58 Apache short bed rebuild

[Scottish58chev]

I also realised that I screwed up when i bought the drop spindles. The problem being that I ordered drop spindles for a disc brake upgrade not realising that the wilwood kit i bought required specific spindles gutted to say the least but these things happen. I relieved some of my disappointment by building up the discs and hubs and once they are on the truck the heartache will all be forgotten lol

[Kim57]

Nice looking brakes. frame looks good also.
Kim

[dug224]

Subscribed! Man, you're getting after it. Assume with 6 weeks on the job you have a few weeks around the house. Great job. dug

[Scottish58chev]

Yeah 6 on 6 off but the 6 off feel like 2 lol
It's slow going but every little helps. Back at sea now until the start of March so nothing more going to happen til then but hopefully looking at getting the motor built as i was waiting on some parts but they should be there by the time i get home.

[Scottish58chev]

Well things have been progressing slowly, finally got all the parts to complete the engine. It's now built and sitting back in the chassis to enable me to see how everything lines up etc.
New spindles arrived with new arms that I'd thrown out thinking I had no need for the old ones, lesson learned there, nothing gets binned, sold or given away til she's back on the road.
I had issues with the heads I bought having only 64cc combustion chambers and being built for a blower the compression was too high even with the 22cc pistons, so I bought new dished valves which increased the chambers to 68cc and did some work on them to get them up to 70cc so at least it wont blow up now I did the first chamber and when I was happy with it I made a template that I transferred to the rest, slow and pretty monotonous but I'm happy with the end results. Also polished the exhaust ports and cleaned up the inlets then matched the inlet gaskets and the blower manifold.
Stripped down the transmission to find the casing is completely wrecked at the output shaft, just something else to add to the list of things that makes me think this truck just doesn't want built. Casing is so worn that it can't be machined so had to buy another

[Scottish58chev]

Some pictures of the finished heads and engine

[Scottish58chev]

So I went to fit the steering arms I had bought for the new spindles and true to form they wouldn't fit cleanly so I had to grind them to fit. In doing so I felt there wasn't much meat left so I decided to build up the outside with weld, I found out that the arms could be welded as they were cast steel and not cast iron. Every days a school day

[Scottish58chev]

After all the grief I have had I thought I was done with nasty surprises but nope, no such luck. I've realized the rear fenders are from the later trucks up to 66 and when I went to strip the front clip down I found it had been welded and brazed together and to top it all off the drivers fender is actually made up of 2 and loads of body filler.

But the icing on the cake has been the fact I have fitted the fender to see how it looks and the front wheel is miles off center, something I never noticed before stripping as it was in a barn when I bought it and never even thought to look or check and just went ahead and pulled it apart. So the front sub frame will need cut and moved forward. This truck is really testing my patience but it wont beat me lol

[Scottish58chev]

Slow going 1 step forward 2 back ha ha.

Between waiting on parts and the summer holidays in the Scotland, not managed to get much done.
I had a little confused episode when i fitted the cab in place to see how everything fit after the chassis work and the back body was 2 inches further back, i measured and re measured and measured again and after a LOT of head scratching i'd fitted the front panel of the bed the wrong way round.
It had been so long since i stripped it that when i put it together again for mocking up i just assumed the rolled edge went to the outside just like the sides, lesson learned pay more attention to the pictures
With that sorted i fitted the front end only to find the front wheels had never been centred in the arch so i went about re cutting and extending the font and it looks so much better. This really is a learning curve and a half.

[Scottish58chev]

I managed to source another original unmolested dash so the dash is out now as well. I'll address all the firewall issues while it's out. It's needing way more welding than first anticipated. It's getting a new roof, floor, firewall repairs, step and inner and outer lower hinge pockets as well as the usual cab corners.

Having parts shipped from the states takes time and money but will definitely make all the difference instead of fight old rusted out metal.

[Nut Case]

Hey

Your life sounds like it's running parallel to mine not the same issues, but just as frustrating, as well as odd!!

Strong work, great problem solving skills.

Keep on keepin on

Nut Case

[Scottish58chev]

Yeah it's been frustrating to say the least.

There have been times i seriously questioned keeping going with it, it was like the truck just didn't want to be built lol

Hopefully seeing some head way now though, looking to get the motor on the dyno and run in soon so it's ready to drop in when the trucks ready.

[LCA1971]

That is going to be one bada$$ truck!!! What color have you decided on?

[Scottish58chev]

Thanks man, I certainly hope so

Colour is still a way off and not firm on anything as yet but got some ideas.

Final colour is such a huge thing to decide as everything is affected.

[II_Slow]

I think we forget how easy we have it over here - there's usually decent sheetmetal to be found within a short driving distance, or worst case you can mail order repop stuff and have it in three days. You guys across the pond have to really be committed. But I'll bet the wow factor of having a bad ass, classic 50's American iron makes it all worth it. 58 Chevy with blown V8 = Priceless!

[Scottish58chev]

Originally Posted by II_Slow

I think we forget how easy we have it over here - there's usually decent sheetmetal to be found within a short driving distance, or worst case you can mail order repop stuff and have it in three days. You guys across the pond have to really be committed. But I'll bet the wow factor of having a bad ass, classic 50's American iron makes it all worth it. 58 Chevy with blown V8 = Priceless!

You're not wrong.

I decided to buy a new roof panel, front fenders as mine were in bad shape and new rears as the ones on the truck were from a later truck. All told between purchasing shipping and import duties etc I was still cheaper than if i had tried to buy here in the uk, assuming of course that i could even get some of the parts.

As to being committed, my wife thinks i should have gone to the nut house a while back

I'm hoping the end result will give me some redemption ha ha

[Scottish58chev]

So I decided the roof would be the first thing to get done. I started by just cutting the roof skin off with a cutting disk then drilled out the spots with a tool I found that I can only describe as a mini hole saw, great tool and did the job far better than the normal spot weld drill bit I used previously. I cleaned up the edges on both the cab and the panel then applied weld through primer. I borrowed a friends spot welder which made a massive difference. The panel still required a little bit of adjustment and will need welding up on the pillars as at some point in its history someone did a hash job smoothing off the lead filler.

[Scottish58chev]

A few more, I cleaned and painted the roof before fitting the new skin on top.

[Kim57]

Looks real good.
Kim

[Scottish58chev]

Thanks Kim, the cab is far worse than I had thought, if I was in the states I would have seriously considered another cab but looks like myself and the welder will be even more aquatinted by the time it’s done. The cab fill had been blanked off but again it was brazed so I cut a section from the roof panel I removed and welded it in for a flush fit and it’s turned out pretty good, need to do the same with the other side where they frenched the arial.

[Russell Ashley]

Nice work you are doing.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Nice work you are doing.

X2...looks good!

[Scottish58chev]

Thanks for the comments.

[Scottish58chev]

Next up was to sandblast the cab and see how bad it really was. So myself and a friend decided to buy a small pot blaster between us as he has some things he wants done as well and for future use. I decided to use kiln dried sharp sand as it’s readily available in small bags and relatively cheap, I ended up blasting inside my friends workshop so I was able to reuse the sand a few times, messy job but between my share of the blaster, and the sand I used, it only cost me about £120 ($160 ish) to do the full cab so I’m quite happy with that. As there’s a hell of a lot of welding still needing done and it won’t be done quickly, I put a few coats of epoxy primer on it to stop any rust. Scotland can be pretty wet and damp so that wouldn’t have taken long.

[Scottish58chev]

Thank goodness for repair panels