Project "Home Wrecker"

[Cheeseman]

Flooded a lot of the crops, but it has given me a little more wrench time than usual for this time of year. I hope to have this to a point to bring to the nationals this year. It will be cool to catch up and get to stay a while this year...no furniture shopping in my future

Cheese "land surfing again?" Man

[Low Elco]

Hope so- I need to break it out and limber it up. It'd be great to see you and the crew there!

[Cheeseman]

Making slow but steady progress. Brought the truck to town (via trailer) to get the front end aligned and everything double checked and torqued to spec. They said I was less than an 1/8" out of alignment for doing it myself, so they shimmed a tad and it is all good to go now, and centered steering wheel too!



After the alignment I took it to the muffler shop and had a set of Magnaflows installed and had short dumps installed behind the cab. It sounds sweet, money well spent there.

The body shop called and said they had got the front clip painted and fit, so I picked it up last week and it is back home for some final under hood wiring clean up as well as minor things like marker lamps and turn signal install etc. This pick makes it look like the front clip has a different sheen to it than the cab, but the cab was dusty/dirty when I brought it to the shop so it is just the dust that makes it look that way (I hope!!)



I struggled with what to do on the grill and headlight trim rings, and the body shop and I came up with this look...it is the same color as the center of the wheels and they blacked out the red in the bow tie, I think it turned out looking sharp!



I also found time to mock up the wing windows. I was thinking I wanted 1 piece windows, but after hearing multiple negative reviews, I went back to the stock set up. I want this to be as soild and sound as it can be since it will be a daily driver in the near future.



Other progress is the interior. I picked up enough sound deadening material to complete the cab. I also have all the gauges wired up and working. I found a set of AutoMeter gauges that fit a factory dash and one is a big speedometer and the other is a quad gauge. The tach fits the center hole somewhat, but I need to have a piece fabricated that allows it to sit flush like the oher 2 gauges. I think I need to work on the tach a bit more bc the RPM's seem too low. Other than that, the hvac system is all in and functioning as it should be as well as all the glovebox parts/pieces installed. Being that I am 6'2" I have limited space behind the seat, so I am going with 4 Kicker 8" subs and an amp behind the seat and the mids n highs will be in the kick panels and dash. Going to go w/ a Retro Sound headunit and then use the aux input to run my iPod. Thats the updates for now, we are hot and heavy into corn harvest for the next month, so wrench time will be limited.

Cheese "still plugging along" Man

[mcbassin]

Your truck is looking good

[Cheeseman]

Thanks man, I finally feel that she is starting to take shape.

[knomadd]

Nice touch with the color matched grille and headlight trim. I think it looks great!

[slowcpe]

Truck is looking good!

[Low Elco]

Good stuff! Glad to see you're still out there.

[Trixxterr]

Wow! This thread has given me some insight on what I'll go through with my 72 Cheyenne, when I get it dug out of the weeds and put her back together. Great build

[Cheeseman]

Had a little time to spend on the project so I did a few of the easier things so I could see some progress. I installed the blinkers and markers. I opted to go with the clear ones simply because they blend in better with the color scheme. I debated it thininking that they would look cheap and too tuner-ish, but I really like the way they blended in with the look of the truck. My factory harness did not have provisions for the outside marker lamps, so I am splicing into the low beam side of the head lights and it will feed over to the markers.


Spent a bit of time painting the dash bezel and glove box door to match each other. I installed the new AutoMeter gauges into their final resting place and it is ready to install and get the final wiring tied up under the dash. The tach still needs a piece around it to be perfectly centered and I am awaiting the flush mount L.E.D. lights to install for the turn signal indicators and the check engine light for the OBD system. The three small holes across the top of the bezel are for the turn signals and the check engine lights.


I also tied up the inside of the cab with sound deadener. That was a slow process, but I am very glad I took the time to get it completed. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend on something that wont be seen, but it will make a world of difference inside there. I used every square inch of what came with the kit, and the scrap pieces I placed on the doors where it will be hidden by the door panels. I may pick up a few more sheets and get the doors done a little more.


Other than that, we ripped a few smokey burnouts in the shop while the guys were over this weekend. Still needing to get a new balanced driveshaft built, but other than waiting for that it is road worthy, just missing the bed....

Cheese "carpet, seat and door panels next" Man

[slowcpe]

I think the clear lenses go real well with the black and trim. Good choice

[Cheeseman]

Thanks man, the nice thing is if I dont like them later, they are cheap to swap out with the colored lenses.

Cheese "cheap and easy" Man

[Cheeseman]

Christmas time was good for the project. I received the carpet and interior tirm plates from the family. I debated putting it in until I was done with all the interior, but I could not resist, so I threw it in . I decided to go full static drop on this rig, so I removed the rear bags and mounts and went with a set of 6" drop coils in the rear and some blocks. I installed all of that last week and now we are working on boring the frame rail to route the fuel filler tube to work with the in bed set up I devised (pics coming soon). Other than that I worked on the dash wiring for the blinkers and the newly added "check engine" light and the plug for the OBD2 system. I went ahead and ran the 2 gauge power wire from the battery to the cab for the stereo system as well. I welded in a missing rear bed rail cap as well as started working on grinding out some bad filler work from the prior owner. I placed an order the other day and it should be here today for all the items to rebuild my wing windows and seals/gaskets for the windows as well. Other than that, it has been a little slow going. Will post up a few progres spics this week hopefully.

Cheese "need to make a trip to Classic Parts again, soon" Man

[Sac]

Liking the truck. Black/gray looks great.

[Cheeseman]

As with all projects, plans change from time to time....so I have decided to go with a fleetside bed and away from the stepside bed. I found a bed that was in southern Missouri and made a flying trip down to get it. It was a bit rougher than I was hoping for, but picked it up and drug it back home and ended up putting in all new cross members, braces and some patch panels. It was originally off a CST truck, so I welded in all the trim holes as well. I decided to get a roll pan for it as well, so after it was all together, I test fit it I the truck before It came back off and went to the body shop. I was running into fitment issues with the 20x10 rims in the back with the stepside bed, they fit perfect with the fleetside bed.



I also mocked up the front bumper so I could see the ride height. It is exactly the height/stance I was going for.





I also came across the engine cover kit from a Denali to help hide the ugly stock wiring and coil packs on the LS, so I threw it on as well. It really helped to clean up the motor.



So now the bed is off and at the body shop and this is how she sits for a few more weeks until she is mated with her bed and all reshot with new paint to match everything up from the last body shops work...

[IMG][/IMG]

And soon she will be sporting her new custom plates (pending the state of Missouri's approval)



That's about it other than some tidy work inside the cab and getting all the windows and rubbers installed. Will post more when I have more to share.

[mcbassin]

Very nice progress! Digging the fleetside bed. Looks great. Cool license plate too.

[Low Elco]

Awesome! Hope to see it in Sept!

[Cheeseman]

Looking forward to getting down there. My target date is to have this on the road and legal by July for a small car show at Seymour, IA. My new body shop guy says that is very achievable on his part...so now I have to get my butt in gear!

[Xeen]

The pickup looks awesome, I can't wait to see it with the newly painted bed installed.

[srvhemi]

I just went through your thread. Very nice truck. I am doing a very similar build. I have a 67 swb stepside with a 72 front clip. Its a small window. I have been at for over a year now. There have been many hurdles along the way, and more keep coming up. I wanted to start a build thread so I can get member feedback, suggestions, and answers. I cant figure out how to start a thread. Any help will be appreciated

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by srvhemi

I just went through your thread. Very nice truck. I am doing a very similar build. I have a 67 swb stepside with a 72 front clip. Its a small window. I have been at for over a year now. There have been many hurdles along the way, and more keep coming up. I wanted to start a build thread so I can get member feedback, suggestions, and answers. I cant figure out how to start a thread. Any help will be appreciated

At the top left of the threads list there's a button "start thread". Hit it and tell your story. There are several how to post pics threads on here, the search box is your friend. (I ain't that good at it, you don't wanna know from me!)

[Low Elco]

Cheese! The people demand pics!

[TheCheeseman]

Well, between a lot of things going on and my account getting screwed up here, I had to get a new account...so now I am "TheCheeseman" but still the same Cheeseman as before...

The truck is 97% done now. It is only awaiting the bedliner to get applied and to put a 2 shaft radio in the dash to fill the hole. I've put @ 300 miles on it now and it runs and handles flawlessly. I've changed a few seats in it and still trying to find "the one". Here area few pics of it from a couple weeks back.....







So, other than the few loose ends, its nearly a completed project. Here comes the bad news....


Due to a pending separation/divorce situation, the truck may have to find a new home

So if it comes to that, look for it to be posted up in the classifieds. Sometimes life sucks, but this truck certainly does not!!

Cheeseman-OUT!

[Low Elco]

Damn! Sorry to hear it. Lot of that going on , it seems. Hope it goes as well as possible.

[Trixxterr]

Well, that's one heck of an update. Sorry to hear of the bad news, and all.. hope everything works out for you. Beautiful truck , still loving it.