Projects My Apache...

Shadams that thread is awesome.

Thanks 93

Tjet, i really had no idea what i was in store for when i pulled it all apart. Now that i have tho, its really very simple. These trucks assemble easily. This is the exact reason im building this for my daily. New cars are a bitch and a half to work on

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There's a better way to do that, the foam portion and the upholstery are the same, but on the wood part of the frame if you hollow it out on the bottom and weave burlap straps back and forth it reduces the weight of the seat and the rigidity, making a far more comfortable drive. Cool that he posted that though, he did a really good job none the less

 

I think i saw that weave method on some car show on tv. Dont rag me, but it may have been on boyds show haha. i cant wait to see how urs turns out

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On a side note, my dad is gettin his old truck back soon. He gave it to a family member to use as a farm truck and now there giving it back for free. Its ot, 78 ford 2wd. But i might occasionally post updates on the motor. 300 straight six will see an offy dual plane, 500 edelbrock, rv cam, split headers and a few other tricks. Should be a fun thing to tinker with

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If you don't have one already here's a simple backing tool for welding up holes. It's a piece of 3/4" copper tubing. Works perfect.

 

Not sure I understand...are the straps taking the place of the wood? What do the metal rails attach to?

 

You cut the centers out of the wood. You can still attach the frames to the wood but have the weaved straps over the cutout wood, and under the foam to give it more cushion than just flat plywood

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I started welding holes up in the camaro clip. I also welded the p/s front frame horn up. Ill get pics asap. Ill make more progress tomorrow. Didnt get as much done as id like, damn ravens game had me in near cardiac arrest the whole time

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Buzz, where did you get your battery relocate kit?

That engine with the white firewall is clean!

BTW, make sure your brake lines dont kink when you turn lock-to-lock (they look twisted)

 

question fellas. i just sold some extra parts and have some extra cash to do this x member. the box tubing my buddy has isnt the size i thought and wont work for what i wanna do here. i wanna run 1/4 wall tubing, is this a little overkill ? will 3/16 wall work just fine for me ?

 

3/16" will be fine.

 

Bingo, but whoever did that definitely went overboard with the staples... big time...

 

Remind me again why you are boxing this?

1/4 is overkill. basically anything over 1/8 should be fine (1/8 may even do)

 

i noticed that as well, but wasnt sure how many staples you need when you do sumthin like that. lol looked like a lot tho. btw man i got busy today with the family and football and trying to get some of the frame work done. ill give you a call tomorrow after work or something

readhead, thanks for the input. the price difference between 1/4 wall and 3/16 adds up damn quick

 

Yeah and there is more strap there than you really need, but at least its overkill instead of being the opposite

 

im not boxing the frame, just building that x member out of box tubing. the front most crossmember under the cab is hacked from someone else trying to cut a notch and never finishing it. pretty much i dont wanna build notches for the rusted stock crossmembers that will look kinda crappy. id rather just knock out the driveshaft clearance issues, and have a very clean and much stronger x member style setup. especially if its under $100 difference in cost to do

 

About the engine/firewall...thanks!

I coiled the brake lines (twisted them) so that they don't hang or get hung up when I'm pointed straight. When I turn lock to lock they straighten out a little, but they don't kink. I've seen a lot of cars done this way...it makes sense.

 

So I'm looking at the plywood seat frame with the straps woven through and I'm skeptical. Let me tell you why; I'm SURE this has worked many times over for many people, but I'm not a little guy, and I'm afraid I'd splinter that wood. At 6'4" and 325lbs, I'd be afraid that any duration under my weight and the wood would fail. Any way of reinforcing? Maybe thicker plywood or skinning the ply with sheet metal? I'd also like to see if this method could be an alternative to the stock spring set-up to make the back of the seat thinner... I'm looking for more legroom. Basically keeping the spring set-up on the bottom and the strap set-up on the top. The only other consideration would be moving the back seat frame forward to take up the gap that was created by making the seat thinner. I haven't taken one of these apart before...does this seem doable to someone who has had these seats apart?

 

Ahh, awesome!!

 

Yes it does work, we have built many seats for people of your stature and weight, its like sitting in a lawn chair,but better built and far more comfortable. The high density foam takes most of your weight anyway and I use 5/8 thick plywood and leave a lot of it still there when I cut out the centers. It also gives the cushion somewhere to go instead of busting the seams on the upholstery. You can do this with the back seat as well, if you check my build thread you can see that I have both seats apart. You can get away with trimming the springs to knock back the seat as well, so you can still keep your seat together without having to go through the hassle of reupholstering it.

 

I'm game to try it out, but I would really appreciate a step-by-step of how it's done...including how to shape and glue the foam, and wether or not you can use the reproduction seat covers on a seat that is thinner and shaped differently.

 

You can shape it any way you would like, You can use repro seat covers if you shape the foam the same way that it is stock. We used an electric turkey carver/knife to shape the foam.. fastest way to do it lol. I will let you know when I get started on it

 

I built the lower tray portion of my battery box with some scrap and a piece of angle iron i had. Still gotta make the mounts, upper half and battery tie down. Have a few mounting locations in mind.....

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Thanks for this info. My 59 was my dad's old truck. He put a split back bench seat in it a long time ago - but it needs to be redone.

Here is a post I started - when you get ready to do the bed. Lotsa cool ideas

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=688444

 

Sorry man, I just noticed this question. I bought the tray at Summit...kind of took a chance on it because it was only $26 and I figured I could make it work.

Here's the tray:





Looking at it you can see the tabs at the top..those were key to how mine installed. Basically I used small 1" U-bolts at the top. I also drilled a hole in the back and squared it so that it would capture a carriage bolt...the bolt is 2.5" long. I also bought a steel sleeve spacer to go over the carriage bolt...the spacer is 2" long.

The tops of the tabs need to be ground down about 3/4". Now they will fit between the top of the frame rail and the floor. I installed the tray so that it was INSIDE the frame opposite the brake master cylinder and next to the transmission. The clearance to the transmission was about 7" and with the tray in place the bottom of it is actually completely flush with the bottom of the frame.

With the tray in place I marked the two holes per tab where the U-bolts would pass through the tab and go through holes in the top of the frame and clamp the tabs down to the frame. I then drilled holes in the tabs and then slotted them at an agle so that I could fish the U-bolts through the slots and also so that I would have enough clearance to move the U-bolts up toward the floor enough to get them to fish through the two holes in the frame (two for both U-bolts obviously) at the same time. I also drilled a hole in the frame in direct correlation to where the carriage bolt hole is in the back of the tray. Since the back of the tray would not be up against the frame, but would be up against the open side of the frame, the 2" spacer would take up that gap so that the carriage bolt wouldn't pull the tray and bend it when tightened.

I painted the tray, installed the carriage bolt with the bolt head against the battery and mounted the battery to the tray as one solid unit using the hardware that came with the tray. I then rolled under the truck with this assembly on my chest, hoisted it up, and made sure the tabs were indexed to the right spot (between the holes I drilled). With spacer on the carriage bolt behind the tray, I fished the last 1?2" of the threaded end of the bolt through the hole I drilled in the frame. To make it easier to install the two upper U-bolts without having to support the weight by hand, I installed the nut (and a thick washer) onto the carriage bolt once it passed through the frame and tightened the nut while pushing the tray flush up against the frame. This allowed the weight to rest on the frame and the whole assembly to remain secure while I installed the U-bolts and tightened them.

The positive cable ends up being about 20" and the negative is short as it only needs to go somewhere to the frame on bare metal.

I will take pictures next time I'm under it, but it honestly installed like it was a kit made for this application.

BTW: I used an Optima so that I don't have to worry about battery maintenance.

 

thanks Buzz.

Did you put a Ford starter relay near the new battery location?

 

No, the battery is actually closer to the starter solenoid than it is with the battery in the stock location. What is also pretty cool about this set-up is the ability to install a positive cable in-line disconnect switch under the bench seat.

 

I just remembered this thread that I subscribed to a while back....it shows how some guys have grafted on front clips and may help you decide how to address the clutch issue you're having.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148978

 

I welded the mount on for the lower half of the framerail. There will be another mount that rests on the top of the framerail just like the bottom, and that will be tied into the lower tray with angled supports from the front edge of the tray up to the upper mount if that makes sense. Pretty similar to your location buzznut, ill have it knocked out tomorrow.

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If I had a better mig I'd be fabricating a bunch of stuff. The tray looks cool with all the relief holes...and that location is pretty much perfect...you can get to the cable lugs/bolts by removing the transmission cover if you need to. Well, at least I would need to since my truck is too low to get under, that's why I installed a disconnect right there so I don't have to mess with the cables if I need to do some electrical maintenance.