'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

It is never too late to get back in to a project. This is to help others to not give up and maybe not follow the same path of mistakes I have made… with that here we go!

So, I have wanted to do this build ever since I purchased this truck from my dad back in 1985 who bought it new from the local dealership. The 69 pickup was known around town (kids at school) as 'The Hay Burner'. The name was given because of the tons of hay she and I had hauled, a wood bed having a 16" hole over the exhaust, the subsequent fire from the loose hay in the bed which created a smoke trail driving to school one day. She has had a few different engines, transmissions and wheels but never got any closer to the way I dreamed the truck to look when completed. She has always looked like a work truck.

In the 90's I decided to do a frame off restore, why not, I can do it I have tools. So, while tearing in to the truck I found a crack in the frame and on the front suspension cross member from this accident. It must had happened from an accident I had when I was 17. It was a great accident, where I removed the front of a car then went over an embankment in to a culvert that broke the lower control arm U-bolts and sheared off the tie rod which left my wheel making an extreme right turn while the driver wheel was still pointing pretty much straight. Luckily only the vehicles were hurt... So after finding the damage I searched and found a donor frame and had it sandblasted then waited for money to continue.

The year was 1993 and my first purchase for the build was after reading in my Truckin’ magazine about a 4-link rear suspension from Alston Suspension. This way I could get to get rid of the old sagged out leaf springs that were tired from the 500 plus trips of 50 bales of hay on them and the custom torched leaf lowering I did when I was 16... Heat was free, parts were expensive, when you are young who needs safety... LOL. In that same magazine I found a tubular lowering kit for the front suspension from CPP. It was cheaper than dropped spindles at the time and having minimal money I purchased that kit as well. I figured I would have this thing knocked out in no time! But then waited for more money to continue.

In 1994 acquired a 454 that I rebuilt and installed it in the frame with the new suspension. That same year I purchased a TCI TH400 from Jegs and hooked it behind the Big Block. But then it happened, the wife and I had our first of two children and the truck was put away, it was time to buy a family car and a house.

In 2001, I had thought I could juggle my job, kids and a project so I sent off the body for soda blasting. I found a 71 pickup at the wrecking yard and picked up disc brakes and the power steering for the truck. Clean up all parts, rebuilt as necessary and installed on the donor frame. Started working on the sheet metal of the cab and it looked like I was going to get after it once again. Well, a new house, kids doing sports and money not being as plentiful as expected made the truck go to the back burner. These pictures are the only digital pictures I have of my truck at this time of the build, too bad I have no idea where the box of photos are of the truck before digital.

The truck was not really touched until winter of 2016, which was about the same time the kid’s plates were broken and kicked out of the house, not really, but they were no longer the money eaters and the 'Hay Burner' was dusted off and evaluated. Well let’s just say that in my youth I didn’t have it all figured out. I went to finish up the 4-link and found out that I didn’t set it up correctly and the parts that I would need to buy would be almost as much as the kit cost now with 23 years of inflation. So, what to do… buy a complete coil over kit and remove the 4-link.

And… we will just have to start the build from there... Oh the fun had just begun.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

December 2016:

Oops, my drive line hits my track bar. Time to cut out the old and buy some new trailing arms, springs and rear end.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

December 2016:

Might as well add better frame notches.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

January 2017:

New trailing arms, springs, rear end and brakes arrived. Mock up complete!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

March 2017:

All parts fitted and painted.

I did have some issues with the rear end. There was a problem on the rear end pads that were welded on from the builder. The pads were not in plane with each other so when I traveled the suspension from ride height to bottoming out in the frame notch the passenger side hit about 1" before the driver side. After seeing and figuring out the problem the solution was to make some shims to correct the rear end lean. It must be a problem with the jig used to weld the pads on because even after I had the supplier send replacement the two side by side were identically wrong. It was a cheap fix and I had a end mill at my disposal at the time to fabricate the shims.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

May 2017:

My body man had to return my parts unfinished. Health problems and he was losing the building he had. So here is a picture of the pile of sheet metal.

Goodbye garage space at home...

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

June 2017:

Goodbye behind the seat tank, hello Boyd Welding fuel cell.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

August 2019:

Well since I have the body lets see how things fit....

Uh-Oh... this doesn't look quite right...

only 1/2" off that isn't that bad, or is it???

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

August 2019:

Loaded and dropped off at the Frame straightening shop.

Look at all the room in the garage now.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

14 days later it's home. I think they may have actually made it worse. Now there is a belly in where cab sits and the front didn't change. Sending it back to the shop.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

September 2019:

After giving them 2 more attempts which not one time that I went there to measure it was the frame problem corrected. They had over 20 hrs of table time... either they can not use a measuring tape, their fancy table doesn't work or their technicians have no idea how to use either.

So being busy at work and disappointed with the outcome of the frame I gave it a rest to think about what to do next.

January 2020:

Well, I picked up a lot of steel, 4x4 lumber, a few chain ratchets and figured out some redneck engineering and went to work on the frame.

After 3 weeks of pulling here to there and this and that, here was the result.

At the center of the engine cross member it was now less than 1/16" off center and the front horn center line was off by 3/16" so that should mean the center was off by 3/32" way better than before. And after I put all the sheet metal on both side of the fenders had equal spacing off the tires as you would suspect.

Moral of the story:

Make sure the people doing the work know what they are doing or better yet check the frame before 20 years go by...:gi: LOL

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

February 2020:

Proof is in the pudding! No more problems with the frame!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

March 2020:

COVID Alert:

Shutting down all entertainment in Las Vegas... So Sad... Hello yard work...

September 2020:

After a lot of time without any direction from our state government my show has permanently closed.... Doubling down on the truck while we see what happens with entertainment field in general...:waah:

Be safe everyone, Good Luck!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

September 2020:

Brake and fuel line fabrication!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

September 2020:

My engine that was built in 1994 was put back in the frame and getting parts to maybe fire it up before the end of the month!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

September 15th:

I pulled the intake and cleaned and lubed the solid cam, lifters, push rods and rockers. Installed a new intake gasket, filled with break in oil and finished up a few odds and ends and steeling the carburetor from the wife's Chevelle, Shhh... maybe she won't notice. My best friend who is designing some cool stuff for the race world brought over his data logging system and we hooked it to the engine to record this momentous occasion.

I can't believe it, the day finally came.

Over 26 years of waiting after it was first assembled... it was time to fire the big block 454. After a fuel leak on the fuel pump on initial start I'd have to say the rest of the break-in went flawless. She did get a bit hotter than I expected, but I didn't rejet the carb or set the timing, so 210º at the thermostat and oil pressure at 50PSI with 30 SAE was pretty good I think. Too bad the RPM didn't record but it was still way cool to have a documented break-in on the other gauges.:metal:

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

A lot of work on that frame for sure, but worth it in the end. I'll be watching your build as it is off to a great start.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Subbed to watch the build

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

I was worried the torque converter may rattle forward and kiss the flex plate during break-in so I removed the converter and put the transmission back to hold the engine. These few week were dedicated to the transmission. The transmission was split from the block and I installed the converter and fabricated transmission lines. Luckily there are a lot of bolt holes in the frame that were no longer needed which worked great for the Adel clamps for the steel braided PTFE lines. Because of the large primary headers I used 90º fittings off my AN6 adapters out of the transmission to give ample space between the tube and the lines. Drilled a hole in the core support and added a expansion (Well) nut to hold my lines as they routed to the front of the radiator. I left enough room for a AC condenser in case I ever want to add in the future.

Unknown at the time the future fuel line connections photo bombed the transmission line picture.

The mail was nice enough to wreck my new speedo assembly. All I could see was Jim Carry in Ace Ventura kicking the package down the street from the looks of the pouch and the contents I received.

A quick text to Kerry at American Hot Rod Solutions and a replacement was in the mail for another attempt. Thanks Kerry!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Thanks for checking out the build. I should have been doing more posting on the way instead of heaping the build so far into one giant day. :lol:

I am new to the posting thing and will try to be better with updating things on here.

1971 Stepside...
I had happened on to your build back around August when I was looking for who knows what... loved reading about truck's journey from high school day to present. Great build so far and it is helping me stay motivated!!!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Man that speedo gear must've gone through hell.

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As you know, they are a money suck, a time suck, and they fight you the whole way. You have a great looking project and you are doing it right. I'll be following along as you go.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Looks like I missed a few spots in those pics, so pay no attention to the amount of dust/grime that has appeared over the build's elapsed time. I have been wiping the frame and components down where ever the next point of work has led me. I think I may get all of the crud off eventually.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Thanks for contributing your story and build to the board! I'd bet most builds don't go exactly to plan in general. It seems the at the start of a build everything is just simple job, I was even blind enough to think I would have an LS swap in and done within a couple of weeks. :lol: That was nearly 4 years ago. If it were only as easy to put them back together all shiny and new as it is to tear them down when they're all greasy!

Clearly you do nicer work now than when you were 16! I look back at some of my 16 year old "repairs" and have to laugh at myself as well. Like the time I riveted a street sign over the giant hole in the floor board and called it rust repair.

What other plans are in store for the truck? You've already got a super nice set up with a big block and coil overs, but what color do you want?

It sounds like you have an interesting job... care to share what you do in the entertainment industry?

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Great write up. I’m in for the ride :chevy:

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Yeah, back in the day if the bolt fit in the hole that was it. Who needs washers or a piece of plate to hold in the bucket seats I took out of a blazer and then gave away when I started this tear down. Those would be worth something now!

Haven't settled on the color yet. Originally I had picked out the LeMans Polynesian Green, it is what is on the engine valve cover pictures. Then Atomic Orange was new and exciting but that has been done a few times. Recently it has been charcoal grey or a two tone red morphing to black...now I am just confused and can not pick a color. So permanent of a choice, do not want to ever second guess myself once its on there.

As far as the entertainment.... have you ever seen Magic Mike......

Well, that is not me... :lol:

If you can remember back when there was a show out front of the Treasure Island with Ships, Water & Fire. It was changed 10 years later to the Siren's of ti (more like new Coke, not as good). I was head of the team that kept it all going every day for nearly 20 years. After 'they' shut it down in 2013 me and my co-workers (friends really after that long) all went out in search of work. I ended up at the Le Reve show at the Wynn. Was part of the team that worked on all of the automation equipment and flew people on high speed winches. Unfortunately now that is no more... it was permanently closed as of September due to COVID19.:cuss:

Good news... Now I can devote more of my time to the project, until the money runs out. Only time will tell if Entertainment recovers to what once was.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Same here! For the better part of 10 years, mine was going to be a red and white truck.... then went to hugger orange and white, but sometime this last spring I told myself I was changing for the last time since I always seem to gravitate toward the medium blue and white trucks at a show, so I went ahead and bought the paint so I would quit thinking about it!:lol: Part of my decision making was thinking how the color made me feel. I really like the look of the reds and oranges as far as show trucks, but if it were my truck, I wanted a bit more relaxed look, and to me that was the blue. Black is really my favorite, but I've already owned a new black truck and trying to keep that clean with my 1/4 mile gravel driveway proved to be way too much work.

Keep the pictures comin!

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Who could think putting on a power steering hose could be so tough. I do now.

The power steering I added to the build was off a 71 donor, found way back in the 1900's when you could sometimes find one of these 67-72 pickups in the wrecking yard, if you have read previous posts you'll know when. All of these parts were rebuilt but I had never put either of the power steering lines on my big block. Hours of searching on the inter-web led me to believe that I needed a Gates 355230 Pressure Hose and 6" or so of 3/8" rubber line. Well, the 3/8 line was easy to grab out of my stock and I ordered up the hose as no one keeps this in stock near me. I will add that all of the accessories were from a 73 truck with the long water pump. I could not find a hose that was inverted flare for that year from the auto parts store so I figured I would try the stock for my year and engine.

Enter today... my new line was delivered and I tried every conceivable way I could imagine to make the line fit but it my headers or inner fender seemed to get in the way. I know I am not the only person that has put headers on a big block with power steering, what gives, must be the 73 brackets that is causing my issue.

Time to take make some adjustments, first thought, maybe making the almost 90º at the pump a bit more 90ish, maybe 10º or so more. That helped but I needed to have a shorter end after the new 100º plus angle at the Inverted flare fitting.

I took out my inverted flare tool and moved the fitting nut as far on to the angle I had just bent and marked out where I need to cut. I was either going to make this hose work or it would be going in the trash. I don't think they would have taken back after the adjustments I was making. I ended up removed 3/4" and then reflared the piece. It now fits with 3/8" away from the header. If someone has encountered a better hose number I would love to know what would fit as a stock replacement. Hopefully I will find a better replacement before this hose gets old and leaky. I do not really want to have to create one offs.

Moral of today; a 10 minute job can turn in to over 3 hours with luck. Never give up!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Hey all,

The last few months I have been way too busy with everything else then to spend time on the Hay Burner. Heck, I wasn't even home for one of the months.

I did get the body partially assembled on to the frame to check the fit. It was the first time I had most of the sheet metal assembled since 2001 when I started tearing her down. This was the last check I wanted to see if after the tweaking to the frame, I think we are good.

Before

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

Like my weights in the bed? 200 pounds of dog food should help with what the actual ride height should be with a full tank and the rest of the wood and hardware.

And Now!

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

What you do when you do not want to go pull weeds in the back yard or go clean up the garage mess from sorting through all the Christmas decoration that had to be done before going back in storage.

Well, you try your skills in AutoCad. Measure your truck a few hundred time and draw up the next expensive part. A custom piece drive line will someday make her go back and forth... at least for now until a steering column is installed.

Over thinking is my specialty... :hh:

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Had the local shop tack weld up my new driveline from my CAD drawing. Went with the heavy duty carrier bearing, not that I needed it, bullet proof is what I asked for from the shop. Measurements were pretty close to the drawing when I mocked it up under the truck. I could have had them add about 1/8" more on the rear shaft but the slip joint has 1-1/2" from center in/out. I figured there was really no reason to have them cut a new piece of tube to get the 1/8" back when there really isn't much change in full travel of the rear end.

Gave it back to shop to finish welding, balancing and paint, should see it in a few days.

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Well today I picked up the finished driveline. Smells of black paint in the garage, never a bad thing if you ask me. Cost a bit, but as I have seen on many other posts, "Good work isn’t cheap, Cheap work isn’t good".

Family is in town this week so unfortunately it will have to wait on the floor a few days before I drill the spacer and the bolt holes in the cross member.

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The engine can finally exert some of its influence to the wheels. I made it out to the garage to install the new 2 piece driveshafts. It looks great and is a giant milestone. After I bolted everything down I zeroed out the frame and checked the Front shaft to see if it followed the frame. It was running up hill to the carrier bearing by 0.2º so I made a shim to move the transmission up by an 1/8" and that made me just under 0.1º the other way. I doubt that there would have been any vibration from it but the shop guru didn't like it when I told him so I followed his advice and shimmed the tranny up.

Of course I had to start the engine up and let the transmission spin the new parts. It was the first time that the transmission has ever been tested since it was built by 'R.W.' with TCI in 4-11-1994 and tested by 'S.D.' (Maybe Scoobi Doo) 3 days later. Good job guys, it worked as intended, one of those purchases from so long ago, glad it worked!

FYI
I did remember to take my string line off before spinning the shaft... :)

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What color are your valve covers? Is it available in a spray can? Thanks.

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I don't know if this info will help since this color was mixed for me in the late 90's, but here ya go.

It is a single stage Centari color by DuPont. "GM Le Mans Polynesian Green". I don't remember what year this color was offered but the paint code is #N9711A. I am sure if you go to a DuPont paint supply store they could probably use this info to get the color. It probably could be put in to spray can too but I shot it with a DeVilbiss spraygun.

A pack-rat never throws anything away. Even an old paint can with a rock of old dried up paint... :lol:

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Of course there are many reasons to turn back time...

Mine isn't just to be younger and invest in Amazon or Tesla when they first offered their IPO. No this one was when I hacked up the dash in my truck at 16 to but a Power Booster with a 8 band EQ with LED Meter where the ashtray used to be. I am sure it was a whole 50 Watts of power probably with a lot of distortion not to mention the hack job was horrible. It was one of those bad moves you wish you never did. So when I was 19 and a guy I worked with had a old cab that had a decent dash I took jigsaw and went to town. I got 2 of the 3 bolts on each side of the dash, because I couldn't get the upper bolt holes lined up and cross threaded the bolt holes. And the way I cut the dash I overlapped the new to the old dash and the dash pad covered it all. Nobody could tell unless you knew the ashtray from the donor was from newer truck.

So today I started to repair the damage of those long ago days. I took the donor dash back out and tapped out the holes and I welded up a 1/2" hole in the center of the dash where a stereo installer put a LED for a Alarm system back in those early days. Was a lot easier to take it out and patch and grind the unwanted holes. It wasn't much but it was a start.

I also have some rust issues below the passenger side vent above the standard patch panel are. This weekend I will prep for those repairs and maybe a new cut line so I can properly marry the two dashes together.

More pictures to come when all that happens.

Re: 'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore
 

That's a nice easy way to fix your dash. Nice!

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Well its been some time since I have updated. I have been busy with everything but the truck it seems. I did make a trip to my Mom's ranch to help out around there and had a great time doing that kind of work. Funny I moved away from there originally to get away from those chores and go on a kind of vacation to get away from here to a simpler life to do those chores.... :jest:.

Patched up some holes that have been needed to be repaired on the cab. I should have done the cowl rot differently but it turned out good enough and will never be seen.

Really doesn't look like much, but its progress none the less.

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That wasn't all that got filled up...

This rot around the passenger foot well has been known problem since 2002. I fabricated a patch piece for the vent air box welded that back together. I had previously cut out what I thought was the bad area of the foot well... but welding and hidden rust got things got out of hand quickly. After welding the 2 larger patch pieces I ended up adding 3 more smaller pieces of sheet metal to repair hidden rusted areas that just opened up a can of worms. The A-pillar area was nothing but rust once exposed further up the side. Media blasted what I exposed and painted it up with Zero-Rust before I welded it all back up. After hours of work it is al sealed up and strong. May I'll add a little filler here and there later to conceal some waves... when that time comes.

Lets just say I am not a good welder but I stayed in a Holiday Inn.....