Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

Well I got the bracket off and the passenger side valve cover fitted correctly. I am still waiting for Summit Racing to get the shit together because I still haven't received my shim kit yet for that serpentine belt setup. I was also toying with the idea of going to a nice, stock looking alternator bracket, pulley setup and power steering bracket because the serpentine belt setup kind of messes with the look of the truck. I was looking on Evilbay and people are selling those brackets off of junk cars for 300 bucks. Since everything is new I think I can get a little more and bank the profit for the bed while buying everything else for the bracket setup. I am going to have to do a little firewall modification for the tranny dipstick tube to fit properly because it gets smashed on the firewall. I was also looking at getting a better tv cable (tranny kickdown) because the one I currently have now has been adjusted and abused so much the line is starting to fray.... Eegad this thing is nickle and diming me and I haven't even taken it around the block yet.... I am still working on the fuel system too. I am probably going to redo the tranny cooler lines as well.

 

Lokar makes a flexible dipstick for your trans. By the time you're done spending the money on it you'll be ahead of modifying the firewall. My trans. dipstick has the firewall mount attachment but it is mounted to a bracket that comes off the engine block. ( Its a Lokar knockoff from the swapmeet, but it works. It cost 30 bucks. )

 

Thank you very much! That is great I will be buying one then! Thanks for the great info

 

Its been a while since my last update. Progress has been slows since it has been so hot. I got my fuel pump installed and am in the process of finishing up running the new fuel lines. I have everything to length, so now I just have to go through and connect the engine up to the lines and then lastly connect the fuel tank to it. I am going to then remove the old line and button the new line in the frame rail with some rubber coated p clips. After this I will try to run power to it and hopefully get the truck running again here shortly. I will move to the tranny next by getting a flex dipstick tube as suggested S.Sutherland, lokar kickdown cable, and some decent breathers that will fit these RPC valve covers. I will then sum that part of it up with running better tranny lines that dont go over the headers.

Anyway it is my birthday on August 14, so my girlfriend let me celebrate early by opening my gifts . Here are some pictures.... I cant wait to put this on (won't take much) but its just the next step. I think I have a keeper here with this girl .

 

looks good man, i am building a 59 fleet side too!

 

thanks man!

I am going to be ordering a set of those finned valve breathers and a couple other things so I can start working on that soon.

 

Alright I got all of my parts in, got back from fishing in Tacoma, WA for the pink salmon run and am ready to get back to working on this truck. Last night I installed my new breathers, which fit perfectly thanks to a couple other HAMBers that are watching my thread closely. I also worked on getting the new kickdown cable components installed on the carb and bracketry installed as well. I am going to finish out the installing the new fuel line and tear out the old, unsafe one and will be wiring the fuel pump in the mean time. I will post some pictures here shortly.

 

Well not much got completed tonight, this b*tch was fighting me the entire night no matter what I did. So I removed and installed the new flex tranny dipstick tube (what a mess). Installed my breathers and my pcv line to the carb. Removed all of the old fuel line, installed the new fuel line, got everything hooked up. The only thing I need to do at this time is to go through and replace the inline fuel filter before the fuel pump and install my line clamps with rubber coating to secure the line to the frame. Then I will tackle this dipstick tube and try to get it so it will mount on the firewall. Then move to the tranny kickdown cable installation.. whew... what a pain

 

More pictures....

 

so everything that could have gone wrong went wrong yesterday. I went through and installed my kickdown cable and boy does it look nice (will post pictures soon). During that it was fighting me the entire time.... but it was finished none the less. I then tried to install my rubber coated fuel line clamps and got three installed and then my bit snapped because it caught funny in the frame and twisted the drill really hard. I sprained my wrist and also jammed it (popped it back in place myself tonight and boy does it feel better). Even though I was hurt I continued on by going through and removing a pan that was catching tranny fluid and of course that thing went and bumped into something and there goes all of the fluid all over the floor.... so I spent time cleaning that up. By that time I was so pissed that I decided to do something easy.... yeah... right... I go to install my birthday present (glove box for the truck) and I drop one of the washers that goes to the door catches and I spent a boat load of time doing that... for certain that glove box gave me hell for 40 minutes too... lordy... who knew that 4 bolts would take so long.

BUT I made up for it by buying a nice set of shorty headers for the truck, a tranny cover, hardware, and gaskets... and finally all the rest of the stuff to complete the glove box. I should be getting them shortly!

 

Well my wrist is better, but progress is slow so I dont hurt myself again. I ordered a set of block hugger headers from evilbay and they are knock-offs that someone just rattle canned it looks like on their back porch and they were trying to sell them as "new"... needless to say it has been a fiasco, but good thing for buyer protection against FAKE items. I will never do that again.... Do not trust free shipping at all.......

In the mean time I installed my glove box with the exception of actually bolting the box in place because I am probably going to have to do some welding sometime to the dash or elsewhere and I don't want to catch it on fire....

I also got my new tranny cover in, I installed by kickdown and flex dipstick tube, removed the tranny cooler lines and am going to reposition them as soon as I get a new set of headers (next week and the 1st annual good guys hot rod show in indy (forgot the name of it officially)) Anyway, I got some more of the fuel line bolted down, but will wait a little longer before using the drill so I don't revisit the painful injury of that thing catching and almost twisting my wrist off . More progress very very soon!!

 

More pictures.. I plan on running the tranny lines straight into the cooler, so I will wrap the two lines close to the bottom of the oil pan for clearance and also to avoid any unnecessary heat from the new ceramic block huggers that I am planning on purchasing.

 

Not much progress, still trying to nurse the wrist a little. I am going to finish up the fuel line and wire the thing up and see if I can get it to start and not leak all over the place (I have done a lot so far that would open it up for leaks, i.e. tranny cooler, valve covers, etc.)

I helped 36dodgeram over the weekend to notch his fenders, but we ended up aligning the hood instead so he can get everything correct in order to notch them. Lordy that thing is a beast. He took me for a ride and we burned the tires a little... Man that was pretty sweet I wish I could have posted a movie of it...

Anyway, I got some plugs for the radiator... I am going to install a frame mounted cylindrical tranny cooler and just run the lines straight over (it will make it look very clean and will reduce how much line I need to use since the bends would require a lot of guess work and a lot of time to get them looking nice and in the correct position.

The pics below are of the bolted on tranny cover to get it out of the way and so I don't drop any more crap down on top of the tranny (tools). and a pic of the plugs... not much of anything to post, but I am doing a lot of cleanup crap to make it look nicer and be a lot more functional with less failure points. I am then going to move some wiring or at least bundle it together so its not so embarrassing to look at.

 

Well I went to a couple swap meets and picked up a lot of loot! Here are some of the pictures:

I got a set of door handles, mirror, and a neat light up diner scene (LED lights)

 

More pictures...

I also found a cherry right side rear fender for the '40 Plymouth... $175 for a NOS panel, no dents and it looks great. I will post on my Plymouth thread with that.

I will try to install the tranny cooler tonight and maybe work on something else.

 

Well I found a couple access issues with putting these block huggers on.... First the motor mount bolt (saw zawed like 1/4 of an inch) and now the header fits perfectly... its not worth me paying 8 bucks for a new bolt just to have it look pretty. I am also going to have to extend the steering shaft on the column about one inch to clear the headers, no biggie, cut in one place and add in another... I also decided to install the coolant overflow tank (I think it looks decent). I also found that the oil dipstick is going to get in the way so I am going to have to figure something out about that. Anyway, tomorrow I will install the tranny cooler and work on the steering column. I will have to pick up some angled spark plugs to clear the inner two pipes so my plug wires dont touch the headers.

 

well I thought I had some access issue with the steering column, but it looks like I was wrong. So that was a nice turn of events , I also installed the new air cleaner on top of the old air cleaner bottom, which gave another 2 inches of height to the air cleaner, which makes everything easy to access (which is great especially when I need to adjust stuff). It looks like I am going to have to go with some angled plugs too, no biggie, as long as everything works how I want it to. I am going to have to figure out something with the oil dipstick tube because it is in the way of me putting on the other header.. I wonder if they make a flex dipstick tube for these block huggers. I am going to get a shorter set screw for the steering column linkage too so it doesnt scrape my nice new header when the wheel rolls around.. ahhhh the little things...

 

Still looking good! You've done a lot of work the last couple of weeks. Keep it up!

 

Thanks! still working on getting everything where I want it, then I will make it pretty later.

Had the Misses pick up a flex oil dipstick tube for me at the parts store so I can install the header on the passenger side.... gotta love her.

 

Well that took forever.... The right bank of headers were on and off six times, I had to use the dremel tool to fix a couple of the holes and once that was done I had to install my flex oil dipstick, which fits nicely. Next on the list will be mounting the tranny cooler to the frame and then mounting lines to everything and finally securing all of the hardware down on the headers. My Dad made a good point that if the engine moves a little the steering column will bump my headers. Since he is the guru he pointed out a couple things just by looking at some pictures I send him every time I post here. I will share that later... enjoy.

 

Well I finally got the tranny cooler mounted to the frame rail. I am going to work on cleaning things up and making everything so that I don't have to worry about it later down the road. Here are the first batch of pics

 

Here are the second batch of pictures... you can see what I mean when I say "I am going to clean things up..." There is a lot of crap that could be made far nicer. I am thinking of getting rid of that hide-away tube and just electrical taping everything. Some of it is melted because of the heat in the engine compartment, which hopefully with the new ceramic coated headers is significantly reduced.

So now that I have a bunch of the crap installed from the second swap meet I need to buckle down and make sure everything is installed correctly, which means I need to run through EVERYTHING and plumbers tape and tighten down everything.... I am going to, after all of this, pull the column and slap the end of the steering shaft off and extend it an inch or two for clearance issues.

 

Looking good, keep up the good work!

 

Keep at it!!! Got a link for that trans cooler? My buddy got me one for free I'm using now but it looks like it was dragged behind the truck for a mile or two, lol.

 

Just check out evilbay or wait for a swap meet, picked mine up for 30 bucks at a meet from a normal vendor that sells on the evilbay... and it is an 18 inch (overkill for just a normal street application, but from where it is mounted I figured it may not get the best cooling). If you are going to mount it in the same place as me I would suggest possibly going with the 12 inch, due to cross members and cab supports (it was a real pain getting a drill in there due to the length). I ran pretty close to the cross member under the rear of the cab and was very close to the front cab support as well. You can get all kinds of different ones for inlet and outlet, I got mine with both on one side obviously, so your choice.

 

Thanks! I am enjoying this pace and my goal is to at least get it drive (brakes permitting) enough to take it around the block in October.

 

Nice work , keep it up !

 

Hey dude, thanks!

I am going to be getting some angled plugs to work with my headers and will be finishing the install on all the parts this weekend after I feel better. I have been sick the last couple of days... I want to get this puppy fired up

 

Well I pulled the column to extend it by roughly 3 inches and decided to get it cleaned up while I was at it. Here are some pictures of how rough it was.

 

Here are some more pics...