Now Complete Restoration / Pulling my 1969 'Bee down for strip and paint

[Dino]

School's going ok. No time for the car unfortunately, or anything else for that matter. But it's alright, my time will come.   

[birdsandbees]

So close! Should be shinny blue by months end... 

[green69rt]

Al that white stuff is urethane?  They even shot the grill/headlight frame!!

[birdsandbees]

This good or bad what you're saying?? It's actually light gray.. just looks white against the darker gray primer in the engine compartment. Almost 160 hours of labour went into making my front fenders perfect, fixing old repairs, getting body lines back and hand dollying dings. Almost zero filler.

Considering the shop does 1.5 million dollar Ferrari's and Lambos I have to trust their body work skills, but I'm open to being educated.  

Edit.. just looked at my bill from today. Using lots of "Quantum". The entire car, after media blast, was immediately sprayed with zinc epoxy chromate primer before any metal work or body work had even started. And as things progressed was blasted again and epoxied again on all new metal and work.

[green69rt]

This good or bad what you're saying?? It's actually light gray.. just looks white against the darker gray primer in the engine compartment. Almost 160 hours of labour went into making my front fenders perfect, fixing old repairs, getting body lines back and hand dollying dings. Almost zero filler.

Edit.. just looked at my bill from today. Using lots of "Quantum". The entire car, after media blast, was immediately sprayed with zinc epoxy chromate primer before any metal work or body work had even started. And as things progressed was blasted again and epoxied again on all new metal and work.

Looks great, just noting the color change from the engine bay so it looked like they had moved onto the next step.  Looks like they know what they're doing.  Moving fairly fast.

[birdsandbees]

Okay, yes the fenders and nose are a primer coat ahead of the shell. The headlight buckets had some fair hidden damage that was long forgot about..   and they had to disassemble the entire buckets, cut / weld and get the nice clean "pinch" line back around the edge. A before picture.. about 1/4 way thru the repair on the drivers side, showing how crude an old repair had been done and the perfect and clean look in the picture above.

[green69rt]

Okay, yes the fenders and nose are a primer coat ahead of the shell. The headlight buckets had some fair hidden damage that was long forgot about..   and they had to disassemble the entire buckets, cut / weld and get the nice clean "pinch" line back around the edge. A before picture.. about 1/4 way thru the repair on the drivers side, showing how crude an old repair had been done and the perfect and clean look in the picture above.

That old repair may have been good enough for a driver I wouldn't want it on your car for sure!

Edit: I take it back, I wouldn't want that bad a repair on any car.

[birdsandbees]

It actually looked pretty good before media blast.... below paint and bondo! 

[birdsandbees]

Got my Firm Feel bearing and gasket kit today. Can't believe I found said kit, let alone for only a 100 bucks. Have the box all torn apart, no real wear but that 47 year old oil, that has turned to grease, is pretty nasty! lol. Glad I had a torn seal or I may have put it back in as is. Media blast tomorrow, then figure out how I'm going to protect the natural aluminum finish and then install all the new bearings and seals.   BTW.. the spanner wrench from my 4.5" angle grinder is perfect span to hold the "adjuster" while removing the lock nut. 

[birdsandbees]

 Found that my vice handle off my milling machine was the prefect size to knock out the bearing.

[birdsandbees]

Found the time today to get the steering box all plugged / taped off and media blasted with glass dust. Also found a can of Tremclad Clear "to prevent tarnish" on my shelf. Been there for awhile with a $4.88 price tag on it. Gave the box three coats. Cleaned up the steering shaft in the lathe, ready for new bearings and reassembly and my recirculating ball worm gear assembly has ZERO wear. Amazing stuff after 47 years. They don't make stuff like this anymore...

Also got my "new" jack from the post office. Picked up the correct jack assembly for only $130, in reconditioned shape c/w lug wrench. The reproduction hook I got from Megaparts for $100.

[birdsandbees]

 

[birdsandbees]

 

[lukedukem]

Is that jack same for all b bodies except chargers?
I hope that's not a dumb question

Luke

[birdsandbees]

Jack is for B bodies.. hook is unique to the Coronet and a few other models.

[lukedukem]

 
It was the hook that threw me. Mine for my bee is missing.

Luke

[birdsandbees]

It was the hook that threw me. Mine for my bee is missing.

Luke

Got it from Jamie at Megaparts. $100. Probably one of Tony's since the part number starts with a T..   Licenced Mopar reproduction with the correct part number stamped in it. #2856116

[green69rt]

   $100 for just the hook?   I'm always amazed at how much we're willing to spend on these things!   Me included.

[birdsandbees]

LOL.. yah $100. The one for a '70 Roadrunner / Bird is $110! BTW, there's a beat up original  6116 hook on ebay and it's $90. Should only take about 6 hours of hammering, welding, media blasting and paint to make look good!   If we had only known, as teenagers in the 70's, when we'd just throw the POS into the ditch after changing a tire... We should have grabbed every one we could from the junk yard and held them like commodities!  

F'd up the worm shaft adjuster seal pressing it in today. First time I've ever wrecked a seal in my life. Usually they go in metal side in and the round edge guides them square. Service manual says metal side out .. and it cocked and bent. Now to wait another 2 weeks for a new one to come from FFeel. Screws up me getting the front end built up this weekend. Guess I can work on the front spindle assemblies while I wait..  

[birdsandbees]

Thinking to tires. .. When I had GG do a report on my #3 of 6 Canadian Bee's in his registry a dozen years ago   he stated the standard T83 tire for the Super Bee was the Red Streak "Speedway-Early" GOODYEAR F70-14. Is this correct, or should it be Firestone???  

[Charger_Fan]

Wow, the grease in the gear box was definitely nasty! Good thing you decided to take it apart. Your resto is coming right along, nice work!

[birdsandbees]

Wow, the grease in the gear box was definitely nasty! Good thing you decided to take it apart. Your resto is coming right along, nice work!

Thanks ! Trying to do something each day, but I may have to get back to some real work to cover the expense of this restoration.. it has got out of hand! 

[Charger-Bodie]

Wow, the grease in the gear box was definitely nasty! Good thing you decided to take it apart. Your resto is coming right along, nice work!

Thanks ! Trying to do something each day, but I may have to get back to some real work to cover the expense of this restoration.. it has got out of hand! 

That's what I alway tell people, if you do a little almost every day it can't help but get done.

[birdsandbees]

Cleaned the steering box out good and put the new steering shaft bearings in the other day. Had really hoped to have it all back together but I messed up the worm shaft seal pressing it in. Still waiting to hear from Matt at Firm Feel... and then realized they were probably at SEMA on the weekend. Hopefully he gets back and mails me new seals before Thanksgiving shut down..  

Heated and coated all my suspension parts with RPM today. My toaster oven wasn't big enough for the center link so I thought I'd sneak in the house while the wife was figure skating and heat it up there. How do they know... she came in the door just as the oven preheated buzzer went off!   Starting to look like a front end, wish I had the steering box ready to put in place!  

[birdsandbees]

 Found an allen key is perfect for plucking parts out of the toaster and holding nuts to coat in RPM.