threshold sealing question

[sjracer]

ok, first off hello to all. i don't even know if this is the right forum to ask this question, but this is all new to me. so please let me know if i need to ask it elsewhere or what search terms to use to find my answer (yes i searched but didn't know what to call it.

what i am doing is a walkthrough conversion on my pickup truck/4wheeler to allow seating in the bed. my standard cab 74 chevy 1 ton pickup just doesn't have the room i need for my growing family, but i have way too much money and time into it to just sell it and buy a blazer and go through all the upgrading all over again. plus it was the same truck my gramps owned for years so i cant just sell it or part it out.

here's the plan: i was going to cut the wall between the cab and bed to make one continuous passenger cabin, add a rollcage and seats inside of a camper shell. i know back in my teenage days in the early '90s this was a fairly common 'trick-out' upgrade that the mini-truck show-truck guys used to do, so i've seen it done and it can't be rocket science. what i was wondering is on the medium and big truck conversions how do they seal the area to the new passenger/living seating area? what kind of seal is used? what is it called? i was imagining some kind of wide rubber seal but don't know what to search for on the internet to buy it. thanks again.

 

[hot rod]

Welcome to the forum. It is geared more towards "big trucks" but everybody interested in conversions is welcome, and your issue is common with truck builders as well.

There was a thread a while back dealing with cab seals which you may be able to find, I can't remember which it was, but this website was listed as a source for accordion seals:

Uni-Grip Sealing Products

The poster said they are very helpful in finding the right product for you if you shoot them an email.

I remember the walk throughs they were building back in the minitruck days, and most of those were done by welding the cab to the bed. They made matching cutouts in both, and formed "u" shaped sheet metal pieces to weld in and box in the gap on the bottom and sides. Then they uses one of those fat foam cap seals to seal the cap to the top of the cab. Welding it all together on a mini-truck did not seem like a bad idea, basically just made it into a mini-suv. On a one ton you may want to think about flex if you are hauling any weight before going that route, or just making sure the joint is beefy enough to handle it. The same issues have been discussed on here for truck conversions about welding it solid vs. a rubber boot. Opinions vary.

Good Luck.