hemigeno's Daytona restoration - a few more tweaks... again!

[hemigeno]

These next pictures show how the "abandoned" original Charger backlight area has been prepped to resemble exactly how it would have when Creative pulled the Charger glass out.  This includes the window seal strip-caulk and all of the window clips/spacers.  The second picture is a neat detail, as it shows some screwdriver marks intentionally put there by Vance to replicate how Creative's guys crudely removed the Charger rear window trim.  All this detail work will be covered up by the package tray, but it's recorded here anyway.

Incidentally, there was no broken glass found in my car, which means they must not have had any trouble removing the window from my car.  Often, there is a ton of broken glass from the rear window where they simply broke it out rather than wrestling with removing it in one piece.

The last picture shows a really neat detail shot which will evidence some of this work to be hidden.  This picture was taken of the underneath side of the Dutchman panel from inside the trunk compartment.  You can see where the welding work from the window plug (see the grinding marks above) burned through the paint on the underneath side.  This is still visible at the other weld locations, but is mostly obscured by a reinforcement panel/brace inside the trunk area.  Personally, I eat details like this up...

[hemigeno]

A shot of the replated door latch mechanisms, as they turned out awesome.

The next two shots are of the re-work being done on the rear valance seams.  Vance and I spent more than a few minutes going through the factory engineering graphics to research where everything should start/stop.  There are a few other things they're going to do related to sealers in this area which I'll report on at a later date.  For instance, the reason Chrysler left this side of this particular seam open, is because they put a caulk strip on the OTHER side of the seam.  They didn't want to trap any moisture inside this area, so they left it open on the outside.

The last picture is of the marker light bezel "shadow", with primer showing through as it should.

[hemigeno]

The first two pictures document the reverse lights I had found for use on the car.  An earlier question about which part number is correct for a Daytona can't be answered definitively by these pictures, but this is what we're using on my car and they seem to be an exact match for what was on there originally.  I did not have any parts boxes for these so I can't say what offical part number they were.

The last two pictures were taken after Vance made a comment that my car must have been converted a little later than some, because it has several additional rear glass trim clips installed in comparison to some other cars Vance has restored.  He had remarked back then how difficult it was to get those cars' rear glass trim to fit nicely, but the additional clips found on my car should make it a snap.  He put a clip anywhere there was a screwhole on my car, which is where Creative's workers installed them since the glass had never been out of my car.

Another point about the last two pictures is that the screw holes for the black spacers (not the olive-drab clips) normally found on Charger glass were not "tapped out" as they would have been if a screw had been installed.  Vance has installed a screw just to mark where the hole is, but he's not sure whether to install a spacer clip there or not.  In the end it won't be visible, but it's odd that there was not apparently a spacer clip ever installed.  Also, you'll note that the screws for all the clips are a gold-color.  These were replated (from a silver-cad type finish) to match how the original screws look.  Again, this won't be seen once the trim is installed, except in pictures like these.

[hemigeno]

I took these first two pictures to show a pretty noticeable dent that Creative had somehow managed to put in the original dutchman panel.  Since the glass had never been out of this car, it's hard to imagine how a dent of that magnitude could have been put there by anyone other than a Creative employee.  Wonder if someone stood up there for some reason?   

The last two are just some perspective shots of the car.

[hemigeno]

An additional overall shot of the car, plus one from underneath showing a glimpse of the rear undercarriage.

The last shot for this batch is one I took of the new cigar lighter element/knob I purchased several years ago.  A thread on Moparts a while back about lighter knobs got me to thinking about what was "correct" for a late '69 B-body.  Anyone still have their original lighter knob?  I don't think it should look like this.  Vance is pretty sure it should have no knurling and be much "thinner" in the area of the knob where the knurling currently is.  He had a pretty nice condition knob that will work great if it's polished up a bit, I just forgot to take a picture of it.  I'd still appreciate any input on what other (especially mostly-original) cars have for their knobs...

That's all for now, anyway.  I will post up the engine dyno results when Vance gets them to me, which will probably be in the next couple of days.

[hemi68charger]

 

[maxwellwedge]

Very, very nice Gene! Were you able to do something with those exhaust hangers?
I have drive shaft envy! You are now in the home stretch - exciting times! 

[hemigeno]

Thanks Troy & Jim! 

About the hangers, I saw them sitting on the shelf last Saturday.  Vance had looked them over after Carlisle and gave them the Good Housekeeping seal of approval - except for the punched square hole which he thought he could add.  The ones on the car right now are the repops (from Frank Badalson, I think), which are pretty nice all things considered.

Jim, do you use MP-50?  Ever heard of the stuff and/or know where to get some?

[moparstuart]

Thanks Troy & Jim! 

About the hangers, I saw them sitting on the shelf last Saturday.  Vance had looked them over after Carlisle and gave them the Good Housekeeping seal of approval - except for the punched square hole which he thought he could add.  The ones on the car right now are the repops (from Frank Badalson, I think), which are pretty nice all things considered.

Jim, do you use MP-50?  Ever heard of the stuff and/or know where to get some?

is this the right stuff ?       http://www.jetlube.com/jetlube/uploads/pdf/msdspdf/mp50.pdf

[hemigeno]

is this the right stuff ? 

I dunno if that's it or not.  I gathered from this Moparts.com thread/post from 6bbl69 that MP50 was a Mopar spray-on product.  Not having seen the stuff, I can't say for sure whether it's a paste or aerosol product.  Thanks for the link, Stuart!

[moparstuart]

is this the right stuff ?

I dunno if that's it or not.  I gathered from this Moparts.com thread/post from 6bbl69 that MP50 was a Mopar spray-on product.  Not having seen the stuff, I can't say for sure whether it's a paste or aerosol product.  Thanks for the link, Stuart!

it does say its a lubricant that stays on and prevents corrosion  ?  

[tan top]

thats looking fantastic !! love the details of having whats looks like a original  back glass in it  & rear plug welding  , awesome stuff 

[hemigeno]

it does say its a lubricant that stays on and prevents corrosion  ?   

Yep, I saw that and it could be that's the stuff.  Still researching though.

As a possible alternative for MP50, I found another thread with info on a company that sells a line of Cosmoline products:

http://www.schafco.com/cosmoline.asp

It sounds like their "Rust Veto" is a similar product to MP50 (their WeatherShed product is apparently what we all think of when someone mentions "Cosmoline"), but again I have tried none of these products.  Just looking for something to put on that driveshaft which will keep the flash rust away without being overly noticeable.

[hemigeno]

thats looking fantastic !! love the details of having whats looks like a original  back glass in it  & rear plug welding  , awesome stuff 

Thanks, tt!

[Dave Kanofsky]

The last shot for this batch is one I took of the new cigar lighter element/knob I purchased several years ago.  A thread on Moparts a while back about lighter knobs got me to thinking about what was "correct" for a late '69 B-body.  Anyone still have their original lighter knob?  I don't think it should look like this.  Vance is pretty sure it should have no knurling and be much "thinner" in the area of the knob where the knurling currently is.  He had a pretty nice condition knob that will work great if it's polished up a bit, I just forgot to take a picture of it.  I'd still appreciate any input on what other (especially mostly-original) cars have for their knobs...

I suspect, but can't absolutely confirm, that I have the original lighter knob in my car.  Mine has no knurling is much "thinner" in the area of the knob where the knurling on the one shown is.   Mine also has "Calco  12V" stamped in the barrel portion.

As for the area where the original Charger window was, I was thrilled to find the original molding clips in there!  It was like "almost NOS" freebies!  It's been a few years since I did mine, but it looks like yours has more clips in the Daytona plug than mine did.

Yours is Lookin good!

[hemigeno]

Thanks, Dave!

Does the knob you have resemble the center one in the picture below (picture from Moparts.com)?

[Dave Kanofsky]

It sure does!

Light 'em up!    (although I usually mean the tires)

[Kismgby]

Gads...now you have me wondering what my lighter knob looks like.   

[Davtona]

The last shot for this batch is one I took of the new cigar lighter element/knob I purchased several years ago.  A thread on Moparts a while back about lighter knobs got me to thinking about what was "correct" for a late '69 B-body.  Anyone still have their original lighter knob?  I don't think it should look like this.  Vance is pretty sure it should have no knurling and be much "thinner" in the area of the knob where the knurling currently is.  He had a pretty nice condition knob that will work great if it's polished up a bit, I just forgot to take a picture of it.  I'd still appreciate any input on what other (especially mostly-original) cars have for their knobs...

Mine out of the Green Daytona looks like the one on the right. More cone shaped underneath. And it has CUNO 12V stamped around the top part of the barrel. You can see that in the Moparts picture also if you look close. You know the car Gene & it's history. It was in the car tonight when I checked. I believe it to be the original. Sounds like there may be a couple differnet versions used.   

[nelson_audet]

verry nice.. i am jalous!

[WINGR]

Hey Geno, man she's looking great. Love the detail work, it will all be worth it in the end, right? 



WINGR/Steve

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Wow Gene, I haven't visited this thread in a while....since it was in primer!  Didn't realize it was in paint & on 4 tires!!

Hopefully you are gonna make a how-to book on the resto for future reference?

[gtx6970]

I noticed it has the green plug on the dana, I have an original around here somewhere from a 1970 Coronet Dana rear and it's red.

I always thought the green one was for E-body danas and red was B-body danas . But considering your research on this I'm probably wrong 

[nascarxx29]

I had asked about a similar green plug that read CLOVER 203 on it on a friends original superbirds dana 60 .And I was able to relocate this response to my question from Roger Gibson & Dave Patik

[nascarxx29]

This unrestored hemi superbird is refered to having a green plastic plug CLOVER 260
http://wwnboa.org/hsrs.htm



Now we're looking at the Dana 60 axle-this car is a 4-speed so we have a Dana 60. These cars came with drum brakes on the rear and here we can notice the right side brake line, behind the shock absorber, was never put in its little clamp where it's supposed to be. Perhaps it was not put in there when it was built so many years ago. Here we can see how the brake line curves up over the differential and then it extends to a little junction. On the driver's side of the differential, under the vent cap, we have a little green plug. This plug seems to be an identification maybe of an inspector.

It says "Clover 260" in embossed numbers and the plug is made out of green plastic and it is painted flat black like the entire rearend assembly.