Projects 59 Apache - Lifelong obsession

This now brings us pretty well up to date. Progress will be slow due to current family obligations, but I try to get out to the garage every weekend. I'm currently fitting and welding in hinge pockets and floor pans to fix my shoddy work from the first time.

 

perfect . . . been jonesing for a cameo or apache to pull my dragster.

Great project. Stance is killer there with the new clip

 

Nice project, I've subscribed! How much will the Camaro clip run you after all the parts brakes ect? I went with mm2 kit assuming it would be the same after rebuilding a clip


Instagram @kylemontoya

 

Very nice, I like what you are doing. Your story is very similar to mine (34 years old, 3 daughters, had my truck since I was 18, but still have not driven it!) I'm rooting for you.

 

Great thread. Thanks for taking the time to post your work.

 

Getting on the tiger is easy. It's the getting off that's a problem. Over the years I've owned several '55-'57 Chevrolet Pickups. The last one got a Firebird clip, 9" Ford rear end and a 350cu.in./350 turbo. It drove like a modern vehicle. When you get it all back together, all the work and money you've spent will be forgotten because it will be effortless to drive and you'll feel like you're safe and sound and back on solid ground. The tiger will have moved on to bother some other restless soul.

 

I picked up the clip for $150. In my mind, I think it should be cheaper to rebuild the clip than go mustang 2 but we will see.

 

Thanks. I checked out your thread, very cool! It was alot of fun driving it for the few years I had it on the road, it helped me figure out the things I wanted to address the second time around.

 

I have a good friend that built one of these many years ago and is undergoing a complete rebuild at the present time,,327 4 speed when he first built it,now it has a 454 and a automatic,,these are just cool trucks. HRP

 

I'm slowly making progress, new outer hinge pocket has been welded in. Cut out drivers side floor pan, was ready to replace it then found that I could poke a screwdriver through the driver's side cab brace. I've got it all cut out and ready to put the new one in. In between I bought some parts.

First I found a set of perfect shortbox bed sides and shortbox steps. They are rust free, straight and in bare metal. I didn't mind the longbox when it sat at stock height but once I dropped it I just didn't like the look. After doing the camaro clip on the front, shortening the frame to shortbox length doesn't seem like it will be too bad.


Next, I found a set of wheels. I originally planned on running a set of black Cragar G/T 's or the new Rocket Racing Fuel Wheels but these where too good to pass up. I got 5 rims plus tires . They are 71 z28 5 spoke Rally wheels. I know they are a few years too new but they give me a very similar look to the Cragars and fit my limited budget. I can always switch out the rims later. I plan to sell the tires and run the pinner whitewalls that are currently mounted on my old 6 bolt rims.

Here's a quick photoshop I did of what I want the finished truck to look like:

 

I pushed the truck outside yesterday to sweep out the garage before winter. Driver' side cab brace, floor pan and hinge pocket are done. Next will be fixing the worn out driver's door hinges.

It's been about a year since I pulled the truck out of hibernation and started working on it again. I haven't made the progress to date that I had hoped to but I am continuing to work away at it every chance I get.

 

Although Life gets in the way, the road has been a positive one for you so far. Raising a family is certainly challenging, but the rewards are great too. You have your priorities in order; family first.
Of course, budget builds are challenging, but the pride and satisfaction you realize will always exceed the guy who walks into the rod builder's shop once a month to write another check. Stay the course; YOUR pay-off is coming.......

 

You'll love the way it drives with the Camaro clip and that drivetrain. I have a 350/700r4/3.25 rear in my F-1 and it handles like a new car. Good luck with the build.

 

looking good

 

A little over 10 years ago, I had got my truck on the road for the first time. The original transmission cover was rusted out, so I bought a reproduction one and promptly cut a hole in it so for a Hurst shifter on the original 3 speed. Now I welded that same hole back up as it won't be needed with the automatic.

While I was at it I also welded up the holes for the clutch and foot starter.

 

I needed a break from all the rust repair so I decided to tackle a small project.

I wanted more of the gauges in my stock cluster to work. The first time I built the truck I ran a 3 gauge panel under the dash and only the temp gauge worked. I had seen a few threads where guys had used the stock face with updated internals, so I decided to take this a step further and find a set of gauges that had a face and needle sweep that complemented my stock cluster but gave me more detail than the stock 3 dots. I found this Autogage by Autometer 3 gauge set that looked like it would work.

I gutted the volt and mechanical oil pressure gauges down to just the internals and the faces with my Dremel, and fit it to my original cluster. Amp meter is now a volt meter and the old oil pressure gauge was replaced with the Autogage one.

 

I threw a rim on to see how the 5 spokes look with the narrow whites. I'm really happy, looks exactly like I had pictured in my mind.

 

Welcome back! Great idea for the gauge cluster, and the stance looks like it will be right on....

 

Finally have some progress to show..

Before I pull the cab off the frame I wanted to make sure it has a solid foundation. When I built the truck the first time when I was 17, I just cut out some sheet metal that I found in Dad's scrap metal pile by hand with tin snips. I bent it over a wooden post, my knee, whatever I could find to get it the shape I needed. I then proceeded to screw the patches down with sheet metal screws. At the time, the finished product looked pretty good.


Too good in fact, because I forgot how horrible things were under my crudely constructed patches.

Drivers, side:


Passenger side:

I attacked the driver's side first. Replacing the floor pan snowballed into the floor pan, lip that the floor pan is butted against, cab brace, front of the step where the cab brace is welded to, inner and outer hinge pocket.

Then I moved on to the passenger side. I thought the driver's side would be the worst of it since the driver's door hinge was wore out and the passenger side wasn't at all. I deduced that this old farm truck probably didn't have a passenger most of the time and since the door hinges were not worn out there wouldn't be a passenger's wet boots rusting out the floor board on the passenger side all the time like the driver's side. As has happened a few times in this project I was completely wrong!! The passenger side was way worse than the driver's side. I now remember that I had to fix a leaky heater core, when I first put it on the road and that was likely the culprit. Passenger side needed everything the driver's side needed plus I ended up fabbing a patch for the kick panel. It rusted from the inside due to a plugged cowl drain.. I ended up using alot more of the patch panel as the metal was paper thin. My criteria was stabbing at the metal with my awl, if it went through I started cutting until I found good metal.

Only 38,698 tack welds later, here is the completed floor pans. My process was to overlap the old metal with the new patch, then cut through both pieces of metal with a thin cut off wheel. I used sheet metal screws in the cut between the two pieces of metal as low buck clecos to hold everything flush. Then I butt welded it all in with my 110 flux core wire feed welder. Gas Mig would be better but I figured since most of this will be hidden on the firewall side under the inner fenders it will be good enough. A copper backer was used to prevent burning through. While I was at it, I plan on moving the battery under the floor. I copied the 47-54 chevy battery door idea that a few others have used.

 

I built a couple of dollys out of 2x4's to place under the cab steps and dropped the frame out from under the cab. I'm "laying frame" now

 

I haven't posted in a while but I've been super busy on my truck.

As I started to get ready to mount the front sheet metal I realized that I had pushed the wheelbase too far forward, my intended 2 inches forward ended up being more like 3 inches. The core support was ending up right on top of the steering box of the camaro clip. With the 15" wheels bolted up instead of the 14" rollers the wheels looked too far forward in the fenders.

Since I am planning on switching from a longbox to a shortbox anyway I decided the best course of action was to move the cab mounts forward and take that much extra out when I shorten the frame. It sucked but I drilled, ground and pounded out all 20 or so rivits holding the cab mounts and master cylinder bracket on. I ended up mocking up the mounts 1 1/4" inches forward. I'm way happier with the results. Here is the adjusted wheelbase.



I did mock up the a fender initially before I welded in the clip but my mistake was not using the intended wheels and tires. It looked fine with the camaro's stock 14" rims but once I put my intended wheels and tires on it looked wrong. Luckily this lesson only cost me time.

 

Good call; helluva lot of work, but you will be glad you did it. Nothing worse on a clip conversion than one that
doesn't fit properly!

 

That's for sure. It was a ton of work for only an inch and a quarter but it was worth it to make it right and not require a bunch of additional fabrication for the core support. I stared at it on and off for a week and finally decided it would always drive me crazy if I didn't fix it.

 

Got a little more done. I am relocating the battery under the cab so I needed a battery box. I made a template out of cardboard and cut out a simple pattern out of some 12 gauge with my plasma and welded it together.

I wanted to get mount the battery box as close to the frame rail as possible to line up with the 47-54 battery door I welded into the cab floor. If I sat the box on top of the camaro clip it would be too close to the floor, If I mounted it outside the camaro clip it would be too close to the cab step. So I decided to put a step in the outside of the clip for the battery box to sit on.



With the box bolted to the frame

 

Wow-lots of work. I like the choices you made. My 59 has a Camaro clip (done by Lux Blue-look up his thread on this topic), and a 2004r , with a Camaro rear end and C notch. Really l;ike your air cleaner idea and the use of other gauges in the instrument cluster. Was that very difficult? Any tips on that project, because I am seriously considering that for my truck. Keep at it. I'm putting the rear window in mine now-what a PITA.

 

Thanks belair!

I actually found the the Lux Blue thread before I attempted the clip and used it as a guide. It was the source of inspiration I needed. When I did the gauges the hardest part was cutting them apart without wrecking them. I had to clearance the back of the stock cluster slightly to fit the oil pressure gauge but for the most part , they fit in the cluster without too much trouble. I will try to take some more pictures of the gauges next time I am out in the garage.

 

Thanks very much ^^^.

 

Here's mine.

 

Nice!!

 

Has anybody ever schooled you on the simplest way to put those pesky windows in? Fairly easy if you have a helper.