Cher the Baby Blue Chevy

[NathanielTroy1]

Starting my build thread off to keep a log of my progress. I'll have to start taking more pictures when I work on her to keep it updated. Side note this is my first truck so I know close to nothing.

Backstory of the truck:
It is a 1988 C1500 Cheyenne W/T, single cab, long box. The guy I bought it from works away and the truck was handed down from his stepfather who passed away. He was too busy with work to keep it. His step-father had built it and then began stripping it down so I bought it on the whim the engine and tranny weren't toast.

I picked it up for $2,300 CAD in June 2019. Speedo said 212k but doesn't work anymore so there's no telling how much the body has. Engine is a 350 from an older truck and was converted to carbureted. When I first checked it out, I figured it was a good deal purely off all the extras and assumed everything worked.
He was throwing in everything that fit on the truck in his garage which included:
-TH400
-TH350
-4L60E I think
-3 water pumps, one being aluminum
-5 or 6 rad fans, including one with stainless blades
-Stock throttle body
-350 block (I assumed its the original from the truck)
-2 sets of mirrors, black and chrome
-Spare front chrome bumper
-2 brand new cherry bombs
-Set of chrome valve covers
-Chrome thermostat housing
-Steel braided hose cover kit
-Hundreds of random hoses
-Air dam+lights
Definitely missing stuff but that's the gist of it

Pictures in the ad:

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[NathanielTroy1]

When I picked it up and brought it home, I found many upgrades that I would have done late on such as:
-Big tacho (don't hate them, don't love them)
-Triple gauges since it's converted to carb
-True dual with what I think are Flowmaster mufflers.
-Long tube headers
-High flow manifold
-Four-barrel carb
-Upgraded plug wires
-Sweet valve covers
-Rear shocks appear to be new
And not a spot of rust on the inside of the box. The truck sat in a garage for the last 8 years.

Pics of when I brought it home:

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[NathanielTroy1]

Immediately the problems started to arise. We accidentally rolled the truck off the back of the trailer, busting the gas tank and denting the frame. It didn't bend thankfully.

Once we got it in the garage:
-Exhaust was pinched between the cross-member
-None of the gauges worked
-Rear cross-member was rusted through
-Brake cylinders were shot
-The wiring was disgusting, live, open wires everywhere and running nowhere. Wires routed through a drilled hole in the frame
-None of the alternators fit/worked
-The mark for the timing was ground off
-The WHOLE truck was full of red overspray from when he must have painted the block and tranny
etc. etc.


First thing I did was clean up the TH400 and throw it in to get her moving, it sounded pretty healthy after way too much messing with the timing. Second thing done was remove the overspray.

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[NathanielTroy1]

Few pics of the interior:

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Ended up finding a massive mouse nest throughout the whole vent system so I took a full day to clean that out. I will eventually have to replace the system because it still smells awful.

Found a pic of the truck after it fell off the trailer:

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I found a parts truck identical to mine except without the overdrive transmission. Paid $400 for it:

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