Schlick 58 Build

[Do Work 93YJ]

Names Michael and I'm new here but wanted to share my project with you guys. It is 58 Chevy Apache that I bought from a friend of my dad. He's been trying to get my dad to buy this truck for a long time but would never get right on the price. Well he finally came to my dad a couple weeks ago and said he really needed to get rid of the truck so he could free up some space in the shade. He wouldn't let it go for scrap metal price but bumped it up $100 and it was headed home with me. The old man was the second owner and has had the truck since 1969 he even still had the title to give me. At this point the truck had been sitting for 10 years and hadn't been cranked in over 2 years so we brought it home throw some fresh gas in it sanded the points and on the second spin the ol girl fired right up. The ol straight six purred like a kitten and even sit an idled for close to 20 mins without missing a beat.

[Do Work 93YJ]

The man was also a firemen back in his younger days so the truck had a siren and flashing redlights and to my amazement they all still worked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=ZhPlTASb9mE

[Do Work 93YJ]

The day after getting it home I went and picked up a battery for it and me and my dad gutted the front brakes since they were frozen and wouldn't let the wheels spin. After gutting the brakes we unloaded it from the trailer and after sitting for 10 years the old truck was again.

Driving the 58 Apache - YouTube

[Do Work 93YJ]

The first step after getting it moving was to give it a bath and start taking some of the things I didn't like off. Took off the big mirrors, pieces of metal on the front bumper, gutted the homemade CB box and wires from the inside, and ripped out all the old wood from the bed.

[Do Work 93YJ]

The more I looked at the truck and the more I thought about what I had planned for the truck the less I wanted to do it to a long bed. So an idea went off in my head lets make it a short bed. And it just so happened we had a short bed just hanging around in the trees. So after a little cutting we had the bed out of its 20 year old hiding spot.

[Do Work 93YJ]

So I got the bed off the truck and started prepping for the shortening of the frame.



And the sacrificial bed.

[Do Work 93YJ]

Then I hacked off some of the rear frame.


Then I got the front portion of the frame laid out and ready to cut. So after some research the 3200 series truck, which is what I have , has a wheelbase of 123.25 inches and a 3100 series short bed is 114 inches. I took out 9.25 inches from the section of the frame behind the cab. The areas colored in red are what got cut out and slid together and rewelded.

[Kim57]

Welcome.
Looks like a neat project.
Kim

[Mac the Yankee]

Very cool!

Hey, I have a spare '58-'59 hood if you want to preserve the "Schlick Hardware" on yours

[Do Work 93YJ]

Thanks. How much you want for the hood?
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[Do Work 93YJ]

Someone had replaced the seat in the truck with bucket seats from what look to have been a chevelle. I really wanted a bench seat back in it and I got lucky and found the correct seat for it and it was in great shape.

[Do Work 93YJ]

So now the fun begins. So after spending over 55 years as a long bed it only took me having it a few weeks to cut it up and make it a short bed.



After getting the frame Z cut and apart we mocked it up and measured and measured and measured and remeasured before I started burning some metal.




After getting it burned together I thought I had an easy solution by stealing my brothers 65 driveshaft but I learned something new today that chevy made two different 3 speeds and guess what we had one of each so his driveshaft wouldn't work. I wasn't gonna let that detour me though so out came 9 1/4"s from my driveshaft.



I then through the driveshaft back in and took it out to set the scrap short bed on to see if eveything worked out.

[Do Work 93YJ]

Once I got the frame finished up I cut two 1/4 fish plates out to place on the inside of the frame. Once I had the plates installed I went back and finished up welding on the outside of the frame. I left the welds thick on the inside but ground down the outside welds to look as factory as possible.

[Do Work 93YJ]

After getting the frame finished I rebuilt the entire brake system. Which included rebuilding the master cylinder, new wheel cylinders,new shoes,new brake lines, and new rubber lines from the frame to the wheels. While it was up on jack stands getting new brakes I decided to lower it by removing leaf springs. Took out 5 springs in the rear and three in the front. Not as low as I want it but it'll do for now.

[Do Work 93YJ]

Now since the truck was done it was time to start on the shortening of the bed. First got the front disassembled.



After that started laying out where to cut the bed and started cutting.

[Do Work 93YJ]

Once the front was cut off we started getting everything ready to go back together. Since I'm wanting the truck to look like it came a short bed I'm trying to put everything back like stock so that included putting the stack pocket holes back.




Factory piece next to the one we made

[Do Work 93YJ]

After the front was done we moved to the back. Got everything laid out for the stack pocket openings and where to cut.



Got the spot welds for the stack pockets drilled out and cut the rear portion off. Took out 9"s of the bed side from the stack pocket lip and 10 3/4"s from the bed rail. We cut it this way cause I didn't want to mess with with trying to rebend the end piece where the tailgate shuts. So I just left a small piece to but weld back too.

[Do Work 93YJ]

After getting the rear cut off we set the bed on the truck to see how it was gonna look.

[Do Work 93YJ]

The next day I got the rest of the spot welds out of the rear section and seperated. If you look close you can kinda see the small piece I left on the backside of the pocket to weld the inner bed side back to.



Rear pocket holes cutout


Test fit and ready to weld

[Do Work 93YJ]

Now this brings me up to date on the truck and if I skipped any info that anyone would like to know from the beginning to now just let me know.

Got everything tacked together on the rear and some new bed bolts installed and pulled the ol truck out for a little run around the block and some better pictures. I just need to do a little final welding around the rear and it'll be ready for some wood.

[Kim57]

Looks like it came out real nice.
Kim

[Russell Ashley]

Looking good. It must not have originally been a Georgia truck if it has a title. I'm over in Lawrenceville, we local guys need to meet up some time.

[Do Work 93YJ]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Looking good. It must not have originally been a Georgia truck if it has a title. I'm over in Lawrenceville, we local guys need to meet up some time.

You are correct the truck came from Texas. Yeah we should defiantly plan something. My wife is suppose to be getting a tag for it today so I hope to be driving it around this weekend.
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[Do Work 93YJ]

Finished up welding the seam for the inner bedside. I ground the welds down smooth and left them bare to rust over to blend.

[Do Work 93YJ]

After that I rebleed the brakes again and pulled another leaf spring out front and rear to bring the ol girl down some more. Then it was time for some official test drives. For a few trips I just made short passes up and down the road getting the feel of everything and to my surprise the truck felt great for its age. Steering,brakes, and running gear all worked nicely. So after them trips I decided to jump on the main road and get it up to speed and just like the short trips everything worked out great. I even played with the flashing lights and siren a couple times while running down the road and it was cool to see the smiles and waves from the people I passed.