71 Cheyenne Rooftop Build

[cebra]

I painted the inside Jeep anvil gray which is a great color but I am having a hard time visualizing this entire truck anvil gray. I also think this gray would not look so great in a 2-tone. My dilemma is that I prefer long beds in 2-tone so I am thinking about sanding that paint off and respraying it back to red. This makes my head spin but the truck looks good (in my opinion) red and white and I don't really want to jack it up (although it was originally green). Any opinions on the color scheme?

[cornerstone]

Id say if your paint quality is at least a 20 footer stay with the red interior. If its got some serious issues and you want to change, then do it...with that gray color inside the cab I can envision the body in a olive or deep green or how about a gray two tone truck with white roof and sides?

[cebra]

It is going to need painted either way; now just to decide on red/white or gray/white....

[cebra]

I have painted the interior Jeep Anvil Gray which is what I decided to go with on the outside in a stock 2-tone pattern. I also started putting the new bits back in. I used the bent fork method for the ignition bezel and this worked out well. I should have the inside done in a week a couple weeks. I got my 5x7 speaker boxes done as well to put behind the seat.

[cebra]

...and more sideways pictures, I don't think I will ever figure that out.

[cebra]

I have not updated in a long time but I have been working on the truck. I recently did some body work at my parents house. I cut out the PS front cab support, inner rocker, outer floor (the "gutter"), and outer rocker and welded some new metal in. My welding is in its infancy but I know how to use a grinder. I also welded up the gas filler hole and the "gutter" area of the floor by the DS door. I have done a lot of patches on the lower doors inside and out. Lastly, I need to tackle the drip rail as it is rough. I replaced my head gaskets recently as I had a leak but I didn't take pictures. Last for this post is my distributor wires were hanging by a string so I rebuilt this whatchamacallit.

[cebra]

I hammered out a bunch of small dents and scrapes in my inner fenders and painted those. Here is a picture of my dash when I finished it, I used anvil gray but I am having 2nd thoughts about painting the whole truck 2-tone gray and white. I may go with the red and white on it now. Opinions? I ordered a set of these FCF lower seat brackets so my head isn't crammed into the ceiling and looking through the blue at the top of the windshield. A picture of the drive from my parents house in PA to NC. Lastly, the last picture, can anyone tell me what this part is for? It was laying in the bed along with other random parts when I bought the truck and I have never figured out what it is.

[cebra]

Oh really don't judge my welds on the outer rocker, I cut it a hair short and had a decent gap to fill so I tried my hand at the stick welder for the first time. I prefer to use a mig welder but have difficulties filling larger gaps so I tried out the stick. It worked but I went a bit overboard.

[Mollzyie]

I enjoy reading about your build man ! Good effort !

[cebra]

Here are a few pics of the engine bay. The stuff I have done here is: painted everything flat black, replaced throttle cable, head gaskets, painted motor/headers, new battery, new PS pump hoses, new belts, new valve covers, new master cylinder, new plugs/wires. Now if I could just get the carb tuned up properly.

[cebra]

I am not so good about taking pictures as I am working but I did put on a new carb and tune the motor a bit. I have been driving it around a bit here and there. I also have about 50 hours in scraping, wire brush, cleaning, rust coating, and undercoating the cab/bed now. This would have been so much easier to pull the bed/cab. I will post pictures of this when complete. I got my FCF lowered seat brackets installed and they are very nice. Now I am not hunched over the steering wheel or looking through the blue tint at the top of the windshield. The work I still have left to do is: vintage air, drip rail rust repair, door rust repair, install new PS window, install new rear window rubber, respray the interior (back to red)/reinstall all my new interior parts, replace suspension/steering components, paint, and roll in a bedliner.

[cebra]

I have sort of forgot to update this build thread. About 100 hours of wire brushing, rust coating, undercoating to the underside is done finally. I am working on priming the bed to put in a roll in bedliner. Lastly, the interior is all painted and complete with all new stuff (headliner, cluster, visors, seat, carpet, radio, AC vents, dash pad, steering wheel, gauges, etc).

[cebra]

I also keep having overheating issues I was working on previous to another issue popping up. I have reset the timing a couple dozen times and replaced head gaskets, thermostat, radiator hoses, heater core, and this pic is when I replaced the flex fan with an original fan with new thermal clutch. Still didn't cure my issue so I will get back to this.

[cebra]

Lastly here is my current project that I am about 20 hours in and half way done. I am building a complete headlight to taillight wiring harness. The reason why is that mine had a small fire (hot wire got smashed by battery and grounded on the firewall) and it melted all the hot connectors (firewall, fuse panel, ignition, horn, headlight switch). I am also building it in preparation for a NV3500/5.3 LS swap and wiring in my add-ons (wiper module, tach, gauges, radio, glovebox light). I am using a 92 Blazer fuse panel and designing it off that.

[cebra]

Once the harness is complete I will get some pictures of the interior. It is looking real nice but I spent around $2,500 on new stuff (ouch). I think the only original thing left is the heater controls and lighter. Next projects are TH350 to NV3500 transmission swap (she wants to be a manual), front suspension rebuild, and neverending body work. Thus far on body work I have replaced PS inner/outer rocker, new drip rails, new rear bed floor, new PS front cab support, new kick panels, new outer cab floor areas, welded up gas tank filler hole, fixed windshield pinchweld, new battery tray floor, smoothed front inner fenders, and started welding on the door bottoms. My truck was pretty clean when I got it but I will cut heck out of it to eliminate any spot of rust.

[cebra]

I prefer the look of an all flat black underhood...I know not original and a lot of purists hate it but it looks like hell now that it is dirty so I am going to respray that to match the Flame Red paint on the interior and paint the inner fenders satin black.

[cornerstone]

I haven't seen your thread in a while for some reason. You just keep pluggin away man! Love the pic while driving.... I do miss that for sure. Mine is still a huge mess waiting for some TLC from me.

[cebra]

30 hours in on the rewire, I pulled the underhood harness and decided to do this as well since I don't have power on the roof it is easier to solder inside and reinstall. I only have to run the power feed from the battery and the high beams with relay and it is ready for install. I used every fuse slot on the 92 Blazer panel for the extras (LS CEL, LS Power, Tach, Radio, Wiper Module, Addl Voltmeter). Hopefully I don't have too much to troubleshoot but it is possible something is crossed up somewhere.

[cebra]

My wiring harness is all done and everything works less the fuel gauge. Interior is done less painting the inside of the doors/door panels (will do this when I paint the exterior). Next up front suspension, SWB Conversion (just ordered repop bedsides), NV3500 (ridiculously difficult to locate), 5.3L LS, paint, and vintage air. I am spending around $900 a month in gas with the cam'd 350 at the moment so my LS swap will pay for itself in 6-8 months. I have a lot of suspension and swap parts compiled at the moment but the lack of garage space is difficult for heavy work and I need the welder to chop the frame down. I really need to start clearing out parts I am not going to reuse too. I am coming to the realization that doing every bit of work myself, I am still going to have near $30K in this truck, yikes!

[cebra]

I got my harness complete and everything works less the fuel gauge so I have a replacement for that after diagnosing the issue many times. I am working on the LS swap, shaving the intake, welding flanges on the headers, going through the motor, replacing oil pan, etc. Here is a pic of my shaved intake in its current primered state, I wrote up a how to on this. I will start on the bed soon, I am going to cut it down in phases since I need to drive this truck.

[GASoline71]

Originally Posted by cebra

I prefer the look of an all flat black underhood...I know not original and a lot of purists hate it but it looks like hell now that it is dirty so I am going to respray that to match the Flame Red paint on the interior and paint the inner fenders satin black.

Try a satin black "chassis paint" underhood in the engine bay. Flat paint will show all the grease and oil stains. Where as Satin will have just enough sheen to not show any stains. Black gloss is just too... glossy.

Gary

[cebra]

I finished the intake manifold, painted my Dirty Dingo mounts, cleaned up the LS airbox, and painted the battery tray. I also got my headers and replacement fuel gauge yesterday. Next project is moving the battery to the DS and installing the LS airbox and cutting the bed down for my SWB conversion.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by cebra

I am coming to the realization that doing every bit of work myself, I am still going to have near $30K in this truck, yikes!

I feel your pain! I like to avoid totaling up all the receipts since there is no point. I won't every sell this one so I might as well build it the way I want and don't look back.

[zicc1835]

x3 on counting up the receipts ...but worth it....nice work glad you went back to Red inside looks great

[nuke1]

Damn!!!! Your doing an amazing job so far especially considering where you are doing it. Congrats. That's determination.