Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

I sanded down the inside of the door with some 60 grit sand paper and applied some of this rust encapsulator that is a waxy, self-healing, waterproof. I also set my door skin on there and she is pretty much ready to throw back onto the truck once it is all welded up. So a 6 hour day on this door did a lot... I just have to wait for this encapsulator to dry and I can move onto something else.

 

Here are some pictures of me getting the bottom part of the door skin on... This is really difficult to do because I cannot tell if the door is right or the patch panel is off because the door was damaged from the wreck it was in long ago. This is pretty roughed in and really my first door skin I have ever done. I have it welded just enough to keep the skin on and have begun folding over the edges just enough so I can stop and remove the panel and still be okay.

I am kind of just winging it to see what the best way to work it is. If I mess up I can fix it... you kind of can't be nervous on this crap and have to have no fear when doing this or you will never get anything done.

 

Here are a couple more pictures of this thing... its easier to see what I have to work on after I get to stare at them for a week to see how bad certain things are.

 

Nice work! The doors will turn out great. I've gotta do the same to mine sooner or later.

 

have you fitted the door since replacing the rockers and door bottom? i am doing the same repairs as you as well as inner door bottoms, and i am laboring over getting the gap right... any trick to getting everything lined up right? i plan just to test fit/shim/tack/adjust etc...

 

Do the step first before welding up the cab corner all of the way make sure you put the door on to make sure everything is okay as far as alignment of the cab corner. Finally do the door last and take several measurements before cutting the door apart. (this will help in reassembly). I have had the door on and off about ten times just to check things and I still have to make adjustments.

 

Thanks dude. Yeah we will see, I am taking my time that is all I can do.

 

Well I did the masking tape test to ensure that the patch panel was put on in the right spot. I used a known good door (other side) and took the tape from the crease in the body line that is almost to the window all the way down to the edge of the door (they have been moved in these pics so I could weld). I will just have to fine tune a couple things when rolling the skin over the rest of the way, but for the most part it looks good. I went ahead and welded the seam after doing a lot of little adjustments to the skin. So far so good.

 

Got the Holley kind of tuned in as well... it scared the shit out of me... I will have to tweak the timing.

 

Sweet mother of God.. what a pain in my ass. Next time I am just going to have someone show me how to do this "correctly".

First off I had to heave that body hammer like a sludge hammer to get that lip curled over because of the gauge of the steel... to my defense it really was difficult.. BUT this is my first door skin and I am winging this so... experience probably would have found a better way to do it. I tried to keep everything straight by clamping a 4 foot long piece of angle iron to the bottom of the door and hitting that instead to get it started the rest of the way.

I really have some work to do ahead..... I will have to figure out how I am going to fix all of the bends and dents in the front due to the lip being so hard to peel over the rest of the way. Oh well, I guess this is a good time as any to try and learn some more.

Any suggestions would be great or assistance in any way... as you can see from the pictures it got pretty ugly in the garage earlier... let's just say that a nun would break down in tears from the onslaught of cuss words pouring out of my mouth in the garage.

 

Here are a couple more pictures.

The last one is my favorite.... it makes me feel good about myself. haha

 

If it makes you feel any better...I've got my 58 scattered all over the garage....

I knew the truck was pretty rusty when I bought it over a year ago....but it was still pretty presentable so I haven't worried about it too much.

I decided that before I make the trip to Round up in a few weeks, I would repair all the rust issues and re-paint it a different color...

After I started sanding..I began to discover cancer all over the place...

rockers, cab corners,drip rails, top of the cab, and the both of my doors were totally gone on the bottom.

Fortunately...I was able to buy two solid doors locally...which is going to save a lot of time

 

Well your truck looks good so far, I wouldn't be that concerned with it, I am sure you will get it close in time for roundup. (and yes it does make me feel better, haha)
I have to tweak a bunch of crap for these patch panels... I should be a pro by the time this build is done.. If I am not, something is wrong. lol

 

I just decided to cut a little bit off of the inside of the door and try and use a rubber mallet to round out the patch a little bit more. I will work on it some more during this week and post some pictures soon. It is actually turning out quite nice, so I will get it close and body fill the door to see my high and low spots then continue from there. I cant wait to move on from this area of the truck....

 

I decided to redo the bottom part of the door skin because it was too much work versus just throwing the change down for a new panel. I learned my lesson on what not to do... so hopefully this will be better this time around. I decided also that the cab corner is just too cheap of a repop and I might just spend the money for an expensive, higher quality panel... or might just see what I can do with the one I have on.
Also, I threw the passenger side door on because it was in pretty good shape and will deal with that thing later. I fired it up because it was 50 degrees out today.... man I miss warmer weather already and I wish I had the brakes done so I can take it for a spin. I wanted to clear out some crap from the garage so I cleaned a little with the girl friend and went ahead and made room for some parts to be moved around so I could have more access to work on the door.
I finally decided to get the hood prepped to be put back onto the truck, which also cleared out some room on the other side of the garage where I was keeping all of the sandblasted parts and bracing.. she is coming together
Oh and I have a new profile picture!

 

still waiting on my patch panels to arrive. I decided to try and wire in my gauge cluster that is under the dash. I have the lighting all in, I just need to finish up all of the wiring for the 3 gauges or run what I need to run to the engine (oil pressure, coolant temp, battery voltage). I will try to post a little later when I start making some decent progress of the other parts of the truck

 

well I figured out what was wrong with the patch panel... take a look. I'll have to do some metal working on this cab corner to get it fixed. It pays to pay for a high dollar part.

I am going to set the door up one more time to make sure it is correct so I can FINALLY be done with this side... Frankly I am sick of working on it lol

 

While I am waiting for my patch panels that are on back order... I decided to wire in my gauges and get them all set up and working except for the coolant temp. I am going to have to drain the coolant to get it to work.. so, not looking forward to making a mess right now.

 

Name names for ill fitting patch panels. Name names for good fitting patch panels. Pretty please!!

 

I guess I am the test bunny on this, huh terd! haha

Classic Parts out of Missouri that I get all my parts from sell two different patch panels.
Description: Left Inner Cab Corner - Part # 44-053 - $29.95 (REQUIRES A LOT OF TWEAKING)
Description: Left Cab Corner - Part #: 44-013 - $29.95 (BAD)
Description: Left Cab Corner Deluxe - Part #: 44-013D - $79.95 (GOOD)

What did I learn from this? You get what you pay for. I knew from the last car I worked on that repo patch panels are never perfect and always require some work, but this outer one is certainly taking the cake.

The inner was just a pain in the arse, I had to cut that one up, tweak it around and weld it back together, once I get the welds ground you will not be able to tell that I did anything to it, but boy was it a pain in my butt. live and learn.

I'll keep you posted if I find anything else.

 

Well I decided to straighten out this patch panel and got everything lined up. I will wait to weld this thing up until I complete my door patch panel and put the door back onto the truck. I went ahead and thew my driver's side bed side up onto the truck and am going to take the other one off to work on the other cab corner. My patch panels and crap come in tomorrow, so I can work on finishing the drivers side up. I am going to be looking forward to really tearing into this thing this week and getting some stuff done.

 

Good to see you're making fantastic progress, keep up the great work!

 

very nice build thread! I like the way the truck is coming along, and those smoothie wheels! The way you put your thread together is awesome, loads of updates and pictures, very nicely done, I know its o/t but my thread is built similar to yours, im in the same stages of metal work on my 65 falcon, check it out if ya want, or not haha. Im liking the truck so far, Any ideas on color schemes?

 

oops, heres a short cut to the build! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=533427

 

Thanks buddy, I am getting there... my goal is to at least make it down to the local show this summer, if not already in paint!

I dig your thread, I wish you would post more pics!

 

Thanks for the compliment, I am thinking of WWW to go with them. I am thinking maybe a blue teal, medium to dark blue or dark green exterior. I would like to keep it looking fairly stock from the outside, but we will see. I will check out your build thread, thanks for the link!

 

well I got my patch panels from UPS finally.. good lord I do not like back order. I will be working on that on Friday because tomorrow/today is the only time of the year to get green beer and I cannot pass that up. I will try to get most of the panel completed by the weekend and maybe even have the door on the truck so I can finally get that cab corner finished, which would be sweet. I will update with pictures soon.

 

Well I got my lower hinge panel welded in and started on my outer patch panel. I got everything welded on temporarily and will try to finish it tomorrow. Here are my first round of pictures.

 

Here are some more pictures...