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

[birdsandbees]

Signal arm being installed with the large head screw. This screw holds the plastic plates together as well as retaining the signal arm.

Once again testing left and right signal function on the green and brown pairs. Better to find out it doesn't work now than after the wheel is on!

Dielectric grease on the horn contact roller.

Wiring cover going on.

Why you make notes. Colour codes and postions for those that didn't. This is the WIRE side of the connector.

You'll need to tweek the lock tabs and then put each wire end into the plastic block. Note the orientation of the sloped ends to the round hump on the connector. Only way they'll mate with the dash harness.

Column retainer plate loosely in place c/w ground wire.

Horn "button" going into place.

[birdsandbees]

Reproduction wheel was tapped a tad tight, redoing at 6-32.

Repro wheel didn't have open gaps behind for screw clearance. Drilling away PLASTIC with a 3/32 bit.

Horn "button" in place.

Testing the horn ring function. Continuity from the black harness wire to column ground when depressed.

Wheel end all done !

A bit of wheel bearing grease into the steering knuckle housing.

Knuckle shoes and retainer spring clip greased.

Shoes/clip inserted into knuckle housing and retainer pin going into place. The ONLY part I used from the rebuild kit I bought from Partsmix.

[birdsandbees]

Holding the seal retainer in place to bend the tabs over.

A quick hit with a hammer and screwdriver to lock the tabs down.

Worked pretty good and seems to be tight.

Ready to install to the car.

[birdsandbees]

Best to check the signal light auto return before getting to far into assembly !

https://youtu.be/VI9EjZ7o1ZI

[Lennard]

Better than new!

[birdsandbees]

Thanks Lennard! Great to have at least one groupy!! 

Repro kits incorrrect length and material split pin on the left vs the correct original steering knuckle retaining split pin on the right.

Steering box shaft showing the female "keyed" area that you line up with the knuckles male key, thats location is indicated by the notch. The grove between the teeth is what the split pin goes into.

Knuckle in place and split pin tapped into place to retain it. Note the shaft teeth still showing, don't try to hammer the pin in with the knuckle too far onto the shaft.

Steering column up in place, showing correct bolts and ground wire installation.

I can steer this machine again !

Realised that 49 years of tightening had bent my air clearer bases attachment bracket down so much that the two bolts for lid attachment were tipped towards each other.

Wish I'd noticed before I refurbished it.. but here we go in the press.

Success, perfectly straight again and no extra dents or paint damage.

[lukedukem]

Getting close buddy. Couple questions

Is the floor not suppose to be body color, mine is white like the car?

Are you gonna put any sound deadening insulation material down?

Will you do a video of a burnout, or at least a driving video?

Luke

[birdsandbees]

Wasn't wasting $725cdn / gallon paint for under the carpet! That black is zinc epoxy primed and epoxy paint on top. It's harder than rinoliner !

Carpet has sound deadner on the back and noise and heat was never a real issue before. Not sure if I'll bother covering the floor with insulation.

Not gonna smoke those $550 Cdn each ($300US plus shipping to Canada plus 13% tax ) Goodyear tires for long.. BUT you know it's gonna happen!  

Other than a trip for alignment before I put the front clip on, it's not gonna be driving or get done until next year by the looks of things. I only have about 7 weeks left until we're back to our flyin camp up North.

[birdsandbees]

Spent from Saturday until Tuesday doing 3 sets of corporate tax returns and finally got back to the shop this afternoon.

I had an old rotted washer fluid reservoir I've been toting around since 1980 or so that I've kept because it had a complete pump on it with correct wiring still intact. Carefully drilled the one piece rivet / wire connector off from the back.

My original pump, bottom, with wiring broken off and the spare all apart. Using the best parts of two to make one for the car. At least that's the plan.

Both motor magnet housings into Evaporust to see which cleans up the best.

The spare wasn't running, brushes are good but pump was tight. Poured some washer fluid in the pump housing and sprayed gun oil onto the shaft to free things up. Slipped the magnet housing on and it runs again! Plugged the outlet and blew in the inlet and it doesn't appear to leak at the shaft seal.

Cleaning up 49 years of grime in soapy water first.

Then the brass brush in the dremel.

And it almost looks new.

[birdsandbees]

Cleaned up the wire connector end with the brass brush as well. Once installed it will look like it's still crimped to the reservoir.

Spare reservoir I grabbed back in the early '80's from Ma Fitzgerald's in Jasper, my original front and reproduction rear. I'm guessing it's cap is correct for '69. Pretty sure my '70 in the 'Bird has script on it...

A repo with the correct script even and part numbers. Part # WAS -005 (concurs) from National Moparts

Off shelf screws / washers on the left that came with the reservior of course are incorrect. Fortunately not knowing it came with screws I also ordered a pair of screws and they have the correct head shape and captive washer. # WAS-39A Got those from National Moparts as well. Suspect they are really supposed to be black oxide though... so they'll get a good long soak in my dirty Evaporust to darken them up.  I have learned they are correct as is

[birdsandbees]

I had a fair number of people tell me you can't get scratches out of tempered glass. Sounded like a challenge to me! Don't show the wife, she might expect the house windows washed.

Great core workout, that's for sure. Asked the wife to get me a straw for my drink glass..lol.

At this stage I was just polishing out some heavy haze someone else had put on the back glass, from what I think was a failed attempt at polishing. This is the back glass I picked up to replace my heavily scratched one, so I do have a spare it I blow it. After this I got really brave and ground down scratches on the back side of the glass and polished them back out. I'm about 8 hours into this glass so far, I figure 14 or so hours more to get the major stuff and it'll be presentable... and be OEM original with correct date codes!

https://youtu.be/AYDrNvZc2to

[birdsandbees]

Glass Scratch Removal / Polishing kit I bought off Amazon awhile back. Decided to give it a try.

Did a test run on my passenger window that I'm replacing. F'Tards at the body shop in '88 blasted my key hole with the window down. Figured I had nothing to lose. Started with the coarse Red, then Green and then the Blue. I wasn't trying to completely remove the sandblast, but more wanting to see if I could get the clarity back after grinding with the sandpaper.

I'm on the right track.. onto the cars back glass !

This cloudy look was on about 1/3rd of the back glass. It wouldn't clean or scrub off, so I figure someone failed at a polish job... and I may too!

Figured I'd start by seeing if I could get rid of the haze. Numerous passes with the polishing compound and numerous wet downs to get slurry going.

Multiple passes in every direction for a good 3 hours on one half. Remember to let your drill gear box cool down from time to time.. and your arms!

No more haze and minor scratches are gone. The "lines" are the galvanized ceiling reflection!

Looking pretty good, but now I just had to get brave.

[birdsandbees]

Flipped the glass over and started grinding down some deep scratches. Used the Green to start.

Scratch gone using the Green pad.

Ground again with the Blue pad and later water added and it cleaned up even better.

A long scratch right up the middle ground with Green. Must have been some wild nights at the Drive In with all this interior scratching.

Smoothed out with the Blue and water.

On to polish.

Once it dries out.. sprayed with water to get slurry going again. Too expensive to just keep adding more compound.

Getting pretty clear. I figure another 4 hours tomorrow just to clean up the stuff I ground and another 4 or so to buff everything out. Then I'll probably get stupid and flip it over and start on exterior scratches.

[Lennard]

22 hours of polishing!  I admire your determination. My glass had some deep scratches so I just bought it all new from AMD.

[birdsandbees]

Hey.. I'm outta the wife's hair! 

I was told AMD's back glass curves weren't correct and don't fit correctly so I didn't buy one. Looking at my OEM that almost hits the Dutchman in the center with both ends 3/8" up to simulate the sealer "tape" I doubt AMD could have it any worse.

[Lennard]

 

[birdsandbees]

Spent another 3.5 hours today getting these three spots polished out and a complete once over of the entire surface.

Working on three spots.

And the spots are gone! Lines are the ceiling reflection.

Total glass surface coverage. I've found that one "out of the bottle" coverage, then misting water on surface and pad as you progress numerous times. Final buff is dry and removes all the compound (some goes back into pad). Just be careful on heat generation!

We'll call the back side a wrap ! Note the curved reflection of the ceiling and the yellow power cord that hangs from the ceiling.

Now to get a few major scratches off the outer side. I found a razor blade knocks some of the "visual" off some scratches. Don't want to over do it, but I'll be lightly grinding and buffing out the major ones.

[lukedukem]

Outstanding work.
How did you store that glass when not in use. Mine is out of my car and I hate having laying flat in the way. I'd like to stand it up, but not sure if or how to build something to hold it.

Luke

[birdsandbees]

This one I picked up over the winter from a kid for $60 I think it was. Also cost me $62 in road tolls to get to his house.. 

He just had it sitting on the garage floor leaning against his Dart ! 

My original was removed by the body shop, they just had it leaning against the wall in a Sea can.

I probably would have done the same if I'd had it here.. but a fingered holder would be the smart thing to do.

[Lennard]

Outstanding work.
How did you store that glass when not in use. Mine is out of my car and I hate having laying flat in the way. I'd like to stand it up, but not sure if or how to build something to hold it.

Luke

Different ways to store auto glass:

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&source=hp&ei=U3K_WvWRI-3m_Qbb05TYBQ&q=auto+glass+rack&oq=auto+glass+rack&gs_l=mobile-gws-img.3..0j0i24.5135.14975..15037...1....424.2946.0j5j3j3j1..........1..mobile-gws-wiz-img.....2..41.u9cTRX47nEk%3D

[birdsandbees]

Day 4 on the scratch removal and polish. That's probably why people say it can't be done.. lol My abrasive pads are just about toast and polish is running low.

My body had 3 hours in it today, to work on the outer face. Who needs to go to a gym ?? !! Probably the same tomorrow and then we'll call it good, I hope!

[birdsandbees]

About 2 hours today working the final area some more.

Looks pretty good in the sun. Guess the only thing to do is pop the OE off the car and set this in place, then decide which looks better.

If you stare for a minute you're realize this is a shot through the glass looking into the shop. Ticked off I must have picked up a bit of grit on the 2nd to last polish as I put some new swirls in it! $(@*%

[alfaitalia]

So that's what you look like! I often wonder what members on here look like! I started a thread over on the Jeep forum for people to put a face to the user names.....went well.....might do it here too. BOT ...you have way more patience than me. As careful as I am with Charger fund cash I would have conceded defeat and got another glass before I had got anything like those sort  hours into it. Good work as always...still one of my favourite threads on the site.

[birdsandbees]

THANKS! Pretty sure I posted a pic of me here before, but here's another if you're collecting faces! 

Two reasons I went through this arm killing week of madness.. and may not be done just yet thanks to my new swirls I created today.

1: Both my OE glass and this spare back glass that I picked up have date codes that fit my cars birthdate.

2: I was warned that AMD's replacement glass didn't fit correctly curve wise.

Mind you worrying about the date code thing is pretty dumb anyhow since I put a repop windshield in, which was a step up as the removed was a no name replacement from the '70's but at least I now have a Chrysler etched symbol on my new one.

I'm also replacing both doors main glass as well, with logo'd AMD glass, as my drivers is chipped at the upper guide pin / vent track and the passenger glass was sandblasted when the shop in '88 blasted my key hole with the friggin glass down!

[birdsandbees]

I've got to stop with the "challenges". Been told and read that 95% can't get the rubber in the sway bar mount without cutting the metal strap off, putting the rubber in and then rewelding. That's how they were built at the factory. And to add to the challenge, I'm using PST's harder Polyurethane bushings. Make sure you understand final assembly and have the mounts on the correct side and direction. You're not going to do this twice!

I spent about an hour and a half trying different things with no success, realized part way through that the mount has to be on the bar first, then the bushing, so you can use the hole in the base to help pry the bushing into place. I started out protecting the paint with a rag, but gave up on that. Anyhow, start the center in with channel locks. Squeeze, rotate the pliers around and down to force the bump in under the strap.

Once the center is in, lock it with vise grips... or it WILL pop back out. I lost ground many times stopping to grab the camera!

Use the BIG channel locks to start each end/corner of the bushing into the mount.

Once you get it in a bit, with the big channel locks, reclamp QUICKLY with welding vise grips. This is where the hole then comes in. A bit of prying..

Some squeezing lower down with the welding clamps and one corner pops in.

Lots of glass cleaner for lube and you can make the rubber "flow" if you hold it long enough.

More squeezing..