Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

its comming along nicely...always liked the apache

 

Thanks erlomd! I will trade you for your '32 if you are interested lol

 

It's getting there...keep up the good work.

 

Thanks Man!

Yeah I am nowhere near being a pro at body work, but I think I am closer than some people... I am self taught up until this point...

 

Well here is that weld ground down in the pictures below... it is as close as I can get it and filler will just have to do the rest.. I wont be cutting this thing apart again any time soon. If I do need to I am just going to throw down for a new fender. Too much time invested as it is... but good practice for other bigger body work.

 

Here are some more pictures with some gloss to see how far off the fender is at this point.. Its not bad, but I guess I can deal with it.. Its a hell of a lot better than it was.

 

One more batch of pictures.. a lot of smoke from welding.. Getting there.

 

Well after a long nice weekend at GoodGuys in Columbus, Ohio I wanted to get home and start knocking this fender out so I can get everything else tuned in for the trucks first move around the block. I picked up some loot at the swap meet there and will post some pictures of it soon, but first.... back to the grinding!

 

Here are some more pictures.... the body lines are pretty straight.. everything else can be tweaked, but those.

 

Well I got the eyebrow off again and will be welding it back on correctly sometime this week. Since the fender is off I can work on the throttle set up, gas pedal and a few other things as well. busy busy!

 

I didn't work on the fender tonight because of the heat the air compressor puts out... They had a sever weather warning for heat today all day and all night... at 1 AM it is still about 90 degrees.... its just too damned hot. So I decided to do something that you wouldn't think would make you sweat bullets... boy I was wrong..

I broke down and purchased my Lokar throttle cable assembly and this thing is super. I got the bracket installed and a couple other things on the carb... I am going to have to move around a few things, but overall I think everything is looking pretty good. After seeing a car catch on fire at GoodGuys in Columbus it really changed my tune on a couple things... and I got some good pictures of some other pickup trucks that had everything I had so it gave me some great ideas

Here are some pictures of my progress on that and my new gas pedal.... the camera would not focus because of how humid it is in the garage.

 

Well I did a lot of cutting and welding to get this gas pedal in there. Took two hours to get everything positioned right too. I need to tighten down the bolts then I am going to hook up the rest of the throttle linkage and be done with it.. Overall I think it looks pretty nice. I am going to have to pull the engine sometime to plug all of the holes in the firewall and clean everything else up... eegad.

Anyways, it was nice out today so I will follow up on this tomorrow and hopefully get it all taken care of. I am going to order a nice tv cable bracket for the tranny kickdown and then reposition a few things.

 

You're doing great! Keep up the good work! I just pulled my engine last week and filled 53 holes in my firewall. Here's to hoping you've got less!!!

 

HAHA.. nice Thanks for the compliment, cant wait for that caddy swap for your truck... that thing is going to be wicked

 

Well I got the rest of the linkage mocked up (needs to be tightened down and I need two people or finally need to drill out the bolts for the tranny cover). please note the last picture of the nasty rot that the tranny cover has on it.... I will probably pull the tranny cover. I cleaned up the floor in the cab a bit by removing the vent door knob/choke cable on both sides and making a hole for my water temp gauge line that is under the dash. It was an easy day so far... I ordered my kickdown bracket and my battery hold downs then I will start cleaning up the engine compartment so its safe and decent looking.

 

You sure know how to keep a project moving forward! Keep up the good, steady work on it and you will be driving it before long.

 

Thanks man, I will be seeing you soon down at the shows on Friday. They having me working this lousy schedule... so I havent been able to make it down to the shows at all yet...

 

put my new tranny kickdown bracket on and finally got to get that tranny cover off... I hate clutch head bolts.. a dremel tool, a hammer, and a flat screw driver is all you need! The rust isnt terrible, I will see If I should reuse this cover or just replace it (cant tell until I start seeing how thin the metal is. It's ungodly hot out this week, so I am trying to do little stuff so I don't die from heat exhaustion.. pics to come soon!

 

Well I got the tranny cover off and cleaned up the old gasket material and I was certain that there was some significant rot underneath of all of that crap, but to my surprise it is clean as a whistle and just needed to be cleaned up! Pretty sweet! I am just going to buy a new tranny cover... the old one is too rotten and thin in most places that it would not be worth my while to repair it. One of the old gas pedal bolts was broken off so I will have to weld a nut to it and make it a bolt and back it out with a wrench (works every time).


I also tried to clean up some other spots as well and some parts of the floor just have minor pitting not actual rot, so I am pleased. I got my new bracket set up for the tranny kickdown, but noticed a leak at the actual kick down insert, which concerns me with how much is actually leaking .... damn money pit

 

It has been so hot out that I havent been doing a whole lot of anything at the moment. I have been doing a lot of research into air conditioning compressor delete brackets and finally found one, but the problem is that I am having to shim it up to 1/2 an inch or more..... I am not too satisfied with that at all and am in the process of getting my money back on it because it doesn't fit that application. I also bought a nice set of finned valve covers and some nice wire looms to match (also finned). They should be here this week. I also bought a holley electric fuel pump (still need to mount it) and will be running new hard line, blocking off the mechanical pump and taking out the regulator and finally hooking up my nice dual fuel line with a gauge to get everything where I want it. A lot of pictures to come, stay tuned. I was also toying with some block hugging headers (nice looking chrome ones). I am very excited to get this thing looking decent and most of all safe. I am going to be putting in another big order to get my doors set and ready to go and throw down about 500 more bucks just to get the bed finished (wood and all of the accessories). I took the lady out this weekend and went to the gun range to let off some steam from work... we both feel a lot better and I am ready to get back on this beast.

 

you can get an ac delete pulley that bolts in place of the compressor, its an option i guess.

 

Yeah, I have that bracket, but did some research today with dorman and I guess I was sold something that didnt have a hardware kit in the box. Apparently it allows you to shim up the exact amount that I need. I also bought some hard line and other goodies to get my fuel system switched over to an electric fuel pump. I will be installing all of that this evening hopefully (spiders permit).

Is anyone else having a terrible spider problem??... it seems everywhere I turn I have something staring me back eye to eye when I am working on something.

 

Well not much got completed tonight, this bitch keeps fighting me every step of the way... First I can't find my drill bit that I dropped then it went downhill from there. I did, however, get the carb setup taken off, the original dual feed line on there and am in the process of removing the fuel pump and adding the block off plate and a few other things to the mix. I have yet to mount the fuel pump and get those lines taken care of, but will get to that soon. I am just ready to simplify everything here so it looks decent and is functional instead of a spider web of crap. More pictures to come..

still waiting on my shim set..... but the pulley is on there...

It's hard to find the time to get a lot done when you only have a couple hours to work on it.

 

i wish i just had spider problems, its more about the heat in my neck of the woods. but hopefully i can hold out and not have a heat stroke and get my truck back together

 

Well I got my new toys today

I am surprised that they were undamaged.. the packing job that this guy does on evilbay absolutely sucks balls. I am missing some hardware though, so I will be calling him again here tomorrow to get that straightened out.

I will have to do some research on breathers (what design I like) and I will also have to pick up a pair of cork gaskets for these covers. I really like those wire looms too. Now I am going to have to get rid of that tacky looking air cleaner and get some decent looking chrome headers on it and the engine bay will be pretty much done.

I also removed the fuel pump tonight and am prepping to get the block off plate on and the front hoses run a little better. After that all I have to do is make a plate for the fuel pump and run the power wire to it and she will be done fuel system wise

I am also going to work on the tranny cooler lines after this set up is finished just so It simplifies everything and makes everything a lot nicer/easier to work on.

Overall, not much got completed tonight, but for 1 hour out in the garage I guess that is plenty.

 

Nice looking covers and looms. Can't wait to see it cruising M'ville! Keep up the good work, I'm not getting much done in this heat.

 

Yeah same here... baby steps for now i guess until the temps cool down. I cant wait to actually make it down there to show it off (it may not look pretty at first, but oh well)

 

59...are you using adapters on the center bolt heads to install the outer perimeter mount valve covers?...if so let us know how they work,Ive been told they are notorious leakers...Thanks

 

I am pretty sure my heads are both drilled for the outside and center so I can choose which I'd like. If I am incorrect I will just use them on my plymouth. No big deal

 

So it doesn't look like much, but this is about 2 hours worth of work, fitting and test fitting and adding baffles and fitting again and cutting fuel lines and flaring and installing the block off plate for the fuel pump etc. Man I am beat.. I am going to have to remove the front passenger side serpentine belt setup to get some plate off of there to correctly install the passenger side valve cover (it is only like 1/8 of an inch off center and the plate is in the way). Anyway, I am going to get to install that fuel pump the rest of the way as well sometime this week. I may look into redoing the tranny cooler lines so they run through the front cross member like I have seen on a couple similar trucks at the car show