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

[hemi68charger]

I thought all the strut hardware was .... (from the retaining nut on the backside of the lower control arm, to the actual strut all the way to clear cadium bushing washers)... Don't think I've ever seen a strut bushing washer pair zinc phosphate.

Troy

[maxwellwedge]

The chiming in begins!

The nuts should be Silver Cad or silver Zinc - aka clear cad or clear zinc.

A few 71 cars and over the counter NOS were black zinc. The two finishes on 69-70 stuff is either silver cad or a tough to duplicate greenish-brownish plating that was similar (but not exactly like) to the horn bolts. There is still some debate to those two finishes as well among some of the top dogs. One says silver cad (as Troy mentioned on the back side of the washer) and another says that greenish brown was applied over a silver cad base and what we are seeing is that stuff worn off the silver cad. Verrrrrry Interesting......

[hemi68charger]

Yes - PCV valves were all painted on the engine - except Hemi.

Here is an original paint cover off of Doc.

Jim and/or Geno..

I notice the valve cover has the last three digits of the part number of 2946917 written in black on the passenger frontside.. Would this also go on the driver's front or is the placement a totally random thing........

I just finishing some detailing on my Daytona's engine and want to place the digits in the appropriate place....

Thanks..
Troy

[maxwellwedge]

Troy - The Engine number goes on the passenger side and the trans code goes on the drivers side. Auto = 5, Stick = 0  I posted pics of both somewhere on this board - I'll search for the link.

Here it is....          http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,49682.msg544930.html#msg544930

P.S.
FYI - This is not the same coding for a Hemi

[roger440]

Hi Geno,

Whilst unashamedly pillaging your photos for guidance during my build, i saw something you might be able to answer. In the pic, the washers at the front of the tie rods (that retain the bushes) that come from the lower arm i see are black. I thought 69 cars were cad plated?

Have you got on thoughts on this or am i just wrong?

Roger, hope the pics are helping out - that's one of the main reasons I've been documenting this stuff. 

Just double-checking here, but are the parts in question the ones marked with the yellow arrow below?  I am going from memory here, but it was my recollection that the original strut rod/arm bushing retainers were supposed to be black phosphate coated.  If that's not the case, I'm sure we'll both hear about it pretty soon...

Yes, that is the one.

This is what ive done on mine, with the nuts black:

[roger440]

The chiming in begins!

The nuts should be Silver Cad or silver Zinc - aka clear cad or clear zinc.

A few 71 cars and over the counter NOS were black zinc. The two finishes on 69-70 stuff is either silver cad or a tough to duplicate greenish-brownish plating that was similar (but not exactly like) to the horn bolts. There is still some debate to those two finishes as well among some of the top dogs. One says silver cad (as Troy mentioned on the back side of the washer) and another says that greenish brown was applied over a silver cad base and what we are seeing is that stuff worn off the silver cad. Verrrrrry Interesting......

And the nuts should be plated too? Looks like ive got some rework to do! What about the LCA nuts?

[hemigeno]

Did some more research (which is what I should have done in the first place   )

The nuts on the front of the K-member are 5/8x11 Hex self-locking with a (clear) Zinc finish

The nuts onte back side of the LCA are 9/16x18 flange head self-locking with a Phosphate finish

The front retainers are either brown chromate or (clear) zinc finish

The front spring pins are 1/8" dia x 1.00" long with a phosphate finish


All that jives with what Jim/maxwellwedge has already stated - thanks again, Jim...

[roger440]

Did some more research (which is what I should have done in the first place   )

The nuts on the front of the K-member are 5/8x11 Hex self-locking with a (clear) Zinc finish

The nuts onte back side of the LCA are 9/16x18 flange head self-locking with a Phosphate finish

The front retainers are either brown chromate or (clear) zinc finish

The front spring pins are 1/8" dia x 1.00" long with a phosphate finish


All that jives with what Jim/maxwellwedge has already stated - thanks again, Jim...

Excellent! Looks like we will both be busy.

[maxwellwedge]

Hey all - It's easy to change stuff! Brown Chromate huh? - Is that the plating I was trying to describe while waving my hands? I have to check if anyone up here does it. It would work out to $50-$75 per washer!     Well, that's less than my wife paid for her washer - right? 

[hemi68charger]

   Well, that's less than my wife paid for her washer - right? 

Bet she needs a good one with you around...... 

[hemigeno]

Brown Chromate huh? - Is that the plating I was trying to describe while waving my hands?

Yeah, something like that.  I asked Vance about that this morning, and he said he's seen those retainers (on '69 cars, anyway) olive green, brown, black and everything in between - but never silver/gold or anything shiny**.  Those are just the original-level cars he's seen, of course.  



**Disclaimer:  Actual results may vary

[gtx6970]

I've got some of these washers nos and all are a brownish zinc chromate in color.

I bought a box of nos strut rod bushing kits from a vender on the 'bay about 3  years ago out of Canada , eh


I'll post a few pics this weekend, gotta party tonight, or at least as good as a 50 year old can party

[roger440]

Brown Chromate huh? - Is that the plating I was trying to describe while waving my hands?

Yeah, something like that.  I asked Vance about that this morning, and he said he's seen those retainers (on '69 cars, anyway) olive green, brown, black and everything in between - but never silver/gold or anything shiny**.  Those are just the original-level cars he's seen, of course.  



**Disclaimer:  Actual results may vary

Well that clears it up then 

Anything was possible except what ive done!

[hemi68charger]

I've got some of these washers nos and all are a brownish zinc chromate in color.

I bought a box of nos strut rod bushing kits from a vender on the 'bay about 3  years ago out of Canada , eh


I'll post a few pics this weekend, gotta party tonight, or at least as good as a 50 year old can party

Wonder what this 45 yr. old Daddy's going to do with a 3 and 9 yr. old................  Watch DISNEY FILMS after college football !!!!   

[UFO]

Here's a front strut nut.Fresh out of a sealed 1986 bag.

[hemigeno]

Got some more eye candy pictures from Vance last week... The dash is back in!

[hemigeno]

Some pics of the business-end of the dash...  this is a non-tach car, unfortunately.  The odometer mileage was set at the number hand-written on the car's last registration receipt from 1977.  Gerry Meade (the owner when the car turned crispy on the edges) wrote down the odo reading after the fire, probably for insurance claim purposes.  It was just a few months and less than 2,000 miles of driving since it's last vehicle inspection where the inspector recorded its mileage as well.  Oh, and those marks on the new steering wheel will buff right out... I hope...

I need to take some pictures next time up of the ashtray innards.  Those little suckers are tough to refurbish, as the actual ashtray is galvanized.  After galvanizing, they are riveted to the faceplate and the front of the faceplate - including the rivet heads - is sprayed with the suede-finish dash paint.  The remnants of just a few cigarettes will discolor the ashtrays themselves, rendering most originals nearly impossible to refurbish unless you can find the correct style/size rivet, but thankfully a new one was located.  Plus, I was able to find the correct lighter knob and element too, thanks to the input from you guys.

The horn pads seemed to have gone through an evolution sometime during the model year.  For whatever reason, it seems the late '69 model year horn pads were a molded rubber with a visible seam line along the top half of the pad (if you viewed it while resting on the column-side end).  The bottom half (when viewed from that perspective) has no texturing.  Other styles I've seen almost seem like they're a molded vinyl product like the dash pads, and there are other molded rubber patterns as well which I think are for 1970 cars.  One bad thing about this particular style, is that the texturing seems to wear down fairly easily... and where most people grab the steering wheel (9:00 and 3:00 due to the shape of the pad) puts their thumbs right on the end of the pad.  90% of the pads I looked at (and I looked at a whole lot over the years) were worn to one degree or another.  It took quite a while to find a decent pad that was the right style and was not worn.  I'll try to snap some pictures of this area next trip up.

[hemi68charger]

Geno... Looks awesome !!!!  Who refurbished the odometer numbers?

[nascarxx29]

Superior level of work and detail coming along very nicely

[hemigeno]

David Patik @ Performance Car Graphics did the dash faceplate, instrument & odo refurbishing.  I really didn't like the thought of having an otherwise pristine dash and yellowed-from-time odometer numbers.

[hemigeno]

Superior level of work and detail coming along very nicely

Thanks, Dave!


I have some additional pics Vance sent on Thursday of the installed exhaust system and a few other undercarriage details.  Need to resize & rename them for posting, and I'll try to do so later this week.

[68pplcharger]

Question for Geno... Is the textured paint on your dash original for 68 chargers?

[hemigeno]

Question for Geno... Is the textured paint on your dash original for 68 chargers?

1968 should be a suede-finish paint AFAIK.  Chrysler did that so the sun did not glare off the dash and cause a problem for drivers.  I haven't seen the dash paint in person, and pictures may make the texture appear differently than it actually is.  Should be suede, which definitely isn't perfectly smooth.

[hemi68charger]

Question for Geno... Is the textured paint on your dash original for 68 chargers?

I believe the finish on the '68's versions the '69's are slightly different.. I think the '68's are a flatter suede than '69..

Troy

[hemigeno]

Question for Geno... Is the textured paint on your dash original for 68 chargers?

I believe the finish on the '68's versions the '69's are slightly different.. I think the '68's are a flatter suede than '69..

Troy

As usual,  I'm still learnin'...  Did not know there was a difference...