69 LWB Power Tour Rig

[69SCSS]

Got the engine / trans in today. The trans didn't clean up as much as I'd have liked, so I'm going to just clean it where it is on the frame before I drop the cab on tomorrow. Progress!!!

I am amazed at how much of an angle that GM put these motors.

On to the pics!!!

[69SCSS]

More Pics:

[Hardesty454]

Hey there buddy! Any updates!? Dont hold out now....

[69SCSS]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

Hey there buddy! Any updates!? Dont hold out now....

HA! No unfortuantely, not really. Been just doing little things here and there lately. Ordered all the clamps and stuff for the trans lines, and a couple other little pieces for the chassis. Once all that stuff is done I can get more done. Plan right now is to get the cab back on next weekend and start getting things put together more... fingers crossed!!!!

I am getting closer to Power Tour every day so I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna get this done in time!!!

[Hardesty454]

I thought we decided PT18 was the goal?





Wait, that was for me.


Hows that grille looking? Any better than your old one?

[69SCSS]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

I thought we decided PT18 was the goal?





Wait, that was for me.


Hows that grille looking? Any better than your old one?

Looks great. Gonna clean it up and install it as soon as the front end is back together. Considering having it sandblasted, depends on how much time I have left. And yea, we're on for 2018, but I'm still trying for 2014 DAMMIT!!! You can ride shotgun for 2014 if you wanna go earlier!

[Hardesty454]

Originally Posted by 69SCSS

Looks great. Gonna clean it up and install it as soon as the front end is back together. Considering having it sandblasted, depends on how much time I have left. And yea, we're on for 2018, but I'm still trying for 2014 DAMMIT!!! You can ride shotgun for 2014 if you wanna go earlier!

That sounds like a heck of a deal. The rust on the inside of it looks like all surface rust. I would have it soda blasted. No sand.

Shotgun? I want to drive it dangit!

[69SCSS]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

That sounds like a heck of a deal. The rust on the inside of it looks like all surface rust. I would have it soda blasted. No sand.

Shotgun? I want to drive it dangit!

Well, I guess we could trade off...

Yea the stuff inside is surface... I need to ask the place if they do soda and not sand, you're right that is pretty thin metal. It all depends on time though, it's probably all coming apart again to do paint / bodywork later this year, still kind of waiting to see how far I get before I make any decisions. I keep changing my mind about the "end result" so I'm sticking with the simple rout for now before I wind up spending way more money!!!

[69SCSS]

Quick update! Got most of the rest of the chassis together. Today I hooked up the wiring for the gas tank sender, only to realize I didn't have a bullet connector! Ran the wire up to the front with the rear lights harness. Hooked the ground wire from the sender to the frame too.
I installed the rear bumper brackets, as I realized it will be really tough to do that once the bed is on with the gas tank there!
On the way to work today I picked up the core support I was missing and bolts for the front bumper. Once I finish off a couple little things tonight in the front, the cab can go back on tomorrow and I'll throw the front clip back on. All I am missing now is the front shocks and the chassis is done. Hopefully before the weekend is over, it will look like a truck again, minus the grille and splash apron. \m/.
Here's some pics.

[69SCSS]

More pics. On the last ppic you'll see my gas tank, which is the replacement Blazer tank. What do you Blazer guys do about the filler neck difference? I was going to find a gas filler hose with a 30 degree bend to it, and run a Suburban filler neck, does anyone know the part # for the gas filler hose?

[69SCSS]

Got a bunch done today! Since I had the chassis done except for the front shocks, I put the body together finally. As I went I found a couple things that I needed to change, but this is only temporary until I start painting panels. Cab went on fine, helps to have that dolly. The bed was another story... I guess I had the tank too far up, and the bed rail wound up sitting on the tank, so I lowered the tank enough for it to fit. Going to need longer bolts on the driver's side.

The new core support made things easy, I slapped that in place and everything else went together easy. Even the hood was a snap to adjust, got it to close good first try! I have to bolt everything else to the core support still (battery tray, voltage reg, remove the 3 core mounts on the bottom, headlights, etc) but I can do that all with it installed. No problem.

Next stop is assembling the rest of the engine and somehow finding a power steering pump

On to the pictures!!!

[69SCSS]

More pics:

[69SCSS]

And even more pics:

[Hardesty454]

Looking good buddy. Doesnt look like you need to much if any body work from this side of the screen.

[69SCSS]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

Looking good buddy. Doesnt look like you need to much if any body work from this side of the screen.

Yea I got some pretty straight panels. There's a couple lumps here and there but not enough for me to worry about at this point. Really the biggest mods are going to be removing the support from the underside of the bed floor between the framerails and putting in a fuel filler door. I'll wait on that until I get the rest going.

My current goals are hooking up the steering and the parking brake. Kinda helps to be able to stop it and steer it!!!

[69SCSS]

Not having a lot of luck getting things to come together this week (steering shaft especially) but got one thing done... the parking brake works! No more setting things in front of the tires, just pull the handle. Ahh. So at least it stops... was hoping to have it steer this week. Learning a lot about the differences between shortbed and longbed trucks, and 67-68 and 69-72's. They may look similar but really... they're not. I've had to swap out many, many parts from the old '69 that just plain won't work or don't fit.

Dropped off stuff at the media blaster place too, looks like next week the grille, cowl, front stone deflector, headlight buckets, and mirror arms will all be clean and ready to paint. Gonna look a little less multicolored very soon!

[Hardesty454]

Have you decided what color your going?

[69SCSS]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

Have you decided what color your going?

Nope, just going to primer it for now and spray some flat black on it to keep it nice. I have no idea what I'm going to paint it right now so flat black will at least make it look OK in the meantime!

[Hardesty454]

For a flat black (not sure which brand you want to go with) But the John Deer Blitz Black is one of the best (and cheapest) on the market. If you havent seen it yet it may be a good choice to look into it. At one point of my build I was so set on flat black I did weeks and months of research into flat blacks. I unfortunately cant get it here in Ca because of all the environmental codes and what not but you should be able to get it up there fine..

[69SCSS]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

For a flat black (not sure which brand you want to go with) But the John Deer Blitz Black is one of the best (and cheapest) on the market. If you havent seen it yet it may be a good choice to look into it. At one point of my build I was so set on flat black I did weeks and months of research into flat blacks. I unfortunately cant get it here in Ca because of all the environmental codes and what not but you should be able to get it up there fine..

For now I'm just going to run with the Rustoleum, since it's cheap and it's not going to be permanent. But I just ran a quick search and found there's a John Deere dealer about 3 miles from my work.... I'll have to swing by there and see how much they are charging per can and try it out. The Rustoleum works good but it doesn't last too long really (at least out of a can) and it's not very durable, I've got nicks all over stuff I painted and I haven't even drove the truck yet! I'll check it out!

Also at this point I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make Power Tour this year, I have too many things left to do just to get this running. But I'll keep trying until I hit the deadline.

[Hardesty454]

Keep at it and you'll get there. Just make sure you don't sacrifice quality and safety for a deadline..

The blitz black is cheap. Something like $30 a gallon if I remember right. It's also THE most durable paint you come across.

[69SCSS]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

Keep at it and you'll get there. Just make sure you don't sacrifice quality and safety for a deadline..

There's the problem. I am running into compatability issues between 67/68 and 69/72 parts... and since I have a '68 and half the parts I have are from the '69, stuff isn't fitting. Thankfully a lot of '69 stuff works for both, but the '69 was a hodge podge of parts also... slowly I'm sorting it out.

[69SCSS]

Got my parts back from the sandblaster today

Gonna take 'em home and clean and at least get some primer on them tonight, not that that will help much but it's going to be like 15º tonight so it won't really dry too fast! Probably shoot some paint on it tomorrow morning, of course it's not going to be much warmer then, they're saying 20's tomorrow for a high. Guess I'll spray them and let them take their time drying. Going to be sunny at least.

Picked up that paint you suggested Rob, They had them at the Pape place a mile from work, $8 a can. Guy there couldn't stop raving about it. They even have white, so there's my paint for the top if I like the way this looks. Thanks man!

[Hardesty454]

Awesome! Parts look great. See, I told you it's good stuff. I know when you buy the gallons you can change the sheen by the amount of thinner used. Never seen the can style but I'm sure it's good too! Can't wait to see it!

[69SCSS]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

Awesome! Parts look great. See, I told you it's good stuff. I know when you buy the gallons you can change the sheen by the amount of thinner used. Never seen the can style but I'm sure it's good too! Can't wait to see it!

When it comes to the actual bodywork and paint I'm going to leave that to the experts, I have tried my hand at that and I suck at it I'm great at bolting things together and finding ways to make stuff work well, but I just don't have the eye for bodywork.

So hey was thinking about hitting Renee's C-10 get together in October... I'll definitely be done by then if you wanna roll down there with me. You're right on the way there!