Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

So project firewater (the 59 fleet side big window) is long underway. I have admired a bunch of builds here and I decided it was my time to post. I am a 20yo college student who holds a full time job also. Truthfully, I am grateful I am able to support quite a large budget all on my own and I am building this truck right and not taking shortcuts. Starting from day one back in April this is her:Attachment 1332532
Pretty good if you ask me. The guy I bought it from lives in a little town near Tishomingo, OK. He had recently gained custody of his son and priorities had materialized the truck which was good for me. This was a one family truck which when I heard the background and history I thought I was going to pay for it. If I remember correctly I paid $2700, which I feel is more than fair.

The only true body issue are the floorboards and the folded up portion of the bed that must have been hit by a tree stump or something. Otherwise everything else was great. Rough, but restorable. Originally a 6 cylinder the owner put in a 305 and I am upgrading beyond that, as you will see in later posts. So here we go, so long money....:metal:

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

In the last 6 months i have cleared the ugly metal bed:
Attachment 1332541
Dropped the stance in the rear with a mono:
Attachment 1332542Attachment 1332543
and added a bed mount gas tank:
Attachment 1332544

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Welcome.
be sure and post lots of pics of your progress.
Kim

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

And in the last 6 months in the front i have, removed the 305 (boat motor):
Attachment 1332546

Attachment 1332547

And I just got in my mustang ii ifs clip that I am installing this week.... It feels like christmas day around my house. Well.... for me anyways.
Attachment 1332548

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Cool. Keep us posted as you go.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

My plan is lowered for now eventually bagged and more power under the hood. Maybe one day I'll join the ls movement but for now I like the carbureted sbc. Idk why. It's an easy go I guess. She's going to be a cruiser so I don't need all that much power. I want to faux patina with a color similar to the original blue and some pinstriping. I'm excited. Hopefully in the next few months I will be reassembled, colored, and painted. I have a lot of cool Texas touches to add like a custom step bumper that I am fitting to look flat and a couple southern touches that will make it standout as a Texas hot rod truck.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Cool truck and anticipate the progress. Hope to see it around town sometime.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Seriously love the work hales pumps out, especially the second series trucks like yours and Caleb mercer's. I'm an active follower between the amazing 2-link and ls beasts. Really hope we do run together sometime.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Damn cool looking build you have going on here. Those fleetsides are some of the finest looking trucks ever built.

The faux patina is pretty easy to recreate, I did it on my 56, aging it to look like original paint that was worn

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Do you remember what colors you used to do your coats? Any advice on patina-ing? Love the truck man

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

i sprayed the entire thing with 3 coats of black epoxy primer and then used Hot Rof Flatz diamond blue metallic for the top coat. The patina process was brought o life with the use of 400 grit sand paper

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Update today the crossmember is being installed along with master cylinder Attachment 1332896

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Great to see you on here. If you are working full time and going to college you have your hands full. Keep posting.

Dwight

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Nice project!!

Keep the pics commin'.......

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Update on the mustang ifs. ITS IN!!!!!! I'm like a kid in a candy shop. but its not over yet, still need to finalize breaks, hook up all the steering and paint the frame but here it is so far-
Attachment 1333851
Attachment 1333852
Attachment 1333853
Attachment 1333855

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

With your front end having a rear steer rack & pinion, are you going to have any pan and exhaust problems????...Jim

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Looks good.
Kim

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

No. If you follow my build after this point at all I am going to do something pretty wicked with the exhaust that will defiantly not interfere And as for oil pan it should sit tall enough or back enough to have no issue.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Oh and when I do the mock up for motor mounts I can put it where ever I might need to. I forgot to mention that

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

That is the first time I have seen a mustang II with rack in rear who made that kit?

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

its a cpp but it was more fitted by flipping it and still get all the same alignment. just had to do a little flipping is all plus when thinking about it now the rack and pinion is more protected

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Might want to call CPP, the tube supports on cross member are designed to aid when breaking a lot of force is applied in a forward motion that's why it is designed that way and your brakes will also be located in the wrong position. just want to save you some grief on wrong install.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

If the kit was designed for the rack to be in front, placing it in the rear is going to make the steering backwards. I hope you planned for that and got a rack that is designed to be mounted behind the spindles.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

I've seen rear steer MII front ends, but if you just changed this on your own, you've got big problems. Russell Ashley is correct you will be steering backwards. You may have to remove the entire crossmember and install per instrutions...Jim

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

There is peace on earth. It was a rear steer unit. That's why it went together so easily that way. You guys had me sweating that instructions were wrong when I had it done. And I thought I was changing it for the worst. I really do appreciate the concern, that's what forums are all about right? Helping each other out. Sometimes you guys gotta get after me. I'm still only 20 and it's finals week so I got a lot on my mind, last thing I need is to mess up my beauty. :uhmk:

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Nope, i was wrong, y'all were right, i spent the past day fixing and laying on motor mounts. here she is:
Attachment 1335501
Attachment 1335502
Attachment 1335503
:hot: not my sbc but this one worked just fine for mock up. mine is being shipped the 17th from northern speed shop.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Congrats on your truck. I (barely) remember being 20 and working to get (and keep) my "hot rod" car running. You're have a great start, and I'm glad you discovered (and corrected) your error. WE have all done it, and some have been really expensive (at least for me)!!!

Ricky

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Looks like you made good progress in the change.
Kim

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Glad you got it figured out! Nice progress.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Does that factory front cross member need to be removed? I see some people do and some people don't after installing an IFS

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

I saw you lived in dallas for a little while. What salvage yard were you getting parts from?! The ones by me don't even know what a car older than 1990 looks like.....

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Maybe it's the mounts they use? I could see how a fan would interfere but I'm going the electric fan route. I left it for the fact that I had no reason to strip it out and jeopardize frame integrity.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

I also didn't want to remove the crossmember but I did have to trim a couple of inches off of it to get the rack mounted. This must be different with 58-59 trucks if you were able to mount yours without trimming it. As a caution, did you mark the centerline of the axle before you removed it? Most everyone moves the wheels forward when converting to independent front suspension to center the wheels in the fenders better. I moved mine 3/4ths of an inch forward but some move them more than that.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...ps467480af.jpg

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

I was sure to mark it. What kit is that? I like how they integrated your motor mounts!!!

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

The LS based engines and trannys for my last three builds came from Settlemires used parts in Walnut, MS. All of the sheet metal parts have come from Craig's List or E Bay within 700 miles of Memphis, with most of them from Oklahoma or Missouri. I miss Dallas (lived there 14 years), because there was a great fab shop that I used.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

My setup is a bolt-in from Scott's Hotrods. The engine mounts are also from Scott's but not actually part of the kit. I purchased them from Scott's after realizing that the front engine mounts weren't going to be useable after trimming the cross member.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Anybody have tips to patch the firewall?

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

No tips, just tedious. I did mine when my wife when out of town to visit our new grandkid, I had work committments so I could not go. I had two weekends and one week of evenings to work on the truck. I wanted to get rid of all the holes but keep the recesses. Took Saturday to weld in the 40+ holes (ranging from screw size to 1.25" dia), long Sunday to grind, fill, regrind the welds. Had one evening to repair floor pan areas under the battery box. After that about 16 hours during the week and next week end of fine JB Weld filling, plastic work, priming and paint. Paint is same single stage chassis black I used on the frame and inner fenders. I had not made up my mind on the paint color, black works with anything.

For the larger holes I made 16 ga. plugs and held them in place with a magnet from behind. For smaller ones I have a flattened piece of copper pipe I hole behind the holes. Here are the photos.

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Yeah, I did have to trim the front also. Always easier coming out than going in

Re: Project Firewater- 59 fleet
 

Attachment 1382645Attachment 1382643
Attachment 1382644
put the bags on the mustang ii today. hopefully i can get to 4 link this weekend. I am already excited about the look. I can't wait for my air management to arrive so i can start playing. i also picked up a 150db train horn just because it seemed fun.:devil: