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

[Challenger340]

Definitely! $450 CDN for everything! 

Sounds like a great score !

Before your post I had no idea the '69 Trim Rings were so hard to find ?
And I had long since forgotten the nuances, so had to go check/read up on the internet about the differences, then go out and check mine to make sure, and luckily they are still there.

[green69rt]

The only thing that would have made the deal better would have been the trim rings being "hens teeth" '69's... that can sell for a grand each. Not to be, but they're close enough '70's. Wheels are original, never been repainted!!

OK, I have to ask.  What's the diff between '69 and '70?   You said '69s are scarce so I immediately jumped up to see what I did with my old rings.  They where setting outside, behind my garage.  Maybe I will bring them inside the garage now

[birdsandbees]

'69's only have 4 retainer clips and they never stayed on. Also have a round valve stem hole vs the squarish oval hole of 70's and up. And '68 down had no trim rings.

[hemigeno]

'69's only have 4 retainer clips

[green69rt]

You just dashed my hopes of fame and fortune!   Slot for the valve stem and fingers all around to hold the ring on.  Mine probably are aftermarket. Back outside they go!

[70 sublime]

Now I will have to go check my pile of trim rings

[birdsandbees]

LOL.. if you happen to have a good 15" one (or two) for original '70 Rallye Wheels I'd be interested sublime.

[Challenger340]

'69's only have 4 retainer clips and they never stayed on. Also have a round valve stem hole vs the squarish oval hole of 70's and up. And '68 down had no trim rings.

And with the '69 Trim Rings:
The finish is brushed, the inside lip is pronounced,and the exterior lip is polished.

As far as staying "on" ?   
IMO, the '69 trim rings are a P.I.T.A. to get on evenly with only the "4" mounting hooks, as they always seem cock-eyed until a guy gets them down fully/evenly, but with a little time & effort they will stay in place.
just say'in...
Mine are original 4 hook design and still there 50 years later. Mind you the Car still had 1979 tires on it until 3 years ago, and never having been "beat on" or abused very much may have helped.

[Derwud]

First, just came back to this thread and saw the pictures of the fires.. As a Southern California resident, those are some scary pics.. I stood in my Dad's driveway once and waived at the pilots as they buzzed his house on a drop run..

Second, I like he wheels on the car now, maybe I am strange..

[birdsandbees]

Like I said, not sure I'm actually going to put these road wheels on her.. just wasn't going to miss the opportunity to buy them.

I like my current wheels as well, lots of memory there as I saved all my pennies back in 1979 to buy those at Canadian Tire!

[Derwud]

Yes, here is my car around 1980 when my Brother and Sister owned it.. Those were 14x7 Western Lattice wheels.


Here is my Car today with the wheels I saved for and bought from a place in Van Nuys California in 82 or 83..

[birdsandbees]

Well I haven't been so determined to finish something since I was trying to get the first airplane that I built completed and test flown before Oshkosh 1995 !

Our youngest Daughter announced she was engaged two weeks back and yesterday while going over what she wants to do for a ceremony, here at our house, she asked to be driven to the "alter" by me in the Bee and her Mom or Brother to drive her Brides Maids out in the Bird. Kristal knows I'm restoring the Bee in her Sister Jen's memory, as my therapy, and she's good with that and wants to make it part of her day. The Bird I need to get cleaned up and roadworthy for Talladega 2019 anyhow so a win win in my books. Gonna be a blur from here on out to get this all done!

Pics of unloading the Bee out of the trailer today and into the shop, along with the Bird that I'd moved to the house garage so I was ready to go on it. Both in the shop now and ready to get to work. Third picture of the engine /etc finally showing the Blue very close to as see by the naked eye.

https://youtu.be/uSSuJ88V7tA

[birdsandbees]

 

[birdsandbees]

Guess I was the only one excited the Daughter wants to use my car! 

Between plowing snow, splitting firewood, putting the dedicated snows on the truck, etc, it didn't leave much day to work on the Bee... but I gotta get at her and gett'r done!

Thought the bumper bolt kits where short 4 nuts, but then was enlightened to the fact the factory nuts where welded on and had left this car sometime in the past 50 years!

Acquired 4 x 7/16 washered nuts to weld in place.

Nuts welded on and of course messing up my epoxy paint from the resto shop.

Fortunately with 18 different blacks, from doing trim and colour tests for my instrument cluster, I had a good match in Krylon Semi-gloss.

Realized I'd better get going on my Ramcharger hood box first so I can get it restored and attached to the hood, so we can get the fenders and hood back on the car asap.

Biggest job is going to be figuring out how to fix the broken center "ring" that was cracked from people doing the "Leno" hood drop!

Also have this corner of the outer box, eaten by the battery post I believe.

Anyone know if this "caulking" strip between center and outer boxes is factory or just something one of two previous paint shops put on here in '78 and '88?

[birdsandbees]

Shot to show factory foam seal on outer boxes, where it seals up to the hood holes.

Foam seal on center box.

[birdsandbees]

Don't get in a hurry pulling nut plate / clips off the Ramcharger hood box. More to fix.

Pry up on both sides of the clips and make sure they are fully released before trying to get them off the 50 year old brittle fiber filled plastic.

Hood mount tab that broke off when I was drilling the rivets out of the hood 3 years back. Another spot to fix.

Appears the real colour on these "black" factory boxes is Brown. I know I painted it once back in '88, but was pretty sure it was black before that. More to research. The brown isn't consistant between sections, so maybe Ma Mopar painted the final assembly??

Detail shot to show the recessed section on the foam box to hood seal for the center section. Need to look at hood to see why this was done....

Original scoop feed holes foam seal.

Tried powerwashing the paint off. Removed some, but not the solution. Paint stripper or maybe glass media blast?

[birdsandbees]

I carefully pried up the 6 tabs on the rivets shop end and tapped it out into a socket with a punch (mould ejector pin actually).

I did both of them on the cable bracket plate, as the plate gave a solid backing to negate any damage.

I wanted a complete rivet or three so I could get true dimensions for replacement rivets.

The rest of the rivets I CAREFULLY drilled partially to weaken and then before they spun I punched them out. I've replaced over 1/2 a million rivets in the past 25 years repairing aircraft, these were removed more carefully than ANY of those. One spin of those 6 tabs is like blasting a milling cutter through the air box material.

Both side boxes all apart to repair and then we'll have to put Humpty Dumpty back together again!

What should have been a 15 minute job! 3 cans of paint stripper in the shop and I used about 25 old spare nozzle tips to try and keep them spraying. I gave up with one part not totally stripped and will get a jug to brush on tomorrow. If you're gonna sell something, design the f'n can to work!

[birdsandbees]

Shot shows the box is definitely brown, as the black paint comes off.

Not sure what to do on the repaint once repaired. Center section is definitely darker than the sides boxes.

Shot to show while both are Brown (and not Black) the center section is darker than the outers. Kinda like Belgian chocolate and cheap Dairy Milk!

Inside a side box showing how water is kept out of the air cleaner. It can come in the scoop, then into the "tray" and drains out the side holes through rubber flaps.

[birdsandbees]

I hate using fiberglass resin with a passion, and considering that the OE box isn't fiberglass but an old style plastic I thought I'd do some experimenting with a newer technology plastic bonder.

Some wax paper and borrowed some sculpty clay of my Daughters to build a dam.

Filled the broken off section with the JB Plastic Bonder.

Let it sit in place all night without disturbing it.

Today I peeled off the wax paper and then the clay

Looking good so far.

I filed it out pretty close to the original, pre-broken shape.

[birdsandbees]

Cleco'd to the other half to get my rivet hole position back and drilled it out.

I bent and twisted this pretty darn good and I can't snap it off ! So I'm proceeding with the JB to fix the other broken edges and cracks.

Grinding out the cracks for a larger bonding surface

Hood mounting tab snapped off on box removal from hood.

Ground out the mating surfaces

Bonded in place. Once it's sets up I'm going to grind a U from the box onto the tab and then back to the box to embed a piece of wire into it with JB as well to add strength.

Most of the cracks and oval rivet holes filled. Still have a huge section to fill on the drivers front corner. For that I may have to get the glass fiber cloth out to complete.

[alfaitalia]

Great work as always...still one of my favourite threads.....and I've never even seen a 'Bee in real life!! Must be one in the UK somewhere I guess!!

[birdsandbees]

Thanks! Was starting to think I was talking to myself again, glad someone's following along! 

[Challenger340]

Thanks! Was starting to think I was talking to myself again, glad someone's following along! 

Lots following along, just tough to raise our jaws enough to comment, your work is outstanding 

[69 OUR/TEA]

I'm surprised no one has ever made an attempt in repoping these 14'' trim rings !!!!!

[armor64]

i just spent the last 2 days in my spare time at work reading through this.

Thank you so much for all the work and picture going into this. your explanation are also fantastic, as i start into my charger, it give me great reference points for what the body /chassis needs to look and function properly.

11/10 mate, keep up the good work!