I've been shopping the internet for a while looking for some smooth steel running boards. All I could find was some fiberglass boards. I want this car to be all steel. A nice guy from the Hotrodders.com site offered to make some for me. I hadn't thought about it before, but after looking at the original running boards, I figured it probably wouldn't be too hard to make some myself. I picked up a 4x8' sheet of 16 gauge at a metal supply store for about $50, and an air nibbler from Harbor Freight for $30, and got to work.

After measuring the length of the running boards, about 53", I started cuttin the sheet with a Skil reciprocating saw, but the blades started to wear out, so I bought a nibbler from Harbor Freight.

I clamped a straight edge on the sheet to keep the nibbler in line, but the nibbler could barely go through it. The box said it would handle 16 gauge, but I could only go an inch at a time before it would bind up again. It took forever to cut through.

Once the sheet was cut to length, I had to cut the curve for the back side of the running board. Now this is the first piece I've ever fabricated from scratch, so I was figuring things out as I went along. I had to measure the width of the boards, including the edges that fold over. I don't want to waste any more than necessary, so I tried to get it close. First I used a paper towl draped over the edges, and marked it with a pen. I figured out real quick that the paper towl stretches too easily, so I tried using string, but that wasn't too good either. I finally taped a couple sheets of paper together, which worked ok.

Now I had the width of the running board by the front fender (the widest part) and the rear fender (the narrowest part). Next I had to draw the curve of the boards onto the sheet metal to cut it.

The problem was the screws that mount the boards to the brackets wouldn't let the board sit flat on the sheet metal, so I couldn't get a good pattern on the curve. I sprayed some rust loosener on the bolts and banged on them, but they wouldn't come out.

Upon closer inspection, the square head of the bolt is held in place with a crease in the bracket. Click the picture to see it better. I tried prying that crease out with a screwdriver, but no luck.

The reciprocator took care of that problem. Now the running board would lay flatter on the sheet metal, allowing me to trace the curve. I tried cutting along the line with my new nibbler, but that thing is a piece of crap. I'm sure it's fine for thinner stuff, but it won't work on 16 gauge. I cut it with the reciprocator, moving the whole saw up and down so I wouldn't wear a dull spot in the blade. It worked great.

Here's the flat sheet cut out and ready for forming.