Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

Finally the install pics. I am going to have to go through everything at least twice to ensure everything is good for me to start it up. I am going to try to get it fired up by Friday, which is my goal. If everything goes well there then I will meet my goal of driving it before November 5th!

 

Well I spent another 6 hours out in the garage, mainly going through everything on the top end of the engine to ensure that everything was tight and was going to work properly. I relocated the tranny dipstick tube, tightened the carb linkage, valve covers, etc. I went through and shimmed the air conditioning compressor delete bracket and installed my fuses for the fuel pump. I will finish everything up tomorrow and crank it over to ensure everything is good to go. I am going to remove the headers and have the plugs removed when I roll it over to ensure that everything is still good. I am then going to reinstall the exhaust and then replace the fuel filter. If everything goes well tomorrow I will have this thing running! More to come soon

 

Mission accomplished, it started and ran for about a minute or two and I ran out of gas. So far no leaks, which is great! I am going to maybe push it out in the driveway tomorrow and let it idle up and run for a bit.

 

Congratulations!!!!!

 

Truck look nice

 

Hey thanks, it still needs a lot of attention, I am trying.

Thanks! Now to installing some other crap so I can drive it around without being scared for my life, like seat belts and a rear view mirror I bought at a swap meet! I was thinking of getting a couple other things in order as well like adding an adjustable proportioning valve and a 3/16 inch bolt down T fitting to get the brakes all fixed up and looking nice to compliment the rest of the engine compartment (it really makes everything look like a turd when you look at it lol). I was thinking about bolting them to the inner fender and being done with them, finally. Once I work that crap out then I am going to throw down for a nice wood bed and get some more sheet metal work completed on it. Its nice to have all day to work on something.

 

Congrats, well done on the first start! But you know we really need a vid before we believe you.. So I presume you're going to get started on the Plym soon? Keep it up!

 

You jinxed me.... I went to go start it and the carb isnt spraying fuel now lol. My lady wanted to take some pictures of me working on the truck to get some practice. I will post some pictures shortly

 

Looking good.. Time for a punch list? go around and check things off.. things it has to have, and things you want to do (there is a difference)..

My 57gmc is still in the very ugly stage. And still too large to-dos for a list.

 

Yeah I hear you. I am probably going to get some stuff from the parts store here for the truck like window regulators so I can put my doors together the rest of the way. Then all I need to get is my bed and everything will fall into place from there.

I am going to upload a video of the truck fired up here shortly. Here are a couple pictures of what the lady took yesterday, more of those to come.

Edit: Pictures aren't loading right now, but I will fix them soon. Back out to the garage for now

 

Okay since the pictures weren't working I decided to clean up the truck some more, I started clearing out garbage and crap out of the garage too, so that is good news (being more work space). I also stripped down the old drivers side door the rest of the way so I can get it out of the garage.

I wanted to install the inner fender on the drivers side to see where the steering moved to and also to see where I would want to install the adjustible proportioning valve, if I decide to go that route. I needed to correct the lower inner fender mount before I did all of that because of the truck being in a fender bender. It took alot of malleting with a hammer and my biggest screw driver, but I got it close enough that the inner fender can easily get where it needs to go. Here are some of the nasty pictures before I cleaned it up.

 

Here are some pictures of the mount being cleaned up and primed before reinstallation. When everything comes back off before I blast the cab and paint it I will do a better job at making everything spot on. More tomorrow!

 

AND people wonder why a "nice" old truck costs so much money?? Pretty good documentation of the effort and time into yours. I'd make a pdf of the whole post into a file to save if I was you. (easy to do in Linux OS) if you can't I can make one for you. (when you are done)

The studebaker truck I sold, I figure I had about $0.10 a hour in it.

Paint? have you gotten out the color crayons yet? I fell in love with House of Kolor paints painting bikes.. most the car shows won down this way are painted in their glow colors.. My bike is burple.. and I am just about bored with those purples.. last two I painted for myself was in those shades. When I started tinkering with bikes and old cars.. it was hand rubbed Laqueer.. Black for bikes..

My 57, black primer, shot over with clear coat with micro-rainbo metalflake. (cheap paint job). I measured the amount per quart so I can fix parts I crunch up. It is hard to Match any metalflake tho.

 

Here are some pictures of what I did this evening. I decided to start putting the passenger side door together to ensure everything fit (and it does). I also have a new window regulators and door controls coming for both doors. So this is a mockup so everything can go together all at once when it arrives (I have new handles waiting in a box too!). I am going to have to do some work to the drivers side door latch and inner door panel so that everything fits perfectly.

I also did a little work on the inner fender for the drivers side to compensate for my steering shaft being moved. I then flipped the lower inner fender mount over to paint the other side. I also went and sanded the roof panel on the interior to remove the tar/adhesive that they had on there. I also found that the 4 bolt holes that were punctured through the roof are filled with bondo... real nice job to the dipshit previous owner.....

My next plan of attack is to get the inner fender back on, so I will need to do a little bit of work to it, that way I can get my adjustible proportioning valve installed for the drums in the back. I will be installing it on the inner fender. When that is done then I am going to start on finishing the brake lines, then finish the drivers fender and finally install the hood that has been waiting for months to be reinstalled. I will do a majority of this probably before my parts come in!

 

Here are some pictures of me working on the truck, Shannon did a pretty good job.

 

and some more...

 

AND more...

 

and once I get a little closer with this truck, I am going to start back on this...

My 1940 Plymouth Road King Business Coupe that I bought when I was 13.

I am starting to uncover it and clean out the garage around it so I have plenty of room to start cracking on it over the winter.

 

Well I took the dremel tool and rounded out some of the bolt holes slightly so that everything fit easily for the drivers side door panel. I still need to tweak everything, but it fits a lot better now. The window crank hole and surrounding stamping were pretty mangled, but I was able to get the dents out with a piece of brass rod, hammer, and flat screw driver. Here are some pictures.

 

So I decided to start on the inner fender and making it look nice and to compensate for the new direction of the steering shaft. I bought a piece of 1/4 of an inch round bar stock and started blacksmithing it into shape. Here are some pictures. I also installed my inner fender mount after it dried to make sure everything fit perfectly.

 

I started working on the shock area too to make that look nicer, here are some pictures of what I have so far...

 

Here are the rest of the new part bent. I ran out of welding gas, so I stopped. I will have to pick up some more tomorrow!

 

Well I drove and got my welding gas and came back home to work on the inner fender. I have a majority of it completed as far as the frame work is concerned; I would like to do something with the power steering lines, but that will come in time.

My next step is to work on the brake lines and make them decent to look at and function. I went ahead and purchased a couple things to finish up the brake lines (adjustable proportioning valve and bolt down T fitting) and fortunately I have enough line from previous jobs to redo and make the brake lines really nice, so that is what I am going to do.

And tomorrow I get both parts and will be getting my door parts as well... I am really getting into it lately. It just has been clicking for me and I am happy as a clam.

Here are some pictures:

 

Here are some more pictures of the inner fender installed. I buttoned down the brake line on the rear of the front crossmember as well.

 

I then got carried away and found a nice clean way to route these lines for the most part.



I am going to try and mount them kind of like the picture above; it is my inspiration to get this done the right way. Good thing I am a photowhore when I go to car shows, it really helps!

Here are some more of the shots of what I am going for below. I am going to route the front two in the stiffener line in the fender and then drop them down where I need to. It is getting there... more tomorrow!

 

Well I didn't sleep well for some reason last night so I didn't get started until this evening around 7 PM, but was out getting parts all day. I installed the door latch and had to do some big work on the drivers door since it is a new door. I had to get the brass rod out and had to crease the inside of the door where the latch actually butts up against basically the seam for the outter door skin and had to do a little grinding to get everything in a decent place. I wish the drivers door wouldnt have been so bad because this was a pain.

Some of the bolts for the inner door panel were off so I had to screw in a 4 inch long 1/4 inch bolt and use the hammer on it to bend the metal so the nut was lined up flush with the hole (worked like a charm). I then found the easiest way to remove and install the windows.... both at the same time lol.. Here are some pictures of the drivers side

 

Here are some more pictures of the drivers side door being slapped together the rest of the way.

 

Here is the passenger side... Boy I hate clutch head bolts.... One of them was hidden under a bunch of bondo?! I don't get it lol. I uncovered it and it preserved the bolt and that area extremely well, but unfortunately I still had to drill the head off of it. I then threw the windows in under 5 minutes and since this is an original door everything fell into place without much effort at all. Pictures of the right side

 

Here are the rest of the pictures for the door put together, everything works great on this door, smooth like butter. I still need to work on the drivers side to get it that as nice as the right side.

I decided not to stop there and felt like I was on a roll, so I installed my rearview mirror. I thought it was strange that there were not any previous bolt holes smushed with bondo, since everything else seems to be lol. Here are the pictures of the install.

I then looked at the clock and saw it was 1:30 AM, I think it was a pretty productive night lol. I will continue working on the brake lines tomorrow after I go get my proportioning valve. If everything goes well and I get everything done that I need to get done, I maybe taking the truck on its first test drive in over 30 years!

 

Well I decided to install my new toys and start working on the brake lines, I mocked up everything and started bolting down one of the lines I may use so I can get my basic shape. Everything is going well so far, I am going to take my time and make them look decent.