Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

Awesome job on the bench seat Scott! Very nice.

 

Well I have been working on the rear tail lights and fixing some stuff on the ass end of the truck. Here are some pictures with the bed LED's. They are pretty neat. I wish I could just leave this crap stock and no have to worry about getting in an accident, but people around here drive like a bunch of morons and don't pay attention, even more so than in other states... They are worse than orientals in California as far as driving... totally oblivious. I am sure the HAMB can make an exception for safety.

Also, a picture of my dirty dishes... I mean the emblems.. I started polishing them when I come inside and am watching TV.. they are really oxidized and they really are starting to look pretty good. I may just go ahead and get them plated later, but we will see.

I also went ahead and removed like 10 broken bolts in the floor and elsewhere in the cab and will be using some paint stripper tonight to see if I can speed up the process on getting the cab ready for paint.

 

nice build

 

Thanks Eric! It's fun doing custom stuff, I can see why you do it

I also got the visors done to match the seat and the headliner.

Here's a picture or two:

 

Thanks dude!

 

I HAVE A BUDDY THATUSED THE ledS IN HIS 58. THEY LOOK GOOD AND STAND OUT GREAT. NICE LOOK FOR YOUR TRUCK.

 

she knows this is the truck seat and really wants to go for a ride.

 

It's nice to see you progressing along on this project again. It's nice to be a part of the build through updated pictures

 

Hey dude idk what is up with my pm on my phone app but it still aint sending shit. Heres the underside of my seat, im not exactly sure which spring ur talking about thats 8 inches...... The rectangular looking spring is 21 inches from the seat side to dead center on the spring. If thats not what your looking for lemme know and ill re measure for ya

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I agree, its just been so cold out in the garage its difficult to get anything done. I had a heater plugged in for only when I was out there and the electric bill was $150... they scammed me big time because every other time it has been only $10-20. They are shafting me on that build and that kind of put a damper on me going out there for a while. It is a big build for when I didn't have any income.

Thanks I agree, they are a nice look. At least no one will have an excuse for rear ending the truck.

 

Ya bro, that is not a stock seat. That is something else entirely, its actually build better than most, at most I would say you would maybe have to replace the foam, other than that it may just need to be recovered.

 

Really ? All the seat tracks and sliders and all that looked just like every other stock seat ive found. And the back tilt and all that looks stock as well. It came out of a 56 jimmy. Unless someone swapped in a diff seat at some point? Idk lol

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Well mine was stock and I have a pan, coil springs, and a seat spring frame in the bottom of mine, yours has updated spring support like a newer style seat. That's great that it matches up, I am just wondering what the deal is. It isn't the same as mine

 

You know, now that you say that..... I didnt even think about the spring difference.... Maybe certain year trucks ? Ive heard that early 60's are almost identical as well in size and shape. Lol who knows. all the tracks were stock looking.... Idk lol, it fits good though hahaha. Sorry i couldnt help ya man. I re downloaded the app this mornin and my pm seems to be working better..... For now. My computers been down and out so ive had to deal with this lol

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Well I stripped the cab down last night, but my camera ran out of juice so I couldn't post until today. Surprisingly, I spent two days trying out miscellaneous paint strippers and they just would not work, thank you EPA. All three were just absolute junk, so I got onto it with my 4" grinder and braided wire wheel and knocked out a majority of the hard part of the cab in about an hour and a half. I plan on going back out there tonight and getting even more finished...

Here are some pictures:

 

Good work dude

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Well I went ahead and stripped the rear view mirror panel and started under the rear window and started making my way down. It took about two hours to do that.. a lot of contours... I am looking forward to getting this crap over with





Basically what I need to do is fix all of the holes in the floor and around the rear window and the roof. After that I will use my other stripper wheel and polish everything up the shoot some primer... I am looking forward to that!

 

Thanks man!

 

Isn't stripping paint fun!?? I'm right behind you on this...will be taking the braided wire wheel to the inside of the cab soon (I hope). Good progress bud.

 

Thanks! I have some metal work to do on it as far as the interior, such as replace some metal where it rotted through the floor (1 inch by 2 inch section, have to plug random holes everywhere, and maybe even plug the firewall up a little. That braided wire wheel really kicks ass, I am getting a lot done in very little time. I keep waiting on yours to see some more progress, but it looks like you are stuck on the firewall.

 

Who said building a car wasn't fun. Looking good Scott!

 

There have been a couple issues with my progress: 1) the weather has been cold and wet most of this past season. It's starting to warm up again and I'm back at it and 2) I now work about 20 miles from home and I travel a windy road , so work coupled with travel time and I'm gone nearly 12 hrs a day...which means no progress during the week - I only have the weekends to work on it.

I have moved beyond the firewall though. I have the front suspension all together and have rebuilt my door hinges and realigned the drivers side and waiting on a lower hinge pocket panel to finish the passenger door. Plumbed my fuel lines, started cleaning and prepping the floor, and have started lacing my wires.

 

Thanks Eric!

 

Cool man, how long until your hinge pocket comes in? I have a hell of a time trying to align my doors by myself. I need to find a team to come do it

 

I think we all agree, these doors are a BITCH!

 

I ended up using a motorcycle jack to install and remove my doors as I took them on/off multiple times by myself. Helped in lining them up as well. Wish I had a pic. to share with you guys.

 

Well I finally got back out to the garage tonight. I was going to do it over the weekend, but a HAMB friendly chevy pickup showed up locally and I took the wife to go take a look at it. This other truck would be my daily driver (low miles and a reliable powerplant. It needs some love, but is priced right and should handle what I need it for. The wife really liked it and said I would be able to get it because we need a pickup to haul stuff in anyway. Cool lady

Anyway... Here are the pictures of the back portion of the cab... a lot of contours here, so it is slow going... I think one or two more nights like tonight and I can have the floor completed. Here are some pictures...

 

Well, it started snowing out and that kind of switched what I wanted to do today on the pickup. I ran out of the wire wheel on the grinder, so I need to go get another, I did what I could, but it was limited. I then decided to start welding up some holes and got the part behind the seat knocked out, which was sweet. I will need to grind down my welds tomorrow then start working on the roof and the front floor pan. Then primer time!

 

I'm gonna assume that you don't plan to re-use all the glass in your truck since you're doing all that wire-wheeling in there...

At least I'm pretty sure the wire wheels I've used sparked occasionally which as we all know, screws glass up.