft lengths (not long enough for our purposes) and a 120 ft roll. So, I still have about 100 ft left and can provide members with 6 ft lengths, if you are interested. I then used a leather hole punch to punch out the marked spots...you could drill the holes, as well... You can see I elected to put the curved lip of the baseboard on the underside of the valance or the upper side of spoiler instead of at the bottom edge. This is the way I attached the mounting tabs to the back side of the valance. Using the thick nylon washer allowed me to mount the strip without altering the 1/4 inch bent lip of the lower valance edge. Here I'm attaching the rubber lip to the mounting strip. I guess I could have mounted the rubber lip to the strip and then installed the whole assembly to the valance. I used a heat gun to warm the rubber baseboard to help conform it around the corners of the valance... BEFORE: AFTER: VOILA! A cool looking spoiler for your Datsun for under $30 bucks! (And a fun one-day project!)