72 Cheyenne Project: Straight Outta Options

[1972cheyenne454]

DISCLAIMER: The following contains obscene and vulgar language, scenes of violence, smoking, drug use, and lacks any political correctness. Read at your own risk.

Ive owned this 72 Cheyenne since 2010, when my Dad gave it to me. It'd been sitting on a dirt floor in a cattle shed for 13 years.

This is her back in 2011. Due to a rusty cylinder bore, I removed the original 350 and replaced it with a 4 bolt 350 I picked up for $250 out of a low mileage 74 C20. I put fresh bearings in the mains and rods, installed a comp cams 262/262 cam, umbrella valve seals perf. Rpm intake, flowtech headers, and an edelbrock 1406 carb (I saved the quadrajet. Units in good nick are getting harder to come by)

[1972cheyenne454]

The grill is from a 69 c10 that I owned in high school. Sadly, she met her dimise April 17, 2004, rear-ended by a p.o.s. F250 driven by this jack off that ironically is a distant relative. Damn near folded my truck in half. I was lucky to walk away. Thank you very much Mary Jane.

Moving on

[1972cheyenne454]

With my 25th birthday just around the corner, my Dad decided he'd gift me a th350 trans he had professionally rebuilt 10 years prior but never used. Only issue, his was a long tailshaft, my truck was built with a short tail. Not to be deterred, and owning a lathe, he went ahead and cut 4 1/4" out of the front half shaft, then welded the slip yolk back in. Turns out, that it was 1/4" too long, and it eventually damaged the output shaft seal, and slowly drained itself of fluid (over the course of 51k mi). Also in 2010, I started dating the woman who would eventually give birth to my daughter.

We named our daughter Cheyenne. Lol I thought it only appropriate, since my C10 was built 11/71. My daughter's birthday is 11/17.

[1972cheyenne454]

By the time i was 28-29, I had the world by the balls. I had my dream truck, a beautiful fiancee, and a daughter who was sharp as a whip. I was going to school to get my degree in Automotive Technology. I just had to **** it up like the Muppet I have a tendency to be. I went out and got a dwi and was placed on Probation. But that wasn't good enough. I followed that up with 4 driving on suspendeds, and in the ultimate bone head move, failed a piss test for probation, leading to my p.o. searching my person, and finding a container I shouldn't have had, with a residue of a substance that shouldn't have been in it. BAM.

My probation was revoked, and I was sentenced 2 years DOC. Fiancee didn't have a car, so I signed my truck over to her so she'd have something to drive.

So two weeks after I go to "explore the mountains", My mother catches this cu... chick that put up with so much of my **** for almost 10 years using my God damn truck to go **** some co-worker. Burning the transmission up in the process.

So that was over.
4 and a half months later, I got out, two weeks before my daughter's birthday.

I say all this to kind of... get everyone to maybe see why after I got out, I didn't feel like ****ing with my truck. I let it sit.

[1972cheyenne454]

Eventually, I crawled out of my hole. I put on my big boy panties, and decided to have one more go at finding a partner. To make a long story short (come on Homer, this ain't the Odyssey) I met my current wife 8 years ago. I parked my truck almost ten years ago. With her help, and a lot of self growth, I am motivated to get back to work on my C10.

[1972cheyenne454]

Well, that, and I hit a deer with my last car (06 Caddy DTS). Had to leave it on the side of the road (rural area) because Bambi's fat ass cracked my radiator. Went back for it a day later, some catalytic converter stealing rooster lollipop set it on fire. All that was left, half burned grill, the air compressor for the rear suspension, and a scorched outline of where my car used to be. In these financially turbulent times, I had to let my insurance lapse. So my 51 year old truck is the only set of wheels I've got left. To get reacquainted, I thought I'd start with something easy, and added relays to the headlights. Went off without a hitch.

Then I figured it was time to give the door panels some much needed attention. So I continued the black/blue theme I began years ago with the instrument panel and glove box door.

[1972cheyenne454]

The universe has quite the sense of humor. Needless to say, I've got 6 years sober, 3 great kids (1 biological, 2 step), a wife that incurages my growth, and at 38, I still feel like I'm 22. I feel like the richest man in the world. Too bad nobody told my checking account lol

[1972cheyenne454]

After I got her cantankerous ass to bark, I took her around the block. Of course, as soon as I put it in gear, one of the front brake lines popped and sprayed brake fluid everywhere. So, slowly, and with great caution, I pulled out of the driveway and drove straight down "WHY TF did I not get this ***** back on the road a long time ago" lane.

That feeling was only amplified when I hooked my eye bones underneath and felt my jaw lock up. I guess I need to seal my garage floor so it doesn't sweat so bad and continue fertilizing all those rust seeds

When I drug her out the first time, this drum had become one with the axle and not even the local tire shop could pull it off. Drum on this side could probably use a turn or two in a brake lathe. So I'm gonna go ahead and do the right thing and pretend I didn't see that

[1972cheyenne454]

The old girl has been in need of cab mount bushings for many many a moon. I had gotten the cab mount/core support kit a long time ago. Just hadn't put them in because I thought it was gonna be a bigger pain in the ass than it ended up being. Drivers side front cab mount bolt was the only one that gave me any trouble. And to ensure they made like Helen Keller and stfu, I put a nice thick film of grease on the flats of the upper and lower mounts.

[Dieselwrencher]

Cool truck with a great history except the part where the Ex see you next Tuesday burnt up the trans. Good thing you kept it around sounds like you really need it now.

[1972cheyenne454]

Thank you sir. No I don't ever plan on getting rid of it. I mean, the rust is pretty bad. But I'm gonna do what I can to keep it rolling.

[Dieselwrencher]

I don't blame you. I'd rather fix rust than own/drive a honda/yota etc.

[1972cheyenne454]

You know, it's funny you should mention that. My wife owns a corolla roflmao. I was just thinking to myself last night on my way back from the gas station how sick and tired I am of driving that damn thing. Too small, too slow, they still feel cheap. Mechanically they are pretty solid. But that's because they are underpowered. Hell, she's even taken it upon herself to find a turbo kit for it. Lol I told her I'd rather not be the one to install it... not to mention, I'm sure that tiny mouse on a hamster wheel they call a 1.8L wouldn't handle more than 5 to 10 lbs of boost before it blows the rings off the pistons or throws a rod through the oil pan.

[Shifty One]

I'm glad to hear that you were able to scrape your poop in a pile first off, and second, that you're going to get that beauty back together. Here's to going forward man!

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 1972cheyenne454

You know, it's funny you should mention that. My wife owns a corolla roflmao. I was just thinking to myself last night on my way back from the gas station how sick and tired I am of driving that damn thing. Too small, too slow, they still feel cheap. Mechanically they are pretty solid. But that's because they are underpowered. Hell, she's even taken it upon herself to find a turbo kit for it. Lol I told her I'd rather not be the one to install it... not to mention, I'm sure that tiny mouse on a hamster wheel they call a 1.8L wouldn't handle more than 5 to 10 lbs of boost before it blows the rings off the pistons or throws a rod through the oil pan.

That would be my luck too. May need to buy another engine pull it down and gap the rings to help it live.

[1972cheyenne454]

*sigh* Sounds like a whole lot of bull **** for too small o a reward.

[1972cheyenne454]

Well it's been a few days but I was finally able to get back at it. Got all the underhood wiring squared away, connectors cleaned, and re-loomed. I figured with cold weather coming, I might wanna take care of my Fred Flinstone floorboard. I don't have a welder, nor do I have friends who possess such things. But I do have a drill, some rivets, some scrap metal, and a tube of window caulk.

[1972cheyenne454]

Made quite a bit of headway the past couple days. I've had to work on it in between family gatherings. Finished up the patches on the driver's side floor pan. After that, I figured I might as well clean up the wiring under the dash, clean the contacts on the fuse panel, and replace all the fuses (not a single one came out in one piece). So that lead to the taillights working again. Then I decided to investigate why the dome light never came on upon opening the passenger door. Turned out, the contacts were just as rusty as every other piece of metal on this crusty bastard. Cleaned up the bare metal, slathered on a healthy schlack of dielectric grease, slapped it back together, and poof, like ****ing magic, the dome light now works with the passenger door. Exciting.
Found some LED strips, and a spare head unit. So naturally, not being from this century, I whipped up some ambiance. For now, the head unit is running two 2.5" jvc speakers I robbed from a set of surround sound speakers, placed in the factory speaker location. I've got a set of ds18 3" bullet tweeters in place of the AC vents on either corner of the dash. Those I'm gonna pair with passive crossovers, and a set of 5.25" mids in the doors (settle down, I'm making mounts in order to avoid unnecessary holes in the doors.
Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. Still have to run new front hard lines for the brakes, and a transmission swap.

[1972cheyenne454]

Pleased as punch how this pig is coming together