1959 Chevrolet Apache pick up. Mistakes?

[Renee]

I have one last question for the forum, of which so many have graciously helped with my novel in which a turquoise 1959 Apache pickup is one of the stars.

I realized that I am using the nearly life-long rebuilding and restoring of the Apache as a metaphor for life. Building and restoring a life, which is what my male character, Henry needs. I know it takes times, dedication, knowledge, and skill, and probably help from others more knowledgeable than yourself, at least at the beginning. And money.

So - I need some examples of things that went wrong with the restoration. What have any of you added or done to your truck that was a mistake, and had to be removed? Or perhaps something you did with it that you regret? Or maybe, something someone else had done that you had to undo?

Do any of you have thoughts about what the rebuild meant to you? Things you realized as you did it? Satisfaction? Joy?

And mistakes or errors that you had to fix. I look forward to your thoughts. And thank you!

[dew468]

I put 2.5" dropped leafs on the front of mine and now it bottoms out very easy. going back to stock.

[Renee]

Ok. Can you educate me on what the 'drop leafs" are?

[58CameoAZ]

Originally Posted by Renee

Ok. Can you educate me on what the 'drop leafs" are?

Renee, what he is refering to is the leaf springs that the front axle mounts to
and it drops the front end lower, hope this helps?

I will say if this helps that i always thought that the previous owner of my 58
got a new drill for xmas because i had counted close to 200 holes drilled all over the cab that were not stock, he had gun rack mounts, cup holder mounts and who now's what? for what ever reason holes all over the inside of the cab that i had to weld back up!
I also a put a 1985 Corvette suspension in my truck using a Kit that i bought from Flat Out Engineering, well in putting the kit in i went off the directions
and i ended up placing the front axle to far forward by about an inch, so the wheels do not look centered in the wheel well so i cut it all back out and moved it back about an inch. embarrassed to say it was a $200 mistake!
Not sure if any of this helps you but if it does COOL!!!

Wishing you the Best!
Allen

[Renee]

Thank you, Allen!

[Softpatch]

no such thing as a Mistake...only setbacks
.
My "Setback" would be adding an HEI Distributor in a Taskforce truck
Looked good on paper.....In the real world ......not so much.!

[Renee]

Thank you!

[OrrieG]

In a truck that old with the original wiring harness there can be lots of issues. I have had my truck since 1976. When I got it only one brake/tail light worked so I had to find and replace some wire. Then I added a turn signal stalk which required splicing into the original harness. Lived in AZ so added ac after we had the truck for a couple of years, wired it directly off the battery with a fusible link. One time was out in the boonies and smoke started coming out from under the dash. Looked under and saw the wires from the ignition switch melting and starting to flame. Without thinking just grabbed them bare handed and pulled them loose. Burned the **** out of my hand. Stopped the fire but now could not start the truck, did not have solenoid trigger wire or power to coil. I stripped out a section of the passenger taillight wiring and put in temp wires to the solenoid and coil. Over time the gas tank sending unit wire and others failed and were fixed. This build I decided to complete rewire the truck, here is a picture of what the original mess looked like after almost 50 years. If you want drama you can add failing brake light switches, mounted on the firewall and pretty common problem and headlight switch glitches which can cause instaneous headlight failure (had that happen in a 60 Impala I had).

[Renee]

wow, that's quite a story. So you were stuck somewhere out in the desert? I think I could use this!

[1project2many]

Putting the wrong tires on a truck can really cause problems. Picking tires for appearance or lowest cost can get a person stuck in a big way. Tires intended for the street, like those "big, fat, wide" tires you see at shows, will cause your '59 Chevy pickup to get stuck on anything but the driest surface. They don't really belong anywhere near ranch country or dirt roads.

Drilling holes in the truck to add accessories can lead to regret. Welding accessories on your truck can lead to regret. Removing original parts and throwing them away while thinking "I'll never need this again" can lead to regret. Throwing out the original seat as a kid because you want something cool, new, and shiny is an example of how all three of these conditions can come together. Changing the engine for one that turns out to be not as good, maybe putting in something fast and loud when you're young then realizing you've traded away the truck's reliability as you age is another example of a potential regret. It can take years to chase down parts you threw away if you decide to return the truck to original.

Also, it's common for people to forget to complete tasks. Leaving bolts or nuts loose, forgetting to install screws, or failing to use all the parts with a parts kit are all potential ways to have a problem or regret. Folks often make these decisions because the extra work to do the job completely is not worth the effort, because they get busy or distracted, or because they fail to understand the consequences.


Some stories for entertainment:

Once, a friend decided to install a new inside rear view mirror in his car. Unlike today's cars, the mirror was to be attached to the top of the windshield frame. My friend grabbed some very long and sharp screws and a powered driver and with no measurements whatsoever he forced all three screws into the sheetmetal. Unfortunately the screws were so long they pierced the exterior of the sheet metal. As my friend sat inside admiring his new mirror, several of us were outside admiring the three shiny, new screws sticking up from the roof.

I once worked with a young man who forgot to re-install the oil drain plug during an oil change. He poured quart after quart of oil into the engine not realizing it was draining out onto the ground below. He checked the dipstick to see the oil level and had a few minutes to puzzle over where the oil went before the growing puddle finally spread out from under the engine so he could see it. That was a real mess to clean up.

Early cars didn't have the same type of electrical components as today's vehicles. In many cases a battery could be connected backward and the car would start and run fine. The only indicator might be the battery charge indicator showing a discharge when it should be charging. Motors, such as a heater motor, will work in reverse. A friend asked me to help figure out why his 1942 Plymouth was not charging the battery. It would always show a discharge but the battery would never go dead, which seemed strange to my friend. I suspected a reversed battery and was quickly able to confirm the problem when we turned on the heater and it blew air backward. My friend said the car had been that way for years, and that he'd installed two different batteries in the years he'd owned it. He must have been matching up the connections each time.

[dsraven]

A friend of mine built a nice shiny new battery hold down bracket and bolts for his jeep truck. it required some long hold down bolts so he thought he would just use some threaded rod he had around the shop. it all looked really nice until he closed the hood and found the threaded rod was too long and was now poking through the hood skin. not long after he had painted it, just to add insult to injury.
the same guy was working on his 61 chevy truck while his girlfriend looked on. she soon tired of that and was insistent that he give her a ride home. he was working on the turn signals and had the steering wheel off. he scrambled to put it all back together and, in a rush, he forgot to tighten the retaining nut for the steering wheel, like he just barely started the thread. of course, at the scariest corner with the biggest deepest ditch, he went to turn and must have pulled up on the wheel at the same time. the wheel disengaged the splines on the steering column shaft, the steering did not turn, even though he was turning like crazy, and they ended up in the ditch. nobody was hurt but it could have been much worse. we bugged him for awhile about some guys running out of gas with the girl friend but the steering wheel thing is waaay past that, he must be desperate.

[Renee]

OMG, guys, those are some funny stories, especially the steering wheel one - I might have to use that one!

[58CameoAZ]

Friend of mines Uncle Painted a old chevy truck he had Red with a paint Brush, Got to say for a paint Brushed paint job it didn't look to bad from far away Lol. He sold it at "NIGHT"
and the next day the Buyer demanded his money back!
Same Friend had a 59 and it was a two wheel drive truck, well my Buddy lifted this truck
and put big off road tires on it, Well he sold it to a younger kid then us, and he got a phone call the next day from the kid asking him Were the 4-Wheel Drive lever was and how he was suppose to lock in the Hubs for 4-wheel drive! Also that same truck when
my Buddy bought it had this Horrible smell inside the Cab when he got it, well he found
two McDonald's Cheese burgers in a Bag stuffed under the Seat! Lol....
Allen

[_Ogre]

when rebuilding stuff, always do the passenger side first
i always messed something up on the drivers side and then got it perfect on the pass side
rebuild the passengers door first, the drivers side will go quicker and be perfect

[Renee]

Great stories, guys!

[dsraven]

work jokes

a co-worker and I were always joking around. he placed mashed potatoes under my truck seat, after I installed his chainsaw chain backwards. ever been around really old mashed potatoes, under the seat, on a hot day? siiiiick!

we filled a rookies jeep with popcorn one night. he had some clean up to do...

shoe polish on the contact area of a hat is always good for a laugh.as long as it isn't your hat.

get a water fight going but wear the other guys clothes.

[1project2many]

Once, as a youngster, I picked a girl up to go to the movies in my old '55 truck. We were driving to get her friend when she directed me down a dirt road "shortcut," a muddy mess thanks to the spring thaw. The truck had a beautiful set of fat, wide street tires and it quickly got stuck. Being young and embarrassed, too proud to ask for help, I decided I was going to push the truck out of the mud.

It wasn't a bad plan but in order to make it work I needed her help. I would push, she would drive. Except that she had never driven a standard. So we spent about 20 minutes practicing using the clutch. We let it out slowly, listened to the engine slow down, gave it a little throttle, then pressed the clutch back in. We repeated the exercise until she said she was ready. Then I went to the back, put my shoulder into the tailgate, and yelled "Go ahead!"

I heard the engine rev up and suddenly the tires were spinning and shooting mud up from the road. Today I know it was no ordinary mud. It was angry mud. It was angry at being run over, angry at being disturbed, and angry enough that someone was going to pay. I know this because every bit of mud that came out from under that truck, no matter what direction it should have gone, ended up on me. I had mud in my hair, on my face, in my ears and my shirt, in my armpits, pants, and shoes! I was truly coated. Yelling "Shut it off! Shut it off!" I slipped, slid, and rolled down a bank to a nearby creek to wash off what I could in the freezing water. It was probably a good thing that cold water was nearby as I needed a little cool-down time.

After I'd gotten back up to the truck she asked if I wanted her to walk to her friend's house. Her friend's father could pull us out with his Toyota 4X4. "A Toyota? To pull out a Chevy?? I don't think so!" Instead we repeated the lessons for starting out with a clutch. While being extra careful not to get her wet or dirty as the mud and freezing water dripped from my clothes, we practiced letting the clutch out. We listened to the engine load up and we gave it a little gas. We did this over and over with extra instructions not to press the throttle too hard or rev the gas too much. When she said she was ready I again headed out to push.

Now I learn from my mistakes. Instead of heading to the back of the truck I walked to the front. It was much farther from the rear wheels and I felt much more protected. Pushing the truck backward looked tougher but I was more than happy to work harder to avoid another mud bath. I put my shoulder into the front fender, looked at the ground to focus on pushing, and yelled "Go ahead!"

"What??" she asked from inside the closed truck.
"Go ahead."
"What???" She opened the door to hear better.
"GO AHEAD!!!"

Suddenly the engine screamed, the tires spun fast enough to launch an orbital rocket, and that angry mud leaped violently up from the road. Of course every bit of it was headed straight for me but this time it found the inside of the open door blocking its path. I was pushing, pushing, pushing while trying to rock the truck to get it out of the mudhole. She was holding the gas down and spinning the tires. And the mud on the door was piling up. There was more mud, more mud, and oh, so much more. When I finally got tired and looked up I saw the open door, but something was wrong. She was still pressing the throttle and spinning the tires as I realized I couldn't see daylight through the closed window. It was covered in mud. MUD!!!?

"STOP! STOP! STOP! STOOOOPPPP!!!!!"

I stood there in silence for a long time. Cold water was still dripping out of my hair. Left over mud was falling from my clothes. Trails were forming on the inside of the door window as the mud slid down and dripped inside the door. Clumps of mud and weeds were falling from the bottom of the door. "Plop... Flup... Plop." Mud was inside the front windshield, too, and I figured there was plenty inside the cab and on the seat. I stood, breathed, and listened. I heard the ticking of the truck's exhaust as it started to cool. The creek at the bottom of the bank bubbled and burbled with joy and fresh snowmelt. A pileated woodpecker cried out with its lonely laugh. I listened. I breathed. In... out. In... out.

"Want me to get my friend's dad?"
"Yeah. You should probably do that."

When the truck arrived I was more than happy to take "my" end of the tow chain out into the mud then crawl under the truck to hook it up. At that point I figured a little more couldn't hurt one bit.

I've learned many things since that story took place.

I am still proud of my GM vehicles. I own 5 including my '57 Chevy truck which reminds me of the '55 I had years ago.

I also own a Toyota 4X4.

[Renee]

Wow, that's quite a story! I actually have something similar in the scene where the apache get pulled backwards into a ditch. Did you marry that girl?

[1project2many]

I actually have something similar in the scene where the apache get pulled backwards into a ditch.

Interesting.

Did you marry that girl?

No, we didn't work out.


Hmmm... I also taught my wife to drive standard. It took a little bit but once she caught on she did a great job. And I've never thought about it until now, but the girl from the story told me years later she never did learn to drive stick. So maybe the universe was trying to say something

[OrrieG]

When I was 18 I had a 48 chevy with vacuum wipers. I lived in Eugene Oregon and one of the cool date things to do was drive over to Florence on the Coast, about an hour and half drive on a windy road over the coast range. Then you could drive the truck down on the beach, fly kites, build beach fires, etc. On the way back it started raining like crazy and the vacuum wipers quit working. I had a metal coat hanger in the emergency box. I rigged it up so the girlfriend could reach out the passenger window and manually run the driver wiper. She was a keeper, did not complain much and we kept seeing each other for a while. At that time in my life my cars and trucks were always loud, a rolling work in progress and usually a little short on creature comforts. About half the girls I tried to date did not like them, the other half got it and usually jumped in to help work on them.

Oh and the wiring problem was when I was in Idaho, it happen in the Central Idaho mountains (look up Josephus Lake Idaho) about 20 miles from the nearest paved road. Had to drive it out, getting another truck and trailer in there would have been difficult.

[yossarian19]

For me, the single biggest mistake was one that touched all parts of the build:
I didn't take my time.
For various reasons, I rushed through almost the whole build and thought "I can do this better later" only to give myself a slew of nagging issues on the truck, all of which are a lot harder to fix now than they would have been to avoid in the first place.
Slow down.
Have a plan.
Don't get ruffled by setbacks, don't rush to compensate, don't be tempted to take shortcuts.
If you aren't happy with the solution, back off and reconsider.

It's definitely a metaphor for my life, too - I just began to realize at about 30 that I needed to change how I was approaching things if I wanted to change the results. Slow down and stay the course was the big lesson.

[dsraven]

do it right the first time, it takes less time

[Wrenchbender Ret]

I think 2 mistakes people make in fixing up these trucks are #1 lowering or raising the truck. GM did a lot of research to get these things to ride & handle good. Unless you are an expert & have the money to do it right, leave it stock. #2 if you change to a performance cam, go with a real mild one. Putting too radical of cam in makes a poor performing truck which is no fun to drive. Unless you are going to do a lot of racing & do other modifications to go with it leave the cam stock or near stock.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by Wrenchbender Ret

I think 2 mistakes people make in fixing up these trucks are #1 lowering or raising the truck. GM did a lot of research to get these things to ride & handle good.

your version of ''ride and handle good'' is vastly different than mine
not knowing what lane you'll be in when hitting a pothole in a curve isn't ''handle good''
that said; do what you want with your truck
ogre appreciates stock to full custom