A quick flip while my Burb is down

[NEWFISHER]

Hi guys and gals, documenting a build/cleanup:

I needed a driver while my 50 Suburban gets torn down for the winter and the Sids drop, 700r4 and rear axle are installed. I didn't want to rely on my newer rig for DD as it tends to put me to sleep on the 40 mile one way commute. Drivin an older truck/car does alot for me. I never have a radio installed in them as I like to "listen" to the truck/car, I work at a Chevrolet Dealer 40 ish miles away ( depending on the route I take) and usually take the back way through the winding country roads and I love listning to stories from people at lunch hours or after work when I'm running errands about " I used to have a ... or I remember when...." I can never get enough of hearing about the good ole' days.

The need for an early carnival ride driver landed me this off of craigslist on monday. Its a 59' Apache Fleetside and completely original down to the uncut dash with radio delete and washer bag hanging from the inner fender. It had bben sitting under a tree most of its life, I'm the 3rd owner. Flushed the fuel system, knocked the crud off the inner cap/rotor, fresh fuel filter with rubber lines and a new battery i had it running Tuesday night at the guys house. Wednesday (yesterday) at lunch I drove it home from his house. Most everything works except the fresh air cables and the heater blower fan. It has a working dome light and glove box light! I stopped and bought some CLR and ospho last night on the way home from work. After dinner, with a pocket full of quarters, i headed to the car wash loaded with cleaning supplies and several scotchbrite pads. Here is " Patchy" when I got him home:




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After scrubbing, re-scrubbing and then scrubbing some more with my CLR Ospho cocktail, heres what I got. Plans are to drop it onto the stock painted steelies ( gloss black, creme or mint-haven't decided yet) wrapped in wide whites I have from another project, paint the bumpers, grille and headlamp bezels white, re-do the seat and headliner in a tabaco colored distressed leather, line-x the interior floor and steps for easy clean up of muddy winter feet, clean and touch up the dash area and do a complete tune-fluid change before driving the tires off it. I'll post pics as they happen in the next week or two.

This is washed , dried and then CLR applied directly to the paint--errr--rusty patina. I have read several peoples comments and most not working. If you dilute it or dont go through $20 woth of scotchbrite, it wont work. Direct on dry and then Ospho on top (stay away from glass) and this is what happened after 3 hours of scrubbing.




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Going to be a LOW budget build. Swap meet white walls, rattle cans and local parts store deals on tune up stuff. I wil address the issues as they arise and most of the cash will be the drop and the leather seat/line-x floor.

[cakes]

Looks great, I love fleetsides

[Divine 59]

Nice truck. I always love the big back window cabs (mine is small window)

[OrrieG]

Cool. Pull the heater tin and clean out all the leaves and crub you will find and the fan motor will probably work. I did it every fall when it came time to start using the heater. Amazing how much stuff can get sucked into there just in six months, let alone years.

[NEWFISHER]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

Cool. Pull the heater tin and clean out all the leaves and crub you will find and the fan motor will probably work. I did it every fall when it came time to start using the heater. Amazing how much stuff can get sucked into there just in six months, let alone years.

Hahaha! you are right! I hadn't even thought about it when blasting off the 3 inches of walnut shelld from the cowl and hood. I am sure there are pounds of them in the box

[Denee007]

I'm amazed people keep finding these trucks!! That's a neat truck!
dne'

[_Ogre]

your truck cleaned up well, looks like good metal to start with

[Low Elco]

Cool! Dropped axle? Springs?

[hopped up]

Nie truck!! Love the fleetsides. Nice to hear you gonna keep it as is and use it as a truck
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[NEWFISHER]

"I'm amazed people keep finding these trucks!! That's a neat truck!
dne' "

I like to drive out in the country and occasionally down a driveway between the trees, it's amazing what you can find that you can't see from the road. You get to meet some nice people and some not so nice ones too!



"your truck cleaned up well, looks like good metal to start with"
ogre- dont let the cell phone pics fool you. Its a SOLID truck, but has the common cab corner, fender corner, upper tail gate issues. Nothing a weekend wouldn't fix. I'm glad the windshield brow is solid!

"Cool! Dropped axle? Springs?"
LowElco- I had Family unexpectedly ( but a nice surprise) come up from SanDiego last night and staying through Sunday. My plans were to pull some leafs front and rear this weekend, paint and mount the wheels /tires, but on hold till the familia has left. Updates next week!

"Nice truck!! Love the fleetsides. Nice to hear you gonna keep it as is and use it as a truck"
Hopped up- Thanks! Plans are: drop it, wide whites /paint the steelies, toss some love at it ( even though its runs great, gonna change fluids and maintenece items) a nice leather seat and headliner, clean and touch up the interior, mabey a wood strip bed, mabey plywood and drive it every day until my Suburban gets the Drop axle, 700r4, rr end and mabey a motor swap during the winter months here and then SELL the truck. I have never reeealy liked the Apache 4 headlight look, but couldnt pass up this " tree find ( no barn around haha) " and start looking for a 62-64/5 or do another 47-54 as I dig the Burban I have and a matching truck would be killer.

So until next week I am stuck not working on it, but am tilting my Paypal account ordering stuff like vinyl CHEVROLET tailgate decals, a 4th cap , wiper arm and new blades etc.

[98layinframe]

Wish trucks like that existed around my area. Everything thats sitting around here is completely rotted apart till theres nothing left.
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[NEWFISHER]

With family in town from SanDiego, I didn't have much time to work on "patchy". I dropped them at the airport and started tinkering. So far I managed go get the grille, grille surround, bumpers front and rear and headlamp trim rings painted. Dismounted the tires, painted the wheels satin black, checked and adjusted the brakes and mounted the whitewalls. I dissasembled the spring packs and took 3 out of the front and 1 out of each rear. More bueno stance now. I changed all fluids including the oil bath air cleaner and the oil filter. I was surprised how good the coolant and the rear diff fluids looked. I got all the white grill, bumpers, lamps etc reinstalled and then set it back on the ground. It looks a lot better but I'm not a fan of the satin black wheels. I drove around to find a teal or seafoam green rattle can but struck out at 5 places including Wally world. It got dark and I'm pooped, pics tomorrow

[NEWFISHER]

Some pics today of what I accomplished last night. I'm not a fan of the black wheels, thats all I had last night other than white or almond and wanted to sand and paint the stock rusty ones. Painting the bumpers, grille and headlamp surrounds really helps! I am having the paint store mix up some seafoam green and going to mask and shoot them tonight. Im trying to find the 4th stock poverty cap and then going to beadblast all of the caps and paint them white. Today at lunch I'm going to start cleaning the inside. Pulling the seat to sew up new back and bottom, paint the seat frame, scrape years of debris from the floor and start sanding the interior to paint the o.e. dark sandstone color. I'm on the fence weather or not to install a rubber mat or just line-x from step well across the floor to the other step well. That should keep me busy this week and will try to get the bed wood removed, new installed and line-x the inner box next week. It's not a fancy restoration, but a work truck and for the same $ as a bed wood kit, I can keep it a working truck to haul my Burb axles, trans etc around while working on it.

Update: most everything worked when I bought it last week. I still havent pulled the blower motor to clean the debris out and see if it works. The wiper motor stopped working and still have to pull and lube the vent cables, they are stuck open and it's becomming a cold driver!
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A nice little rake with some leafs pulled
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last week when purchased

[Yewhi]

Looks great! nice find and nice work. Can't wait to see it with the smoothies.

[wutnxt]

That thing is sweet........nice find.

[dubds10]

Damn that's a cool project! I wish I could find a cheap project up here, but I'm stuck looking in WA and OR for old trucks lol But it's getting expensive driving around and down south with the tow truck as it's a pig on gas. The lil woman really wants me to get another truck and something like that would make her happy

Nate

[NEWFISHER]

Hey Nate,
Thanks for the props!
She might be happier sooner than you think. The Apache will be for sal in a few months when I finish my Burb. I'm just giving it some love so I can drive it 70 miles a day and breathe some life back in the ol neglected truck. I snuck over to the shop after work and mixed up and sprayed some teal (original body color under all the patina) on the wheels. Thinking of white original poverty caps and mabey some ribbed stainless 3/4 beauty rings???


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[jrdecat]

love that rust, i mean patina!

[str8axle55]

Looks great, should make a sweet driver.

[NEWFISHER]

Tossed on a tailgate decal kit at lunch and started cleaning the interior. Made the appointment at the uphoulstery shop for the seat and headliner. Ordered a factory rubber mat vs. Line x the cab floor. Bead blasted the 3 factory caps and waiting for the 4th to arrive. Having the whole wheel painted oe body color is getting to me, man its a lot of aqua!

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[NEWFISHER]

I wish I had taken pic's before, but you can imagine the sitting under a tree, dusty, nasty , fugly, rusty engine area and interior after 6 dormant years. I yanked the seat, filled a garbage can with paperwork, pens, pencils, hoses, belts, hide a keys etc and then degreased everything! Pressurewashed and re-cleaned a couple times. Looks pretty good to start sanding and painting the interior this weekend. I'm going to leave the engine as is, nothing to hide, just clean and old.
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door wells in great shape
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engine including the old washer bag!
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[55dude]

damm! that is a really solid ride!

[Bierkan]

What's the idea behind the CLR wash?

[OrrieG]

CLR takes off surface rust and corrosion from body metal and trim without removing paint. Go to post 15 in this thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=520460

[NEWFISHER]

Spent the weekend painting the inside of the cab. Satin white, edged the raised door mouldings in bumper chrome, hammerite charcoal on the inside for a two tone look. Used the same to refresh the heater box and ebrake handle. Painted the tank, semi glossed the floor and step wells after lightly texturing them. Painted the visible seat frame and wraped the seat in a cover. I bead blasted the caps and popped them on with some stainless trim rings. Painted the inset ares of the emblems and hung a peep mirror. I aslo had the original tires that came on the truck ground into white walls, the wide wites were old bias plys and no bueno at 65 and a 70 mile round trip to work and back. She rolls smooth now!
Secret weapons









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Ground whites and caps finally on. Makes the aqua look waaay better.
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.and a trip to the local Drive inn for a shake
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I found an engine for the burb and the Apache is up for sale sooner than I thought. Great runner, any ideas what I should ask for it? I may pull the seat out and have it uphoulstered including a matching headliner.
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