Starter Relay Restoration

[B5 Charger]

So I was going to buy a repro starter relay for my car to replace the crusty one that came off it.  I got to looking at that crusty relay and discovered a date code on the side of 46 8 or the 46th week of 1968 (11/10/68 - 11/16/68).  The build date on my car is 11/30/68 so this is likely the original relay that came on the car.  So. . .  I thought I'd take a run at restoring it.  if it doesn't work out I can always buy a repro.  This is going to be low budget no sending stuff out for special plating or anything.  The relay was working when the car came apart but just to be sure I bench tested it again prior to disassembly.  Here's a pic of what I started out with.

[B5 Charger]

Here it is disassembled as far as it will go without drilling out all the tiny little rivets.  The hardest part about getting it apart is bending all the little housing tabs up without damaging the face which looks to be made out of some kind of oiled fiberboard of something similar.  I clamped it in a vice and used a punch to lift the tabs up.  I managed to get them all up without damaging the face of the relay.  Not much to it, a couple jamb nuts, a star washer, stud, lock washer, clamp, machine screw, gasket and a contact post.

[B5 Charger]

Here's the date code before and after bead blasting.  The housing for the relay has a small vent in the side just below the date code.  It has a small felt pad over it.  Same deal as the housing tabs, I used a punch to bend the tabs holding the felt a little so it would come out.

[Dino]

Love it!  Now I wish I hadn't bought a repro.   

Little projects like this are great motivators as they are easy to do, not too time consuming and you get great results.

I've always said, in a restoration it's not just the car's body and frame that takes up time, it's all these little things that bolt to it.

[resq302]

I disassembled mine and sent out the casing for replating as the one on our GTX was the original as well.

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?67715-Bringing-it-back-to-factory-specs/page4

Old school plating did the job and was able to replate them in the original dull finish like what came from the factory.  I think it was cyanide cadnium with dichromate.

[B5 Charger]

Plating looks good on your parts.  What did it set you back for those two little housings if you don't mind me asking?  I'm gonna take a run at mine with the Eastwood yellow Cad paint stuff to see how it turns out.

[B5 Charger]

I cleaned the terminals then wrapped the winding in painters tape and sent it for a trip in the tumbler with walnut media.  That cleaned things up pretty good and polished up the terminals.

[mhinders]

Very, very nice! Good work! 

[resq302]

Plating looks good on your parts.  What did it set you back for those two little housings if you don't mind me asking?  I'm gonna take a run at mine with the Eastwood yellow Cad paint stuff to see how it turns out.

Well, I had more done than just those two pieces.  If you look at some of my other things I had done, it was all of the linkage for the carb, the cans from the power drum brake booster, plus some other stuff.  Pricing ran around the $450 range but I had a LOT of things done for that money too.  That also included some parts that were silver cad plated parts too.

[B5 Charger]

My Eastwood yellow CAD paint finally came in.  I went for the package with their Diamond Clear.  Never used the Diamond Clear before so we'll see how that works.  Just using the Dupli Color self etching primer cause I forgot to order some of Eastwood's stuff.  Here's a picture in the base gold.

[B5 Charger]

Finished painting the housing which turned out pretty good.  You can definitely tell it's paint and not plating but it'll work for my project.  Here's a couple pics.  One next to my gold cad plated fan clutch for comparison.

[Dino]

If you put one of those black relay covers on it, nobody will ever know...except those that read this thread.   

[B5 Charger]

Do you mean one of these?  Would that be correct on my '69?  I don't remember it having one on it when I disassembled the car.   

[Dino]

Do you mean one of these?  Would that be correct on my '69?

Yep that's the one.   

[B5 Charger]

I know this thread has been dead for awhile but I forgot to post some after pictures so here they are.

[Alan73Charger]

I know this thread has been dead for awhile but I forgot to post some after pictures so here they are.

Just a thought, but I know a guy that does mopar radiators, I know a guy that does power steering gearboxes and pumps... ever thought about doing it as a business?  As nice as yours turned out I would be a customer.  I've replaced mine with a repo but of course still have the original put away.

[B5 Charger]

I would love to make a business out of my hobby but I think if I did it as a business I would want to replate rather than paint the parts.  Not sure how many people would pay for a painted part that was originally plated.     I did this more to see if I could make mine look presentable and show people you can do some things yourself and save a little money with decent results. 

[Alan73Charger]

I would love to make a business out of my hobby but I think if I did it as a business I would want to replate rather than paint the parts.  Not sure how many people would pay for a painted part that was originally plated.     I did this more to see if I could make mine look presentable and show people you can do some things yourself and save a little money with decent results. 

Well you certainly achieved that.  Looks great.

[myk]

Has your car been without a starter relay for a whole year?

[B5 Charger]

My car hasn't been a running driving car in well over a decade.