'72 Super Project: Updates!

[1972CheyenneSuper]

I've been browsing this forum for the past couple of months and I must say that you guys know your stuff. I've just recently purchased a 1972 Cheyenne Super from my brothers. They were planning on restoring it but they've got other toys to work on. The truck has factory buckets and factory air conditioning. It is a two wheel drive with a long box. As you can see, there is quite a bit of work to be done sheetmetal wise and mechanically. I know many people would like to see an original restoration done with a truck of this rarity, but being sixteen years old, I need something a little more exciting. But don't worry, I have plans to keep everything intact so if I do sell it in the future, converting it back to original will be possible. I will use this thread to post any updates that I have done to the truck and also to ask for assistance if any is needed, which will more than likely be often. Here's the pics:

[1972CheyenneSuper]

[jhwkns]

Welcome to the forums.. It's great to see young guys like yourself that have interest in these old trucks. There's hope yet for the future..

[Joesjunk]

Cool truck. You dont see too many that were two tone Medium and Dark Blue.

Loos like a great project!! Have fun!!!!

[krue]

Welcome to the board from South Mississippi! Looks like a great project.

[special-K]

Welcome from a 50 year old that still can`t quite leave one totally stock.That`s why I like the resto-rod approach.A truck like yours has class as it is.Like Joe said,that`s a seldom seen color combo.There were few 2-tone combos available and few ordered that didn`t use white as the accent color.

[northcountry67]

Welcome to the board. I'm only 70 miles east of Grand Forks, if you need anything, drop me a line.

[boundstaffpress]

Welcome to the board

Your truck looks like a lot of fun. Can't wait to see you rodstore it. You did right by posting lots of pics. We all love pictures.

[Yukon Jack]

Welcome to the board - will enjoy following your progress.

[Palf70Step]

Welcome from southern Mississippi. Nice truck and glad to have you on board

[boraxman]

from sunny So.Cal.

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Thanks for the welcomes everybody!
I got the seats, gas tank carpet, and the fuel tank along with the fuel lines in the cab out today. I also started on getting the guage cluster out, but stopped there. I suppose I may as well list a few of my plans. For an engine I will be getting a 5.7 Vortech from the place that I work. Engine management will be handled by a Painless Wiring Harness, possibly along with a complete truck harness. For the suspension I would like to go air ride, with an AirOverLeaf system in rear and the regular system in front. I do plan on doing a frame off so everything underneath will be cleaned and fixed as needed along with a fuel tank somewhere on the frame. For the interior I am looking at some nice bucket seats, but I will keep the originals in case I ever convert it back, it's just that by the time I refoam and recover the originals, I could have bought some that will be twice as comfortable and look nice too. Sandblasting is in the works too to uncover as many problem areas as possible. I want this truck to last a long time so a little time now will save a lot of time later. Although the bed was primered by the previous owner, I believe bondo was used to cover up a few things. I also need to get some doors, front fenders and inners, tailgate, along with the patch panels. I am leaning towards LMC truck because they have free truck freight on orders over $1000. Thanks again for the warm welcomes.

[OLDROCK&ROLLER]

Welcome to the board from S-E N.C. Good luck on your project sounds nice. I like um with some mods. check out the board vendors before buying from that other place.

Kenneth

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Well, I've made some major headway on the truck, with the limited time that I have. Much has been removed, and the cab is about ready to come off, next day or so. My plans with the truck has changed. I want to completely redo it original with the exception of the engine, transmission, suspension, and wheels. I got the 5.7 Vortec cleaned up and painted with new intake gaskets and an oil pan gasket. I'm also about to pick up my 4l60E. My Painless Wiring harness for the truck chassis and also the engine will be in my hands on Wednesday. That's about it, now for the good stuff:


Also if a moderator could change the name of this thread to:
'72 Super Project: Updates!
It would be most appreciated.

[Palf70Step]

Nice project. See how your title change works too.

[1972CheyenneSuper]

It looks good, thank you.

[67chevy2wd]

1972CheyenneSuper, That is a very nice looking truck. Where in ND are you located? I live about 30 miles west of Bismarck. Oh and hello from ND.

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Thanks 67chevy2wd. I live in Minot.

[67chevy2wd]

Cool, I was just up there for the big fair. Went to see Keri Underwood(not by choice) but it was a good concert. I suppose you know where Beulah is then, not too far from Minot.

[toms68cst]

Hello from Bismarck. Nice project you have there!

[Palf70Step]

Glad to see she is moving along again. Will be looking forward to more updates.

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Thank you Palf70Step

I didn't get a whole lot done last weekend other than getting the front cross member bolted on. I also removed the front cab mounts of my original '72 frame. Still need to track down a set of rear cab mounts. Picked up a nice set of trailing arms on Tuesday, and worked on stripping them down for blasting, and getting some other misc. parts ready for blasting.

Yesterday, I gave ECE a call and ordered up a 4/6 drop kit, LS mounts, and some other parts. I also managed to get the last upper control arm stud that he had so I lucked out there. Stuff will hopefully roll in next week sometime.

I debated buying the conversion axles and parts for my '67 rear end, but in the end I decided to take my '72 rear end and cut the leaf spring brackets off and weld on the saddles I'll be getting from ECE. My question is will I be ok matching the factory pinion angle of my '67 rear end and later using angled shims to get it where it needs to be. I know the best would be to wait until the whole weight of the truck is together and set the angle and weld eliminating the need for shims. The only issue is, I am going to be a long time from having any sort of body on this thing, and I would like to blast and paint the rear end now. Does anybody else with a 4/6 drop recall what they're using for shims and a factory rear?

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Well, I have finally got most of the big items blasted and painted this past weekend. That was my main goal as we are getting closer to snowfall here. I'm hoping to have a rolling chassis by Thanksgiving, but we'll see how that goes. As I said before, I had ordered some parts from ECE and they showed up last week.

I think there is some unwritten rule about showing the box pile so here it is.



Contents Include:
-4"/6" Drop Kit - 2.5" Spindles, 1.5" Front Springs, 6" Rear Springs,
-Front/Rear Shocks
-Shock Relocator Kit
-Super Track Bar
-LS Engine Mounts
-Lower A-Arm U-Bolts
-Swaybar bushing set w/ lowered brackets
-Trailing Arm Bushings
-Weld-on axle saddles
-ECE Transmission Crossmember
-Coil Spring Retainer Kit

This stuff was all packaged very nicely into those boxes and everything was well wrapped. I thought for sure that a few boxes were missing or coming later, but it was packed into those.

For anyone that has sandblasted their own parts, I'm sure you will agree with me that any future projects will be taken to somebody. I bought this pot blaster 10 years ago when I started this thing, and hadn't used it until I started this truck. It works really good, when a person is blasting. Most of the time is spent not blasting though. Time is spent setting up a catch area if you plan on reusing your media. You've got to sweep up and collect your media. You have to screen it all before you put it back in the blaster. Add in breaks for your air compressor and so forth, and you've got a lot of time wondering why you didn't hire it out. I set up this blasting "horseshoe" four times in the last couple of months and every time I do, I dread it. It works good for recollecting the media, but it is a very slow process if you are not setup for it regularly.



The weeekend prior to this past one, I blasted the trailing arms I picked up the week prior, the rear most crossmember, my front cab mount brackets, center link, rear brake drums, my '72 leaf spring rear end after grinding off all of the brackets, and the ends of the axles.

The trailing arms I picked up were in really good shape. Probably about the best possible condition you'll find them in this state anyways. Every set I've seen have gotten small rocks wedged between the two rails and they keep collecting inside and spreading the rails further apart. These had only a slight gap but I wanted to clean them out anyways. So they were split apart and then rebolted back together after blasting, followed up by a few stitch welds on the top and bottom.





Thursday night I was able to get some paint on them and my other blasted pieces. You don't realize until you're running a brush on these arms, but there is a ton of surface area to cover, they must have take 20-30 mins each.



Also blasted and painted this high hump cover I picked up for $15 at the same place I picked up the trailing arms for $75 each. Pretty happy with that find.



Here's the leaf spring rear end that came out the truck in the original post. This one has 3.07 gears in it compared to the 3.73's that were in the 6 lug rear I was going to use. I'm not sure how well it's going to work with the 6l80, but I guess we'll see.



So after talking with Stan at ECE, he didn't seem to recall of having to shim rear ends for the normal drops that they offer, so I decided to match the pinion angle of the other rear end I had. I used some steel tubing and a variety of shims to set up a level work platform. I placed the factory coil spring rear end on it and took a bunch of reference measurements. Then I placed my blasted housing on the saddles, and after a couple hours of measuring, rechecking, and measuring again I placed a few tack welds on, and checked a few times more. Once I was sure it was where it needed to be, I welded the new saddles on, stitching about an inch at a time alternating between sides and letting it cool down some.



Slapped some paint on it Saturday and a few other parts and we're good to go.



I didn't get much time yesterday to work on the truck, but at least now, the big stuff is out of the way, and I can get some work done. I mounted most of the misc. small brackets and loosely installed the trailing arms after putting the new bushings in. Put the LS engine mounts on as well.

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Back again with another update. I have since gotten the rearend bolted in, rear brakes done, front suspension put together, and the whole frame back on wheels for the first time in a long time for this project. I actually had the frame on wheels a week ahead of my goal so I'm track so far. Two weekends ago I disassembled the 5.3 and prepped/painted it. I think it really cleaned up good. Last weekend was spent cleaning up and painting other odds and ends. This past Wednesday night my dad and I pulled the midnight shift and got the engine and transmission mated again and setting on the frame mounts. Friday, I was able to the transmission and engine centered and set and every thing buttoned up. Now I just need to get some sheetmetal ordered up.

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Re-reading my last comments and as a side note, the part number I gave for the parking brake cable is for a trailing arm setup. I am fairly certain that a leaf spring setup would be a different piece, for anyone else using the mentioned numbers.

Haven't gotten a whole lot done this past week and weekend due to a winter storm and also the fact that I've been sick the last 4 days. But I did manage to get a little motivational poster done for myself this morning. I found a truck picture online that matched pretty closely what I have in mind and photoshopped the dark blue bottom color and the medium blue roof and a few other odds and ends. I believe these wheels on the drawing are 20's, whereas I'll probably be in the 18" range so I have a little more sidewall. There is always the chance of going rally wheels too, I haven't entirely decided. I'll be finalizing my sheet metal shopping list this weekend and getting some stuff ordered so I can get going again in a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to it.