59 Apache - Lifelong obsession

[57tailgater]

Originally Posted by 59chev

- I've always wanted a Moon Gas pedal. I adapted a new heel pivot pedal to work with a reproduction of the factory v8 linkage

I have a moon pedal like that and would like to use the stock V8 linkage as well. Can I get some pics and details to see how you did it?

[dsraven]

Hey, nice progress.
Sometimes a change like that can get you all fired up again.

[59chev]

Originally Posted by dsraven

Hey, nice progress.
Sometimes a change like that can get you all fired up again.

You bet! Nice to finally be putting stuff back together instead of tearing it apart.

[57FleetsideC4]

Looking really good. It's nice to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. You are on the fun side of the project. Steve

[59chev]

Originally Posted by 57FleetsideC4

Looking really good. It's nice to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. You are on the fun side of the project. Steve

Thanks!

[LT7A]

Great project! To me, it's always cool when a certain vehicle just resonates with somebody. Even if their parents don't initially agree, haha. Great work on grabbing the truck that inspired your imagination and making it into a cool driver. And now you get to do round two with innumerable refinements. I confess that I am a fan of stock type stuff but I would imagine that the original running gear made it drive more or less like a troop transport. It will be cool to hear how the truck drives after all of these changes. Thanks for taking the time to post.

[59chev]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Great project! To me, it's always cool when a certain vehicle just resonates with somebody. Even if their parents don't initially agree, haha. Great work on grabbing the truck that inspired your imagination and making it into a cool driver. And now you get to do round two with innumerable refinements. I confess that I am a fan of stock type stuff but I would imagine that the original running gear made it drive more or less like a troop transport. It will be cool to hear how the truck drives after all of these changes. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Thanks LT7A! It will be really interesting to see how the personality of the truck has changed. I drove it quite a bit the first time I got it on the road. Longest drive was a 450 mile round trip for the 100th anniversary of the town I grew up in. They had a parade with a vehicle representing each year as possible and I represented 1959. Top speed was 50 or so MPH and the 6 cylinder was singing at 3000 RPM with the stock 3 speed and stock rear end.

[59chev]

I got an amazing surprise for my birthday! My brother gifted me a known good running 305 to kick-start my project. He got the engine, cleaned it up and painted it over the past months. He lives almost 5 hours away so it was quite the surprise when he called me out of the blue and dropped it off. It is complete carb to pan, including starter, distributor and alternator. I was absolutely blown away!

I still hope to rebuild my 327 some day but now I can get on the road sooner rather than later.

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by 59chev

I got an amazing surprise for my birthday! My brother gifted me a known good running 305 to kick-start my project. He got the engine, cleaned it up and painted it over the past months. He lives almost 5 hours away so it was quite the surprise when he called me out of the blue and dropped it off. It is complete carb to pan, including starter, distributor and alternator. I was absolutely blown away!

I still hope to rebuild my 327 some day but now I can get on the road sooner rather than later.

Thats bad ass, you have a good brother. Time to bust out the degreaser and pressure washer...You'll be cruising in no time!

[dsraven]

That's awesome. Get it in there.

[59chev]

Originally Posted by dsraven

That's awesome. Get it in there.

That’s the plan. I’m just going to clean up the transmission and paint it first. The Engine looks so good I can’t in good conscience bolt it to a grimy transmission.

[59chev]

Got my transmission de-greased and painted this weekend. I modified my extra engine stand by making a support out of some scrap steel that bolts to the tailshaft mount.

[59chev]

I finally got the 305 dropped in. I think I will have to switch over to a short water pump setup to clear my radiator. I have a clutch fan that I want to run that won't clear with the long water pump. Luckily I have a brand new short water pump that I bought for my 327. I painted the water pump, pulleys and brackets while I was waiting for my flexplate to arrive.

[dsraven]

Gotta feel good to see it between the rails, eh?

[59chev]

Originally Posted by dsraven

Gotta feel good to see it between the rails, eh?

Absolutely.. it’s been a long road getting to this point.. can’t wait to hear it make some noise. Just need to plumb the fuel line, hook up the shift linkage and hook up a couple of wires.

[59chev]

Happy New Year!!

I hung the fenders and hooked up the wiring for the headlights and park lights/signals. I also moved the radiator up 1" to give me more clearance from the lower radiator outlet to the sway bar.

Just need a lower radiator hose and some v belts and it will be ready to fire up for the first time.

[59chev]

Got the gauges installed. If you remember from earlier in the thread, I swapped out the temp gauge and oil pressure gauges and converted the amp gauge to a volt gauge by using the guts from 2" gauges in the stock cluster. This is the first time I got to see it all lit up. I'm stoked by how it turned out. The green backlight from the reproduction Sunpro tach gives off a cool eerie glow across the dash.

[Rickysnickers]

Nice job, looks good!

[59chev]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Nice job, looks good!

Thanks!

[Jason 56]

You’re almost driving again. Go get that thing running It’s gotta feel good to have it nearly done! Great progress. Instrument cluster look awesome

[59chev]

Originally Posted by Jason 56

You’re almost driving again. Go get that thing running It’s gotta feel good to have it nearly done! Great progress. Instrument cluster look awesome

Thanks! Looking forward to driving it again after all these years.

[dsraven]

I hear it has warmed up some in Calgary. have you had a chance to get your truck fired up? any pictoral progress?

[59chev]

Originally Posted by dsraven

I hear it has warmed up some in Calgary. have you had a chance to get your truck fired up? any pictoral progress?

Thanks for checking in on my build dsraven. I’m waiting on a couple of small parts that I ordered. I keep checking the tracking but it seems like shipping is moving at a snails pace..

[dagnabbitt]

Subbed, I have a 59 myself that I have waited too long to work on, I am getting great ideas from yours, great job!

[59chev]

Originally Posted by dagnabbitt

Subbed, I have a 59 myself that I have waited too long to work on, I am getting great ideas from yours, great job!

Thanks dagnabbitt!!