Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

Thanks Eric! I am going to shoot for a medium blue, probably something with a little flattener in it. My dad will try to make it up to help me shoot it sometime after I get all of the kinks out of it.

 

Hey! Alright, man! Congrats on the first cruise!

 

good lookin truck.I've had a 58 since 1995 wore it out and been parked for about 2 yrs.Going to tear mine down over the winter -put in a 63 327 th350 do a little body work & wear it out again

 

Sounds real strong! we're waiting for the burnout video...

 

Thanks saxman! It's been a long road, but the end is near

 

Thanks 5559!

 

It is pretty strong, I will need to trade you car rides me in your 40 and you in this.


Don't use the burnout video line on me I invented it! Haha.

 

lookin good at work

 

Looking great bro! Body is nice and straight... I'm a wee bit jealous.

 

It's getting there. I am going to fix the bottom of the front fenders since they look like hell. It feels like it is running really well. I am a little nervous about the steering, but overall everything is doing what it is supposed to do.

 

First off, congrats for getting it out of the shop and driving it. I had a big smile on my face watching your videos.

what are your initial thoughts on how it runs and drives? It's sure looking good!!

 

Thanks Dubie, I had a bigger smile while driving it

Overall it seems to run very well after I tweaked the carb and timing a bit. I need to get my timing gun out and get it where it is supposed to be, but that will be a little down the road. The tranny shifts so nicely that I don't even notice going into second or third. I need to adjust the kick down though because I don't think it is doing what it should be doing when I try to accelerate as you can hear in the video... after it dropped into first and hooked into second it threw me back in the seat and I had to hold on. Once I get everything dialed in it will be a very fast and fun truck.

I am leery of the column though because of what happened about a year ago.... I feel a little slop and know that the steering linkage between the column and box has a little more wiggle room than I would like out of it. That should just be an adjustment and that may take care of my issue.

When I brought it to work everyone's jaws dropped. They flocked to it like we would if someone pulled into our driveway with a Duesenberg and asked if we wanted to take it for a spin. I took our 65 year old HR lady out in it and man she was happy as a clam (I guess her dad bought a '58 brand new). She even requested that we take off out of the parking lot like a "bat out of hell". I was only happy to oblige. The truck shakes the ground

 

Sounds pretty damn healthy! I have to say though, that the fan sound made me think of the Allstate Harley Davidson that sounds like a weedeater...gave me a chuckle. Easy fix though...

Great work!

 

Well the truck debut at its first local show. It was a real head turner and it was cool enough that the noisy fan didn't go off. I opened her up on the road and gave the wife her first ride in it. This thing hauls ass, but the rear end locks up too early, so I will have to adjust my proportioning valve. The front passenger rotor also has some kind of grease on it, so I will pull it and clean it up. Everything else is going well so far, I need to replace the fan though. People were all over this thing, I got the most compliments on the bed, the interior, and how it was riding, then I got the usual "when is it going to get painted"....I am having a blast!

 

did you get any assholes calling it Mater during the day? I hear it all the time when people see mine and it makes me want to slap them.
A HUGE congrats on being able to show it off bud, I know how great that feeling is. The truck is looking good.

 

Thanks dubie, it is nice to be able to drive it. I opened it up on the 1/8 mile stretch to the entrance to the little area where the show is every weekend. I thought all the barrels were already opened when I was driving... NOPE.. I laid into it and was surprised on how fast this thing was. Of course I didn't have the rear drums adjusted correctly with my proportioning valve so they locked up when I needed to slow down (thankfully out of sight of everyone). This was my wife's first drive in it... I could tell she was a little nervous to begin with in it since it was its first show.... her only response after the brakes locked up was "well if you didn't have their attention you do now..."

hahaha, she makes me laugh.

I had a ton of people looking at the truck on the way in and all of the mouth breathers were flocking to it before I could even get out of the truck.

It's funny that you mention that... Of course they all said "Hey its Mater!"

Sometimes you just want to reach out and touch someone

 

unfortunately I have not been able to drive the truck because it has been raining on and off all week so far. I did adjust my drums on the rear and cleaned off the passenger side front rotor since it was slipping when stopped (I must not have wiped off the machining oil). I also trimmed the passenger side inner fender and will need to bolt that up the rest of the way. I also installed my glove box and fixed a few other things. I priced out an electric fan and it will be about $200 to my door for a Spal.... so I will have to save up for that and make some brackets for it to mount. Pictures to come soon.

 

Great truck. You sure have done a lot of good work on it. Thanks for posting all the pictures. Is that rattle can rustolium primer on the front?

 

Thanks for following, its a reaaallly long thread!

It is PPG red oxide fab shop primer, it was sprayed on at the sand blasters to keep it from surface rusting since I didn't have the money to primer anything when I graduated college (not even rattle cans). Everything else was sprayed by me in epoxy primer later after I had my big boy job at night since I didn't get home until 9 pm after working 12 hour shifts.

Since this is my practice vehicle for restoration (practice so I can start on my '40 Plymouth) I am self teaching myself on body work since I don't have anyone to show me how to do it. I am a monkey see monkey do kind of person. So I still have some work to do on the front fenders, I may redo some stuff, but this winter/spring I hope to have the truck in one color.

 

Good work, thanks for the steering pics, and well done, nice truck.

 

Thanks Martin! I appreciate it

 

Here are some pictures of what I have been up to:



I have drilled the holes, bought the hardware and am ready to install the passenger side mirror tonight. My wife is happy because I am finally getting stuff installed from last Christmas.

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I purchased a Spal 2049 cfm S blade electric fan and make all of the mounting stuff and got it installed in about an hour. I made pretty quick work of it and it is MUCH better and quiet. I will make it prettier down the road when I am ready to do cosmetic stuff.



I also shot a picture of the installed glove box that was a pain in the butt because of the thick cardboard, weak nut plates, etc. Here is a picture anyway

 

keeping yourself busy ....

nice work .. =)

 

Nice job on the radiator Scott. Getting closer to that finish line! (and your Plymouth!)

 

Thanks, it's hard to make it out there sometimes since I have to take care of the house too...

Yeah! I am digging it. I took a couple real good friends for a ride, so that was nice. A few of them were around when I first bought the Plymouth in high school. They were stoked to see me working on it again too. I will be working on both vehicles this evening. I will post pictures.

 

Well I got the mirror on and a couple other things fixed on the doors.





I also adjusted the carb a bit, so I will have to test that out tomorrow sometime.

I will also need to finish mounting the fire extinguisher to the floor.

 

A newbie here....I just saw that powwr steering box at a GoodGuys show at the Charlotte show, and I think that arrangement is the best solution to a low cost, installation for power steering. Can you give me the supplier of the Steering box, and if it comes with mounting plate and any other necessary items? Thanks alot...another 59 Apache...

 

Looks good man! Hopefully once my bel air is buttoned up ill get back to the truck asap. Your making great progress on all the small things. Keep it up man, and thanks for all the help youve given on both my vehicles as well.

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this makes me feel neglectful now. My plates expired on October 15 so I parked the truck in the shop and haven't touched it.

It looks like you're forging ahead on getting the little things buttoned up bud. Everything is looking good.

 

i figured with it being winter, everyone would be givin er on their projects. Any updates?