My First frame up build- 69 short step

[71_Cheyenne]

Hey guys, well I've officially started on my first frame up build. I'm already working on my grandpas 71 cheyenne long bed (hence the screen name) but its not a frame off build, since its on a limited budget.
I got my truck a month ago as a graduation/birthday present. It belonged to my step grandpas sister, who is 84 years old and cant drive anymore. She bought it from our local chevy dealer in 74, and before that it was either a BLM truck or Forest service, I'm not sure which. It only has 102,900 miles on it, and I know the speedo hasn't rolled over more than that, since it has the original ball joints and clutch.
As you see in the pictures, its a pretty confused truck. It has (had since its dissassebled) manual steering and breaks, 6 cyl 250, 4 speed granny 1st, no radio, but heres the funny parts, it has the radio suppressor and a 12 bolt POSI rear end. Yeah its a base model truck, with posi rearend.
Its got a couple dents here and there, and its been in one wreck. the rad. core support is wrinkled in a few places, and theres some dents on the fire wall where the fenders bolt on. But the good part is the rust that is in it is rust from the outside where water would run onto the cab along the kickpanels and rocker panels. not alot of rust.

My plans are to drop it 4/6, switch to 5 lugs, put a fuel injected engine, probalby an lt1, some sort of 5 speed manual, and under bed fuel tank.

Heres some pictures of the build so far. You'll have to use your imagination cuz I don't have a before picture.

Bed


Fenders


Inner Fenders and rad support (and there is the standard rust/ corrosion from battery acid on the pass. inner fender)



Hood


Cab


Dash


Tranny


Engine


Frame

[71_Cheyenne]

Front Crossmember and suspension




Build sheet

[GMBowtie79]

Looks like a good start. Now the trick is to make it resemble a truck again, oh and run. You got alot of work ahead of you. Just don't give up like alot of people do and you'll have somthing you can be proud of.

[71_Cheyenne]

Thanks Bowtie. Yeah, whe;n I got the truck, I was going to just play around with it the way it was and drive it, but with gas at 4.59 here and a 30 mile commute to get anywhere, I wasn't going to drive it so I deceided to tear into it. I've had experience thought with this kinda thing, as my dad builds street rod frames from scratch of his own design that utilizes late model gm suspension. ANd hes has fully restored multiple cars, the last couple have been a '49 suburban with a 454 built for towing. We've towed a travel trailer through death valley in the summer when it was 114 degrees and the engine didn't even get close to hot. and hes done two 48 chevy trucks, one for him one for a friend that have lt1's and rear 4 link suspension from a early 90's buick roadmaster/impala. heres some pics.

[GMBowtie79]

Dude thats a sweet Burb those are hard to find. when I got my 79 Burb it was between it and a 65 Burb. I needed somthing that would hold my family(the wife, my 6 kids, and myself) so a pickup wasn't an option at the time. I got the 79 and it,s been a daily driver/project for 4 years now but wat sold me on it was it's a factory 4 speed (I love stick shifts ) and the wife didn't drive so it's all mine. Well with all the kids, money is always tight so I've been working on it slowly for a few years now. So far the entire suspension has been rebuilt with a 6.5"f / 6"r drop all poly bushings, front and rear sway bars, put in a tremic 5 speed and rebuilt the drive line, 4 wheel disc brakes(drilled and slotted) all new from the master cyl. to the calipers with all stainless lines and steel braded soft lines. Now Im building a engine for it which I'm hoping to have in it before the summer ends. But the wife got her licence(finally after what seemed like forever) so I got a 74 pickup for her daily driver/another project for me. It's a long road but the rewards are so worth it when your driving down the road in somthing you built and there isn't another one like it. Well I'm rambleing on so i'll just post a pic.

And heres hers, I've only had this one for about 1 month so far and have less than $850 into it so far. I want to do a frame up on it but the wife is using it and well the carport is my shop so my landlords might object a little bit.

[71_Cheyenne]

Hey, nice burb. I really do love burbs, and almost bought one a few months ago. i think it was a 70, but it had alot of rust and it wasn't worth it to me.

Well, I've made a little progress this weekend. Got the frame completly taken apart and sand blasted. Its not as clean as I would like it, but then again, it would take a few more bags just to make it a little cleaner and up to my expectations, but its just going to be a cruiser, not a show truck. I need to pick up some chassis black that is at my grandpas house from when I spayed some stuff on the 71, and then get to work making the frame looking good. I've got to work one more week to have enough money (sound familiar anyone, lol) to get the front disk brake setup. I've chosen to go with performane online, because of the price. And luckily the sell Western Chassis spindles, not some china stuff.

Heres some pics...

[72BlckButy]

Good luck with the build, it looks like you have a great start!

[GMBowtie79]

Looks like your building a beach in your yard also. The frame is lookin good,you might want to just prime it if your going to do any fabricating on it like makin it so you can run the exhaust through the crossmember that way you can tuck the pipes and have a little more ground clearence, puttin in a C-notch, Ect. That way you won't have to shoot it twice. Keep up the good work!

[71_Cheyenne]

Update time. Picked up my chassis black today and shot the frame. Next I'll finish blasting and paint the front crossmember, a-arms, trailing arms, and the rear end. I'm still researching wether or not western chassis drop spindles, which are the brand that performance online sells, move the wheel out from a stock disk brake system. I've also heard from a couple guys that I've called about spindles is that the 73-87 steering and suspension is not very good because of the material the rubber componants are made of wear out faster and cause the truck to loose allignment. What do you guys think. I wanted to go with the later model stuff cuz the replacement balljoints and tie rods and whatnot are cheaper to buy.
Pics...