Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

Finally an update with pictures. I just got hired by Cummins Diesel as an Engineer after 1 full year of being unemployed engineer, full time mechanic/parts manager at a car maintenance facility in Indy.. so it's been a busy week for me with very little time to work on the truck. However, I got let home 2 hours early today because it was slow (good thing I got the other job!) so I worked for about 6 hours tonight and completed both the wiring under the dash, switches and grounds included AND the fuel tank conversion, minus my GM sending unit (in transit as we speak)... as well as some wiring in the engine compartment to finish it up. I finally got my battery today and will be hooking up my grounding wires, battery, red and black battery cables tomorrow and will even toss on a new mechanical fuel pump that doesn't have a return outlet to return the fuel to the tank and may even run fuel lines to the tank! Very exciting time for me, new transition to a career and almost have my truck up and running... After I get all of this crap together as far as the truck stuff I am installing tomorrow, all I have to pre oil it, time it, adjust gaps for the valves/points/etc. and she is ready to rock and roll. Enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think

 

Here are some pics of the completed and installed tank assembly. Total cost is approximately $180.00 to do this conversion. Very easy and looks great!

Pictures are of the front inside, rear inside and a side shot of what it looks like. I will post some pics tomorrow of the underside when I get a couple more pieces of hardware.

 

Congrates on the new job, In this time and age its like finding gold. The tank looks good. I'm attaking the wiring on my 59 this week end. This is one part I'm not looking forward to. Hope it goes as quick and painless as yours did. Keep the pictures coming. Looks like your almost done.

 

Congratulations on the finding a good job in hard times. Keep up the good work on your truck it is really coming along.

 

Looking good man, Damn they are proud of those adapters!
I think I'll go with an S-10 rearend for half that price

 

Thank you Dave K I appreciate it.

turdchazer I completely agree with you, the only reason I decided to buy them was because I popped open the differential cover and the gears inside were still pretty much brand new. I later found out from the original owner that only 35,000 miles were put on it and then it was parked in 1964, sold, and torn down to become what I am making it in the mid 1970's. Finally 30 years later I am actually putting it back together and giving it the love it has been missing for well over 46 years.

Stay tuned, I am going to be finishing up the grounds for the front, the battery cables, running the fuel line and pre oiling it and it will be ready to fire up I am going to be doing most of that tonight and will be posting pictures.

 

I installed all of my ground straps, my battery, all the leads from the battery and finally wanted to see if my wiring worked. So.. I flipped the light switch, the instrument panel lights came on, when I hit the hi-beam switch in the floor my little dash indicator light that I installed in the choke hole lit up, my blinkers didnt so I am wondering if I may have hooked something up incorrectly, but we will see later down the road... I also bumped the starter to see if that worked.. It did! Very cool guys, Very close to being fired up. I am thoroughly excited and anxious to get what I want done and get this thing running!

If anyone wants more pictures of something let me know I can go take them

 

I just got the tank ready to go and finished I just need to blow it out and run a magnet around in it to get all of the metal dust out of there. I also have run my fuel line, installed my new mechanical fuel pump, finished all of my wiring to the front of the vehicle and under the dash.... So I have everything pretty much squared away. I just added 2 gallons of coolant to see if anything is leaking anywhere. Soon I will be pre oiling it and then timing it.. I am getting anxious to hear this thing run

I will be posting pictures tomorrow of all of it.

 

Just finished up the gas tank and just need to flare the lines and hook that up the rest of the way. Of course I tried to put oil in it and the valve covers don't seal very well so I am going to see if I can get some cork gaskets for it. I will give an update tomorrow when I get this crap sealed up and ready to go.

 

another couple pictures of the completed gas tank installation

 

58/59 apaches are some of the coolest trucks around if you ask me.
nice truck. keep going! and yes, you need chrome smoothies.

 

Well its been kind of slow, but I have made a lot of little progress here and there... all of the little crap that isn't really picture worthy. I did however get my headlight buckets refinished and new hardware installed... Good news, the headlight wiring works, both hi and low beams, and I will stop by the store tomorrow to get my hardware to mount the buckets in the fenders. (I only had 1 screw fortunately to make the bucket ground to the body to test both buckets).

Also, I found out the hard way that my valve covers were bent a little out of shape when the rubber gaskets didnt quite seal and poured about 2 quarts of oil down the drivers side of the block immediately... boy there was some cussing going on lol. Needless to say I straightened them out in the vise and used a little RTV to seal the deal and she doesn't leak a drop. I also had a problem with the rear seal of the pan leaking and used a brass rod and tapped it back into shape so it no longer leaks when I fill it with oil.

The engine is topped off with oil and with some additive and awaiting me to preoil it. I just installed a new idler pulley and tensioner pulley assembly since they were the only things that weren't new on that engine... found out what the serpentine belt setup is to... a 90-92 chevy van (the 350 chevy is the same year block, so I would have to assume that the block is for the van as well.. I cant check the numbers because of Sportsman II heads on it that cover the block ID number).

Tomorrow I will make sure that the power steering lines are tight, will install my filter on the return line, and top that off with power steering fluid. I will also flare my fuel line as well as the tranny cooler lines, and fill both my new tank full of gas (check for leaks) and tranny lines (check for leaks) and that will probably take me all day tomorrow since it has been in the high 80's/ low 90's and humid all week... not too much fun to work with the garage open which is my only option... I will have this truck started this week for certain.

 

Lordy... Here it goes...

So this truck the past couple days has been fighting me every step of the way, I finally got the F#@$ you mentality with this truck and told it that it is going to run if it likes it or not... From a bolt missing on the back of the power steering pump (which leaked all of the fluid I poured in immediately all over my clean floor) to tranny or fuel lines not wanting to go back into their reserved space without cursing like Ralphie off of the Christmas Story beating up the Scut Farkus. I believe "F U TRUCK!" is the saying for the past two days.

slowly over 2 days I got it so I was ready to preoil.


So I go pull the boots for the plugs, pull the distributor, and since I wanted to rotate the motor to make sure the entire engine was good to go I decided to pull the plugs... *Note to self: remember to put rubber mat under engine when removing spark plugs"... The absolutely first one comes out slips out of my hands and while I juggle it for a good 3 count it slams to the ground and shatters.... of course the cursing continued. The headers that I have refuse to let 2 of the plugs out short of removing the headers... so I do that and get to the number 7 cylinder remove that one and out comes the waterfall of coolant...

of course I said "You have got to be kidding me".. for one, I spent all of this time trying to get this filthy peasant running and it turns out that the tool that "built" the motor cant torque anything down in the correct sequence for sh%t... secondly, I just finished cleaning up the pool of power steering fluid on the garage floor... which now has turned to a pool of coolant.. I probably should have put up an inflatable baby pool under the truck, which then I could wade in afterward with my sorrows lol

So the following pictures are of what the hell is going on with this motor... I decided that it was probably best to remove the intake to see if it was internally cracked... which it wasnt, so I shine a flashlight into the intake part of that cylinder and there was Armageddon. That was my "AH HA!" moment, but shortly turned to disappointment because I realized this just turned into a $100-200 fix, which was not in my budget currently, but will have to make it in my calculations for now. So in turn... me telling the truck that it was going to run if it likes it or not... I guess it chose 'or not'.. haha


2 batches of pictures, prepare for some fun! (I know I had a blast!!!!)

 

And some more of my head (Meeeow)

By the way, the piston was barely frozen up, I lightly smacked it with my rubber mallet and it broke lose and I can rotate the motor freely now. I will marvel mystery oil the wall and see how bad it is.. It may just need to be honed.

 

Well after looking at this cylinder I decided it would be best to hone it to be safe because of how much water was on the top of the head. Fortunately, Autozone had one to rent, so I basically got it honed for free! That stone grit gets everywhere, so make sure you are prepared to clean and clean and clean and clean to get it all out. I also made sure to wire wheel the head of the piston and she looks brand new.

I did take the head down to the local head shop to have him inspect it to see if it is damaged/cracked and to take that cylinder apart and clean it up and to make sure the valves seal. All for 25 bucks. He and I both agreed that water probably got into the intake at some point in time, but for 25 bucks I couldn't say no.. especially when I dont want to have to take it apart again or replace the head itself. Besides, taking apart a head is a pain that I don't want to deal with right now... I have enough on my plate.

I will be going back out here shortly and will take the other head off (passenger side) and inspect it since the buffoon didnt torque this one down correctly. I did inspect the head gasket and it looks like he dropped the head on it at some point in time and tore some pretty nasty gashes into it, fortunately in spots that dont matter as much as others. I am replacing them anyways, so I will do it correctly without messing anything up. Anyways, here are some pictures of what she looks like cleaned up.

 

I just got back inside from working on this thing all day. I got the passenger side head off and it looks like the guy I traded the truck for must have had the block done by a machine shop and he tried to figure out what was wrong with the drivers side head because there was a different head gasket on the other side. Needless to say, the passenger side bank looks gorgeous.

So I pulled it, inspected everything, cleaned everything and put the new head gasket on and torqued it down correctly, so all I have to do is torque the rocker arms to where they are supposed to be and I am done on that side...

I just am waiting on the drivers side head now from Ed

Here are the pictures

 

Glad it was cheaper than you thought it was gonna be! That's always nice.

 

Yeah no kidding, I am anxious to get this head back already so I can start the truck up. So I think I have 125 bucks into it now, including the new head gasket set, oil, and coolant. Thanks for following the thread

 

I picked up my head today after a grueling day of staining a 30X20 ft deck out in the heat... boy that wasn't fun. So I talked to the guy at the head shop and he told me that he magnafluxed it and found that the head was in perfect condition. He then cleaned up my valve and I was on my way for 25 bucks. So I just got finished working on plopping the head back on, using the good old torque wrench, and installed my intake again. All I have to do at this point is crank the rocker arms down to their correct torque and I will be on my way. Here are some pics .

 

All those shenanigans are why God invented beer. Good luck, eventually you'll find all the hidden gremlins. I recommend beating them severely.

 

Well, today I got my valves set, valve covers on, oil and anti-wear additive in it, coolant in it, distributor in, carb on, timed it 10 degrees BTDC and have the engine pre oiled, and I have painted the drivers side head to match the rest of the motor.

Tomorrow, I will throw the plugs in it, plug wires on and zip tied to avoid the headers, toss the new gaskets on for the headers, hook up the rest of the electrical, poor some gas in the tank and see if it wants to run. cross your fingers! I will post the engine starting on here if it works!

 

Well I tried to start this truck up and I am not getting any juice to the coil... I had to go through the wiring and I dont think that this Ignition switch is acting right.. that or the fact that after I reworked some of the wiring it still didn't get any juice is what is still bothering me. I just bought a new meter to check everything out with, but after the entire day (10 AM - 7 PM with no breaks) of working on the truck I decided to just pack it up and call it a day.

It was a successful day overall though because I got the motor back together, cleaned up the mess in the garage from tossing on new head gaskets on, found all the gremlins that were residing in the fuel system, found out my new fuel tank conversion I did works beautifully, sending unit and all and doesnt leak a drop. The motor doesnt leak at all, nor does the tranny... Overall it was a really good day short of this thing not starting.

Thanks to Robert M. or THE-SYNDICATE who decided to give me a call and give me a hand with a couple of these problems. Thanks Robert!

Anyways, I will try to make it back home sometime this week.. I start tomorrow at Cummins Diesel and they pay for a hotel stay in a really nice place for an entire week for orientation... I can't say no to that or the free meals lol. I will think really hard about what is going on and try to find out what the problem is.. I know I will probably start back at square one, but any suggestions would be great.

 

IT LIVES!!!!!




It turns out after all of the triple and quadruple checking I did on the motor 2 problems existed... Problem 1: IGN2 on my brand new ignition switch which activates the coil while the starter is cranking is a dead stick, regardless of what is done to it. So much for spending 60 bucks on it to get it to my house... I guess no one taught little Ping Pong how to build it correctly in China. Problem 2: Out of all the checks I did for the electrical, I missed the tach wire that was supposed to go to the negative side of the coil. *Note to self - engine does not run without that connected* haha. Boy this baby purrrssss. I would break it in right now but it is 10 pm. I may risk getting the cops called on me tonight for the satisfaction. More to come! I am thoroughly excited!

 

SWEET!!!!! Nice Job Man!!!

 

Thanks! Thank you again for the help Robert, I appreciate it

I will be breaking it in this weekend when my Dad comes into town for less than 1 day. I'd love to go get it registered, but I don't think that is going to happen by this weekend anyways.

 

Well after working on trying to get the dash lights/turn signal lights to work I finally figured it out and did some rewiring and all of a sudden everything works. It was a nice night to a kind of boring day at work. So today I did all that rewiring for the lights, got the turn signals and flashers to work, got my headlight buckets in, topped off some fluids from last night that were sucked into their areas of the engine/tranny when I fired it up for about 20 seconds... such as tranny fluid, a little oil, power steering fluid, and FINALLY got my hood latch and striker on so I can close the hood.

I cant break in the engine in the garage as of yet because of the fact that my air filter is right there and fumes go directly in the house. To top it off it has been lousy weather for the past 2 days since ive been home after work, So hopefully the weekend brings a nice dry change in the weather. In the mean time I will be working on the smaller things, like flaring the rest of the brake lines and making sure the system doesnt leak, servicing the rear end, and lubing up the U-joints. Then its pretty much driveable at that point. YAY.

 

Good work not letting it beat you, lol. I have sworn off any repop components after experiencing the same kind of issues with brand new pieces. The whole time you're having a problem, you're thinking "it can't be the repop 'blank', it's brand new". So you waste a day or two chasing other phantom problems. It's so frustrating. I had the same kind of issues with a repop headlight switch. Ended up going with a good used switch and no more problems.

Can't wait to see more updates.

 

Speaking of the light switch....... Do your parking lights turn off in your grill when your headlights go on? I dont know if they are supposed to turn off or not, but I would like to know (I dont think they should). Thanks for the kind words... by the way, you helped wire the truck, be proud .

 

I honestly can't remember. I'll check in the morning and report back.

 

All GM's up until 67? 68? turned off the front running lights when the headlights came on. My 65 El Camino did this. Modern GM switches still have that provision, but have an extra terminal that keeps the front lights on with the headlights.