Project Reno - 72 cheyenne rebuild

[cmabolt]

Hi gang, well the truck is getting a full ground up restore. I searched for this truck for about a year or two. I wanted a west coast truck with very little rust, 4spd, ac and I found one. It only had a little rust on the floor seam between the rocker and kick panel. I think the carpet just rotted it away. I have never seen a 72 with so little rust. I've seen some trucks for sale with so much rot that the cabs where literally sitting on the frame with a couple bolts missing the rubber bushings. Not good!


I laugh when I say, "The plan is..." to have all the body work done (it's in the body shop now) panels blasted, trim holes filled, rust repaired and a fresh one color paint job. I am also going to have them install a rear 20 gallon gas tank and a custom filler that will look stock. I am also going to have the bed, underneath, of cab and bed and lower 3 inches of the body panels sprayed with color matched bedliner.

The chassis will get a blast and repaint with the panels off and new urethane bushings all around. I think I am going to do a modest 2" lift just for a bit of clearance over the tires. Once I get the truck home I will get rid of the ho52 rear to a dana60 and gear ratio to 3:73 since this will almost be a daily driver for me. I figured rather than buy a new truck, why not recycle and build a brand new truck for less. No plastic panels, cheap parts, limited options etc. It just makes sense.

The trans is a sm465 4spd granny and I think I will keep it stock for now with a new clutch. It has a 350 that has been rebuilt, but until I dig into it I don't know to what extent. I am guessing only the top end has been touched. The long term plan is to install a Ls1 to take advantage of modern motor, fuel injection gas mileage and reliability.

So we'll see how, "the plan," goes. I will post pictures of the body work as it comes along and whatever parts I wrangle in the mean time. This will probably be a 2 year build or something, but we'll see. The real fun is going to be the cross country drive this summer. I figured I would drive her home instead of throwing away a grand on transport. Trucks were meant to be driven anyway. We'll see how that pans out.