Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

I also did a lot of work on this wood bed, got the FLA (fat lady ass) out of the top coat, got a couple nice thin coats on it and it should be ready to install this week. I will more than likely take this time to get the cab corner replaced again on the passenger side, get the rear of the cab in epoxy, and get my bed sides stripped of this lousy acrylic primer that was put on it.

I found out that this PPG red oxide acrylic enamel primer 9505 is an oil based primer and won't mix with my Dupont epoxy, so I will have to strip it all off and start over... ugh..... BUT I am determined to make sure I don't have any rust issues with this truck, which would be a shame at this point. So I already started with the fender... I tried a couple things, but a sander will just have to do for now (fastest). I tried paint stripper but wasted my time since over half the stuff I am doing is curved.

Also I need to paint the other half of my box of sandblasted parts, which include a lot of my dash and interior parts. The rest of the rods are for fender supports.

I will sand the rest of it off the fender and work on getting it in primer sometime this week. While that is drying I will load up the buffing wheel and try to get a good shine on my stainless strips and hardware (long task indeed.

 

Well tonight I decided the bed was as good as it was going to get (I may work on a couple of the boards later, but I am getting hung up on these because I want to be a perfectionist with it... I just can't do that, so I am going to move onto something else. I moved the dried boards inside and removed the visqueen from the frame rails. I did a little work on the rear cross member, but also put my door back together. I need to get those door panels taken care of.... the red and gray aren't doing it for me. I think next I am going to bolt the gas tank back up and get that all in one area and then work on a couple things there. I will then move onto that passenger cab corner because the body line is way off... I hate it.. so I had to change it. I am going to see about switching gears and stripping the back of the cab down to bare metal and shooting it with some epoxy primer.

I am going to take my bed down to the blasters this weekend and they should have this acrylic enamel primer off of it so I can put on some epoxy primer. At least it will be one color by the time I get that back. Then I am going to take the front clip down there to have it blasted again so I can get it to be one color as well.

Here are some pictures.

 

Well I have a lot of things prepped for the new panel. I do need to modify the patch panel a little, but otherwise a great fit.. and made in AMERICA is the best part. I had to take the fender off before I could close the door (ridiculous). I painted the crease to better align the panel when I start welding it in.

Does anyone know what I need under the radiator brace/frame to raise the front clip up? I think that is what is causing most of my problem with the door issue.

 

Well its on there... I need to make some adjustments and maybe hack up the old patch panel to steal the body line in it to adjust the handmade patch I made a while back. I need to grind a little bit more and then weld the gap, but overall it is looking good.

I probably will spend a couple more days making sure everything is lined up perfectly before completely welding it up and then I will grind, sand the paint and shoot the back of the cab in epoxy. I won't be needing but a small skim coat of filler (if any at all) to cover this, so yay! Made in America is the way to go

 

Well I have been taking my time with my new cab corner and am amazed with how well it is made. I am barely having to do anything to it. I have the whole back half of the patch tack welded in place where it needs to be, everything else is lined up and waiting to be tacked. Once it is, it will be seam welded up, ground down and i'll be on my way.

Here are some pictures of the loot I have received so far from Terd and Evilbay.com, The headlight bezels work like a charm, far better than repops (even from counterpart). The bumper has some nice battle scars from shipping, but is something that I can heat up with a torch and take care of. I have the brackets, a radio, interior parts, and a 1950 olds dash clock on their way.

I am going to talk to a buddy of mine and he will run the bed parts down to the blasters for them to take this enamel primer off the bed. Then I will primer that, throw the bed together and that is all she wrote.

mmmm progress

 

That rear bumper looks pretty good! Those marks on the bottom edge are from where the chain was hooked, from pulling Fords back in the day!

 

I'm encouraged to know you are happy with your cab corner patch panels. Did you get them from Classic Parts?

 

Haha.

its funny because its true

 

Yes, buy the expensive ones, they now claim "american made" on the website and in their catalog I think. They are counterpart and are great. They are not in epoxy primer when you get them, so the ones that are in primer are generally made overseas (the cheap cab corners). They literally make your job a thousand times easier and had I known about the quality difference I would have bought the expensive ones the first time and I would have already been driving this pickup to shows. And yes, they are from Classicparts.com

 

Thanks. That's good info to know.

 

Now if they could only find an American made source for the door hinge patch receivers.....

 

Nice work on the Apache man! I might be picking up a 59 Apache on Sunday...finger's crossed!

 

Which are you talking about?

 

Thanks ZombieMike! Well if you do post some pictures and shoot me a PM with a link.

 

Well I've lined up the sale and got the trailer so as of right now, unless he sells it out from under me (which he said he wouldn't), Sunday I'll have it!

 

Here is the start of the build thread...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7684180#post7684180

 

Please refer to post #586 in this thread.

 

Those are American made by a local fabrication shop close to classicparts.com. If I ever knew the name of the place that makes them I would make sure I would never go there for anything

 

On your #603 post dealing with the radiator brace and front clip, im not sure what to look for on my truck to tell you what you need. You are more than welcome to come out and look at my truck and see if that will give you a better clue. I would run it over to your place now that the carb is rebuilt an running much better, but shifter is giving me fits again.

 

Cool. I am glad you have it rebuilt and its running better! Did you do it yourself? (If you did, good job, if not.. still good job ). I got an answer from squirrel on the HAMB... the 55-59 Chevy car and truck guru. It looks like I am missing the rubber mounting pad and shims to make everything measure up where it is supposed to. That would probably explain the doors not being able to open as well. I will have to get those on order soon too. Thanks for the offer! Is there any way you can find some replacement linkage for that tranny so you don't have to worry about it anymore? It's probably not that hard to find something decent and less used.

 

So I went out and used some of my aviation grade tooling to get everything pinned up and in place, which made it easier to form the seam to make it even. I then welded it up little by little to not warp it. All I have to do is this point is cut out the old hand made body line of the cab corner (basically 2 inches on each side of the seam and 2 inches tall). Then this side is complete.

Here are some pictures

 

So I got back to working on the truck after several days of trying to purchase a home close by with a BIG 4 car garage. I got the nasty part of the patch cut out and prepped the other to be cut out of the old patch panel. You can see how far off this was, but it is kind of exaggerated without the corner being there. I will tack this all together and make sure it is perfectly straight before welding the seams up.

 

I actually had some time to run a few errands today and finally found some time to myself so I started working on the cab corner. I hoped to finish it tonight, but I am not in any kind of hurry, but still spent 5 hours on it. Here are the pictures of what it looks like. I am proud of it. I will finish up the door jamb side of things tomorrow and then start stripping the back of the cab so I can get it in epoxy.

 

You should be proud. Nice work!

 

Thanks! I foresee a skim coat of filler on it and that should be all. I will finish it up today and see how far I get on stripping the back of the cab. I am happy I get to work on it again.

Here are some pictures of the 4 car garage! I am standing about 15 feet away from the wall for most of these pictures. Once these owners get their crap out of the way, its hot rod time! It needs a little work, but all in all its a great buy.. Plus with all of the lighting I can get a nice tan (16 lights, 5 feet wide and 4 feet long) lol

 

Well I did a lot of grinding tonight and got most of the door section kind of where I want it and it looks straight as an arrow. I need to add a small patch to the seam and then fill in the rest with some welding, grind and smooth out for the finishing touches. I will then attach the inner to the outer patch and be done. All I can say is that I am glad I am done with this crap.

I talked with my buddy tonight and he said he would be able to give me a hand with dropping my bed off at the sand blasters so I can get everything in epoxy... more importantly one color. So I will be able to pick that up in a week.

 

Looks good in the cab corners. I've made mine but not got installed yet.

The price they want to sand blast anything is silly., you can buy a real air compressor and blast tank. I got a sand blaster made from a old bus air brake tank.. works great. (left here by a buddy). The nozzle size must be matched to the compressor.

I was laying under my 57 yesterday contemplating whether I want to crank the engine up, or break all them bed mount bolts. I've been spinning the engine over with a ratchet weekly so it won't stick.

What are you going to coat your frame with?

 

I have a sand blaster, but not enough media or a decent place to do it so it is out of the question. I have sand blasted a lot of things before, but get tired of having to do a 1/2 an hour to 45 minute cleanup job afterward. I'd just rather pay for someone else do it, plus if they mess it up the panels then they buy me brand new from counterpart.

I am going to probably POR15 the frame later down the road. Right now I am just going to do a driving restoration... still trying to get the driving part down first.

You should try to fire it up, it will give you some satisfaction that is overdue

 

I spent a majority of the time getting the door jamb taken care of and thought it would be a good time to see how well I did since the 12 colors that the patch panel is was making it hard to see. It turned out great. I have to use the dremel to get into one of the corners at the bottom of the door jamb and connect the inner and outer cab corner patch panels. I started stripping the back of the cab too. I am going to try to get the rear of the cab in primer this weekend and then look into finishing everything up regarding the cab corners.

My buddy Dave is going to come over tomorrow and help me by dropping off my bed parts to the blasters so I can get the crap that is on them off so I can get it all one color, which will be next weekend.

Here are some pictures:

 

Well I got some time today to drop off the bed stuff, thanks again Dave.

I also started stripping the rear of the cab and boy am I finding some real treats......

A lot of dents/bondo, so I have been finding areas I need to work on and will get it done this week. Tomorrow I will attempt to strip the rest of the rear of the cab and work on finishing up everything to lay some primer down.