Old With The New

[Dbrasco]

Time to start a thread. Just a little history. My dad bought this truck for me 14 years ago when I was a Freshmen in High school. Truck was pretty much all original. Paint was the factory color but was recently repainted 14 years ago. Engine showed 52,000 miles on it but I'm not sure if they had rolled over or not. Truck was a factory 1971 Chevrolet Cheyenne Long Wheel Base. Truck came with a 350 engine, 350 transmission. Truck had factory a/c with factory head liner. Truck had factory power brakes and the front were disk. Well during my high school days we removed the engine and rebuilt. Installed a steal crank, 10:1 forged pistons, double hump heads, comp 280 cam, eldelbrock intake/carb and long tube headers/flow master exhaust. Truck sounded good and ran pretty strong. After high school I decided to purchase a couple new cars and the truck was not driven as much. Would take the truck out for a cruise and that was about it. Truck still ran good without any problems. A couple cars I've had since high school were a 2000 trans am, 2004 corvette zo6 and 2 2005 silverado ss truck. I'm all about power/performance. Well I do not have any of these vehicles now. I have a 2002 silverado truck with some aftermarket parts. I've wanted to redo the 71 Cheyenne for some time. I enjoy doing all work myself and decided to start the 71 last fall. I'm wanting to take the old truck and upgrade the engine and suspension. Plans for the truck are.

Suspesion:
Air ride all around.
Disk brakes on all four wheels.
20"9 Wheels front and 20"10/11 in back.

Drivetrain:
Engine LS 6.0 or 6.2 Liter 500 RWHP
Transmission 4l60
Rear end factory 12 bolt or ford 9 inch.

Color factory Orange/White or Maybe Red.

Interior have not decided.

Oh yea the truck was a factory LWB, I want a SWB. I have alot of pictures and I'm behind on starting the thread. I will start by adding pictures and then updating as I add the pictures. First pictures are the truck before I started the disassembly. I will update the pictures as I post them. Enjoy looking. Dbrasco

[Dbrasco]

Disassembly pictures.

[PHAT TONY]

Gotta love it. I'd personally like to see every one of the 50 million of these trucks made survive!

[Dbrasco]

I decided to make the truck a swb. I've seen on trucks and this sight about shortening the frame/bed. I did'nt know how to weld but decided to learn. I took a class once a week for six weeks and then I bought me a miller mig 212 welder. Just got a bunch of sheet metal and started practicing. I found a guy with a 69 swb frame so I did'nt have to cut the frame. Frame was a bare frame. I moved my suspension over to the swb frame along with the cab. See pictures.

[Dbrasco]

Some more pictures swapping the frames. Now I have a swb truck.

[mycool72]

Good luck with the build..i feel you on the whole lwb to swb thing!

[chevy_mike]

Nice truck and project but too bad you are making it a SWB.

I bet there are more SWB out there then GM actually built when they were new. LWB are going to become the rare style down the road. LWB forever!

Good luck on your build.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by Dbrasco

Some more pictures swapping the frames. Now I have a swb truck.

Cool project! I'm doing the same thing with my 68 50th. It was a factory big block a/c truck. I would have restored as a LWB, but the front of the frame was hit real hard, so I'm making it a SWB, . Are you going to cut your original bed down or are you going to replace it with an original short wide bed? Best of luck.

R/

[72BlckButy]

What a great looking build, keep us posted on your progress!

[nuke1]

great looking truck you have there

[Dbrasco]

Thanks for all the comments. I'll post more pictures later. Dbrasco

[Dbrasco]

Well next I completed disassembling the cab. I removed the doors, windows and speedometer components. I went ahead and cut out the outside rockers to see what I have to work with. I will probably replace the inner/outer rockers, front/rear pillars and cab corners. I stopped on the cab for now. I plan on having it dipped to removed all paint, rust, etc. As far as the factory lwb bed I tried to sell it. Bed was in great condition. Just seems like everyone is interested in the swb bed. So I decided to remove the 12 inches from the front and the 8 inches from the back. Before I started the bed I built me a couple of jigs. One for lifting the bed and the other to set the bed on to move it around. Now the fun part started, cutting the bed. Everything went pretty good. I removed the tail lights and removed the 8 inches. I then tacked the rear section back on. Next I removed the front section and then the 12 inches from the front. After reinstalling the front rear sections I placed the bed back on the truck to check for alignment. All bolt holes lined up great without any problems. I finished welding the bed up. I have currently started grinding down the welds to prep the bed. I will either place some filler over the welds or take the bed and get it dipped to remove all paint/etc. This bed also had the factory tool box on the passenger side that i'm going to cover up. Well checkout the pictures. Dbrasco

[Dbrasco]

Heres more pictures. Oh yea my wife just had are first child (boy) so things slowed down a little. Will get back to working on truck soon. Dbrasco

[Dbrasco]

Hope you like pictures. Man I wish I had a shop. Dbrasco

[GR8-68]

Very nice work you are doing that is going to be a nice ride. Couldnt you just cutdown the door for the toolbox ? that would be cool, but keep up the good work and congrats on the little one

[northern 85]

Wow nice job!

[Dbrasco]

Thanks for the comments. I did think about cutting the door down for the tool box and using it. Not sure yet. Dbrasco

[my67chevytruck]

Great progress, May have to look into cutting down a LWB as well.....

[gcburdic]

GREAT build DBrasco.....That's cool you went to a welding class...was it worth your time??...It's obvious to me that it was!!!....You do have a nice shop/ garage....all you need now is a Beer fridge!!!LOL.......
Looking forward to following this one!!!....and Congrats on the little one....

[Dbrasco]

I've always wanted to learn how to weld but never tried. A local high school around here has a little night program thats 6 classes long and teaches the basics about welding. It's not a certified school or anything like that. I basically learned how to gas weld, stick/arc weld, mig weld and use a torch for cutting. We did one every class. Basically I learn to change the wire wheels/drive wheels, etc on a mig welder. When the class was complete I just went and bought me a mig welder and started practicing. I'm not the best but I have the idea. I do think the class was worth it. Thanks for the comments on my new son. That too is going to be great. I will update the thread when I get more pictures. Dbrasco

[Dbrasco]

Added some new/used parts to the build. I picked up a motor from a 03 Escalade. It has a cast iron block and aluminum 317 heads. Setup should be the LQ9. Does anyone know where I can get some info on the block/trans specs by the #'s listed on them. I also picked up a 9 inch rear end. Dbrasco

[Spray-Bomb]

More

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looking good...

[kev2809]

that looks good, looks like you learned the welding pretty quick lol. i probably wouldnt have had the balls to chop a bed without a ton of experience but you made it look easy man, nice work!

[Dbrasco]

kev2809 thanks for the comment. Yea the bed was a good project. Just have to be sure and measure a couple of times for the cuts. I figured I would rather do it myself and try to save some money for other parts. I'm currently looking for a engine motor mount and trans kit so I can put the motor in for mockup. Only place that I have found a kit with the tubular engine brackets and the trans kit for a lower truck where you can run the exhaust through the frame is (performanceonline.com). This will probably be the next thing I order. After that I need to get started on the suspension. Dbrasco