Project 59 Apache "1st Build"

[Fat Mike]

I'm not sure what happened to my build thread, so I decided that I would start another one. I am still building my truck with the inspiration of everyone on this site and my new founded friends. I will try to update this thread as fast as possible. I have posted several pictures to my photo album of my trucks so please take a look.

Here is the truck that my girlfriend's dad bought new in 59'.









It has several areas of concern with very extensive rust problems.

[Fat Mike]

Here are some of the parts that I have already acquired for this build:

55 Belair Dash

96 Mustang 8.8 rearend with disk brakes


Right-handed steering box out of a postal jeep. It has already been refurbished and is identical to s-10 steering box, just backwards.

Here are my 20's with low profile tires

[Fat Mike]

Here are a few more parts:
Air bags and brackets

Hood and fender emblems

Here is a donor 78 3/4 chevy truck that I will be using. I plan on using the 350 motor and tranny combo, the hydroboost brake system, and as many other small accessories as possible.

[Fat Mike]

Well I decided because of the amount of rust inside the inner cowl panels I would remove the whole inner cowl where the vents are and shave the cowl vent. I plan on putting speakers in this area. I am not sure yet but I think I will weld this panel in solid after i do alittle repair to the inner cowl and firewall. I used two pieces of 16 gauge for this mod.

[Fat Mike]

I have not made up my mind yet but have see several trucks that have been done with the s-10 conversion on 55-59 trucks. There is a local guy here that has built several of them and says the stance is alittle narrow but he either widens the stance using longer tubular a-arms or converts it to the camaro a-arms. Here is the 86 s-10 frame I have started to shave and clean up. I noticed that there are about 100 holes in the frame so I will weld them up.




Attachment 579284

[Fat Mike]

I removed the stock crossmemeber that runs along the back end of the truck frame after checking to see if the frame was square. The frame was off about 3/16". I used a piece of 2x4 1/8" piece of tubing and welded it in solid. Here is a picture of the 76 camaro a-arms that I may use to widen the stance.

[Fat Mike]

As we all now I have had alot of problems welding, but I am determined to get better. Here is the gas door that I tried to shave. I will probably have to re-do it but here is the first attempt.

[Fat Mike]

I decided that I better quit asking so many questions and just start doing this stuff myself. Trial and error will be my new best friend. Here is before and after picture of the vent and dash.

[Fat Mike]

I left the dash alittle long so I can get graft the 2 dashes together after I get it where I want it. Here is the mockup of the 55 dash. I had to shave alittle off the sides to get it to fit.

[Fat Mike]

I am not ready to weld the dash in yet because I will have to do some cutting and fab to get the instrument panel to work on the right hand-side. I am planning on either cutting the lower section of the hole where the bezel sits and switching side or having both sides look like the right hand side and use the stock 59 drop column. I also plan on shaving a few of the items off the dash before I put it in and welding the seams closed.

[Fat Mike]

The inner cowl panel where the vent is, is pretty much rusted out so I plan on putting speakers in this area but decided I would fab a piece to go in there for now so that I can remove it and have some stability. I made a template and used a piece of 16 gauge metal.

[Fat Mike]

I decided that I like the look of the shaved driprail and I would try it. After cutting the driprail and welding it up I noticed there were still some area that had rust. I plan on cutting them out and making a new patch panel out of 18 gauge metal. I did not do the areas above the doors yet because I have to do some repairs on the door mounts and plan on running the autoloc suicide door kit with the bear claws in the area where the original door mounts are.

[Fat Mike]

Next step is to start working on the firewall. I shaved the lip off the firewall and tried welding in both the front and back of the seam. After everything was done I did not like the way all the metal joined and the way the factory firewall looked. I planned on cutting both side of the firewall out and cut the new piece. I used 16 gauge metal but did not like the way the weld looked. So after looking at the inner vent and looking at bondo bobs build i am going to remove the whole firewall and do alittle repair work, then replace the whole fire wall with a recessed area. I would like to get a firewall like the one porterbuilt used for his 56.

[Fat Mike]

[Fat Mike]

Well, I was pretty excited when I got a phone call telling me to go and pickup a 59 chevy cab for FREE! I wanted to know the condition but he said it was pretty rusted so I thought I could use it for parts on my other one. I wasn't real sure what I was getting into so I called a buddy and he went with me to pick it up. When we got there it looked like it was in very good condition, came with doors, and a bumper. The only thing that I saw that was in bad shape where the outer cab corners.

[chev3600]

Score!

[Fat Mike]

Since I have 2 cabs now I will probably try to use the original frame with a camaro subframe or the g-body style subframe. I will use the second frame for a mockup frame.

[Fat Mike]

Well before I make some patch panels I thought I would try to weld a few more of the holes up on the driprail area. Some areas came out okay but others still are pretty bad. it seams like one spot is always lower than another. How do you guys get it to come out so smooth without using bondo?
Can I just you bondo over the areas that are decent or should I make a patch panel for all the pictures posted.?

[Fat Mike]

I am also going to try and redo the gas filler hole 1 more time.

If you look at the top part of the hole you can tell the metal is very thin at the high point of the peak.

[OrrieG]

I would not leave the void, just spot weld them up and grind. If they willl not weld then the metal is bad from rust and should be replaced anyway. You will still need to have a plastic skim coat to fill and block. In the old days on large areas you would drill holes to give the plastic something to ooze thru and hold better. Todays products have much better adhesion so getting rid of any place that could punch thru and start rusting is the goal.

[Kim57]

Mike
I agree with OrrieG. I wouldn't worry about using filler as long as the metal is solid underneath it.
Use a quality brand like Evercoat (not Bondo). The modern fillers are very good.
Kim

[Fat Mike]

Well, tonight I finally had sometime to make a small patch panel.

[youngrodder]

Mike-

It looks lie you are making some good progress. Are you going to use the white cab now in place of the yellow one? It looks to be in pretty good shape.

Marc

[Fat Mike]

I plan on using the white one as a almost stock truck. The yellow one will be the wilder truck.

[Tri5Nerd]

Keep going Mike. The truck build is looking good, how are you coming with the frame?