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

[maxwellwedge]

heck with the polishing just get some RaceDeck pieces

I don't need to polish it - I need to clean the floor better because it is a working shop with engines, suspensions etc. everywhere. I would rather buy car parts than pony up for 5000 sq. feet of that stuff - It would look trick in my house garage though.

[mauve66]

oh i thought that was a personal garage, i agree waaaaaaay too expensive for a place that does work for a living

[maxwellwedge]

oh i thought that was a personal garage, i agree waaaaaaay too expensive for a place that does work for a living

Well.....It is my personal garage - All the work (mechanical only) is me playing with my cars. Everytime one is finished another one is pulled apart so I don't know if I will ever have a "showroom" only area. I enjoy working on them as much as I enjoy driving them. No dis though - that stuff looks cool. How much is it a sq. ft?

[hemigeno]

so is david going to be making more of the correct nose seals forsale ?

Update

David Patik sent me a note today, and he will definitely be offering the air seal sets for sale.  I think he said he could send orders out sometime around March 10th, but that's his deal.  Figured some of you guys might want to know, and it'll probably be mentioned in one or more of the Aero car newsletters as well I'm sure.

[69_500]

Gene I gotta say the picture of you and the DocTona, makes you look like your wearing some "overalls". My wife saw the picture and got a little chuckle out of it.

[maxwellwedge]

He used those to cover up at the border.

[Daytona Guy]

HEMIGENO,

I am sure someone may have asked this but just glancing through the post I missed something - why a gray engine - is that the one that is gong into your Daytona?

[hemigeno]

HEMIGENO,

I am sure someone may have asked this but just glancing through the post I missed something - why a gray engine - is that the one that is gong into your Daytona?

Dane,

The engine just has a primer (primer/sealer?) on it - not the color coat.  A gray engine would definitely be a little out of character in a Daytona.  We obviously didn't want the metal to rust, but we also didn't want to break in the engine with it's finish coat of paint either.  That way, we can seal up all the little leaks and take care of any other problems without having to touch anything up.  It does look a little odd now though, doesn't it?

Gene I gotta say the picture of you and the DocTona, makes you look like your wearing some "overalls". My wife saw the picture and got a little chuckle out of it.

No overalls - just a standard-issue contraband smuggler's costume.  Apparently that's how Olga & Friends at the border crossing took it...

[hemigeno]

Another update on the car's progress...  I talked with Vance today, and the car is being masked off for the paint booth.  They've spent the last several days blocking and sanding everything - the nosecone was done three more times.  First thing to be sprayed will be a mixture of DP50 and DP90 to get about the right color for theprimer.

After priming certain areas they'll install things like the radio antenna (or at least the base/bezel).  Yep, he had intended to replicate the look in the picture that Jim/maxwellwedge had posted of the DocTona's antenna hole.  I did remember to ask about it, and that is indeed the normal treatment.  The Creative Industries guys weren't able to mask off that antenna base perfectly, so the gasket & base will end up having a thin line of body-color paint around the bottom.  The hood pins will also have a line of paint around their washer/nut on the topside, as they were already installed and masked off when Creative painted the front end too. 

Lots of little details being attended to, and I'll probably only pick up on a portion of what he'll have done. 

[hemigeno]

Here are the pictures I took in late January at Vance's shop.  The first three are of the brake hardware on the driver's side.  We are still scrounging for some correct brake shoes, but until we find those, these parts-store shoes will get the car stopped if nothing else.

Another detail Vance is looking to change is the retainer caps for the shoe locator springs - the originals did not look like these, and he is trying to go through some old boxes to see what he might have.  In the meantime, these will work.

Notice the parts ID color codings, and the copper tint to the wheel studs.  He's observed all of these on low-mileage examples, but these particular marks weren't documented from my car.  When the original parts have deteriorated to the point that you can't  make out the original inspection/ID marks, the best thing to go by are the untouched/unrestored cars with those kinds of marks that do still remain.  Some people really get worked up about this type of thing, but I'm a realist.  We're doing the best we can with what we have to work with.

[hemigeno]

More brake/axle detail shots, of the passenger side this time.  The third shot shows that shoe locator spring retainer/cap that I was talking about.  I don't think the originals had that hexagon shape on the "inside" of the cap, or at least I think that's what Vance had identified as the "problem".  The last picture shows the bleed screws, and the bare metal color of the wheel cylinder showing through.

[hemigeno]

Here are some shots of the Dana60 gearset.  Vance said that it was in really good shape overall, and that a few bearings & gaskets were all it needed - plus resetting the preload, etc.  The ring gear was dated in February, but the clutch set was stamped 5/19/69.  All of these were originals.

[hemigeno]

The first is a picture I snapped of some reference pictures Vance had taken and printed off (on regular paper anyway) of my axle's right-side tube after cleaning the crud away and before blasting it clean.  Not every ID mark had vanished over the years, as this one was still left.  He'll put this inkstamp back in the same location since we know where it went.

The other pictures show some of the pinion details, and replicated white-daub inspection mark.  The Dana60 pinion itself was left bare metal, but the cast piece and the integral stamped steel shroud/shield were different shades.  He's tried to replicate the look, and it does look nice.  8-3/4 axles had a white splotch of paint on the pinion itself, but Dana's got it on the side.

[hemigeno]

The first two pictures have to do with the pinion snubber.  Right now the rubber bumper itself is not installed, but an assembly-line-correct piece has been found and will be used.  The center section casting of the Dana had provisions for the mounting surface where this pinion plate was attached, but the whole assembly was painted before the mounting surface was machined flat to receive the plate.  The second picture shows how Vance has cleaned off this pad to show machining marks.  Even though the plate stays put and effectively hides this little detail, he has not skipped any steps.  A good coating of cosmoline should prevent the bare metal from rusting.

The last two pictures are of some components, the first one being the axle brake line.  Dana axles got a specific brake line for whatever reason, which is about 3/4" longer than an 8-3/4 axle's.  The longer fitting/connection may be where the extra length comes from, but it's a specific part.  That last picture is of the U-Joint straps.  I had always thought that these were early dates and wondered if they had been replaced, but after looking at the original straps from Jim's DocTona (which had mid/late '68 dates too) I am not surprised to see these dates at all.  They are supposed to have the "H" stamping too.

[hemigeno]

These next two pictures are of the refurbished VIN tag.  I'm sworn to secrecy as to how he was able to make it look like that...    Not too shabby, I thought.

The last picture is of a steering knuckle/spindle - which has yet another date code     If you look in the bottom right corner of that piece, you'll see a cast "69" still evident.

[69_500]

So Gene when is the next trip up to see the car? I wanna get some pictures of it once before its all done. Its been a year since I made a trip up there with ya.

[tan top]

good detail pictures Geno     nice work going on 

[maxwellwedge]

Here is a pic from my 13000 mile Hemi-X. Doc and Disco are the same. Notice spring colors (short - black, long - pink) and shape of hold-down cups. Notice color on the sides of the original shoes. Backing plates are zinc-phosphate.

Left side added.

[68pplcharger]

Sweet ride Hemigeno    I can only dream of a winged warrior.

[nascarxx29]

looks good .I was able to find a engine shot of my daytona with original H269 yellow lettered plug wires.and there is engine paint on them.What did you find on Jims cars

Funny thing about the paint on the plug wires - that is usually a Hemi thing. Maybe I can have a close look at the wires and contact points on the engine and figure something out. I'll show you the wires when you guys roll in - we should start a list of questions/show and tell etc. Pack your mink-lined Speedo's - It has dipped pretty darn low a few times up here!     Actually I noticed St. Louis hasn't been very tropical either 

White lettered coil wire vs yellow was random on Hemi's and have been found on a few 440's.

I remembered the engine paint on the plug wires being a hemi detail, as nearly all of the engine assembly work was done at the Marysville plant - including test-firing the engine, IIRC.  Whether or not 440s had their distributors and plug wires installed while the engine paint was still wet, I don't know.  I seem to remember that some of the engine accessories were installed at the final assembly plant (e.g. Hamtramck), but you'd think the 440 engines were already earmarked for which distributor it was to receive by the time it left the Trenton engine assembly plant.  Might be a good question for Frank Badalson sometime.

It could be remnants of something Creative Industries did too, as not much could surprise me from that outfit...     Might be something as simple as the worker adjusting or laying a blanket across the engine that still had wet paint on it?   

Schedule some warm weather next week would you?  The border guards may not let me across since I don't have mink-lined anything much less a Speedo.  Maybe I'm just culturally-deprived, I dunno...   

[maxwellwedge]

Dave - My wires had the exact same paint remnants. I wonder if the paint on that rubberized wire bracket never fully cured and when the engine got hot the paint transferred on the wires? Maybe the car plant ended up painting some engines then dressing them up? Either way - that's two like that so far...

[hemigeno]

Questions... Where were the asembled engines painted, and who dressed out the engines with all the accessories?  I had always thought they were painted at the engine plant but dressed out at the Assembly Plant, with the exception being Hemi engines (always have to have at least one exception, right?).

[nascarxx29]

My original owner got talked into joining the scat pack club at some point.And the car ended up with factory chrome valve covers that had all the correct wire guides plug brackets etc .I got all his memorabila off him at time of purchase .There was also scat pack decal on both my wing uprights.As to the bracket wire paint transfer seems likely .That the first time it was running the heat softened the paint

[maxwellwedge]

Questions... Where were the asembled engines painted, and who dressed out the engines with all the accessories?  I had always thought they were painted at the engine plant but dressed out at the Assembly Plant, with the exception being Hemi engines (always have to have at least one exception, right?).

Well - the popular opinion is what you said. I just threw that out there as a guess to explain this paint on the 440 wires and to get the troops thinking! Maybe someone at the plant did this on random engines just so he can laugh at us being freaked and puzzled 40 years later. 

[hemigeno]

Here is a pic from my 13000 mile Hemi-X. Doc and Disco are the same. Notice spring colors (short - black, long - pink) and shape of hold-down cups. Notice color on the sides of the original shoes. Backing plates are zinc-phosphate.

Left side added.

Jim,

Thanks for the pictures - that kind of reference information is absolutely invaluable.  Just today I got the quote from a NOS parts supplier for a boatload of stuff, which I think includes all new brake hardware.  At least now I know what to make sure he's supplying.

Thanks again!!