Projects 1959 Chevrolet Apache 3100 - Build Thread.

The last few days have been rough on my pickup.. Pothole caused a big gash in my sidewall and less than an hour ago a rock hit my windshield, creating a silver dollar sized star.

I'm still having fun, though.
- Joe

 

nice truck

 

thanks man

 

I called Coker today... they will not have stock on my tire this year! Tracy at Coker referred me to a website http://www.buycheaptiresandwheels.com - they had the same size tire with the same size whitewall for $44!

Hope it shows on FedEx before that sidewall takes me out of the genepool.

- Joe

 

What size tires are you running? How well does it drive/steer/stop? I always hear that these old trucks are a hand full on bias ply tires.

Thanks

Dave

 

Just painted an Apache for a guy last summer. Need to get a pic of it finished, he put chrome smoothies on it, etc. That's what he wanted.

 

The pickup came with a really nice set of 235 75 R15 tires. It drives nicely down the road, even in the rain. My problem is that I hit a pothole HARD and cut the top layer of the sidewall.

The tires new from Coker are about $250 shipped, each.

It stops just fine now, too - after a major brake job. The steering floats a little, I'm gonna tighten the steering box a little to see if that helps.

Not sure how the pickup would do on bias plys..

- Joe

 

what color did you stripe the flames?

 

He hasn't had them striped yet, I always try to talk him into it. I think it would look a lot better with an edge. Especially since he wanted satin colors.

 

The truck used to drive okay on bi-plys. 100% better on radials though.

I used it as a work truck so it took many trips to home depot and the local dump so I was looking for more comfort than cool originally.

NOTE: When I first bought it I drove it down from San Francisco area with old beat up bi-plys all the way around. Proabably had been on there for over 20yrs. That spare tire that's on there now was actually the best of the set. I made it all the way home to SoCal and within 10feet of my driveway 2 tires went flat after a 500mile drive.


Looking good Joe!

 

Sneak over there with a can of 1Shot peacock blue and blame it on the hot rod elves.

 

I was thinking of swapping over to a new set of bias plys... but the almighty dollar dictates that I stick with what I got!

thanks Gooz... I'm having fun with it!
- Joe

 

to swap the hangars to the insides, do you just flip the left to right and right to left?
NIK

 

I know I could have done a pretty decent job, but he had talked about having it done at some show sometime or whatever. I did my 53 a few years ago.
Flame job (I know, the bumper's are red - white letter tires - bla, bla)

 

This weekend I was able to spend some quality time working on my '52 and my '59.

52: Started the wiring job. All the old wires are out. The fuse block is mounted and the wires are strung to where they need to be.

59: Changed the oil. Changed the plugs and wires. Swapped out the leaking radiator.

The oil change was interesting. The oil wouldn't drain from the oil filter canister. I let it sit for a while, then I unbolted it and poured it out. There was about 1.5" of black muck at the bottom of the canister. All cleaned up now... I used 4 quarts of Valvoline 40 weight oil and 1 bottle of Lucas oil treatment.

The sparkplug swap should have been routine, except that the second wire I pulled fell apart in my hands. I had planned on only changing the plugs... 1 more trip to the parts store for wires. On the way over there there was an earthquake. It was strong enough to feel in the wife's minivan - it felt like the transmission was surging.

The radiator that I swapped in was out of a '55 Apache. Turned out to be about 3" shorter than the original. I had to adapt the flange to get it in. It mounted at the same height as the original, so I had to make another trip to the parts store to get a short piece of 1.75" exhaust pipe to shorten the bottom hose (cut 3" out of the center, cram the exhaust pipe in, hose clamp it all together).

All in all I was able to work about 11 hours on my car and pickup on Easter. Big thanks goes out to Karl for helping with the wires on the '52 and to George for taking my dumb ass to the parts store at 6:30 pm to get the parts to finish the radiator swap so I could drive to work this morning!

More to come....
- Joe

 

Let us know how the buying experience with this place goes and what the shipping time is like. I was looking at some of the new (cosmetic blemish) BFG silvertown bias ply tires on the site but didn't know what to think. I guess if Coker referred to it that is a good sign.

 

I still haven't gotten the tires, they did email me a tracking number, it should be at my house by the 7th. I emailed requesting a price on faster shipping, no response back..

I'll let you guys know. I made the order on 3/30/10, they shipped from Tenn. 8 days... not bad.

- Joe

 

The tire showed up on Thursday as promised. Looks good, too. I'm hoping to get it mounted up today or Monday.

After swapping out the radiator, the water pressure was at the proper level - so of course, the water pump started leaking. Yesterday was a marathon session of making the only 235 water pump in town work. Instead of the nib to attach the heater hose, there was a threaded fitting. The parts store had the nib to swap out. When I tried to remove the threaded fitting, I smashed it.

Much fun ensued.

I was finally able to shave off the boogered mess and after another trip to the parts store I had it all sorted out.

I was really hoping to be at GoogGuys Del Mar without my pickup pissing all over the fairgrounds.

Success!

- Joe

 

yes, here's a photo just after getting them off but not yet attached, that's a 14 X 32 in there (about 18.5 inches wide)

 

that earthquake was nuts. it lasted a long time. i was on the steps of my parents motor home at the time and it was making me jump up and down haha. the truck looks great. i've always wanted a nice clean old daily driver truck. looks like fun.

 

I guess it was really bad out in Imperial Valley - knocking over TVs and emptying pools.

I dig your International! You should roll it to Foster's on the 15th. http://tinyurl.com/yac2eoo

- Joe

 

They have only one of each tire in 99.9% of the sizes. I think I found 4 or more of one size only.

 

What a great project! That seat is off the charts.... Wow... Is the Moon Wheel a 14" unit? And how is the truck to drive with that small of a wheel? I'm thinking about switching to a 17" Bell Sprint car wheel for my '56 but would like to know how these things behave with something that small... I'm leaving my stock steering box in and have no plans for power steering.

Oh and thanks for the tip on the Cheap Wheel and Tire Joint. I just ordered 4 new Chrome smoothie wheels for my truck for only $216.00 delivered! Wholly Shit that's cheap.

Cheers,

Robert M.

 

Rob,

I can't speak for Joe, but I've got a Superior 14.5" wheel in my '55 2nd series with no power steering and it does just great.

 

I took mine out and I'm probably going to put in a wheel from a 60's chevy car. I Just didn't dig it. I looked really cool, but no bueno.

- Joe

 

Yeah, I noticed that on most tires it's a one off deal, but they do have 4+ matching BFG 1" whites in several different sizes.

 

Do it man!

 

Sweet... Good to know. I think I will stick with the Bell 17" just cuz I think it might be groovy in the cab... I did an ass load of little shit on mine the past few days and will update my build thread here shortly. I just love these trucks! I spent most of yesterday wrench'n on the 4-Spd... It looks great!

Cheers,

Robert M.

 

I just bought this wheel from Termites Ate my Chevy...

Should look pretty damn cool painted the color of the seats, huh...

- Joe

 

Sweet! That's a sexy wheel for sure...