Super Cheyenne aka the "Devil Cowboy"

[402Bowtie]

Looking great! Nice work!

[_mg]

I enjoy reading and learning from your awesome write ups and seeing the great work you do! Thanks for taking the time.

[Chevyland]

Great job Jim,
So cool to see this truck come together

[Chevyland]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

You bought Eric's brother?!?!

Older..
Brother from a different Mother
He's
Since been adopted

[70STOVEBOLT]

Originally Posted by Chevyland

Older..
Brother from a different Mother
He's
Since been adopted

That’s a nice truck!

[landarts]

Been working on a few items under the truck that needed to be wrapped up before installing the exhaust system. When I was cleaning and painting the frame, I skipped doing the bottom of the frame until later. So under the truck for some scrubbing, cleaning, steaming, and more chassis satin black paint to wrap it up. I was able to finish up about 80 percent of that over two days, leaving the front axle area forward and the rear axle back. After all that it does look so much better, but not perfect by any means. I think going forward I will just pay some one to sandblast the frame, not a fun task to do and very time consuming the way I did it.

Also worked on getting the cowl stripped back to bare metal and into primer after metal working a few dings out and reshaping the area around the antenna exit hole. Needed to go over the high build primer once more and get it scuffed up for paint.

The last item that has been a little disappointing is the touch-ups I did on both fenders, where the emblem holes had to be changed. After looking at it a few days later, the tone of the touch-up looked off, so I went into the house and grabbed my wife to get her opinion, and she agreed with what I was seeing. When I sprayed it I was toward the end of the gallon of paint that I had mixed up. I went back, opened the can, and from what I could tell, there were some solids that had settled in the bottom of the can and could have been the difference in the tone. So I took the can down to my paint store, and they agreed that was the issue. While I was there, I had another gallon mixed up, and on the drive home I decided to just go over the fenders with 1000 grit and knock out any orange peel or imperfections and re-spray them.

The Devil Cowboy has been fighting me back lately but I feel like things are about to turn in my favor.

[landarts]

Finally got the rear axle and springs clean enough to finish up the chassis paint. Did a coat of rusty metal primer, then satin chassis black. Also got the exhaust kit mocked up in place where it is going. Going to cut the rear exit pipes that go over the axle and exit them straight out the back. Still working on the hangers they sent with kit.

[landarts]

Circled back around and got both of the front fenders painted again. Tomorrow I will be peeling off the masking and plastic so I can wrap up the exhaust install, gas tank into the cab, and a few other quick jobs.

[landarts]

I worked on getting the exhaust pieced together after a few more parts arrived from Summit Racing. I wanted to get the carpet installed so I could start putting the interior back together. Since I installed the Kilmat for insulation and sound deadening, I wanted to paint the area that goes up the firewall so you don't see any of the Kilmat silver foil when you look down toward the floorboard. Got everything scrubbed down with a red Scotch Brite, wiped with grease and wax remover, taped and masked, then sprayed with matte black. Also did the same with door area that P.O. did badly with black spray bomb. Prepped it the same way, and sprayed with fresh paint.

Moved to other items while that was drying. Got the carpet laid in, and the transfer case shift hole cut. Then installed kick panel carpet with 3M double side tape, removed the kick panel vent door and hardware. Threw everything in the tub of Evaporust to clean them up of surface rust. When they come out of the tub tomorrow I will give them a couple coats of matte black to match everything down in the underdash area.

Then, saving the best for last, I grabbed the restored emblems and pushed them into the newly installed barrel nuts. Time to cross a few more items off the list, and call it a day.

[Chevyland]

Lookin good..
Black carpet and dash pad ?
What color interior is going in ??
Maybe a weird angle on the picture
But the shifter lever looks bent???

[landarts]

Originally Posted by Chevyland

Lookin good..
Black carpet and dash pad ?
What color interior is going in ??
Maybe a weird angle on the picture
But the shifter lever looks bent???

Black carpet and dash pad ?
Yes

What color interior is going in ??
Parchment door panels and headliner, seat with white and blue highlander plaid inserts on white vinyl

Maybe weird angle but
But the shifter lever looks bent???
Transfer case shifter is just stuck in hole, still need to install shoulder bolt

[Chevyland]

Nice, that'll look good

[Chevyland]

.....................

[Chevyland]

Something about 'good behavior'
DC Sr. got out today
And
Stopped by my shop


Nice visiting, Kenny

[best view]

Boy I do like that paint scheme , really good choice Eric

[Greg58]

Originally Posted by Chevyland

.....................

Vaquero Diablo!

[Chevyland]

Eyes are burning for some fresh pics

[landarts]

Originally Posted by Chevyland

Eyes are burning for some fresh pics

Here are just a few for the tease.

Pic 1 - sandblasted and primed hood hinges

Pic 2 - door panels in place temporarily until I get the insert done

Pic 3 - woodgrain project, scanned the original painted woodgrain from glovebox. Then imported into Illustrator software and created a 51-inch by 18-inch continuous woodgrain from the scan. Then built the files in CAD to overlay the woodgrain so they can now be printed on the vinyl and cut to fit. You get 4 ashtry, a right and left door insert, the glovebox and the gauge bezel. Fingers crossed it all works out. I am half way through the test prints and almost everything fits really good.

Pic 4 - Finally, the 3rd bed I got for this truck. The original bed that came with the truck was a mess everywhere. The first one was stolen, which was mint. The second one was partially good, but once I got the floor cleaned up, it was a no-go. This one will be the final one for the Devil.

Pic 5 - The money shot. I tore down the seat, treated the frame, sprayed it, fixed two springs on captain side and the did a few repairs to the foam. Then added new backing and put the Highlander seat cover on. Had to put it in the truck just to see how it looks. Been waiting on the final piece, a 10 ohms 4x10 speaker to go with the very nice AM/FM radio BestView sent over for the interior so I can finish putting it together.

[Chevyland]

Nice work
The parchment interior really pops against the blue
Good luck on that wood grain, way above my pay grade

[Greg58]

The seat looks great in there!

Greg

[Richard]

The white/parchment Highlander seat looks great! Best View will be happy. I struggled with the vinyl color choice on my original parchment interior. Still struggling with belt color. Parchment belts as original get dirty easily.

[landarts]

Lets play some catch-up to get us back on track with the build thread. Summer always brings a wide range of activities here in Idaho. It is the time we like to get out and enjoy the beautiful state we live in, get things done outdoors and enjoy the long days since it does not get dark until around 10:30 pm. Mix all that together with trying to build a truck and you have a full plate handle.

I have been on the hunt for a replacement bed since the one that came with the truck was toast. The one bed I had saved for this project was stolen from my storage lot, so I have been on the hunt. I reached out to a guy I know that usually has a few parts and trucks for sale from time to time. He said that he did not have any beds for sale but he might have some of the trim I was looking for to complete the set needed for the truck. I headed over to his farm and took a look at the trim and it was not repairable. I noticed he had a CST truck in the field that looked like it had a good bed and asked if he would sell it. He stated he really did not want to sell it but if he did he would need $700 for it without the tailgate. the bed was a perfect match for the Devil Cowboy, it had the NL2 cut-out and all the proper trim on it. A few dings but really no major dents. It did have an fifth wheel hitch in and a boat load of crap and garbage in the floor. I told him I would be interested in buying once I could see the shape of the floor. Two days later he sent me a picture of the floor and I really could not see anything from the picture so I told him I will make the 30 minute drive back out to the farm, he said he was going to be out of town for three day and would contact me when I get back. A few days went by and I never heard from him, so I reached out and his response was "I already sold it". I was not happy about how this possibility unfolded so I moved on and began the hunt again.

A couple of weeks after that a bed/trailer popped up on Marketplace for $250. I made a time to go view it, jumped out of the truck and and did a once around and asked the seller what he needed to get rid of it, he said $140 will buy it. Could not get the money out of my pocket fast of enough. Hooked it up to the hitch and towed it home. After getting it home and cleaned out the floor was in pretty bad shape and the drinker side had some repairs that were pretty made and would need some replacement panels to fix or just take that panel off and replace with a different one I had on the side yard. So I began to blow it apart and rebuild it. I came up with a different way to break off the bolts. I welded a piece of angle iron to the top of the bolts in a line and then went under and over tightened the bolts until they braek off. Quick and easy way to get the job done. Afterwards I just put each biolt in vice and break off, then reuse the angle for the next section.

Started working on fixing the bed and things just kept jumpimg out at me that were not easy to fix and sent me down the road of second guessing what I was doing. Twisted bed rails, bad floor that would be almost impossible to fix it had so many dents in both directions and the wheel wells were also toast along with the front panel was bent in trhee directions. So basically this was strike three for me and started looking for another bed and just keep sections of this bed for parts. One week late,r a bed went up for sale on Marketplace about two hours away from my house. This bed was $350 and in much better shape. Bed rails were straight, the front panel was good, had a few dings, dents, and issues to fix, but nothing I have never fixed before. Tailgate was good except the area where the Chevrolet letters were was evenly pushed in across that section. I made arrangements to purchase the next day and made the trip. After getting there, the guy also had a complete 68 front clip with cowl and hood in really nice shape. He wanted $900 for the clip and I said I cant pay that for a clip that I really don't need. He asked what will you pay for it. I said I could do $600 for both the bed ($350) and the front clip ($250), he said lets do it. Again, I could not get my money out fast enough. I guess you never know in case you ask.

Anyways here are a few pictures of the first bed that I got for $140, I will post the second bed pictures in the next post.

[landarts]

Here are a few pictures of me blowing the bed apart and a few of the next bed I bought with a front clip.

[landarts]

I started with a large dent toward the front of the bed. Got it all sanded down to bare metal so I could put a few studs into it with the stud gun. Then start pulling it out with the Steck lever. There were a few spots where it had some creases that needed a little heat to help move the metal in the right direction. After I got most of it pulled to an acceptable level, I started working the metal with a body hammer to fix a few high spots and a pick hammer to work along some of the creases. I ended up with one section that had some oil canning that I was having a hard time shrinking so I hit it with stud again in those areas and cooled the metal with a wet rag. After about a dozen studs, it was money and read for some filler.

After that, I decided I would rather be doing this in the air-conditioned garage, so I loaded the bed onto the frame of the truck with a couple of 4x4 beams between the frame and the bed. Pushed it into the garage and went to work on the rest of the bed.

[landarts]

Started with the filler work after working on anything possible with a stud gun or hammer work. The rear bottom corner, below the taillights, was dented and had a tear on the side, likely from where a bumper had pushed it in. Spent about an hour pounding with a hammer and a few homemade sticks to get in from the back side. Then spot welded the tear to seal it up. Left the spot welds high so I could grind them down to level and finish off with a file. Made it really strong and a perfect base for a little filler to flatten it all out.