Hunter's 1961 Chevy Apache
http://blog.cardomain.com/2010/04/17/barney/
Rob wrote about MY truck! thanks man, made my day.
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February 6th
Finally got a decent job and I'm making progress! LMC Truck sent me a box full of things that was about as big as the truck itself.. I got both fenders, upholstery, parking light lenses, HID headlights, tail light bezels, LED tail light conversion kits, chrome tail gate chains and pivots, all the weatherstripping, and various other tiddly body panels! I'm holding off on the panels until im in a position to take the truck apart and paint it. I've already installed a lot of it though. But, murphy's law in action, my gas tank developed a leak, all my fuses blew, and my fan sounds like a small air compressor. Those will need to be fixed.. Also- the weatherstripping was so shot that the new stripping has modified the amount of clearance the doors had and now refuse to shut properly... GAH! The hood (to fix the crash damage) will be bought in april when my man comes back from his vacation.. Pictures? Yup!
The truck at the wash (my fairly ghetto place of employment)
Dat ass!
I've cut my hair since then.. haha
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Semptember 9th
Got in my first accident. I mostly bounced off his brush guard, but also broke his blinker housing, dented the fender a little and pushed the brush gaurd/bumper in an inch. Mine is self explanatory. All mechanically functioning, but ugly. Oh- and everyone is fine... *sigh*
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July 26th
I know the network doesnt endorse this sort of thing, but if it makes you feel any better, didnt see a car the whole time and we were going 45 by the end of it!
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July 26th
Got the new wood for the bed a few weeks ago, put it in too! luckily my dad took the liberty of taking pictures... knocking the rotted wood out with a sledge and what that looked like done.
I then had to grind every single bolt off the rails, both because they were rusted to hell AND the nuts were square. some of the previous fixes on the truck are... less than par. the exhaust wayyyy overshoots the axle, i realize thats to compensate for suspension movement, but i dont think it has ever moved that much. the thing is stout. anddd to get that radical exhaust curve, they decided to cut out 2 support beams in the middle of the bed.. i had my friend weld an angle iron in here to help as much as possible. i think it'll be fine. All the boards where slightly bent due to heat and humidity, but we got them in there!
Cherry stained with lint seed oil, 4 coats of wood gloss, and polished stainless steel strips and bolts... Im completely satisfied! took the truck to its first show a couple days after. Thank you skipper for the wood, thank you john for the miracles you worked with it!
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Update Oct 10th:
Dust pan came in the mail, so now i dont have to worry about rocks flying up into my clutch! yayy! Also in the mail, a master cylinder rebuild kit, mine is leaking a lot... about half the reservoir a day is gone. Ill be doing that fairly soon. That's all, comment and rate please!
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Update Oct 9th:
It's been a long time since I've put anything up, here's most of the things ive done! I got my license a few months ago, thats been very nice. The very first day of school, my clutch blew up in the parking lot on the way out... Ive got a new one in now, works like a dream! Didnt get any pictures of that, but everything a took out I sanded down, cleaned, and painted. The tranny, driveshaft, parking brake assembly, spare tire rig, spare tire (original nylon one! :D ) and rear differential cover all got the treatment. I got a new air filter (kept the original oil-filled one), it was very restricting to the engine. Pictures of that..
I was getting kind of bored of listening to the roar of my massive 235 (ha), so I put in a radio and stereo system! I did the mounting, fitting, custom boxes, and such while my father did the complete electrical overhaul. Im VERY impressed with how it turned out, the ole' man knows a thing or 2! Also, I decided it would all be concealed, so it didnt even look modified when we're done.. Still very impressed! The head unit is in the glove box, its good for radio, hd radio, cd, ipod, iphone, and windows (i guess you can run it on a computer). There's a small Polk Audio mounted in the upper air vent (heat and fan still come through downwards fine), then there are 2 Sony X-Plode 6x9's under the seat in custom boxes covered in felt. It sounds great, and has plenty of thump. As for aesthetics, not much has changed. If you like my progress, tell me in the comments! If you dont like it, tell me anyway! comment and rate!
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Hey! I'm Hunter. I'm 16 (as of April 21st) and this is my ride. Although im 16.. i just recently got my permit (our license system is pretty messed up here.. I should have a license in a month), I've been rebuilding this truck since I was 12 or 13 (with Dad's help of course). It was a birthday present from my grandparents, I kind of traded them for my '74 full size J10 jeep, but unofficially.. It came to me in purple and the chassis has 58,000 miles on it.
Left is what the old (original) engine looked like, 235 straight six. It cracked this winter, got a new one and it's in now. (right) The newer one seems to have more power, but i have no proof. It's the exact same set up, but the block is black on the new one, plus it's much cleaner and sparkles a lil'.
Here's the engine before I put it in. I didn't completely rebuild this one, the head and 'accessories' were simply taken off the cracked block and swapped over.
Here's the interior, pretty decent. Steering wheel is worn, but fine. The seat was a torn blue vinyl seat. AutoZone seat cover was hog ringed on, it fits snug and looks good. All gauges and turn signals and lights are functional. I have the blank plate for the radio slot, it's just not in for these pictures. A guy at work is trying to find his old 'eclipse' brand head unit for me, I'll mount it in the glovebox and get some speakers. The interior is all metal, it's been repainted.
The wheels and tires are new, 8 lug, 17", like these because they look older and cheap. The wheels are small but the tire is monstrous (by my standards). The wooden bed is rotted pretty bad, when I first got it home, I was taking parts from the bed into the garage and my foot fell through. The new wood is all i need for a true 'work truck' at this point.
The body is very straight, these pics show that the best, even if the second one is old.
All the chrome and trim is in great shape, good thing too because it's impossible to come by. The tailgate needs to be replaced at some point. I dont know what happened, but it's dented.. and filled with sand. hahahaha
Original 50 year old key, I think it's pretty cool for some reason. And the re-welded /painted rear bumper!
What does everyone think of getting it painted like the drawn picture when i get the cash? I like the color, but the second picture is a bit more.... realistic?
If you like it, comment/rate/nominate thanks, cya 'round!
1st ranked Apache
15th ranked Chevy
82nd ranked vehicle
Thank you kindly! (as of Feb 26th)
