69 GMC Build, 20s, Full Frame, LS, Bagged, Bodied

[elbine69]

Hey everyone, great site here with lots of good info and builds. Posting this up for my buddy Jason because he tells me hes no good with forums haha. Anyways here's the project we have been working on since the beginning of December, a 69 GMC longbed that he traded his 03 for. Nothing too crazy, just make something that he wouldn't be afraid to drive anywhere with a full frame, LS engine and 20s.



Here it is in all its glory when he brought it home.


This was something I was tinkering with in my free time and made changes from here.


Modified the design to fit the truck, make it a shortbed and come up with the lengths and all the pieces we would need to cut. Over 35 individual pieces to make the frame since mandrel bent rails were out of the question. To make all the needed curves, we ordered a bunch of frame curves from Paul Hortons Welders Series.



Good quality parts, would definitely recommend them!

Jason started tearing down the truck so the cab could be removed and the stock frame rolled outside so the rust repair on the cab could be done when waiting for parts for the frame.






As you can see it will be no small task.


Some of the replacement metal.


The replacement heart, it will be getting a carb and front drive distributor.

Jason started on the cab when he got bored one day.




Jeff tore all the accessories off the engine to see how it looked, not bad.


So with the frame out of the way we got a frame table built with some new angle iron and some left over adjustable legs from my 3/4 frame build for my Mazda.


And got started on the rear of the frame rails. 3/16" 2x4 tubing. Beef.


We dont have a ton of fancy tools, but we make it work.

Some other parts for the suspension came in from Nfamus, I think theyll be strong enough



With the over the axle sections of the rails built we threw them up on the table to get an idea of how it was looking.



Next up was to build the rails under the cab. We pie cut sections of the 2x4 tubing to get the bends and welded it up.

Me doing some welding.


The rails attached, starting to look like a frame!

Of course we had to set the cab on to check out how it looked.


Next up was the front clip section.



With both sides completed, we began to put them together after lots of measuring, tweaking, measuring, leveling and more measuring.

Front crossmember in.

All tacked together!

Threw a rim up there just for kicks.


With the frame basically done, we got started on the rear suspension.

Jeff and I measuring for the crossmember.

Half of the crossmember and link mounts.

Installed.

Me welding the upper axle mount on with the supervisor watching haha.

We wanted to have square upper link bars to match the lowers, but we couldnt find anyone that could bend 2x2x1/4 tubing. So I just designed some flat plate arms and we built them.

Parts back from the laser.

Clamp, weld, clamp, weld....

One halfway finished, bushings installed. Lots of welding left.

Jason doing some welding on the bars.

Bolted up.

With that done we welded the axle tabs on for the lower link bar.



Jason has been keeping busy getting everything welded on the rear suspension and frame.
The rear is on hold now until we get the bag mounts for the lower links.

Now we are working on getting the front suspension mounted.

New 13" rotors, and 2.5" drop spindles.

Michigan Metal upper control arms!

Getting the upper control arm mounts and the lower control arm design figured out.

And making sure its going to work in the real world haha.
Just waiting on the parts from the laser now and we can start to get the uppers mounted.

Ill keep this updated as we make more progress, we are trying to get it to a rolling chassis for a show at the end of June.

[elbine69]

Nobody likes?

[69short]

Just read through the thread! It's looking good! Keep up the good work

[cstewart8808]

Awesome work.... Subscribed and waiting to see more

[jmorri34]

Dude, I'm floored! Great work, I'm in for the duration keep up the great work...

[Katrina/10]

Looks good, thanks for the pictures.

[elbine69]

Thanks everyone, hopefully we get more parts this week to get back at it.

[elbine69]

Wow, its been a little bit since I updated this so here it goes.
After working on the cab for a bit, the farther we got on it the worse it looked. Jason decided that he would rather get a new cab and one was found down in PA that was in much better shape and needed rockers and a floor.

[elbine69]

Also picked up a new aluminum H.O. 5.3L from an SSR instead of using the 4.8.
We got that mocked up and mounted in the frame last weekend.

[elbine69]

We picked up a 4x2 sheet of 3/4" steel last night to make the control arms and transmission crossmember out of. More updates soon!

[lolife99]

Wow, wow, wow.
Not sure how I missed this thread.
Keep the updates coming.
Killer frame!

[72BlckButy]

That is phenominal work gentlemen.

Subscribed.

[elbine69]

Thanks guys!

[elbine69]

Jeff got the control arms cut yesterday with the CNC plasma, going to get at lease one side mounted this weekend!

[elbine69]

This is the most recent rendering of what it will look like.

[builtbyKane]

Looks like your on your way to having an amazing truck.

[elbine69]

Jason got a little bit done on the control arms last night, tried out his new TIG to weld them.

It looks like the upper tabs need to be taller as the ball joints don't get as much travel as we were expecting. The taller tabs will help with the camber gain so its definitely not a bad thing. Still looks cool finally having a wheel mounted up though!

[lolife99]

Very cool a-arms.
What do you have planned for the steering rack mounts since your engine is mounted in the frame so low?

[elbine69]

Thanks, it took a few tries on a design with the arms but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

We're going to use a mustang II rack and build some mounts off the front cross member. There is about 6" under the front of the motor, it will be tight but we shouldn't have a problem making it all fit.

[vsoree]

I'm watching, looking good.

[Mr Chevorlet]

Great fabrication on your frame. Looking good.

[elbine69]

Thanks for the good words guys.

Picked up some new ball joints and wow do they get a lot more travel as you can see. Now everything bolts up just fine and lays out on the stock wheel and tires. We're going to try one of the 22's and make it lay on that which is still probably going to require taller mounting tabs. More to come soon!

[Dano69c10]

Awesome work!

[elbine69]

We got a little bit more done yesterday. Mocked up the upper control arm tabs to figure out what the new ones need to look like. Hope to get those this week.

[elbine69]

bump