Super Cheyenne aka the "Devil Cowboy"

[Chevyland]

Did the Devil in the Cowboy come out ?
He must be kickin stomping an snortin
Maybe tied up? For bad behavior ??

[landarts]

Been little by little blocking down the high-build primer. Kind of boring and very time-consuming. Then when I think I have it just about ready for sealer, and color, something else shows up that needs attention. Then back to applying a little more high-build primer and block it again in that area. Also moved the motor to an engine stand so I can get it cleaned up for a fresh coat of paint and a few more goodies, much easier to do now with the front clip off and out of the frame.

I worked also on getting the bed that came with the truck onto a cart and loaded on the trailer to go over to the storage lot. That bed was set on top of another frame so I could free up the body cart for the bed that would go onto this truck. A bunch of busy work that needs to get done to get this moving forward.

So right now the goal is to have everything cab forward painted by 4th of July weekend and assembly the following week.


Pic 1 - Drinker side windshield repairs finished and primed
Pic 2 - Captain side windshield repairs finished and primed
Pic 3 - Firewall blocked out and scuffed up ready for sealer and color
Pic 4 - Floor sprayed with rusty metal primer
Pic 5 - Rust repairs wrapped up on the Drinker side, drilled holes filled and all primed of repairs.

[landarts]

Well after an 8-week break from the truck progress I was able to get back on the saddle and get the firewall sprayed out this morning. It has been a long road getting here with all the rust repairs and body damage that need attention on the cab. I am at a point now where I can move to each stage on the cab and get it painted along with the front fenders and the door.

I spent a few weeks healing my lower back and taking a break. Took another three weeks to learn how to do upholstery work with my brother who visited me here in Idaho. That was a great learning experience doing all the upholstery work on my 71 Jimmy and a bench seat for the Idaho Edition truck. Spent approximately six hours a day in the shop working on upholstery the entire time he was here. I will dive into this later after I get all my pictures sorted out from all the work done.

Pict 1-Hooked up the cab onto the gantry and lifted it enough to get 8" of cribbing under the cab to make it easier to paint the bottom area of the firewall
Pict 2-Went over the cab again with soap and water and a greyScotchbrite, then rinsed and did a couple of times over with wax and grease remover
Pict 3-Taped off and almost ready for color
Pict 4-First coat of Medium Blue on the firewall
Pict 5-After a couple more coats

[landarts]

Here are a few pictures from the upholstery training I received from my older brother. These are the first covers we did from my 1971 Jimmy. It is a Jimmy with orange exterior and interior paint and a black removable top. The Jimmy came with a black vinyl interior. Both front seats, rear seats, and console were present. Missing were the rear panels in the Jimmy since this is a CST model.

So we decided to strip down the old seats of the original covers and make templates so all the materials and parts could be cut out. I learned a few tricks on how to mark items, how to notate the templates for assembly purposes as well as if a piece was to be flipped to make the other side of the seat. Spent the better part of a day or so cutting apart seat materials and making templates, then eventually cutting out all of the parts.

While my brother was instructing me on how the process of putting it all together to make a seat cover, I was also working on cutting out rear panels from 1/4 inch hardboard from the PDF blueprint I had.

Pict 1-The best pieces from the bucket seat to make templates from
Pict 2-The making of the templates on poster board and cutting out and making notes on all the materials with chalk
Pict 3-Bucket seat cover bottom
Pict 4-Bucket seat cover top
Pict 5-Rear seat cover top

[landarts]

Got the truck all unmasked this morning and all the paper and tape removed. Pushed the truck out into the driveway today to bake in the sun for a day and off gas. Cleaned up the garage area where I painted and pulled out the doors to get them ready to go for paint next.

The cab goes back in on Monday for round two of Medium Blue paint.

[landarts]

Here are a few other pictures of a few other projects I have been working on over the last few weeks. I have run out of space in my three-car garage and decided it was time to build another storage shed. Spent about a week or so of mornings while the weather was cool to get it all framed in and get a few items moved into the shed for storage.

After we finished the seat upholstery for the 71 Jimmy I wanted to do a bench seat for the Idaho Edition truck. I wanted to go with a houndstooth pattern so I went with a grey/light grey and black vinyl. Added foam skrim backing to the areas where the houndstooth is located to make it more comfortable and give it some definition. Next, I will be doing the metal door panels to match the seat cover.

Another project I was able to get done was building an air-hydraulic tube bender. I built this in a vertical position on a stand that rolls around and has room for die storage underneath, and on the left side I will mount a small working platform that has a receiver hitch flush with the platform so I can plug in a tube notcher, grinder, small anvil, and various other tools. Building it in the vertical position saves on the footprint in the shop and makes it easier to achieve the desired bend angle a little easier than in the typical horizontal fashion. I have already tested it out and bent up a Hickey-style rollbar for a 1970 Blazer I have in storage that does not have a top on right now.


Pict 1-Framing up the storage shed
Pict 2-Just about wrapped up, all done except the door
Pict 3-Sewing in the houndstooth pleats
Pict 4-Finished bottom cover for bench seat
Pict 5-Vertical Air-Hydraulic bender

[landarts]

Got the truck rolled back into the garage early this morning. Wanted to get a few areas on the cab into some surface primer. Went over the areas with wax and grease remover and found a few small areas that need a little attention. First I noticed that the rear window channel needed another once-over with a wire wheel on a battery-operated drill to clean up a few spots of whatever was stuck to the frame underneath the rubber when it was removed. I had earlier treated the frame area with Ospho for rust treatment, so after I went another round with the wire wheel I masked it off and sprayed some Rustoleum Rust Reformer for extra protection.

Moved onto the drinker side lower corner had two small areas that needed a little filler and glaze to make it right before primer. Once those areas were addressed I could wipe it down again and spray some black surface primer again. Going to let that cure up for a few hours before sanding. In the meantime, I will get the doors and fenders up on the stand and do a once-over to see if they are ready for another coat of surface primer.

Pict 1-Back of cab rear window frame masked off and sprayed with Rust Reformer
Pict 2-Back corner of cab getting a few touch-ups with filler and glaze
Pict 3-Getting outer door frame and rocker area ready for primer the
Pict 4-Door area sprayed
Pict 5-Back of cab sprayed

[landarts]

Working on getting the bottom half of the cab ready to go for primer and paint. One last area that I needed to get prepped for primer was the driver's side door jambs and rocker area. I did a once over with 220 and 400 wet sanding in the door jamb area. After working down to the rocker area on the outside of the cab under the door which was covered with red rusty metal primer, sanding with 120 grit on an electric DA I uncovered two small rust holes. This truck has the original rockers and other than that they were in good enough shape to save. One hole was half the size of a dime after I cut out enough to get back to good metal, the other hole was about the size you could put a pencil end in.

I cleaned that area up well so that it could be welded and cut out a small patch for the first one. The second hole I just planned on filling with spot welds until the hole closes. Since I had the welder out I moved over to cutting out the section of floor where the valve for the auxiliary tanks was mounted. This truck will get another valve in the same location but mounted to flat metal instead of where it was all mangled. Probably could have flattened it out a bit but the metal was pretty mangled and stretched.

Also finally removed the large piece of angle iron that held the two side-by-side steps. These were originally bolted to the back of the rockers. I will add a piece of heavy-duty plate to the backside where the previous holes were to give it something a little bit more ridge for mounting.

Pict 1-steps mounted to angle iron removed
Pict 2-drivers side rocker sanded down and exposed rust hole
Pict 3-section of metal to be replaced where aux. tank valve was
Pict 4-all patched up and metal cut for floor going in
Pict 5-first swipe of filler on outside rocker

[landarts]

Got the filler sanded down on the driver's side rocker and added some glaze for a few pin holes. Moved over to welding the patch for the Aux. tank valve that I will be installing. Changed out the welding whip and the wire from .35 to .23. Much easier to weld with actually the proper size for the sheet metal. Tacked it in a few places and then had to put on a few panel holders that helped keep it parallel from piece to piece. Spot welded around the part and then held my shop light underneath the truck where I was welding to see where the pin holes were. Knocked those out then loaded up an 80 grit flap disc on my grinder and got it knocked back down. Ground down a few areas to the right of the patch that had a little pitting so I could fill with a little filler to make it look good.

Next up this afternoon is to get the filler and glaze sanded down, go around the cab and seam seal where needed, then get it into primer so I can spray the bottom half of the cab with Medium Blue on Friday or Saturday morning.

Pict 1-getting patch welded in
Pict 2-gearing up to grind it smooth
Pict 3-wrapped up smoothing area
Pict 4-Filler added
Pict 5-hopefully soon to come

[Lokin4AReason]

lookin good

keep it up n keep those foto s coming . . .

[landarts]

Finished knocking down the glaze on the rocker and getting the floor patch looking good enough for primer this morning. Got everything wiped down again with wax and grease remover and applied the black seam sealer to the cab.

Once this is dry I can proceed with finishing off the surface primer in the driver's door and rocker area. Then do a once over with wet and dry paper and hopefully, it will be ready for some color. In the meantime, while things are curing I will be doing a once-over on doors and fenders so they can get the color in the next couple of days.

Pict 1-finished up filler work on the patch area
Pict 2-getting black seam sealer
Pict 3-more seam sealer

[landarts]

Just about ready for paint on the rest of the cab, but first I wanted to get the frame area where the cab sits cleaned up. Moved the cab out of the way by pushing the gantry back towards the rear of the frame and exposing the area where the cab sits. Hooked up my air needle scaler and started to do a once-over on the frame. After about forty-five minutes or so I had both sides knocked down pretty well. Then went over a few areas with a wire wheel on a drill to get into a few areas. Not looking so bad at this point.

Swept up all of the mess on the garage floor and prepared the next step by putting some painter's plastic down underneath the frame. Sprayed down the area of the frame with some Oil Eater solution, and let it sit for about five minutes. Then I used hot water in a bucket with Dawn soap to scrub the frame with a hand-held wire brush and a few other smaller brushes I have for this purpose. Then wash everything off with hot water from a pump-up spray container.

Got a coat of Rusty Metal Primer on the outside three surfaces, then I will spray the inside of the frame channel with 3M undercoat. Then Satin Black over everything in the morning.

This will make the frame look good and prevent any rust from developing. This truck is going to be a driver and this will make for a nice frame appearance underneath.

Pict 1-frame with several years of dirt and dried oil
Pict 2-using the air needle scaler
Pict 3-good pile of debris from needle scaling the frame
Pict 4-frame sprayed down Oil Eater to help get grease and oil broke down
Pict 5-first coat of Rusty Metal Primer - inside frame will get 3M undercoat

[landarts]

Got out in the shop early this morning before work and got the frame taped off and two coats of 3M undercoating on the inside of the frame. Once that was cured, went back after it with two coats of satin chassis black.

Cleaned up the garage a bit and rolled out the cart with the motor and 4-speed transmission on it. Getting the motor mounted on the engine cradle so I can do some cleaning and painting while the cab is curing.

Pict 1-frame taped off on top so I don't get any 3M product on top of the frame
Pict 2-3M undercoating
Pict 3-Couple coats of satin chassis black on the frame area where the cab goes
Pict 4-picked up an extra bench seat out of a 71 C10. In great shape and the foam is perfect. Great deal for $100 bucks

[landarts]

Yesterday, I went out to the garage to do a once-over with a gray Scotchbrite and water over the black primer. I found two spots below the window that were missed and would be in plan view once painted. Simple fix with a swipe of 2K glaze. In the pictures below you might see some black marker squiggly marks on the back of cab. Those are areas that need to be sanded better and primed again. Then I also needed to sand down and prime the passenger rocker that I put filler on yesterday.

After all was done I was able to sit the cab back over the area of the frame that had been painted. If all goes smoothly this afternoon we will have color in the morning.

Pict 1-area on passenger rocker that needed to be finished
Pict 2-two spots that I found while scuffing up primer with Scotchbrite
Pict 3-rocker finished and primed
Pict 4-back of cab finished and primed again
Pict 5-nice having frame cleaned and painted

[landarts]

I got back in the garage early this morning getting everything set up to spray the cab lower half with Medium Blue. I did a once-over with grease and wax remover then moved on to masking and getting plastic set-up under the cab between the frame so I do not get paint on the freshly painted frame area.

Got the paint mixed up and did one more wipe-down with a tack rag and let it rip. Three coats later and we have a lower section of the cab painted as well as the top of the dash to where the dashpad goes. Not perfect but it sure looks good.

I will give it at least a day or so to gas off and cure, then I can mask off the lower half and get the dark blue sprayed on top.

[Chevyland]

Looking great Jim
Not sure if it matters to you or Kenny
But, I believe the area between the dash pad and windshield was a darker blue
From the factory, Also more of flat/satin finish
It makes more closely matched to the dash pad, like most all of the trucks in that area
Although, Chevy did paint that area later, over the stock body color
Like you have already done
Next weekend, I'll be back east where my original truck in this color is
I can post a picture of that area for you guys

[landarts]

Thanks, Eric pictures would be great. When I sanded down all the black primer off the top of the dash area it was Light Blue from what I could tell. You will see in the picture below that when I was sanding you can see a little of the dark blue that goes on A-Pillar in the driver's side corner, however, the rest looks like Light Blue to me on top of the dash. This truck did not have much of the factory blue left in too many places.

I have never worked on truck with a two color combo. I read through the 1972 Super Cheyenne K20 build thread that DeadHeadNM and could see the tape lines for the Super Cheyenne version. In that build, it looked like they painted it satin black on top of the dash. So from what I saw on the top of Kenny's truck dash, it looked like it was Light Blue. Anyway, I can always repaint it or I can go over the dash with 3000 Trizact to get more of a flat finish if needed.

[Chevyland]

Just for reference

allchevy58 's truck
I saw him at a show last weekend

[Chevyland]

And mine

[DeadheadNM]

Somewhere there's a GM chart that lists the paint colors atop the dash. I suspect it's the darker blue on this truck as Eric's photos show and would be what the other blue interior cabs used. On my K20 the dash top was first sprayed cab color (red orange) then black was sprayed to match the dash color (photo of the OE paint HERE).

This survivor blue K5 looks to have the darker shade of blue, which would better match the dash pad color, but there isn't a straight forward clip of that location.

1972 K5 Blazer RARE 9k original miles OEM finish...

[best view]

Boy that medium blue is awesome new

[landarts]

Well back in the saddle with tackling the Devil Cowboy. I had some trips and work travel items to get out of the way. I have spent the last three days working on fenders and doors so I can get them into primer and paint. Kind of boring stuff but it needs to get done.

On the driver's door, I thought I was done with it months ago and that all it needed was a once-over with primer and block sanding. I started by wet sanding the larger door areas with a block sander with 400 W/D paper. Then hit it again with a DA sander and 400 grit W/D. Found a few places that I had to address with some light hammering and some filler. Then more primer and more sanding. While I was working on the door I got one of the fenders up and the stand and bounced back and forth between the two. When I had filler or glaze drying I would just shift to the other.

[landarts]

The fender I was working on had been stripped a few months back with one of those Eastwoods SCT drum sanders. It makes quick work of stripping the paint off the surface down to the bare metal and leaving the metal ready to be worked. The reason I did this was that the fenders were Orche in color and since we are doing a color change to Medium Blue, and doing a patina finish not wanting the Orche paint to show through.

This is the captain-side fender that most of the bodywork was completed a few months ago after stripping. I found a few more small areas that needed touch-ups with filler and glaze. Also found one small high spot that I was able to metalwork on the crown of the fender lip. All was going well with progress, then I flipped it over and decided that the Ochre paint on the underside needed to be stripped also, and the fender area that is covered by the fender well needed to be treated with rust reformer. This took the better part of about 3 hours to get the underside ready for primer.

After the fender is painted I will coat the underside of fender that is not seen inside the fender well with 3M 08881 undercoating.

[landarts]

Finalized the drinker side front fender. Did the same routine as the captain's side of the truck. Looking back when I stripped the outside-facing surface I wished I had just flipped it over and stripped the inside. This was another 2.5 hours using the drum sander, various sizes of wire brushes on an electric drill, 120 and 220-grit sandpaper by hand, and a DA sander to get it looking pretty good.

Got everything wiped down on the fender with soap and water, then followed up with wax and grease remover. I applied a coat of Rustoleum Rust Reformer on the area that is covered up with the inner fender, as I did on the captain's side.
Then moved right into spraying everything with black surfacing primer.

Again, rinse and repeat the process which is a little boring and time-consuming. It is also a time to sit back and reflect on what shape the part was in, and what shape it is now. This is where I see a little bit of the puzzle starting to come back together in a new life for this truck.

Next on the list is to wrap up the drinker's door. Stay tuned.

[best view]

Thats awesome