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55 to 59 chevy truck owners

935K views 3K replies 212 participants last post by  DOUBLEDICK 
#1 · (Edited)
My name is Richard Johnson and I am building my second Apache truck.I drive this truck every day and am doing everything I can to make it a pleasure to drive and still be a good work truck.I like modern drive trains and stock body and interiors.I am looking for other guys that have and drive these trucks to talk to and share Ideas and designs for custom made parts with.I have sent private messages to a few people on this board and only one person responded.At his request I sent him pictures of my custom sway bar mounts so he could make some for his truck.Without sway-bars these trucks are no fun to drive.I am curious to see what others have done and share ideas.
 

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#2,377 · (Edited)
ok,
so side motor mounts. Any particular brand, vendor or style? My 283 has the bosses and holes for the side motor mounts. Don't want/need anything fancy. :D

Speedway has some. Item 7204771

can't see your pic here at work but when i get home, i'll take a look. PO installed an MSD distributor with a (remote mount) blaster SS coil. Seems to work fine and I'm sure it will be fine for the future crate 350 as well, I was just thinking about the HEI that comes with it. Guess I'll sell that... :mwink:

You are right about learning to weld, I'll look into the local college & see if they offer a class. I'm sure it will pay for itself long term!

Thanks for all the help.
 
#2,380 ·
well,
i came home today after work and got some pretty serious news. Seeing as I've got a birthday comming, the wife ordered me a zz4 crate motor..... :thumbup:

So there are some serious issues I need to work out to get ready for the arrival.

Obviously, I need motor mounts.

i need headers and a new exhaust system.

I need a new wiring harness. Looks like the PO installed the current harness at night with a butter knife.... :pain:

Any advice on my new list of mods?
 
#2,384 ·
Sealed cowl

Hey Ogre, Did it make any difference by sealing up the cowl in the way of air noise inside the cab. I just about did mine years ago. I ordered a solid piece from No Limit, but sent it back. I cut the holes for the wipers out then laid it in place but the ends were too short. It was definitely not a good fit. They were good enough to refund my money though. Did you make your own?
 
#2,385 ·
just wondering as well, if you seal up the cowl, where does the heater/ac unit get it's fresh air from, inside the cab? that may not be the best for guys from cold climtes where windshields fog up and you want to get rid of high humidity air from inside the cab. have you had problems with fogging on rainy days where you had to use the heat as well?
dsraven
 
#2,386 ·
shaved cowl vent

oregonite & dsraven
unless you have the deluxe heater, there is no fresh air to the heater. my vintage air unit has no connection to it either.
once you seal up the cowl vent and cut out the vent doors, you can put some awesome kick speakers in there too.





number 1 reason for shaving the cowl vent:
water in the cowl vent is why our truck need hinge pocket repair, front cab corner repair and why our floors are rusted out. water, leaves and pine needles get in there and create a mess. this slime rusts out all three panels in the cowl.

i made my own panel out of the cowl vent. i carefully hammered the semi-louvers flat; not enough to change the shape of the vent panel its self. my cab was sand blasted, so i sprayed some bed liner in there for rust prevention. then smuck a layer of fiber hair filler on both sides, then i welded it in the cowl and finished it with regular filler. run a bead of seam sealer on the flange that goes under the windshield rubber before welding it in.


number 2 reason for shaving the cowl vent:
it looks freaking awesome... :thumbup:
it's one of those mods that you have to know what your looking at to see it.
 
#2,388 ·
I have a gmc and it must have the custom heater because the heater gets fresh air from the vents. the cab is still all rusted out though, lol. that looks pretty cool with the filled in vents and the shaved firewall seam. I am thinking of replacing my entire firewall with 16 ga because i will have to change the bump for the engine anyway. I'll probably carry it down onto the floor because it looks like a fred flintsone mobile right now, all holes.
one day i will figure out how to post pics in a build thread, I'm a little computer illiterate.
dsraven
 
#2,392 ·
oregonite,
I have a pretty rough firewall and floor, so I will have a lot of holes to weld up as well as rebuild the area around the hinges that is badly cracked. I just thought it would be easier to start over. I aminstalling a 5.3 ls engine when it comes time, so there won't be a distributor to worry about. there are fuel injection rail interfernece issues though.
dsraven
 
#2,393 ·
can't be any worse than this...

before


after


notice in the lower left corner of the before picture, cab corner rusted out from cowl vent.

also in the before picture: you can see the heat marks on the firewall seam
where i welded it from the inside under the dash.
then i cut 6'' pieces out and welded it all together, 3 pieces: cowl, inner cowl and firewall

if you have rust through above the seam, that is from water & rust in the cowl vent.
chances are your rusty floor is from the cowl vent too... :spank:
 
#2,394 ·
I think I will do the removeable vent cover thing like mkabwe, and the shaved seam like ogre. i will wait and see what I need to replace on the firewall once I get there. I am working one armed at the moment because of shoulder surgery, so nothing is getting done till the end of summer probably. I have to finish the frame first anyway. I need to fab up some motor mounts, crossmembers for the trans and cab mount area, then a four link rear suspension set up etc etc. lots to worry about before the bodywork starts. I have to finish mock up of whwre the engine sits first off, so i can fab the motor mounts and the trans crossmember and so on and so on.....
dsraven
 
#2,395 ·
Engine position

dsraven, Whatever you do, try to get the engine back as far as possible. these trucks are already nose heavy. You want as much lift in the front-end as you can get under acceleration. If you are running an automatic you can put the shifter anywhere. I have a Muncie 4-speed in mine.
 
#2,396 ·
Riverside Show and Go

This weekend there was a Car Cruise in Riverside. They closed a few streets in the downtown area and allowed the first 1000 vehicles to register. It ran Friday through this Sunday. We probably won't be going back tomorrow though. Went for 4 hours Friday night and about 10 hours today. Got a nice sunburn and saw a lot of cars. It was a lot of fun and the truck ran perfectly, idling around the cruise route.
 

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#2,400 ·
Trans cooler help

I'm installing a B&M trans cooler with a fan on my 57. Need some mounting location ideas. The normal areas in front of and behind the radiator are taken up with a pusher fan/shroud and overflow bottle.

Looking for ideas on where else to mount. Under bed? Under floor? How?

thanks in advance...
 
#2,401 ·
My first

Hello I just found this site. I just purchased a '59 Apache. Probably shouldn't have since I have zero experience but my uncle had one when I was a kid and I loved him and the truck so it is kinda sentimental. The truck is pretty rough, I got if from a guy down on his luck and he had started the resto. I need some guidance on where to start. I want to make a daily driver out of it and have a nice look. I'm not opposed to frame off and have the shop space. Is there a "betty crocker cake mix" approach to the sequence? A place to search out options. thanks for any of your help and feel free to email me off list to avoid taking up peoples time here if you like. thanks the banjodr
 
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