58 Apache short bed rebuild

[Scottish58chev]

Drilled and tapped flange then welded onto the tank

[Scottish58chev]

Lastly I made mounts for the fuel pump and fitted brackets for securing the tank to the chassis. I’ve still to clean up the tank and pressure test it for leaks.

[dug224]

Enjoying all the high quality work!!

[Kim57]

Very nice work on the tank.
Kim

[Joe Pass]

Wow.....

[OrrieG]

Nice fabrication work...

[Scottish58chev]

Finally got the tank pressure and leak tested. Had 2 pin holes to weld and I also had to weld the inside lip of the sender flange as it was leaking through the screws. I also had to add 2 small o-rings to the sender unit as it was leaking past the bolt and no matter how much the nut was tightened it still leaked. After all the tweaking it’s now good to go. Just a shame it will be so long before it sees actual fuel

[Scottish58chev]

Not a lot to report since the last update. Between work and the kids off school I've only managed a day or 2 on the truck.
I decided to fit the front and rear fenders to check for alignment and check for clearance issues etc. As it turns out i encountered a bigger problem than i was anticipating.

I tried to fit the rear wheels and found that with the rear discs in place and the axle bolted up that no matter what i tried, the wheel just wouldn't fit They are just too wide, i know they fit ok with plenty clearance when in place inside the fenders, so my next problem was how to be able to remove and refit the wheels with the fenders in place. The solution that i came up with after some head scratching, was to make the body tilt. I used self centering bearings and made up the hinges once i had measured and figured where the pivot point should be. The height the body is at is nowhere near where it will be in reality. I'm going to use 2 300lb linear actuators to do the lifting.

[Scottish58chev]

I boxed out the full rear x member as it was giving far too much flex when the body was lifted, i'd initially only welded in some plate at the hinge area but found this to be inadequate so did the full length. I welded up the seams on the rear panel as it just looked crap, this was also clearanced where the hinges are fitted. With the tank in place and the bed at pretty much the right level, I made up a frame for the bed wood to go on, this will also help to stiffen up and square the body and allow for the actuators to be bolted up.

[Scottish58chev]

The rear panel in place and the start of the floor frame.

[Scottish58chev]

Next was the issue of where to mount the actuators. I decided on outside the chassis as this was my best option for mounting angle to avoid too much stress on the actuators. I made up new mounts with captive nuts and welded them in place. The height you see the bed at is the final height, enough clearance for removing the wheels with the added bonus of access to the compressor should the need arise. The actuators are fairly slow operating but with them only ever going to be used to access under the bed i can live with that, they take around a minute and a half to extend so not too drastic. No time to fit the top mounts so vice grips had to do lol

[Scottish58chev]

And lastly just a pic of how it will sit aired out, not quite on the floor but i'm happy with it. very slight rake front to back.

[Joe Pass]

Just amazing...............

[slammed57]

never stumbled across this build... but now that i have I will be following... my kinda guy! doin a jam up job brother!

[Scottish58chev]

Thanks guys, just plugging away. Every job finished is a step in the right direction.

[Scottish58chev]

Just realised it's nearly a year since I last updated. Been busy with life as well as slowly making progress with the truck. Been fighting crap repo panels and panel gaps but slowly making headway. I'm also realising i'm terrible at remembering to take pictures and only seem to remember after the fact. Anyway here are a few more pictures of what I've been doing.

[Scottish58chev]

I had to cut and reweld the drivers side fender to get the correct height with the hood. I also had to remove the headlight apertures and cut them to get better alignment with the panels as the gaps were huge. No idea on what the original gaps would have been like but decided i wanted them a lot tighter than nearly half an inch. The last picture is the passenger side, to fix this i had to drill out the welds and pull it back into the correct position.

[Scottish58chev]

More of the headlight issue/fix. Last picture shows the cut i had to make to get a decent gap on the drivers side

[Scottish58chev]

The first picture shows how it looks now, still needs work but a lot better and with a little more adjustment i'll be happy with it.
The one thing I wanted to do was change the front end. I looked at loads of cars and trucks of the time and looked at what might fit with some work.

I had previously seen the front bumper from an impala used so thought I would start with that. I could only source the corner bumpers so had to make my own middle section. You can see where the bumper parts needed shortened and material removed to make them fit.

I had to source parts from the states and have them shipped over to Scotland and hope I could make them work ha ha. The grille I settled on is from a 1950 chevy sedan again sourced in bits from the US. I liked the fact it had the front marker lights that I can use as direction indicators. The last picture is the start of the centre section using fairly heavy 3mm wall pipe.

[Scottish58chev]

Bumper coming together.

The grille was loosely fitted in place and I've still to back permanent brackets for it.

[Scottish58chev]

More

[Scottish58chev]

Still a lot more work to do before it's how I want it but you get a rough idea of how it will look.

[Joe Pass]

Wow......I see your vision....I guess we have it good in the States scoring parts.....I couldn't imagine having to wait.....Well done
Joe

[Scottish58chev]

Thanks Joe, yeah the wait can be a pain but not much in the way of other options unfortunately. Just need to grin and bear it

[Scottish58chev]

Nothings been easy with this build and having the impala front sub frame hasn't helped as it's brought it's own problems. I bought a flaming river power rack for it but with being lowered the geometry was all over the place and would have given the worst bump steer imaginable. I had a look and decide the best way was to move the mounting points for the track arms from the bottom to the top of the rack, this in turn meant i had to lengthen one arm due to clearance issues which also meant needing to clearance the chassis leg when the suspension is aired out. At least it's one less piece of the puzzle in place.