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

[mikepmcs]

B-E-A-Utiful! Thanks for sharing.  Yup, we're still here soaking it all up. Love it!!!    

[hemigeno]

One of the things on my "To-Do" list this time up was to make tracings of the wing upright holes for Dane  (DaytonaGuy).  He had a particular reason for asking about the hole layout/spacing, and I was glad to help out.  If anyone wonders, the holes for the wing uprights are fairly well oversized to allow the wing bases to be positioned flat without putting the horizontal stabilizer attachment bolt in a bind.  Still, the holes have to be located somewhat close and this will help him out.

[hemigeno]

B-E-A-Utiful! Thanks for sharing.  Yup, we're still here soaking it all up. Love it!!!    

Thanks, Mike - I'm getting a little anxious as things get to this point in the proceedings.  Well, waiting 3 years will make a guy anxious too, but that's another story.

[tan top]

motor looks great !! yep spyed the  green textured  assembly line filter    think  i heard they are going be be repoped , but not sure  ,  last NOS one i saw  was  over a $1000  on ebay 

great pictures keep them coming      

[hemigeno]

I took some pictures of the doors, after they had been taped off and painted up.  The door weatherstripping has been applied, the window regulators and door latch mechanisms installed, but the glass and window fuzzies haven't yet made their way in.  One of the things that happened last weekend was that I dropped another set of original glass off which was removed from a different Daytona (everything except the windshield).  That'll give us two originals of each piece of glass to choose from, so Vance can pick the best one to polish up and reinstall.  As a nuclear option we may have to install reproductions in the wings/doors/quarters, but I'm really hoping we can re-use one of the two Daytona back glass pieces - even if they have to do a whole lot of polishing.

[hemigeno]

motor looks great !! yep spyed the  green textured  assembly line filter    think  i heard they are going be be repoped , but not sure  ,  last NOS one i saw  was  over a $1000  on ebay 

great pictures keep them coming      

Thanks, tt - and thankfully, I didn't get caught up in the frenzy over those oil filters a few years ago.  One actually sold for $1500     I came across them here and there for a whole lot less, but Vance has me topped... he had an entire case of them at one time, and said something about they cost him around $9 each.   

[hemigeno]

Some picturs of the headliner, which was installed and left hanging to allow some of the wrinkles from being folded to relax.  This is one of the relatively-new Legendary Mopar headliners with the "correct" pattern.  I had been cringing at the thought of putting what they used to sell as a reproduction in the car, as it was a GM pattern.  Only within the last year or so they started producing the original Mopar style, which to my semi-trained eye looked to be a great match.  Vance was happy anyway.

Oh, and the guy in that second shot is Davtona (the previous owner of this Daytona), who was kind enough to travel along and keep me awake -- not to mention helping to navigate through downtown Chicago at near midnight.  

[hemigeno]

A few shots of the driver's side door and its "upper door frame" paint spray pattern.

The last picture I took as a reminder... how they'll fix this, I dunno, but all that smeared-on seam sealer in the passenger's compartment should be that black tar stuff.  If some of you guys have noticed this in previous pictures but not mentioned it, I haven't overlooked it.  For whatever reason it jumped out at me this month and I took a picture to serve as a reminder.

[hemigeno]

I took several pictures inside the nosecone this time, as a few times I've looked for a recent picture above the side reflectors and didn't find one.  Plus, it shows a little bit of the newly-installed NOS rubber air seals.  More on those in a moment.

[hemigeno]

Here are some more shots, including the new rubber air seals.  Even if no one else in the world cares, I'm happy that these are in place rather than the reproductions - as nice and as accurate as those are.  The last pic shows how one of the new pieces cracked when installed, although there's a fix in the works for it.  While getting the glass from that other Daytona the day before, they asked if I had any use for a few leftover parts... including a couple of the rubber air seals.  HeckYAH I have a use for that!  Anyway, with the pattern we made of this part prior to its installation, we can cut a new seal out of the old/used original seal material in this exact shape.  Hopefully Vance can find a way to make the material a little more flexible (warm/heat it up a little, perhaps?) to keep it from cracking.  That particular piece has to bend quite a bit for as stiff a material as it is.  It'll be an easy swap-out until the engine/radiator are installed, so the timing in getting those "leftover" parts couldn't have been better.

[hemigeno]

Another shot of the cracked seal piece, as well as a couple of engine bay shots (the master cylinder cover isn't plated yet, in case you wondered).  Just a few more things added here since last time, and it's nearly ready for the engine.

The last pic is of the vacuum cannister installed and plumbed.

[hemigeno]

I took some pictures of the rear valance corner, and how the rework has come along.  In the corner of the rear bumper recess, you can see a big glob of sealer shoved in the corner.  That's supposed to be there... I guess Chrysler didn't want any water standing in that little corner and causing a rust problem.  You can also see how the vertical seam between the valance and the corner has been left open, and there's a reason why that was supposed to be the case.  In the last picture, you can see the "back side" of this same joint.  According to the Engineering graphics/drawings, there is supposed to be a strip of caulk applied to the inner side of that same seam, to seal the joint from anything thrown against it by the rear tires (hasn't been added yet).  The several pieces of metal joined together at the bottom of that same seam is supposed to be covered with a big wad of sealer or dum-dum for the same reason (again, hasn't been added yet).  In other words, they were trying to seal that particular joint up from the inner side, and they intentionally left the outer side of the seam open so that it could drain/dry to avoid rust issues.

[hemigeno]

A few more passenger compartment shots showing the progress. 

I was surprised to see in the last shot that when Vance re-did the paintwork (I'll hit more on this in a bit), they didn't mask off the Daytona rear glass moulding clips.  It would probably have been hard to mask off the clips without potentially having a masking line visible even with the moulding installed, and the clips are essentially a one-shot deal.  Those things are so prone to leaking that any disturbance once they're installed renders them worthless (unless you want to install more/different sealer on the screwtip).  I'm thinking Vance is just planning to install different clips, as they're pretty readily available.

[hemigeno]

It's officially a Charger again!!!   

[hemigeno]

I did try and take a few photos of the new-and-improved orange peel paintwork.  It's not all that much different than before, but it does look a little more uniform where it needs to be.  I wanted to ask Vance how much he plans to "screw up" the paint around the window plug work, to mimic how Creative Industries had to blend in the plug paint with Hamtramck's handiwork on the roof.  I've seen this effect on original cars, but only recently heard a guy refer to this as the "Daytona Halo"   

[hemigeno]

Last pics for this batch...

I shot one of the leading edge of the hood, where some paint has come off.  That's not a mistake, as Creative painted the cars and usually slammed the hoods closed before the paint was dry.  Vance did the same, and that's what paint came off onto the hood/nosecone seal.  Speaking of which...

The last rivet was installed at the end of the hood seal, completing its installation as shown in the second pic.  I took this shot to mimic one I had taken pre-restoration from pretty much the same angle... which is shown in the last pic.

[moparstuart]

awesome   

[nascarxx29]

Exceptional just taking it all in

[tan top]

motor looks great !! yep spyed the  green textured  assembly line filter    think  i heard they are going be be repoped , but not sure  ,  last NOS one i saw  was  over a $1000  on ebay  

great pictures keep them coming      

Thanks, tt - and thankfully, I didn't get caught up in the frenzy over those oil filters a few years ago.  One actually sold for $1500    I came across them here and there for a whole lot less, but Vance has me topped... he had an entire case of them at one time, and said something about they cost him around $9 each.  

yikes  $1500 damn !!  
more awesome pictures Geno got me looking at my headliner now ! never checked it against the original when i fitted it   so the old repop liner was incorect , must have a lookie at mine

keep the picture coming , love looking at this kind of stuff

[hemi68charger]

I took some pictures of the rear valance corner, and how the rework has come along.  In the corner of the rear bumper recess, you can see a big glob of sealer shoved in the corner.  That's supposed to be there... I guess Chrysler didn't want any water standing in that little corner and causing a rust problem.  You can also see how the vertical seam between the valance and the corner has been left open, and there's a reason why that was supposed to be the case.  In the last picture, you can see the "back side" of this same joint.  According to the Engineering graphics/drawings, there is supposed to be a strip of caulk applied to the inner side of that same seam, to seal the joint from anything thrown against it by the rear tires (hasn't been added yet).  The several pieces of metal joined together at the bottom of that same seam is supposed to be covered with a big wad of sealer or dum-dum for the same reason (again, hasn't been added yet).  In other words, they were trying to seal that particular joint up from the inner side, and they intentionally left the outer side of the seam open so that it could drain/dry to avoid rust issues.

Bravo !!!!  Great job and yeap, I remember the big glob of sealer on the underside-rear on both my '68 Hemi and '70 v-code......   

Troy

[charger500440]

I took some pictures of the rear valance corner, and how the rework has come along.  In the corner of the rear bumper recess, you can see a big glob of sealer shoved in the corner.  That's supposed to be there... I guess Chrysler didn't want any water standing in that little corner and causing a rust problem.  You can also see how the vertical seam between the valance and the corner has been left open, and there's a reason why that was supposed to be the case.  In the last picture, you can see the "back side" of this same joint.  According to the Engineering graphics/drawings, there is supposed to be a strip of caulk applied to the inner side of that same seam, to seal the joint from anything thrown against it by the rear tires (hasn't been added yet).  The several pieces of metal joined together at the bottom of that same seam is supposed to be covered with a big wad of sealer or dum-dum for the same reason (again, hasn't been added yet).  In other words, they were trying to seal that particular joint up from the inner side, and they intentionally left the outer side of the seam open so that it could drain/dry to avoid rust issues.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I've always been a little confounded on how this was "supposed" to be. As we all know, this is a commonly re-worked area and I've never seen a clear explanation on this. Car looks great. Makes me want to bring my 500 to Vance but...

Mike

[brianz426]

Awesome details, car is comming along really well, thanks for sharing.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Hey Geno, regarding the engine shots....by the placement of a pipe plug in the intake where the vacuum tree would go, I'm assuming the tree was left natural?
Also the pulleys....were they always painted gloss black or a 30 degree finish?

Chris

[maxwellwedge]

The vacuum tree was put in after the engine got painted. The tree should be silver cad plated.
Most pulley's are semi glossy but can differ. 12% is good but 20% would be ok as well. Sorry for answering for Geno but my Maple Leafs are behind to the Bruins so boredom is setting in. 

Hey Geno, regarding the engine shots....by the placement of a pipe plug in the intake where the vacuum tree would go, I'm assuming the tree was left natural?
Also the pulleys....were they always painted gloss black or a 30 degree finish?

Chris

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Excellent thanks!   I figured since Geno was doing everything "as it was" I knew it had to be correct...