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

[birdsandbees]

Gave in this morning and then spent an hour going around town to every auto store, only one can of gasket remover in the entire place!

It took over a dozen applications and a lot of work with a piece of UHMW ice hut runner to get it all off.

Then back into my ultrasonic cleaner, after a lot of dental pick work cleaning out holes!

Going back together with new gaskets, a new 6.5 power valve, downsized the jets to #70's and don't forget the brass baffle.

No parts left.. must have done something right!

Back on the car, after prefilling the bowls with gas through the vent stacks.

It's running.. and note the lack of smoke!!! Amaze myself some days!

Left it running for some time and then set up the idle mixture screws, floats and idle speed. I can now kill the engine turning in the idle mixture screws! Hopefully tomorrow has some sunshine as I missed getting a tour in today!

[birdsandbees]

More "cleaner" work after about a dozen coatings of gasket remover.

https://youtu.be/gMCQM_kfd9E

First start after carb rebuild. Prefilled the bowls through the vent stacks. Looks like I'm winning!!! Charlie would be proud, not my old man..... Sheen.. LOL

https://youtu.be/TaYfY3CIRdQ

Running, mixture idle, floats, idle speed, etc all set, ready for a tour! Hoping for sunshine tomorrow!

https://youtu.be/bXuoPjBGwJw

[birdsandbees]

Ready to take my honey for a drive, Wife's coming along tooooo !

Some jackass built the house 1200 feet from the road... and it's gravel too!

5/8ths of a mile to get to pavement, and to think I use to run these roads at 80MPH +.. not 8.

It's still fun going into 2nd gear some 40 years later!

Yep.. she's always loved my mechanical side.

An hour into our cruise, all looking GOOD ! Temp sitting right on the stat and oil still 50psi.

1st gear cruise through Little Lake Park in Midland.

Put about 60 miles on the car, one rattle and it's the dash panel hockey stick above the glove box. Wife says it did that 40 years ago too! If we'd made it home just 3 minutes sooner we would have stayed dry.

[birdsandbees]

The sound of music..

https://youtu.be/i8Uf0NjapPM

[birdsandbees]

Well she had her test drive, thought I'd slap her quality sticker on.

After I'd bought some Blue ones I found out that Dodge used Red and Plymouth used Blue. Beavis, that sold them to me, was nice enough to send me the Red one for free!

Sticker in place and not sure I like it there. Blue would have looked a lot better. Thinking I may be doing like the dealers did and peeling it back off !

First paint chips, but at least they're inside. Both doors.

The culprit, aftermarket seat belt retractor. The door hits it when closed.

Cleaned up and straightened the OE sill plate extensions I bought from Moparsal and then fought to get them into place.

Drivers side in.

Passenger side in place.

[birdsandbees]

Well I guess I'll conclude the restoration thread here. I know it's not a Charger and not up many of your "alleys", but she's done.... I figured 90% of what I did crossed over to your cars, it's now driving and the wife is happy.

It's been a great 3+ years for me, as I used this restoration and the hundreds of hours posting updates as a distraction to losing a daughter and she'd be happy. That's all that really matters to me, that and her Sister that's going to get driven to the alter in said car in September.

Be well folks, life is short and has an expiry date! 

[alfaitalia]

 

[CDN72SE]

Wayne, it's been great following along with your resto, looking forward to seeing pictures of the Bee with your daughter in the fall.
I'll be following the cleanup of the Bird. Alan

[Dino]

Wayne that was quite the ride and I have enjoyed every bit of it. Congrats and enjoy the next chapter!   

[lukedukem]

This has been a very informative thread for me being that I too have a 69 bee that needs to be restored. I appreciate all you've put into this and I'm sure I'll be asking you some questions later on.

Luke

[66FBCharger]

Wayne,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this journey with us. I enjoyed following along and learned quite a bit. I will definitely use it as a reference when I'm putting my car back together.
Thanks again,
John

[birdsandbees]

Thanks guys! Hopefully there's something in amongst all those pages of bs that'll help someone along! 

Might be a couple small things to add here as I shake down the car, but right now I'm up to my ass in airplanes trying to get them serviced and out of here. Mother nature isn't helping one bit. Runway's as soft as a bog and we may just get desperate and select gear up on the amphibs BEFORE the taxi and take off roll. 

[Troy]

I really like this car and enjoy the thread. I learned a whole lot (mostly about how I do things wrong). I'm sorry for the resizing headaches. Some day they'll be sorted. You have probably not been around long enough to see this picture from when my cars shared a hangar with an even older relic.

Troy

[birdsandbees]

NICE.. that a 140 or 170?

Here's the only picture I have of both of mine "under wing", from back in 2001.

[Troy]

It's a 140. My friend let me use his hangar while it was being restored and that picture was right when it came home but before I got kicked out.

Troy

[cdr]

I love this Beeee, thank you for taking the time to post all of this info on the resto.

[Lennard]

Thanks for putting in all the time and effort to create this thread Wayne. I've learned a lot, following your restoration journey. You've built a beautiful high quality car, now it's time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

[birdsandbees]

THANKS guys! 

Here's a few videos from yesterdays "shake down" drive #2. Just a bit more proof for the guy that lost and picked trailer Queen in the pool !  

https://youtu.be/DBelFiA-L-Y


https://youtu.be/hzzBGSF6IHQ


https://youtu.be/FvAJuPGigHo


https://youtu.be/S3Qnpb6NdyU

[Lennard]

Nice videos. I can't believe how quiet these cars are in stock form. I'm used to be around the rowdy and loud ones.

[birdsandbees]

Thanks Lennard! Video three shows the nice sound of factory as I shift up the street... before I start swearing! 

[Lennard]

Yeah, I heard you say some kind words to that guy towing the boat.

[birdsandbees]

Why a 3000 hour restoration was well worth it... still a chick magnet after all these years! 

Daughters wedding on Saturday..

[b5blue]

Thanks for sharing and best of luck! 

[hemi-hampton]

Looks like I missed the end of this story till now. Congrats Car came out nice. LEON.


3,000 hours times $50 a hour, that's about $150k in labor.

[birdsandbees]

1900 was me Leon.. and my wife won't pay me!!