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

[hemigeno]

Some shots of the radiator support/yoke.  Right now, the area they're working the most on is from the firewall forward.  Once they get the engine compartment, etc. and the passenger's compartment done, they'll be able to start hanging body panels.  That's when it'll start looking more like a car again.  Can't wait!!

[The70RT]

 

[hemigeno]

I took several shots of the piece that the latchtray fastens to.  This piece is spot-welded to the radiator yoke as you can see.  Normally, this is painted black on top- apparently when they were doing the blackout paint that was sprayed around the inner part of the fenders.  For whatever reason, my car received no paint in that inner fender area, and this particular piece was left bare on both the upper and lower sides (the lower side was always left bare).  I asked Vance whether he was going to replace this piece, since it is fairly pitted up from never having been protected from the elements.  Vance's thoughts were that it would be better to smooth this original piece out and give it a faux bare metal finish than it would be to remove it and replace the original piece with a reproduction part.  That's a matter of semantics, I suppose.  Judging from what I've seen of Vance's handiwork I doubt that anyone would be able to tell that it was not a bare metal piece without scratching around on it.  We shall see though...

[hemigeno]

One more shot of the latchtray attachment piece, and then some shots of the inner fenders that they're currently smoothing out.

[hemigeno]

Two shots of the inner fender (from the outside), and a couple of shots of the firewall.  There is still a LOT of work to do to the firewall area, and this is another one of those areas that has a lot of deformations from the original stamping process which makes the smoothing process more difficult.

[hemigeno]

I tried to get some shots of the firewall that show the deformation "damage" left from the engine fire the car had in 1977.  The worst of the warping is to the left of the wiper motor, but hopefully with some hammer & dolly work it'll shrink right back into place.  One more thing to worry about though...

[hemigeno]

Some shots of the cowl / A-pillar area

[hemigeno]

Two shots showing the cowl/firewall area that still has some heat warp damage from the engine fire.  The pictures didn't quite show all of what was deformed, but if you ran your hand across it you could still feel the ups/downs in the metal.  The metal is still good and strong in this area, but it was definitely heated up enough to cause some warping.

[hemigeno]

Last one for now...

The engine block was almost ready for the crank to be dropped into place when I was there.  The only thing they had left to do before final cleaning was to insert some allen screws into the block to restrict the oil flow to the top side of the engine.  We're going to use a hydraulic roller camshaft rather than the original-style flat tappets.  That'll let us get a little more aggressive with the lobe profile and ramp speeds.

[IowaCharger69]

The level of work going into this car is insane. This is the kind if stuff I started out doing but got so anxious I gave up. After seeing these pictures I am seriously considering stopping my progress and ripping it back apart. These pictures prove it. It is do-able.

[Forza]

The cars looking simply amazing. Cant wait to see this bad boy finished. Any idea on when you think it will be done?

[hemigeno]

Thanks, guys!

I'm pretty amazed at the craftmanship too, but I know there are other shops around that can do high quality work as well.  If you have tons of patience (and way more bodywork skills than I do) some of you guys could do the same on your own rides.  These guys are just phenomenal not only in their work product, but I'd wager that Vance knows as much as anyone about how these cars were put together.  Especially Daytonas.

There is another '69 Charger in his shop that they just started working on, the F6 green RT/SE Sunroof car that was on eBay about 6 months ago or so.  When my car is ready for paint, he's going to borrow the fenders on that car and paint it with those '69 Fenders on it so that he can replicate how Hamtramck made the car look.  That way, when he pulls those fenders off and installs the original Daytona fenders, the exposed primer from the fender mounting bracket pattern will be exactly like it was when the car was new.  Details, details...

Forza, as far as when it will be done -- I have no deadline or dates on when that might be.  My guess is sometime in late fall or early winter, but since it will certainly be finished up after the Car Show season (and during the road salt season here in Missouri), it doesn't matter to me whether it gets done in December or March.  I asked Vance if it would be ready for paint in about a month, and he felt that was about right - but I've told him repeatedly that I'd rather that they took the time to do the car right than to rush the work trying to meet an artificial deadline.  Probably not the best thing to tell a Bodyshop working by the hour, but they've done well so far.

[moparstuart]

   this car is so  awesome  just going to be amazing   

[69_500]

So Gene, what does the RT/SE with the sunroof look like? Never saw that one in person, only talked to the previous owner (I'm assuming he sold it by now) about 3 years ago about that car.

[hemigeno]

Danny, was the former owner that you spoke with from around Jim M.'s neck of the woods? 

Vance said that overall it was a very solid car, with little pitting in most of the sheet metal.  He is going to have to do some sheet metal replacement/patch work here and there, but a lot of the usual problem spots (lower quarters, trunk extensions, etc.) were in really good shape.

Had my car's sheet metal been in that kind of shape, we'd be looking at final assembly pictures right now...   

[tan top]

looking good , more awesome progress  , thanks for posting looking forward to seeing more pictures as & when Geno

[69_500]

Yeah he wasn't too far from where Jim lives. I think that it traded hands between then and now though. I think that the first time i talked to the guy he was asking like $30K for the car, and that was before I paid that for my 500.

[41husk]

Man that looks great Geno, It's almost October, I'm guessing she is getting real close to paint by now.  When is your next progress pictures going to be posted?

[UFO]

Aww come on hemigeno, Put a block heater in that 440,some knobby rear tires and drive it.The nose will pierce the snow banks quite easily.LOL

[hemigeno]

Aww come on hemigeno, Put a block heater in that 440,some knobby rear tires and drive it.The nose will pierce the snow banks quite easily.LOL

CudaKen was forever trying to get me to do the same thing.  I didn't have the same level of intestinal fortitude that PT had, in putting a project car on the road.  I kept telling Ken that there was no good place to start or stop with fixing that car up enough to put it on the road.  Besides, I tend to go overboard with fixing things up, as any of you guys who have seen my 2-ton truck can attest.  That started off as a spray-bomb restoration 

Man that looks great Geno, It's almost October, I'm guessing she is getting real close to paint by now. When is your next progress pictures going to be posted?

Thanks, Allen!

You're right, it is getting close to paint.  I spoke with Vance last week, and the car has all its sheetmetal installed except for the nosecone.  That was going to be shipped out to be dipped very soon.  They were going over all the bodypanels to make sure everything is straight and up to their (very picky) standards.

I am heading back up for a visit next weekend (the 29th) and will have a whole bunch of pictures to post by then.  My suspicions are that the car won't be red until sometime in October, but that's alright.

The engine is in longblock form now, and the transmission has been rebuilt.

The pieces are starting to come together now...   

[moparstuart]

 gene do you know cuda ken ?? or how to get ahold of him. I own his 69 charger now and am told he still has my fender tag 
  Can you help ??

[41husk]

I have Kens address, if he still lives there.  He doesn't answer the phone or emails.  I stopped by about 3 months ago, he still lived there then but was not home.  I left a note on the door asking him to get ahold of me, but he never replied.

[moparstuart]

  thanks  any info you have on my car or a way to get ahold of him would help

[pettybird]

Thanks, guys!
When my car is ready for paint, he's going to borrow the fenders on that car and paint it with those '69 Fenders on it so that he can replicate how Hamtramck made the car look.  That way, when he pulls those fenders off and installs the original Daytona fenders, the exposed primer from the fender mounting bracket pattern will be exactly like it was when the car was new.  Details, details... not the best thing to tell a Bodyshop working by the hour, but they've done well so far.

ok wow...  that's something that i've never seen done.  I was just thinking about that the other day, too.  you'll also get the seam sealer falling off properly.

are you going to shoot the car once, or the top twice as creative did?  you'd have to do some final assembly to get the overspray right.  are you going to have exposed primer on the undersides of panels?  yours could be the first true reference restoration!

[hemigeno]

are you going to shoot the car once, or the top twice as creative did?

To be honest, I don't know specifically what the paint sequence will be, but I know the goal is to replicate the finished look of the car as it left Creative Industries.  I'm particularly interested to see how he's going to handle the sail panel area and the window plug.  The underneath side of the plug and the bracing/support for the window channel was left bare metal, but the sail and dutchman/filler panels were painted body color originally at Hamtramck.  If you look in front of & above the relocated trunk lip, you can plainly see that whole area including the angle that they spot welded along the sail panel to help locate and support the edge of the window plug.  They have sandblasted all the original paint off the sail panels, and removed the rust from the bare metal.  The sail panel will need to be painted body color (red), but not the plug & bracing -- although it would be better to treat the plug's metal with something rather than leave it bare to rust up again.  Also, there is melted lead that ran down the sail panel from where they filled the gap between the plug and the C-pillar/sail panel, and that sticks out like a sore thumb on top of that R4 red paint.  It'll be interesting to see how Vance can replicate all those little details, but I am sure he has a plan. 

you'd have to do some final assembly to get the overspray right. are you going to have exposed primer on the undersides of panels?

I know that he does do multiple paint shots to get the right finished effect.  That includes a whole lot of final assembly before the front clip will ultimately get painted.  There are areas of the hood that could not physically be painted due to the fact that the hood was mounted on the car when it was shot.  I also know that he intends to put overspray in other areas of the engine compartment to simulate the careless overspray protection that Creative was famous/infamous for.  That includes overspray on that NOS set of vacuum hoses I bought a while back   

Primer will be quite visible on the undersides of the panels, although I hope it'll last a little longer than the original coat!

yours could be the first true reference restoration!

There are undoubtedly people who would cringe at the use of the terms "reference" and "restoration" being applied to the same car, but that is exactly what my goal is (albeit I am not worried about whether it is the first example or not).  Ultimately, the only person who needs to be satisfied with the finished product is me, and I'm continually trying to remind myself of that fact.  The more research and learning that I have done, the more it intrigues me to try and put a restoration effort of this type/level together - simply because it is somewhat rare to see.  I am beginning to see that one of the major hurdles is getting the proper parts together.  Even though I have found quite a few primo parts through some very kind folks' help, there are many things that seem to be made of unobtanium.  If that continues to be the case, no matter how hard we try there will be some slight discernable differences - but the goal is to keep those to a minimum (and concealed if possible )