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

[birdsandbees]

Ramcharger hood cable brackets lightly blasted to get incorrect paint off them and coated in RPM ready for assembly... if my rivets ever show up (they sat in Montreal for over a week, now Barrie for over a week.. f'n posties!)

My OE licence plate light bottom and one I bought from a DC . com member a year + ago to combine the best parts. Looks like it will be all his.. lol.. and mine didn't have this "shield". Probably discarded during a bulb change?

OE part number for reference and determining what the correct OE finish was. Almost looks like it was painted black.

Cleaned up by hand to this point, till I determine correct finish.

DO NOT forget that you put parts in the evaporust bucket. They may not be there when you remember. 3/16" bolts are down to 1/8" diameter. Guess they're not much use as spares in the glove box now! Been in there since Spring!

[birdsandbees]

CAN ANYONE HELP WITH THE LIGHT HOUSING FINISH??? Looks like galvanized in some respects on the show side, but not the back and there it definitely appears to be OE in black???

Also I cannot find a single picture of a licence plate light with that deflector plate on it. Is it correct on a '69 Bee?? or no plate?

[Lennard]

I have pictures of a n.o.s. one. Just can't post pictures here.
I'll p.m. you my cell phone number if you want them.

[hemigeno]

These are photos of an NOS assembly I found and used with my Daytona's restoration.  The parts book says there are distinct/different assembly part numbers for Chargers, other Dodge B-bodies, and Plymouth B-bodies respectively.  What those distinctions are, I don't know. 

It would appear that the stamped part number on the assembly I found ended in "297" like yours, and the lens has "L65P" markings as does yours.  I think those are both correct for a Daytona/Charger, so perhaps the distinction with the remainder of the '69 W models is in the pigtail, or it could be in the finish applied to the housing itself, or...??  John Borzych / MoparJohn has done more research on this topic than I have, so maybe he'll chime in?

[birdsandbees]

THANKS Geno! So the plate is definitely galvanized (and mine looks that way as well) and your housing bright zinc? Mine appears that the lamp area was masked off and the mounting tabs and back were painted black. Scrubbing with a brass brush didn't take the black off either. That said, it's my replacement I bought from someone here... and my OE is rusted which would lead me to believe it was bare originally, so maybe I'm answering my own question. 

[birdsandbees]

THANKS Lennard as well, pics he emailed me of an NOS match Geno's. Bright zinc housing and galvanized shield. 

[Lennard]

THANKS Lennard as well, pics he emailed me of an NOS match Geno's. Bright zinc housing and galvanized shield.  

I'm glad I could return the favor, I've learned a lot from following this resto topic.  

[hemigeno]

THANKS Geno!

Glad to help out.

Was the part you got from a DC.com member taken from a Charger?  The '69 Parts Book shows that the shield is on Charger license lamp assemblies, but not the B-body ones.  

[birdsandbees]

I honestly don't remember, but considering I got it from a guy on here it was probably Charger.

Your timing is great, I was just heading to the shop and was going to make a new clean shield from a sheet of galvanized that I have to make it look NOS!  Saves me that work! Now to see if I can clean up the housing and figure out how to make it look okay. Not paying $350 US for a new one.

[birdsandbees]

While my obtained replacement used OE licence plate light housing is black, it was determined through a couple helpful individuals this morning that it should be bright zinc and the shield galvanized. ALSO, notice how both the OE's I have have square corners and the "NOS" or Repops for sale are round!?

I determined I'm too far into this car $ wise to spend more money replating, or buying an NOS one for $350US or a cheap repop for $75US + shipping for something that isn't really seen. SO the lamp socket was covered and wire taped off for media blasting.

Broke out my mini blaster and my bucket of glass powder, dawned a respirator, eye protection and a full face shield and gave the parts a light blast.

All cleaned up and it was also determined this morning that the "shield" is a Charger and Stationwagon only item. Not used on other B bodies, such as my Coronet - SuperBee.

I coated the housing with RPM, reassembled with a new gasket, tested the light and then installed to my rear bumper.

Installed the nylon plate "nuts" to the plate holder.

DO NOT install the lower ones, like I did, before you get the hinge together as the pin head won't slide by them!

[birdsandbees]

Little trick to hold the spring ends in place while you get the pin in.

Pin into place and just needs the push nut installed onto it's end and then the spring hooked behind the tab in the square hole. Note the attachment bolts are NOT OE and are a size bigger. Somewhere in time they got upsized and holes drilled accordingly (bracket and bumper) so no going back to correct.

Licence plate "stop" rubber. Two required.

Stop rubbers installed to bumper.

Licence mounting plate assembly installed.

View from behind. Looks clean and I'm satisfied.

[birdsandbees]

My "held hostage by posties" rivets finally arrived yesterday... only 2.5 weeks late.

Based on careful extraction and measuring of the OE rivets this was what I determined the OE's were.

I've set over 1/2 a million rivets in the past 25 years, none have terrified me as much as the next 33 to be done. Practice run on some fiberglass scraps.

Go big or go home, here we go! So nervous I almost forgot to put the air flapper inside! That wouldn't have ended well...

ONE... .. Thirty Two to go !

One end, of one air box, done.

Hard part is staying creative to get every rivet sitting flat on the bucking bar.

Another end done!!! Yahooo....

[birdsandbees]

Drivers side air box together.

Passenger side air box together.

I was just going to cut some rubber from a roll I have and reuse the old clips that I'd already cleaned up. But I already needed something from Jamie anyhow. What's another 30 bucks at this point.

Drain flappers ready to install.

All parts laid out for a photo shoot, ready for foam seals and the Ramcharger decal.

Neat thing about Pliobond, it's the same brown colour as the factory glue residue I cleaned off the box during restoration. It's also a GREAT glue.

Foam in place and "clamped".

Gonna get one shot at this, better make it straight.

[birdsandbees]

Success. PITA with RAMCHARGER a clear decal to show the box colour through it. Spent 30 minutes coaxing the hazy spots out (air) to get it to look consistant.

Center box and foam glued up. Same Pliobond.

In place and will trim the passenger side detent in the foam once it's cured in place.

So this is why they call in Cement board!

[birdsandbees]

Had my faithful assistant (of 36+ years) help me carry the hood from a marine container to the shop. One of the few that has ever sat on that hood, laying back against the windshield at the drive-in! The only one that's ever married me and went to and from the chapel in this car in 1982!

I'd say body man Kenny did a damn good job of getting it straight.

Scoops off for bezel install and then proper installation.

Scoop bezels installed and ready to put on the hood. Paint is like a mirror.

Scoops set in place ready for gaskets and nuts.

Install kits nuts and gaskets. Studs were bonded into the scoops before paint.

Make sure you keep the gasket centered and don't just blindly install the nut

If you don't pay attention and the gasket cocks this is what you'll get!

[birdsandbees]

Told her I'd buy her a beer if she came back out to the shop and helped me flip the hood over!!    Best nickle I spent all day! 

Hood wiped clean and ready to install the Ramcharger airbox.

Center set in place to see why the OE foam was trimmed back in one spot.

Answer is because the box actually sits to the passenger side of the hood and sits over a reinforcement panel. Foam marked for trim.

Foam trimming.

Now it sits perfect.

Center ready to close my eyes and pull the 4 rivets.

Outer boxes have both rivets and clip nuts with screws on the outer edge.

[birdsandbees]

Laid out a strip of cord seal on each outer box where it overlaps the center, to duplicate the OE installation.

All pegged in place ready to pull outer box rivets and tighten screws.

Slowly pulled the outers down with wing nut clecos to squash the cord seal before riveting.

Almost done, but thanks to an issue that I wish we had of thought of before paint I stopped for the night. Three of the holes are oversize from multiple air box removals over time. Rivets won't expand enough to hold and I can't get a keeper washer behind the structure in these spots. Will work on a solution tomorrow and then install the filter seal, cowl and radiator support seals.

[birdsandbees]

Why you walk away when things go South and sleep on it. My brain never shuts off. How to install a backing washer, to correct the oversize hole. Piece of aquarium tube threaded in and out of the hood.

Work boot lace with an AN960-10 (3/16) washer threaded on and a knot in the lace.

What ever quick drying glue you have around the shop to coat the washer face and pull up into place in the hole. I had some china bonder that dries in 2 minutes.

One hole fixed.

Hood web holes required a wire fed down and out, and then the lace taped on and pulled in.

Carefully sliding the washer under so I don't lose the glue. Pretty tight pulling the knot through, but doable.

Ready to do the other side, with the other end of the same lace.

Bob's your uncle!

[birdsandbees]

Final three rivets pulled to complete the box installation.

Purchased my new air filter seal from Dales Cuda Shop.

EM number from the removed seal. Think I bought this one in 1988 from the Chrysler dealer at the corner of Wilson and Keele in Toronto.

DCS has no part number in the same location as the OEM part number.

DCS part number at the back of the seal where nobody will see it.

Excellent reproduction, but they certainly need to work on their bonding system.

All screws in loose before tightening them up.

Drivers side cable locked in place and push nut installed.

[birdsandbees]

Cable installed to passenger side, making sure both flaps are tightly closed and work smoothly.. open / close.. open / close.

Bought my radiator seal and cowl seal from two different suppliers but both obviously came from the "same" place.

Not too happy that one is a deep black and the other is almost gray, even after cleaning. Ended up breaking out my "Wipe New" to get it to darken up somewhat.

Time to call my paint man and get the nose back on the car. Hopefully he has time before Christmas.

[b5blue]

So pretty! Like new! Did you paint or seal inside frame/hood sandwich of assembly? 

[birdsandbees]

Thanks!

All I can tell you for sure is poor Tom was sporting a bandaid on EVERY finger and thumb before he was half done in this picture.

Hood was media blasted with glass, zinc epoxy primed and spray wand inside webs as best they could with encapsulating DOM16. Then totally sanded, primed etc just like any other exterior body part prior to paint. A LOT of hand work that I'm glad I wasn't doing and just writing cheques! 

[birdsandbees]

Fenders wiped down ready to sort out correct hardware for install by reading the shop manual and comparing to the hardware kit I'd bought. After 50 years and three paint jobs it's needless to say most body shops don't care and just use nuts and bolts.

Upper rear of fender to outer cowl stud in place. Short thread section in, long out.

Short stud in place at upper cowl.

Two long studs in clip nuts at front of door sill. Long thread section in, short out.

Long stud under the radiator support attach bracket. Long thread section in, short section out for the washer nut.

Four clip nuts down the fender edge.

Clip nut in the inner fender for the hood hinge.

Two clip nuts, each side, on the radiator support.

Car has just crossed the 2000 hours of total labour to this point with the body shop and my time added together.

[mopar4don]

so it looks like you had the nuts on upper portion of the studs when it was painted?
Did you paint the clips on the car?

Any tricks when tightening down painted bolts and minimizing chipping?

[birdsandbees]

Don, all the hardware was media blasted and painted off the car. Bolts and studs stuck in cardboard with the nuts on the studs bottomed to the short ends stop so they should present fully painted as if the car was painted assembled. If not, it's solvent based paint so I can touch up with an artist brush.

Clip nuts where all threaded on a wire and painted to get full coverage.

No primer was used, just a light coat of paint to minimize thickness and possibility of it cracking off during tightening.

I have installed all the door hinge and trunk hinge hardware that was painted this way without cracking any paint off so far. I use a piece of plastic bag material between the bolt head and the socket for protection and seems to work good.