Project Reno - 72 cheyenne rebuild

[cmabolt]

Ok, so been workin on the truck again. Had to take a hiatus to Santa Fe for a few days but have a had a solid week to make some progress. I ended up moving the trans/motor forward almost 2 inches. When done I was 19.5" from Pacific fab crossmember to front of forward crossmember. This gave me plenty of space in front of the firewall and in front of the motor.

I slotted the frame to make sliding the trans back and forth easier. I will reinforce this area after the frame gets blasted.

As luck would have it, the positioning of the motor made it possible for me to keep the original brake hose holes.


I will also be able to mount the bump stops in their original location with some cutting

I was also able to get the axles pulled and my dana 44 cleaned up and ready for the gear switch to 373's.
New moog ball joints

Tore out the old HO52. what a beast. btw, pick'r up and she's yours if anybody is interested. The dana 60 I prepped a while back is going in to replace her.

And now for the cab removal.

So at last down to the frame. I think I'm gonna fill some holes and get her ready for blasting.

[cmabolt]

Got a solid week of work done and frame is now ready for sandblasting. Some of you may be wondering why the the frame is getting sandblasted when it looks painted already?
Well, the body shop did a half ass job on the frame and rather than spot paint with epoxy primer, I just decided to start over with POR15. If your gonna do it...


To save space in the engine bay and modernize a little I purchased the Vintage air system for the truck. so while I wait for the sandblaster, i went ahead and cut out the area where the vintage firewall plate usually bolts on. I decided to weld it in.




Welded up a couple holes in the floor where the fuel inlets were on the old cab tank.

The Vintage systems comes with a block off plate for the passengers vent. I made a couple steel plates to fill both sides as I don't see a need for them
with the new system.


Next the frame gets blasted!

[cmabolt]

Yesterday the frame got blasted and i had the cab cleaned up a little. All told i think i have about $800 in blasting with the frame, cab and a bunch of parts. A little high, but I would have spent at least $6-700 to get a really good blaster plus media and my compressor is not up to that task. Blasting is done as far as I can tell. The rest can be done with some sandpaper and a sore shoulder.




Now time for paint. From all accounts, this should be fun. Not

Plastic down, (check) breathing apparatus purchased (check) body suit purchased (check) plastic gloves (check)... this stuff better be good because it cost me a fortune.

[cmabolt]

Got a full day to paint the frame. It had just rained so figured there was a good bit of humidity in the air.



Though painting with a brush took a good amount of time and the runs were unavoidable, it turned out pretty good and coverage was not an issue. I used
2 quarts for 2 coats on the frame, core support and trans crossmember. I still had a little left over for misc parts. Next I will lightly sand, prime and coat
with topcoat. It's worth mentioning that it's really hard to get a good second coat as glossy black on black makes it impossible to know what has been covered.
To do it over again I would do silver for first coat and black for second. Then let dry prime and do final topcoat.

while waiting for the first coat to dry I worked a little on the old gas inlet to the cab. I por15'd the vent areas as well since I will be welding those holes up.

[cmabolt]

Made some more progress on the cab after sanding the frame and core support and priming for top coat.


I really liked what crash did to his firewall, so I have decided to do the same.
Thanks for the inspiration Crash. It really cleans the firewall up. I should have that done tomorrow.
I don't know if this would be possible without deleting the original A/C and going to the Vintage air system, but since I have, seemed like a great idea.


Hopefully this weekend I'll get the Chassis Black topcoat on. It will take me most of a day to cover everything well.