One Family '59 Apache, new shop truck.

[Zoomad75]

GMCNUT- Big thanks on that dash of taskforce knowledge. I knew there had to be a reason our bezels were white. We are sticking with the white. I'm happy our build is inspiring others too. It's really fun to be involved with and keep the project organized and semi-ontrack. Getting back on track...

We had a date with a local shop to get the exhaust done. We had to load it up on our rollback to get it over there..



I had a pic of the chassis at the other shop, but it's uber-fuzzy. Not worth posting it's so bad. So here's one of the wheels in the booth.



More of the hood. It got wetsanded after this and shot with another coat of clear.

[Kim57]

Very nice color.
Kim

[Zoomad75]

Got the radial wide whites mounted on the painted wheels today. OMG! Looks killer. We went with the radials that have the bias ply profile (tall-n-skinny) the tartan turquoise completely sets off the white wall stripe. Can't wait to snap the new chrome hub caps on. The boss was as giddy as a 7 yr old with a new Hot Wheels car when he brought them back. Pics to follow. Had to Prep my Dad's SS Trailblazer for a car show tomorrow, so no uploads.

[SCHRUMGMC]

This thread is almost like Christmas with each update. I love seeing this truck being fixed up, beautiful color

[Zoomad75]

So here is this weeks update. Hood was color sanded and given a final buff. The paint is deep and a very good shine. Nice flat surface for a clear reflective shine as you can see in this pic:



Cab Corner work. Thankfully, the step and rocker on this side is completely devoid of any cancer.


More cab corner detail. Ours rotted out the outers and inner portions.


New metal is on. Unfortunately the fit of this panel flat sucked. Look closely and you'll see our body man had to split the panel on the rear edge to pie cut it and pull it in to fit right. He also had 3 pie cuts where the panel meets the rocker to line it up there. The best way to put it is he felt the panel was oversized like they intended it to be installed over the old rotted out cab corner. Now the inner cab corner fit like a glove with no mods required. Figures the part nobody will ever see pops right in and the one everybody will look at required a ton of fab time to get it fitting right.



Finished cab corner with some filler. Not much, but enough to get the job done.



Left side cab corner removed and getting prepped for fitting. This step will need some love with some cancer in the corner.



Front panel behind the grill was painted the correct Bombay ivory. What I'm not sure of is where on the panel is the edge for the black paint in the center. I've cribbed some pics of original trucks that do show the black paint. Another question is the black supposed to be flat, semi-gloss or gloss?

[Kim57]

Looking real good.
Hood looks great.
Kim

[justcuz]

The heat riser holes in the intake used to blow out the base gaskets of the carb and create a vacuum leak. I used to thread them with a pipe tap and put 1/4 pipe Allen head plugs in them.

This is my favorite Task Force body style, with the fleet side bed.
But I like 60-66 with stepsides, weird I know.
The truck is turning out beautiful and the color combo is so fitting for the era.

[Zoomad75]

Been a while for an update. Things have been crazy in both shops. Still working on the cab, although we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for it. Hopefully it's not a loaded freight train! Lower hinge pocket rot has been repaired. Hinges bolted in and the doors hung. New repop doors did not fit. Not at all. Right side wouldn't even shut as the front upper corner of the door (just above the hinge) would touch the cowl. A little massaging got it to clear and the door shut all the way without binding. Next up is the gap. We mounted the front fenders to set the door adjustment and to put it bluntly it was way off. Both doors required the edge of the panel to be cut off and rewelded to set a consistent gap. Sucked but it was less work than fixing all the rot and damage in the original doors.

Right side reworked new door:


Left side:


Inside.


So since the doors got fitted we installed the original latches and strikers. Left side won't shut without some "extra" effort. So I'll order new for both sides tomorrow.

The body tech spent today mixing metal glaze to smooth out some areas. The painter is getting some small interior parts ready to shoot in the stock Comanche Gold metallic color. Problem is I've scoured the internet trying to find a stock paint code to start the mix from and have struck out everywhere. Found a link on one page that Jim Carter truck parts mixes it up from time to time, but no listing of the actual paint code. Anybody know what the code is??

[Kim57]

Nice progress.
Looking real nice.
Kim

[Zoomad75]

Been a busy couple of weeks in the shop and it looks like color is going to get shot really soon on the cab. Got a ton of photos of progress so I'll jump right into it..

All Sheetmetal and panel repairs are done. Time for filler work:


Block party!


Cab is getting close..


More blocking.


Glove box door, hinges and assorted interior parts.


Doors getting worked over. These new doors came with the hinge covers and fit HORRIBLY. Our body man pulled the originals off of the old doors and they fit like a glove on the new doors. Go figure.


It was around this time we had a major setback. We had the first block party to start getting the cab flat and we had a new guy starting back in the body shop. We've shifted into "get it done" mode and pulled back on the paying stuff since we have a hard deadline. Anyway the new guy attacks the cab to give it the 2nd block sanding after some epoxy primer is laid down. I happened to be pulling a car around and saw him on it and something hit me funny. I saw him doing it with a DA sander going to town with it. I'll be the first to say, I know just enough about body work to be dangerous. But seeing him go after it with a DA had me cringe. The guys back there were busy on other things and couldn't stop him until the damage was done. Waves..Lots of waves. 2 days lost to get it back into shape again to where we were. Not sure about the new guy's length of stay now..

So while the cab was getting reworked, we got started on the bedsides. Installing the new interior sheetmetal and rebuilding stake pockets.


Other end.



Patching..


Cab going back to the booth for primer after getting back on track..


Right fender. Needs a lower patch panel.


Left fender ready for primer and blocking..


Doors in the booth for priming..


Sweating the small stuff.



Bedside repairs.


Block sanding..


Primer!!


Roof is Smooth!


Interior.


Floor.



Plan is to shoot the dash top semi-gloss black first, then the gold, clear then remask and shoot the turquoise. Will update with color hopefully tomorrow.

[Kim57]

Everything is looking real good.
Kim

[ChuckDriver]

Very smooth!

[Zoomad75]

Big progress update. We now have color! It's very bright! Anyway Lets get on with the pics!

I got the order of what got painted wrong in an earlier post. We've shot the Comanche Gold inside the cab first, then the turquoise, then the floor and the dash top is last. So here's some gold!


More of the gold:


Rear of cab. Already cleared and getting started to mask off for the turquoise:


Dash and kick panel areas. I have to admit we were all torn leaving the top of the dash gold. But, the boss wants stock so it's not going to stay this way:


Doors.. This is a lot of gold!


Progress is being made on the bedsides too. Here's the right side is ready for mud. 19 total different patches were put into this panel. Only two on the inner bedsides were available through the restoration market. The rest were hand formed by our skilled body man.


Now onto the exterior color! Sorry for the photo quality..Shot through the glass in the booth door. Better ones coming..


Now inside the booth, a little clearer shot. The clear has not been shot yet. I thought this looked cool at this stage. It would be cool to let the clear get shot as a matte finish. I got out ranked, clear is coming.


Right side door minus clear.


Now with CLEAR! Needs wetsanding and buffed.


Cab with the Tartan Turquoise and Comanche Gold together.


Back to mud work on the right bedside and right fender. Note we did end up using a patch panel on this side.


Cab and dash.


Left door.


Rear of cab.


Moving on to the floor. We've deviated from stock in this area. We sealed the sheetmetal and applied Raptor liner. This was done for sound control, heat repellant and to deal with minor imperfections in the floor. Pitting from rust, but no major holes. Plus we wanted better protection on the steps from getting paint worn off from getting in and out. We also did the same on the underside. Add some dynamat to the doors and this truck should sound like a bank vault when the doors shut!


Peeling the masking off the steps before the liner gets too dry.


The dash prepped and ready to spray black.



Drivers side floor and step. The boss wasn't completely on board with the liner. But after the body shop manager and I went over with him he was ok with it. Other than the step area, the rest that is lined is covered or hidden. We have the new rubber mat to cover the floor and the fuel tank and seat will hide the back of the cab. Still looks stock"ish" by the color but way more durable.


That's it for today. We should be mounting the cab back on the chassis tomorrow, schedule permitting. Only waiting on the beside stainless trim coming in from Canada from Bill's Truck parts. Talked to them today and the parts should be in to them next week and shipped to us then.

Getting exciting!

[Russell Ashley]

I always look forward to updates on this truck, it's a beauty. I'm glad the boss nixed the matte clear, that would have been a crime to dull down that beautiful paint job IMO.

[Zoomad75]

Dash is painted. Our Body shop manager did some research to match the factory "anti-glare" rough finish black paint. It's actually VHT flame proof black crinkle coat paint. With the added boost of baking it in the booth at 170 degrees.


Cab almost set down on the chassis. Looks killer.


I've got more photos, but I got to go back to work.. More to come!

[tommys72]

Looks amazing! Great work

[Zoomad75]

Here's the cab bolted down to the chassis. We've added protection to the floor since we will be in and out a thousand times on the assembly process.



Back to the cab drop:


It's almost down.

[SCHRUMGMC]

Looks amazing so far, it has come a long way

[bowt1ed]

Hey Rob, looking great. A couple of questions:

Since you deviated, why did you go with a spray/roll on sound/heat deadener (Raptor) in lieu of using the "mat type" (Dyna, Boom, etc.) everywhere?

Also, did your repop doors come with the foam piece between the skin and horizontal brace (mid door) to stop the oil canning?

Thanks, Jim

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by bowt1ed

Hey Rob, looking great. A couple of questions:

Since you deviated, why did you go with a spray/roll on sound/heat deadener (Raptor) in lieu of using the "mat type" (Dyna, Boom, etc.) everywhere?

Also, did your repop doors come with the foam piece between the skin and horizontal brace (mid door) to stop the oil canning?

Thanks, Jim

Jim- We discussed the issue prior to even shooting the paint on the cab. Way back after the cab was blasted we unearthed the pitting in the floor. Nothing major like rusted through holes, but the sheet metal wasn't what you would call smooth. The spray in liner would fill the voids after the sheet metal was sealed. Outside of the step, all the surfaces covered in the liner would be concealed by other things like the firewall pad, rubber mat, seat and fuel tank. Not that this truck is going to see any hard work the rest of it's life but we wanted to make it more durable and quieter. Plus the application is easy for the body guys and it blends in pretty seamlessly with the stock rubber floor mat.

I'm not sure on the doors if they have the foam inside or not. I'll have to check.

[Zoomad75]

Had to bolt on the pizza cutters and caps to see what they look like.



Yea! Wiring! The wiring kit was complete, but not exactly the same as the original. Still, it's way better than the spaghetti mess we started with. Wiper, heater, radio and glove box liner are in.

[Kim57]

Looking real nice.
Kim

[Zoomad75]

Moving quickly now.. Deadline is looming. Plus my tech is going to Sturgis next week, so the cab has to be operational before he leaves. So needless to say he's been a busy guy. Here's some progress.

Dash is midway here.


Cluster is one of the last bits to get installed.


Completed dash with new steering wheel installed. Looks great!


More of the dash.


Close up of the instrument cluster. My tech completely disassembled this, cleaned it, polished the chrome and lens and put it back together. Looks brand new.


Fresh fuel tank and sending unit. No more rusty swiss cheese tank.



Got to get some fresh fuel tomorrow to fire it up. Test circuits as it will be easier to chase the circuits before the rest of the bodywork is hung.

[DirtyLarry]

Wowza! That is turning out nice! I wasn’t too sure about the dash at first but the more it is coming together the more I like it. I can see why you want to have your K5 done up like that now. Sweet!

Is it me, or is the engine a shade or two off from the original??

[Zoomad75]

You funny guy Larry. But it is moving along. Harlan got it running and driving today.



Had to drive it around the building to put it on the alignment rack to set the toe in.



On the rack


Rear view.


Right side bedside is almost ready for primer. Left side bedside has had all the inner patches completed, moving to exterior.