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

[UFO]

So, How did you slide a green past your wife??
Looks fantastic by my standards but I thought you mentioned she was not on board.

[hemigeno]

So, How did you slide a green past your wife??
Looks fantastic by my standards but I thought you mentioned she was not on board.

Thanks Brian... Using F8 Green was approved by the Board of Directors only after I made the pitch that the car's potential resale value would be greater when painted it's original color.  

She's being nice now that it is painted, and says the car looks good.  Personally, I like it much better than the orange (I'd still have gladly painted it back V2 if that's what the fender tag said).  Most of the onlookers at MMW agreed, but there are a few who said they preferred the quasi-Dukes look.  V2 Daytonas don't garner the rash of DoH comments like orange non-aero IIGen Chargers do.  We'll see if they continue now that it's green.

[pettybird]

i've said it before--there are wing cars, and there are parts cars. 

Nice job on both--I'm getting to be a big fan of F8.

[Charger-Bodie]

I love F8! I wouldn't kick either of your cars out of bed for eating crackers. I like the R/T in either combo I like the green better though,partially because its right. I do think the R/t needs a set of second wheels to switch out once in a while. Like a set of retro tt-d's or similar. Green isn't my favorite color for the monochromatic paint scheme.

[moparstuart]

So, How did you slide a green past your wife??
Looks fantastic by my standards but I thought you mentioned she was not on board.

Thanks Brian... Using F8 Green was approved by the Board of Directors only after I made the pitch that the car's potential resale value would be greater when painted it's original color.  

She's being nice now that it is painted, and says the car looks good.  Personally, I like it much better than the orange (I'd still have gladly painted it back V2 if that's what the fender tag said).  Most of the onlookers at MMW agreed, but there are a few who said they preferred the quasi-Dukes look.  V2 Daytonas don't garner the rash of DoH comments like orange non-aero IIGen Chargers do.  We'll see if they continue now that it's green.

I personally liked the orange better , but this HEMI car really did deserve to be back to its orginal color .  

[hemigeno]

i've said it before--there are wing cars, and there are parts cars.  

Brian, I have a set of 15x8 Magnums with 255 BFG radials mounted that are used for actual driving/cruising.  It makes the car totally different (much better) to drive, rather than having a mind of it's own like with the bias ply redlines.  I'll be interested to see what the car looks like once those are mounted.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Awesome Geno!  So Vance did the work?  Looks great in green....reminds me of Jet's car www.69hemi.com 

Good to see you were able to keep her.  If you want to sell maybe you can consign to a dealer or maybe B-J?

[hemigeno]

Awesome Geno!  So Vance did the work?  Looks great in green....reminds me of Jet's car www.69hemi.com  

Good to see you were able to keep her.  If you want to sell maybe you can consign to a dealer or maybe B-J?

Thanks Chris - and yes, it's quite similar to Jet's car.  In fact, I had his website pictures up on the home PC screen several times over the past couple of years trying to explain to the Board of Directors that F8 Green would look great on this R/T too.

Consigning the car somewhere is a real possibility, but where that might be is a big question at the moment. Running it across B-J is not an option due to their no-reserve policy (paying +/- 17% commission to buy the car back would pretty much send the Board into a tizzy... might even get me fired as director of the Musclecar Division).  This whole 'for sale' line of thought is more along the lines of checking if someone really wants the car.  Guess seeing Troy H. in action for all these years is rubbing off on me     I'll be a bit surprised if it sells, but who knows?

[PocketThunder]

After talking things over with a couple of DC.com'ers including pettybird, both Troy's & 1HotDaytona, my initial plan was to repaint the car, freshen up the trim, maybe change out the glass and a few other high-visibility detail items, and re-list the car.

What am i, chopped liver?   

So, How did you slide a green past your wife??
Looks fantastic by my standards but I thought you mentioned she was not on board.

Ya i'm surprised you got this color change past the BoD.

Paul   

[hemigeno]

What am i, chopped liver?   

After talking things over with a couple of DC.com'ers including (but not limited to) pettybird, both Troy's, 1HotDaytona, and invaluable input from PocketThunder my initial plan was to repaint the car, freshen up the trim, maybe change out the glass and a few other high-visibility detail items, and re-list the car.

There, fixed it for ya Paul...   

[gtx6970]

Gene,
The car looked GREAT. 

And I really like F8 green over the V2 anyway

maybe I'll tell Rick about it today at lunch

Thanks again,
Bill

[hemigeno]

Thanks Bill - and thanks for lending me your ear through some of these issues.  Say Hi to Rick for me too - and the answer from me is "Yes"... 

[41husk]

They have that Manheim Aut exotica here in Stlouis.  I believe it is this weekend though.  Last year I thought about putting one of my Chargers in the auction when I was trying to sell something to buy the Daytona.  I think it was like $300 to put it in another $ 100 if you wanted it to cross the block during prime time and another $100 if you wanted a reserve:shruggy: plus 6% of selling price for no reserve and 10% with a reserve.  In the economy I was not going to put either car up at no reserve only to have it sell at 1/2 the value and then have to give back 6% of that   If you put a reasonable reserve and it meets it you still are giving 10%.  If it doesn't hit the reserve I would be out $500 and be $500 further from the goal of the Daytona ? 

[hemigeno]

I've not heard of or been to the Manheim event - what facility is that held at around town?

My guess is unless I can roll back the calendar to 2005 or 2006, the auction format in general is not the best venue to try and sell -- especially with no reserve.  The guy in the Ferrari jacket who's always at Barrett-Jackson probably isn't going to bid on my R/T...  There are exceptions to that though, and Bill Allphin's former blue 340 E-Body is a recent example of a car that performed exceptionally well at auction in spite of the market conditions.  I'm not enough of a gambler to go that route since there's not (and honestly hasn't been) any sense of urgency to sell.  It would suit me just fine to drop the car off over the winter at a consignment shop somewhere for a couple of months, then go pick it back up just in time for spring cruising season.  That way, I can submit my report to the Board of Directors showing the attempt was made.   

[41husk]

I think it is in Manchester? they have a site I think it is called motoexotica ?? but I think you are right.  the only one making any money at an auto auction is the auction house in this climate

[Davtona]

If the Board of Directors requires more cost justification as to why to keep the RT. Just explain that this car also performs duty as a taxi cab and a drivers education car at times. 

[hemigeno]

If the Board of Directors requires more cost justification as to why to keep the RT. Just explain that this car also performs duty as a taxi cab and a drivers education car at times. 

  Yep, you know firsthand how that works.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

What am i, chopped liver?   

After talking things over with a couple of DC.com'ers including (but not limited to) pettybird, both Troy's, 1HotDaytona, and invaluable input from PocketThunder my initial plan was to repaint the car, freshen up the trim, maybe change out the glass and a few other high-visibility detail items, and re-list the car.

There, fixed it for ya Paul...   

you know what?   how come I wasn't consulted as well....sheesh 

[PocketThunder]

What am i, chopped liver?   

After talking things over with a couple of DC.com'ers including (but not limited to) pettybird, both Troy's, 1HotDaytona, and invaluable input from PocketThunder my initial plan was to repaint the car, freshen up the trim, maybe change out the glass and a few other high-visibility detail items, and re-list the car.

There, fixed it for ya Paul...   

you know what?   how come I wasn't consulted as well....sheesh 

I think you're covered in the disclaimer in bold above " (but not limited to) "   

[hemigeno]

you know what?   how come I wasn't consulted as well....sheesh 

Man, give a guy a break wouldya?    

I think you're covered in the disclaimer in bold above " (but not limited to) "   

Whodathunk a disclaimer would be needed, much less, STILL not keep me out of trouble (see Chris' reply above).

Speaking of which, I found some others you guys might like here.

Hey, it's my thread, I can hijack it if I want to, right?  Or do I need to add a disclaimer on this reply too?




I will really try to get the rest of the Daytona pictures posted tomorrow.  Honest...

[hemigeno]

OK, back to the (semi) regularly-scheduled Daytona restoration update:

I took some pictures of the steering box and column/shaft as a reminder for a couple of things.  First, is that Vance has met a kindred spirit in Rob, the guy who will be polishing the original glass pieces.  Sounds like a weird connection, but stay with me for a sec...  Vance took the original glass from both the Daytona and R/T over to him a couple of weeks ago, with the intention of saying "Hi" and heading back home.  6 hours later, he finally pulled himself away from Rob's shop.  Apparently he's been working on a '68 Coronet R/T (auto with air conditioning and painted roof, a pretty rare ride) since some time in the mid-90s.  Rob has painstakingly replicated many little detail items he discovered/documented on his car.  The two of them spent hours talking about all these little nuances, including Rob's reproduction driveshafts which look absolutely incredible.  If he can perfect the part number and other stampings, he'll be able to churn out a propshaft which is essentially identical to any NOS piece out there including the one on my Daytona.  Vance helped him out with ideas on using EvapoRust and this new-found RPM product to eliminate the surface rust which forms almost immediately on the bare steel tubing.  Another topic they spent a lot of time talking about was the various aluminum castings found on Mopars of this vintage (alternators, steering boxes, etc).  Thus far, about the only way to have a truly correct finish is to find original, unpitted parts.  That's hard to do, especially when date codes are factored into the equation.  There are shops that can come fairly close, but both Vance and Rob are particular enough that they would prefer to improve on what's otherwise available. 

Rob's day job is at an automotive customizing shop near Detroit that is responsible for making all sorts of prototype parts, etc. for the Big 3.  His shop worked on the re-issue of the Ford GT-40 prototype, for example.  Their work on that project is actually what got him involved in the glass polishing business, but that's another story.  The shop where he works has nearly unlimited resources and unique systems/tooling at their disposal to do about anything where it relates to automobiles and their components.  This includes plating of metals.  Rob is experimenting with various refinishing techniques that will produce an identical finish to a fresh aluminum casting, just like they looked when new.  He will be able to refinish alternator cases, carburetor bodies & bases, and... steering boxes.  I know I used a lot of runway before this explanation actually took off, but that's the connection between Rob the glass guy and the car's original steering box in the pictures. 

Also shown in the pictures - especially the last one - is the steering shaft/coupler.  It will be removed, stripped of its faux paint finish, treated with RPM, and reinstalled for an even more correct look than what you see.  From this underneath perspective, you can also see some other details such as engine paint on the spark plug bases.

[hemigeno]

In these pictures, I tried to show some of the other rearward components.  Some of these have been addressed, and some have not.  The shock mounting plates have been stripped and RPM'd, and they look/feel perfect.  The back side of the backing plates and U-Bolts are visible in the second picture, and hopefully they'll look just as pristine many years from now (with no effort to keep rust at bay).

The third picture serves as a reminder to me that the exhaust tip mounting plate (which doubles as the transport tie-down bracket) will need to be replaced with another pair.  These look respectably good, but they have been filled & painted and wiped down with a thin layer of cosmoline.  In 1969 they would have been left bare from the factory, and that presents a problem - since the back end of the car is a particularly harsh area for corrosion.  As a result, nearly every '69 you find (except maybe those in the southwest states) will have at least some pits on their brackets.  Luckily, 1970 Chargers had their brackets painted to protect them a little better.  Other than paint, the brackets are identical... which means a set of decent '70 exhaust tip hanger brackets is on my list of parts to run down.

In the last picture you can see the installed tailpipes.  It was quite a long time before we found a pair of these that matched in coating and condition.  I'm wondering about the wisdom of seeing if the inside exhaust surfaces could be Jet-Hot coated (or with some similar hi-temp product).  Starting the car up without allowing it to get all the way to operating temperatures will leave condensation in exhaust pipes/components, and guys with complete NOS exhaust systems have seen them rust out rapidly without hardly driving them.  Oh, and we are waiting for another set of original exhaust clamps to materialize before changing out the Q-clamps on the exhaust tips.

[hemigeno]

Here's a question for you detective types with access to a car which has it's original fuel tank:

Comments were made to Vance by someone to the effect that all original fuel tanks had their seams welded at three corners in a "rounded" fashion, and that only the corner they started and stopped the seaming process at would have been "crossed" such as you see in these pictures.  This particular tank has part number stampings, original stickers, etc., and looks to have every other trait of a vintage piece, but does not have any rounded corner seams.  It looks to me like the welding machine had a stop on it which followed the edge of the metal, which might make following the rounded contour of the tank itself rather difficult, if not impossible. 

Any examples of this trait (either way) on other original tanks?

[hemi68charger]

Hey Geno...
Awesome................ I have a question though... The picture of the backing plate, I notice that your rear wheel well doesn't have undercoating and I thought the dipstick tube was routed to the outside of the exhaust manifold

[hemigeno]

We received half of the wheel sets for the car a couple months back, which means the car can now be rolled around on something other than borrowed wheels.  These are a set of reproduction 14x6 wheels from Stockton Wheel.  The chrome is perhaps just a little shinier than the originals were, but they still look great with the repro bias ply redlines.  On the back side of the wheel in the second pic, you can see black has been shot just a little bit over the welded seam joining the wheel center to its rim... just like the originals were.  

The third pic shows the control arm adjusting bolts and blocks.  The bolts were replated and the blocks given the RPM treatment.

That last picture is a connundrum for me, as I've been searching high and low for new latches.  Original latches had their star wheels plated with silver cad (or maybe silver zinc, sorry Jim!) with a gold cad plating on much of the outer housing.  If you send out a set of latches to be replated, they pretty much have to plate the whole thing in gold cad, since the outer housing is staked to the inner housing which makes disassembly nearly impossible.  We thought we had a set of latches found (they don't look used), but the finish on them didn't look too hot.  In fact, Vance had a set of used latches pulled from a donor car which looked much better.  So, all the resources spent to find the latches might end up not being productive.  Story of my life, it seems...