hemigeno's Daytona restoration - a few more tweaks... again!

[hemigeno]

John,

The driveshaft now on the car is/was an NOS piece and had very little rust -- even surface rust -- which made cleanup a snap.  The ORIGINAL driveshaft was a different story... Lots-O-Rust, and trying to refurbish it did not fit the way we've done the rest of the car.

Here's what I can pass along about driveshaft restoration in general:

One of the best products I've come across for rust removal is a product called Evapo-Rust.  You can find product information from the manufacturer in this link, and I purchased the concentrated product (cheaper shipping that way, of course!) from this company. 

Taking rust off the driveshaft is one step... however, that usually leaves a fairly pitted-up driveshaft tube since most of us live in semi- to very-humid climates and driveshafts were not plated with phosphate, cadmium, etc.  A really good way to remove the rust from a driveshaft is to buy a 6'-8' length of 6" PVC pipe, one end cap, and a 6" cleanout cap (with the removable screw-on cap).  Cut the 6" PVC to the length you'd like and glue the end cap and cleanout cap's base to the pipe.  When you put the driveshaft in the PVC pipe, you'll have to find a way to wire the driveshaft "down" when the whole thing is standing vertical, as the hollow driveshaft will become buoyant.  Fill the PVC tube with Evapo-Rust, screw the cap on, stand it up in the corner of the shop and let it soak for a couple of days.  You'll be amazed at what that stuff can do, although for a really pitted part it may require a light brush scrub and a few more days of soak time.

Unless your tube happens to be in phenomenal shape, chances are you'll have a choice to make at that point.  Either fill in the tube's pitting and paint with your favorite product to mimic a bare steel look, or - if the tube only has light pitting - polish it to the point the pitting is removed.  The latter option won't work if the tube is heavily pitted, as the wall thickness of the tube isn't much to begin with.  Thin up the walls too much and put a hot RB engine in front, and you'll have a twisted tube really quickly.

Anyway, if you're not the do-it-yourselfer type or are looking for a concours-level finished product, one name I've heard mentioned over and over by other people as doing an excellent job refurbishing driveshafts is a guy by the name of Pete Bloathner (from Rescue, California I believe).  Pete slowly polishes the tube until the pits are gone (this unfortunately almost always removes any remnants of the part number stamping), and replicates all the original bluing and weld marks on the longitudinal part of the tube and end welds where the yokes are affixed.  I know other people have really accurate reproduction weld weights (one example is http://www.deadnutson.com ), so I'm sure a driveshaft could be checked for proper balance and adjusted if necessary.

Glad you're enjoying - and benefitting - from the thread, as that makes the time and effort to type all this stuff up a lot more worthwhile.

[gtx6970]

1st. I say leave the trans case as is. IMO when you have it judged you'll take less of a points hit as is - versus painted

2nd. to those taking notes. with exception to Daytonas ( maybe birds ) No other car will have the rear inner fender splash shields will have any signs of body color on them

[66FBCharger]

John,

The driveshaft now on the car is/was an NOS piece and had very little rust -- even surface rust -- which made cleanup a snap.  The ORIGINAL driveshaft was a different story... Lots-O-Rust, and trying to refurbish it did not fit the way we've done the rest of the car.

Here's what I can pass along about driveshaft restoration in general:

One of the best products I've come across for rust removal is a product called Evapo-Rust.  You can find product information from the manufacturer in this link, and I purchased the concentrated product (cheaper shipping that way, of course!) from this company. 

Taking rust off the driveshaft is one step... however, that usually leaves a fairly pitted-up driveshaft tube since most of us live in semi- to very-humid climates and driveshafts were not plated with phosphate, cadmium, etc.  A really good way to remove the rust from a driveshaft is to buy a 6'-8' length of 6" PVC pipe, one end cap, and a 6" cleanout cap (with the removable screw-on cap).  Cut the 6" PVC to the length you'd like and glue the end cap and cleanout cap's base to the pipe.  When you put the driveshaft in the PVC pipe, you'll have to find a way to wire the driveshaft "down" when the whole thing is standing vertical, as the hollow driveshaft will become buoyant.  Fill the PVC tube with Evapo-Rust, screw the cap on, stand it up in the corner of the shop and let it soak for a couple of days.  You'll be amazed at what that stuff can do, although for a really pitted part it may require a light brush scrub and a few more days of soak time.

Unless your tube happens to be in phenomenal shape, chances are you'll have a choice to make at that point.  Either fill in the tube's pitting and paint with your favorite product to mimic a bare steel look, or - if the tube only has light pitting - polish it to the point the pitting is removed.  The latter option won't work if the tube is heavily pitted, as the wall thickness of the tube isn't much to begin with.  Thin up the walls too much and put a hot RB engine in front, and you'll have a twisted tube really quickly.

Anyway, if you're not the do-it-yourselfer type or are looking for a concours-level finished product, one name I've heard mentioned over and over by other people as doing an excellent job refurbishing driveshafts is a guy by the name of Pete Bloathner (from Rescue, California I believe).  Pete slowly polishes the tube until the pits are gone (this unfortunately almost always removes any remnants of the part number stamping), and replicates all the original bluing and weld marks on the longitudinal part of the tube and end welds where the yokes are affixed.  I know other people have really accurate reproduction weld weights (one example is http://www.deadnutson.com ), so I'm sure a driveshaft could be checked for proper balance and adjusted if necessary.

Glad you're enjoying - and benefitting - from the thread, as that makes the time and effort to type all this stuff up a lot more worthwhile.

Geno,
This stuff sounds great! Thanks for the info.
I am planning to use a lot of the ideas/techniques you and Vance are using to complete my concours resto on my 440+6 '70 RR.
I have used MP 50. It works really well for protecting bare parts from rusting. It is available through Mopar dealers.
I love the way you are restoring the Daytona. Great Job!
John

[maxwellwedge]

Check your dealer again for MP50 - I heard it is on the endangered species list and is now toast.  

I bought a case of 12 about a year or so ago so I should be ok for a little while.

[nascarxx29]

MP50 #  PN 4549626

http://www.atascosa.com/Partsstock.htm

[hemigeno]

OK, time for a brief (for me, anyway  ) update.

I stopped by Vance's shop last Friday and checked on the car's progress.  He hasn't been able to do a whole bunch to the car for lack of parts.  Some of the parts we're waiting on have been promised to me now for over a year, and still have not materialized.  Several of you guys have dealt with similar situations and know the frustration that entails, although there is just not much one can do to help the situation (but it's quite easy to torque some suppliers off so that you'll NEVER get the parts you want).

Overall, the car hasn't changed much since January - but that's not from a lack of desire on our part to get things rolling again (see parts issue above).  The suspension really can't be finalized until I get a correct left lower ball joint, one unpitted front brake backing plate, and all eight brake shoes.  We HAVE been able to get the brake drums all taken care of, and one of two missing backing plates is now on hand.  Beyond that, the Road Wheels are in California now where they'll be separated, straightened & trued, rechromed, and then re-welded.  It'll be at least another month (probably closer to two) before it will be resting on its own finished wheels.  It's just very slow finding exactly what we're looking for, when you factor in different part variations, condition of the parts, and those infernal date codes.   Some issues have simple but unorthodox solutions which may become necessary... I have mint original front backing plates on my R/T which might just get cannibalized.  Haven't heard of too many Hemi Chargers being used as parts cars now, have ya?

I'll run through the pictures snapped on Friday, which won't take too long.

[hemigeno]

One of the issues solved since my January trip is the taillight wiring harness.  I had two of these to choose from, neither of which had decent loom material left.  A place in California still has a vintage machine which does the loom weaving, and they refurbished one harness using the best components of both cores.  It really turned out nice, as you can tell from the pictures.

[hemigeno]

While they were doing the taillight harness, I had them re-weave the loom on the console wiring harness.  Finding a new one of these over the 8-9 years I've been scrounging parts has proven to be an impossible task, but you couldn't tell this refurbished piece from a new one after they got done (except for maybe a part number label).  It's all original/vintage except for the loom strands themselves.

[hemigeno]

Troy's (AB Troy, that is) handiwork is shown in the first picture.  He loaned me the part number stamp for the heater box.  I'm still waiting on an OEM glovebox to materialize, although a reproduction box is sitting on the shelf in case that doesn't show up.

Carpet hasn't been installed, because it isn't at Vance's shop just yet.  We had been told an original rug was available, but when it showed up it was not only the wrong application (A-body instead of B-body), it was starting to decay to the point tufts of carpet were pulling loose from the backing when you ran your hand across it.  Not good.  Unless a better original carpet shows up soon (and I have a potential lead on that too), we'll use one from Dave Walden (ECS Automotive).  ECS has been out of stock for a while though, with their move to new digs.

[hemigeno]

The headliner and headliner insulation was installed since last visit, which spruces things up a bit.  Since early 2009 or so, Legendary Interiors has been offering a correct pattern headliner material which is (from what I can see) identical to the original pattern.  It only costs just a little more than their GM-pattern material headliners, and for the life of me I can't understand why they didn't do this years ago.

[hemigeno]

One revolting development that happened related to the headliner installation.  If you remember, a few months back I was able to get the original package tray from DC.com member davtona, the car's previous owner.  Vance and I were hoping to save that package tray, but it was fairly scratched up and we both had our doubts.  Well, one of the things they had hoped to do with the package tray was to install it so they'd know where to cut off the extra headliner material.  Unfortunately, as they were trying to bend the headliner around the bottleneck created by the original Charger window opening, the headliner started to crack.  By the time they could get it out from where it was wedged in, a corner was now missing.

While I'm disappointed that the original package tray is now not useable (unless someone knows where to go or how to repair such a thing as this), I had already braced myself for the likely need to get a different piece due to the heavy scratching it had anyway.  Doesn't do any good to worry about it now, although I will keep the pieces and would consider having it repaired if/when a repair solution presented itself.  A reproduction tray is now on order through Legendary, but it won't likely arrive until mid/late April since they don't stock those.

[hemigeno]

I took some shots of a few rubber components.  First is the radiator overflow tube.  Installed on the car is the currently available reproduction material.  I laid an original tube next to it so you could see the difference in ribbing.  Not horribly different, but we'll swap the repro out for this original piece anyway.

The second pic shows the vacuum lines going to the nosecone.  I cannot thank Ken P. enough for helping me out here...  Even though I still had my original nosecone wiring harness and hoses, when the engine side of the harness was disconnected (it was crispy due to the engine fire), the straight connectors were discarded with the crispy hoses.  Thanks again, Ken!    

The last two pictures are of the lower radiator hose.  I had found/bought an assembly-line upper hose, but the lower hose has been a lot tougher to find.  Vance had a take-off hose that he provided for the project, and the only thing "wrong" with it was that the hose had been clamped with worm-drive clamps at one time.  Those leave a distinct mark on the ends, but I'm really happy with how the marks have faded.  Can't hardly see them in these pictures at all, and I'm hoping that they'll fade away even more as time goes along.

[hemi68charger]

Troy's (AB Troy, that is) handiwork is shown in the first picture.  He loaned me the part number stamp for the heater box.  I'm still waiting on an OEM glovebox to materialize, although a reproduction box is sitting on the shelf in case that doesn't show up.

Sweet !!!!!  Man oh man !!!  Geno,, Impressed every moment looking at every picture..

AB.

[hemigeno]

These two pictures show the original hood seal Vance provided.  I had found one years ago, but didn't look at it closely enough.  When Vance went to install it, the silly thing had been gnawed on by a mouse or something else.  The missing chunk wouldn't have looked too good, but this one will work fine.

[hemigeno]

[Sweet !!!!!  Man oh man !!!  Geno,, Impressed every moment looking at every picture..

Thanks, Troy - and thanks again for loaning me the stamp.  I got it back from Vance, and will send it back shortly.

[hemigeno]

One last set of pictures for now...

On a previous trip, Danny and I noticed how the driver's side wheel opening moulding didn't fit correctly - and discovered that the fender had its original/untouched holes punched incorrectly.  It took some doing, but the holes have all been patched and correctly located so that the moulding now fits/sits the way it should.  Nearly every car with original mouldings that I've seen had ill-fitting and different "length" mouldings, and this car is no different.

I also talked with Vance about the missing fender brace bolt.  Vance has seen original cars which were missing this bolt, and he had restored the car as if Creative Industries had neglected to install these.  While that is always a possible oversight and not uncommon, I have pictures of my car before its restoration which shows the bolts were installed on this particular car.  He'll go ahead and put them in, but I suppose they should be considered "optional" on a Daytona.

[maxwellwedge]

Doc has the bolts - Gonna check Disco...

[69_500]

Hey Gene not sure if you noticed or not but the last Daytona we looked at had the bolts in the front fenders as well.

[UFO]

Hey What's up with trans cooler line fitting?
Not trying to bust ya Gene,just curious if there are swapped out for a blockout plug.

[tan top]

 that thing is amazing !!the detail     shame about the original package tray      , thanks for posting the pictures & update Geno  

[Mopar John]

OK, time for a brief (for me, anyway  ) update.

I stopped by Vance's shop last Friday and checked on the car's progress.  He hasn't been able to do a whole bunch to the car for lack of parts.  Some of the parts we're waiting on have been promised to me now for over a year, and still have not materialized.  Several of you guys have dealt with similar situations and know the frustration that entails, although there is just not much one can do to help the situation (but it's quite easy to torque some suppliers off so that you'll NEVER get the parts you want).

Overall, the car hasn't changed much since January - but that's not from a lack of desire on our part to get things rolling again (see parts issue above).  The suspension really can't be finalized until I get a correct left lower ball joint, one unpitted front brake backing plate, and all eight brake shoes.  We HAVE been able to get the brake drums all taken care of, and one of two missing backing plates is now on hand.  Beyond that, the Road Wheels are in California now where they'll be separated, straightened & trued, rechromed, and then re-welded.  It'll be at least another month (probably closer to two) before it will be resting on its own finished wheels.  It's just very slow finding exactly what we're looking for, when you factor in different part variations, condition of the parts, and those infernal date codes.   Some issues have simple but unorthodox solutions which may become necessary... I have mint original front backing plates on my R/T which might just get cannibalized.  Haven't heard of too many Hemi Chargers being used as parts cars now, have ya?

I'll run through the pictures snapped on Friday, which won't take too long.

Geno,
I have an NOS left lower ball joint part number 2808487 and a set of NOS front 11 X 3 brake shoes part number 4176762 that might help? I will attach pictures. I bought 2 sets of 11 X 3"s before I realized the rear's were 2 1/2's!
Let me know! John

[hemigeno]

I have an NOS left lower ball joint part number 2808487 and a set of NOS front 11 X 3 brake shoes part number 4176762 that might help? I will attach pictures. I bought 2 sets of 11 X 3"s before I realized the rear's were 2 1/2's!
Let me know! John

John,

THANK YOU for the offer!!  I had purchased a very similar ball joint (actually a pair of them) to the one you show a couple years ago.  I got lucky in that the right one had "correct" casting lines and overall shape.  My left piece is just a little off in how it is shaped from the originals.  The manufacturer either changed the casting mold later on, or these are perhaps from a different OEM supplier to Chrysler even though they're still NOS.  Of course, it seems that the shape of the part changed shortly after our cars were built, so it has proven quite difficult to find a ball joint from that specific ('68-69) period.  The pictures of the parts below show the left ball joint I purchased, and a picture of one taken from an untouched Daytona.  Not much difference, but that's what I'm chasing.

The brake pads are a similar topic.  Bill Allphin supplied me with a set of Chrysler shoes a while back, and although they would work good as service replacements (and they're still on the shelf for that explicit purpose -- thanks again, Bill!!), we're still on the lookout for original shoes... either vintage new or original unpitted shoes that can be relined.  I'll take a closer look at the pictures you posted and compare them to other photos I have (don't have time to do so right now) just in case those are vintage parts which were reboxed with the later/superseded part number.  Thanks again for thinking of me!

[hemigeno]

that thing is amazing !!the detail    shame about the original package tray      , thanks for posting the pictures & update Geno 

Thanks, TT!

Doc has the bolts - Gonna check Disco...

Hmm... that picture looks awfully familiar     I'll save you the trouble of checking Disco - see picture below:

[maxwellwedge]

that thing is amazing !!the detail    shame about the original package tray      , thanks for posting the pictures & update Geno 

Thanks, TT!

Doc has the bolts - Gonna check Disco...

Hmm... that picture looks awfully familiar     I'll save you the trouble of checking Disco - see picture below:

It should - You took it  Ooooops - I forgot - I'm not speaking to you.   

[nascarxx29]

There was a guy I got nos shoes and master cylinder and wheel cylinders from I recall craig the brake guru from NY might still have his number.This vendor does mopar nats and various meets and is known for his NOS brake parts . 516-485-1935