72 Cheyenne "Dark Angel"

[Wildstreak]

Well I guess its time to start a build thread on the ol girl. First off, shes a 1972 chev cheyenne lwb. My dad bought it for me for my first vehicle when I was fifteen(around 14 years ago). I remember seeing it for the first time sitting in front of a local shop and fell in love, at the time my dad was driving a 68 50th anniversary, so the love of the 67-72 was already there but this truck just spoke to me. I said to him, I love that truck, and he responded "if I kept up my chores and was good that maybe it might be a early bday present". I was really good. lol, so my dad being the super nice guy he is, bought it for me a couple months later. I drove it for a good 7 years then the motor went south and so did I. I parked the truck and moved to vancouver with my bike and bought and import. Ya I know, I know. After my father took ill I decided to move back home so I could be close to him. Sold the car and came home. After being home for awhile and finding this site my love fire got re-kindled. This spring I pulled her out of storage and cleaned her up and began the resurrection of my girl.

Now this will be a life time build, and will probably never stop. I have many plans for her and a ton of time and willingness to learn. I love this hobby! When I pulled her out this spring she was heartless, aka motor less, and I needed a quick fix. I also have a 70 camaro thats need alot of love but has a *****en 454. You guessed it, the 454 got pulled and shoved into the Cheyenne. The motor sat for about ten years so I put fog into the cylinders and manually turned the motor, changed the oil, and plugs, set another carb on top and was ready to rip. Next I had a painless wire harness sitting waiting for the 4x4 but I didnt like the ratty old wires the cheyenne had so out with the old and in with the new. After that I crossed my fingers and hit the fire. Well lets just say chevy kicks major a$$. Sat for ten+ years and was turn key start. The headers that were on the bbc from the camaro fit and since I had the same camaro headers on sbc the old exhaust fit. Only fault on these headers is that they are a crappy design, each tube is independent and not welded to the flange. But they will do till spring. Well I was going to let her sit for another winter but I have at least another month till the 4x4 is ready so Im going to drive it now till the 4x4 is done. And figured it time to quit being lazy and make a thread for the ol girl.

Now for some pics, you all long for them I know.

Heres a few right after coming out of storage...Shes a dirty girl lol




And heres shes a lil cleaner, and the engine in, and in need of a real good polish




This is attempt to show the color of the paint and why I like this paint so much. Black at night, blue some times, bronze at others, but in nice direct sun looks deep purple. The cheyennes original paint was bronze or copper? I think they painted right on that with not much prep, and that maybe gave a candy affect?



After that I took off the old rusty rimes and threw on a pair of winters and a nice set of rally rims.



This is few shots of the motor, I didnt spend much of an effort to clean the top side of the engine, I plan on pulling the tappid covers and polishing them or painting them and polish the fins. An does anyone know what kind of breather that is on the tappid cover. Looks different to me and was attached to nothing on the camaro



Thats all the shots of her now, there will be more. Future plans are to make it a swb with porterbuilt dropmembers. The motor will also be stroked and rollerized and maybe a tremec tko or t56. A set of 22'' foose wheels, maybe something different, who knows. The future is wide open for this girl. So get ready for a heck of a ride.