'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore

[Qknf4u69]

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.

[Qknf4u69]

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.

[Qknf4u69]

December 2016:

Might as well add better frame notches.

[Qknf4u69]

January 2017:

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

[Qknf4u69]

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.

[Qknf4u69]

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...

[Qknf4u69]

June 2017:

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

[Qknf4u69]

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???

[Qknf4u69]

August 2019:

Loaded and dropped off at the Frame straightening shop.

Look at all the room in the garage now.

[Qknf4u69]

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.

[Qknf4u69]

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... LOL

[Qknf4u69]

February 2020:

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

[Qknf4u69]

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...

Be safe everyone, Good Luck!

[Qknf4u69]

September 2020:

Brake and fuel line fabrication!

[Qknf4u69]

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!

[Qknf4u69]

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.

[1971Stepside]

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.

[Ol Blue K20]

Subbed to watch the build

[Qknf4u69]

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!

[Qknf4u69]

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.

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!!!

[Ol Blue K20]

Man that speedo gear must've gone through hell.

[1971Stepside]

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!!!

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.

[Qknf4u69]

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.

[cornerstone]

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. 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?

[Scurry67]

Great write up. I’m in for the ride