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

[hemigeno]

Well, I suppose you only see one side of the grommet anyway, since the opposite side is concealed inside the headlight bucket.  A guy would have to cut down that tapered cone so as not to interfere with anything inside the headlight bucket, but it's an interesting prospect.  What is the size of the power window wiring hole (in the sheet metal)?  I don't know if I have this issue "sorted" right now or not tan top, although hemi_tyme is still working on some of his usual magic...  BTW, thanks again for the Chilton's book, Ken!!

I have another batch of pictures ready to post from a trip Jonathan and I made the weekend before Christmas.  There's been some progress made, and even more since that time.  Depending on which way things go on some interior components, the Daytona could be finished up in the next couple of months... at least the potential is there, anyway.  

Some cool detail stuff is in the works.

[tan top]

The last picture shows a grommet used to protect the headlamp wiring and the vacuum line feeds that travel inside the headlight bucket.  My car had one of its original grommets, but the other one is MIA.

bit late on this i know   had a flash back you was looking for one of these , you prolly got it sorted by now ! but checkout Robs door gromet for power windows !!  same / close  

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,76532.0.html

Thanks for thinking this up Tan Top,

At first I thought why didn't I think of that. I took a look at my power window car and my first impression was we got a winner. Grommets are actually pretty close to the same diameter. Looking a little closer and I realized they are not the same.   The grommet in the door of a power window car and in the door post are the same grommets. They are just reversed in the direction they sit in the hole in the door and door post. The tapered cone end of the door grommet is inside the door so you can't see it. The Daytona grommet doesn't have the tapered cone on it. Looks like the search goes on Gene.

Dave

    could not be that easy could it      ...

Well, I suppose you only see one side of the grommet anyway, since the opposite side is concealed inside the headlight bucket.  A guy would have to cut down that tapered cone so as not to interfere with anything inside the headlight bucket, but it's an interesting prospect.  What is the size of the power window wiring hole (in the sheet metal)?  I don't know if I have this issue "sorted" right now or not tan top, although hemi_tyme is still working on some of his usual magic...  BTW, thanks again for the Chilton's book, Ken!!

I have another batch of pictures ready to post from a trip Jonathan and I made the weekend before Christmas.  There's been some progress made, and even more since that time.  Depending on which way things go on some interior components, the Daytona could be finished up in the next couple of months... at least the potential is there, anyway. 

Some cool detail stuff is in the works.

  more pictures !!!  great stuff 

[Daytona R/T SE]

the Daytona could be finished up in the next couple of months...

[hemi68charger]

..., the Daytona could be finished up in the next couple of months... at least the potential is there, anyway.  
...

 1st thing you're going to do is the Cannonball Run with it?  Zoom Zoom..........

[hemigeno]

 1st thing you're going to do is the Cannonball Run with it?  Zoom Zoom..........

I'd be up for it -- but since Captain Chaos isn't available for driving duties these days    , I'll have to pass.

[hemigeno]

One of the things Vance and I did during my trip in December was to look at some original steering columns to see how the blackout paint was applied.  These next several pictures are from an unrestored/untouched steering column.  This particular car had green interior, so you can see clearly how the green paint was applied to the tube, the column assembled, and the blackout paint applied after the plastic cover was taped in place.

In the second picture you can see how the plastic bushing has blackout paint, and how it exhibits a "shadowline" from the steering column - as if the painter hit the sides & top of the column/cover but didn't hit the bottom as hard with the paint gun.

Since my Daytona has a black interior not all of those details are going to be replicated, but it shows the process nonetheless.

[hemigeno]

More steering column details - which provide good forensic evidence of how they did things.  Since these were taken, Vance has "blacked out" the steering column, bushing, shaft and connector on my Daytona in a similar fashion prior to reinstallation.

[hemigeno]

The first two pictures perhaps don't show what I was trying to capture very well, but you'd be able to see it in person a whole lot better.  These are shots of the rear bumper.  Rechromed bumpers usually look too good, since the originals (such as this one) have fairly poor chrome coverage which allow a lot of sanding marks to show through the chrome finish.  That's what I was trying to capture here.

The last two pictures are of an area undergoing reconstruction.  On my previous trip in October, I made the call to remove the latch tray bracket that is welded to the radiator support.  This car was put together by Creative without a usual/customary paint coating on the stamped steel bracket... which led to pretty severe rust pitting on the original piece.  Vance had done the best he could to make the part look like it should, but no matter how you slice or dice it, the metal should be bare (at least on my car anyway).  Ultimately, I thought it was best to remove the original spot welds, replace the stamped steel bracket, and spot-weld the new piece in place.  In these pictures you can see where it has already been removed and prepped for the new piece.

[hemigeno]

I took some pictures of components that Vance has planned to re-do or complete in the near future.  First on the list is the wing "washers".  These were bare metal pieces normally spot-welded to the trunk opening's lip.  Since we've started using RPM, it made sense to take these off to clean them up, treat with RPM, and reinstall.  That will be an improvement in my book over the faux bare metal finish seen in the first picture.  One thing to note in the first picture is that there are relatively few visible spot-welds.  These parts have not been removed at this point, so what you see is original installation evidence even if it's been painted.

The second picture shows that although the wing brace bolts have been installed (see the trunk floor extension area), Vance had not yet installed the undercoating.  He will remove the brace bolts and scissors jack hold-down stud prior to spraying out the undercoat, since that hardware would not have been in place at Hamtramck.

In the third pic you can see that the wing braces have been test-fitted and torqued down.  Vance wanted to make sure everything was fitting properly prior to doing the undercoating - just in case something needed to be tweaked.  Everything fit well, so he's ready to proceed with the next step.

[hemigeno]

The first picture shows the opposite side's wing "washer", and a distinction to make here is that more spot-welds were installed on this side than the other.  Vance took note of these locations, as you'll see in the photos from my most recent visit.

The second photo shows the stripe material folded in around the reflector bezel assembly.  Speaking of which, the last two photos were my attempt to show the non-matching paint peeking out from the inside edge of the painted bezel.  My camera did a poor job of capturing this detail, but there is T5 Copper Metallic on the driver's side, and B5 Blue Metallic on the passenger's side - just as was found on my car during disassembly.

[hemigeno]

The next several pictures are of various components, clips and fasteners we've been trying to improve as time has gone along.  First up is the door latch assembly.  These can be replated in a gold anodized finish to look awesome (we had a set on the car for a while like that), but the original star wheels were not gold - they were silver.  It's basically impossible to disassemble the latches and replate the components separately for re-assembly.  Everything was staked together in such a way that you pretty much destroy the housing if you take it apart.  It's been pretty hard to find unpitted original latches that still retain much semblance of their original plating hues.

The last three pictures are of the master cylinder mounting studs.  I posted pictures from an earlier visit showing pitting on the heads of the original studs.  Vance found and installed these unpitted studs which also show a flattened edge from the tool used to drive the studs into the master cylinder housing/body.

[hemigeno]

First up here is the galvanized steel clip used to support the wiring over the top of the master cylinder.  Bill Allphin had asked about this a while back, and the finished product is now in place.

Next is the throttle cable.  Paul Jacobs and I had chatted about this when I paid him a visit the day before.  The throttle cable cover/end should have a white coating on it as you see here (at least on a 1969 model 383/440 4bbl B-body).  I took the picture as a reminder of what Paul mentioned.

The next two pictures show the radiator tank air seals.  These were closed-cell foam seal strips usually glued to the radiator yoke, forcing the nosecone air to go through the core rather than up or down & around the radiator.  My car came with a 2-core 2949055 radiator (440/manual/3.54 ratio) rather than the 3-core 2949054.  Why is that important?  Well, the bottom tank on a 055 radiator has a larger gap between it and the yoke than the more common 054 3-core radiator.  If you only install one thickness of foam strip with an 055 radiator, the gap will not be sealed off.  Vance installed a double-thick strip of the foam along the bottom edge.  The top tank seal strip is somewhat visible in the last picture, as is the underside of the radiator yoke where the aforementioned latch tray support bracket's spot welds are still visible.  Vance has already ground paint from the bottom side of the radiator yoke lip, as Creative's workmen did in preparation for spot-welding the latch tray support bracket.

[hemigeno]

In the next picture, you can see the difference between original washer hose and the commonly-available reproduction.  This is the small diameter stuff that goes out from the tee at the firewall to each of the two nozzles.  And yes, MoparJohn, I DID remember to cut off a piece of hose for you this time - I'm looking at it here on my desk right now... it'll make it's way to you sooner or later.

Next is a picture of the felt strip used to cushion where the bumper jack rests.  I'm not sure the bumper jack ever sits there once the wing braces are installed, but the strip would have been installed at Hamtramck regardless.

The last two pictures are of the installed license plate light and the galvanized shield/shroud.  There's a "flake" look to the original shrouds that I've seen on other galvanized parts but would have no clue how to replicate now.  This is the way they should look.

[hemigeno]

My travelling companion for this long roadtrip in his preferred pose... vanquishing the foes on his NintendoDS 

[maxwellwedge]

Looks good Geno - I'll have to look at my throttle cables to see if they were color coded white....and see if I can still see the date code ink stamp on them.

[hemigeno]

A couple of wider-angle shots (hard to take such in Vance's new digs).  One thing you'll note in the last picture is that the windshield and A-pillar trim has been installed.  More on that in a sec...

[hemigeno]

Looks good Geno - I'll have to look at my throttle cables to see if they were color coded white....and see if I can still see the date code ink stamp on them.

Thanks, Jim!  I found the engineering graphic that says the cable is "supposed" to be white, but that doesn't mean they actually were.  Paul J. had one or two cables left, and I think one had its white ID coloring still showing. 

[hemigeno]

These pictures show some details of the driver's side A-pillar trim.  Vance was able to re-use all of the original holes in the A-pillar, but the sheet metal screwhead still scratched the heck out of the polished reveal/trim.  In the third picture, you'll notice a larger size screw than the others.  They didn't chase or run a bit through any of the holes, but the same size screw as used on the other holes just fell right into the hole.  Apparently Creative's guys made that one hole larger - whether after they had twisted a screw off in the hole and having to drill it out, I don't know.  Vance put the same size screw back in as was taken out, for certain.  (may have had something to do with the fitment issue below??)

Another thing he had to do was to gently "massage" the lower edge of the A-pillar trim where it hangs over the door.  He's done enough Daytonas and Superbirds to know you don't slap the trim on and slam the door...     Vance ever so slightly trimmed the bottom edge of the piece to give everything just a bit more breathing room.

[hemigeno]

Same fitment issues, opposite side.  

You can actually see that when the original screw holes are used, Creative's workers held the trim up as high as they could to help with the door clearance issues (see pictures showing the less-than-ideal joint between the rain trough trim and the A-pillar trim).

[hemigeno]

I've heard for a good while that Creative used caulk to seal the joint between the A-pillar and the windshield gasket.  They used a sealant of course, but it was not necessarily caulk.  What you see here is a strip of the butyl sealant used to seal back windows.  They simply cut off a strip and worked it into the joint.  It kinda has a grainy look to it and is still quite messy and crude, but it matches other original cars I've seen. 

[Daytona R/T SE]

 

[hemigeno]

I took the first picture to remind myself about why Vance had not installed the red brake drum paint.  He's waiting for the date-coded wheels to be detailed and ready for installation.  Then he's going to slather red paint on the drum - and while it's still wet and dripping, put the road wheels in place.  He's seen original road wheels with paint drips on the inner rim which would match up to a drip on a drum (it would, of course, match the drip pattern only if the wheel was mounted on the same drum, and oriented on the lugs in the same fashion).

The second and third pictures are of the 2841887 sail panel emblem I found.  It has a section of casting inside the first "r" that was left intact.  Might be why this particular emblem was rejected?  I didn't think it looked so bad, so it's going on the car.  Incidentally, this is the rare-as-hen's-teeth driver's side emblem they haven't produced essentially since the cars were new.  The passenger's side emblem (2841886) fits in the same holes and is only discernably different than its counterpart by those with a pair of dial calipers (and those of us who have nothing better to do with their lives than study such inane details).  Wanna try your hand?  The third picture is the more common passenger's side emblem...

Last picture for this batch - is a sad testament to how stiff the original air seal material is... this is an original K-member seal that was rolled up for many years.  It's been laid flat now at Vance's shop for over a year, and I think it was laid flat by its previous caretaker for much longer than that.  Still has a curl to it that will probably never come out...  At least once it's installed the clips will help out some.


I was at Vance's over the weekend to deliver a few more components, and have a few more pictures to post up - haven't had time to resize them just yet.

[charger500440]

I've heard for a good while that Creative used caulk to seal the joint between the A-pillar and the windshield gasket.  They used a sealant of course, but it was not necessarily caulk.  What you see here is a strip of the butyl sealant used to seal back windows.  They simply cut off a strip and worked it into the joint.  It kinda has a grainy look to it and is still quite messy and crude, but it matches other original cars I've seen. 

Wow, that is something I was not aware of. Can I assume the 500's were treated the same way? Or did Creative learn of this issue by the way the 500's went down the road? I'm assuming this is too keep water from gushing behind the A-pillar moldings while driving down the highway? If nothing else, the restoration on my 500 just got a little more complicated.

Geno, your car looks awesome and I cannot thank you enough for the wealth of information you have provided here. I really appreciate all the time and effort you've dedicated to this site, and I will definitely will be using it as a resource. Not that I'm in any position to ask for anything, but I would love to see how the A-pillar trim looks after you remove the excess butyl tape. Do you guys have a specific method for removing it? Thanks again...

Mike

[UFO]

Super stock magazine did a test on a daytona back in the day.They mentioned the A piller trim being installed that way.

[Mopar John]

Geno,
More great pictures of all the details! The one item that I would like to comment on is the NOS rear license plate lamp shield. I work on a hot dip galvanize line! Rob who polished our glass told me he could stamp out a new transmission dust shield if I could get the steel. So at the end of production runs I have been trying differant variables to recreate that larger "SPANGLE". That is our term for the pattern of that galvanizing on the shield. So far I havn't been able to come close! I have been told by an old metalurgist that it is because we no longer run the high lead content? I have attached a picture that has a nice used transmission dust shield and a newer one with the superceded stamping and you can see the much finer pattern of spangle compared to the original. If I take a part and put it into the molten metal it will warp before it gets hot enough for the galvanizing to stick@#$^&*((! I am still trying! I am hoping you stop by and deliver the hose and check out the R4 Daytona!
Mopar John