MOPAR JOHNS B5 DAYTONA RESTORATION!!

[paul jacobs]

1157A (painted) were used in alot of mopars originally, until sometime around 69 when the 1157NA (amber glass) came out, which was much brighter. I have come across a lot of 67-69 NOS, and low mileage, parking light assemblies over the years and most had 1157A painted bulbs.  They are very hard to find nowdays.

[gtx6970]

something else is every original 1157 or 1156 series  bulb I've seen had a brass base , as opposed to all the modern replacement bulbs have a steel base and don't seem to hold up as well

[472 R/T SE]

ps, the black 1970 Charger is,,, I believe Bill Fahey's car. member TX9charger , 440 six pack 4 speed , black ext and burnt orange interior

Crazy part about Bill & his Charger, he drives the car every where.  He's made a screen for the front of it to catch the bugs.  I have friends with nice cars that won't even drive them across town & he goes all over the country.

[nascarxx29]

http://classicautobulbs.com/vintage.html


These bulbs right they have brass bottom
http://www.connectorsupply.com/catalog/automotive-light-bulb-size-1157-amber-p-35.html

[pettybird]

Are there period correct amber bulbs with colored glass?  It's the modern way to do it, but even old crusty parts store packages I've seen have painted globes.  Was this a choice by Mopar or did they have no option?

[Mopar John]

Dave,
Thanks for the chart from Classic Auto Bulbs! That was very helpfull! It is what I had thought on the painted VS the colored glass. I have attached a picture of 2 bulbs that I have purchased recently. At the time I thought they were the correct ones. The next picture is of the original parklamps with the lenses off from the B5 Daytona. It looks like creative did what they were supposed to and change the bulbs! So at this point I think the colored glass would be correct for Daytonas but I'll bet some of the original Valiant bulbs made it out of there! I would like to thank everyone for there comments on this topic!
Mopar John

[Mopar John]

                                 426 LINDA WINS MOPAR LEADING LADY AWARD!
About 10 days after the Muscle Car Nationals show I got a phone call from one of the officails looking for Linda? I told her that she wasn't home. She told me that our Daytona had the highest Mopar score with a lady on the entry! She told me that if I could prove Linda's ownership with either the title or registration that Linda would win the award!! I then explained Linda's nick name of "426" and her birthday of April 26th and she felt they had found the right woman for the award and I agree! So, I kept this a secret and Linda's own crystal trophy arrived a couple of days ago! She was caught completely by surprise and happy! I have attached a picture of her trophy!

[Mopar John]

                                           WHAT HAPPENED TO MOPAR JOHN?
After the Muscle Car Nationals were over and we were done with showing the Daytona for now I promised Linda that I would finish the bathroom remodeling by Christmas! I started this project just after Christmas last year! All I had left to do was the new marble shower. I was working hard but things kept happening! First it was a huge winter storm that dropped 18 inches of snow here at the southern tip of Lake Michigan! We had as much as a 4 foot drift in the driveway and I missed my first day of work in about 10 years! I have a couple of pictures of the driveway before and after. So I lost a couple of days digging us out. I no sooner get started on the bathroom again and we have an ice storm! I worked until 3am that morning and when I pulled in my driveway someone had spun out and ran over our mailbox#$%^&*()! The pole was broke off and the box took off like the space shuttle after it drops the fuel tanks! The box landed in the driveway where I almost ran it over! So a couple of more days buying a new pole and box and digging a hole in the frozen ground! I have attached a picture of this disaster also! Next up is the shower and then back to the Daytona restoration!

[Mopar John]

                                                         I AM FREE!
Last Tuesday a Mopar friend of mine who is a laid off plummer came over and flushed the lines and put the sprays and trim on the new shower! It was now complete! My next project was to finish the drywall out in the shop where I had a new door put in so I didn't have to move 3 cars to get 1 out! I have attached a couple of pictures of our new shower! Next up will be the Daytona headlight actuators!

[Mopar John]

                                             DAYTONA HEAD LIGHT ACTUATORS!
When I last posted on the Daytona restoration I was going over all the parts in and on the nosecone! This post will be about the headlight actuators and hardware. In a previous post we discussed the differances between the 1968 and 1969 actuators with the 1969 ones having magnets to keep the lights from bouncing going down the road! I have attached a couple of pictures of the actuators after they have been bead blasted for the start of therestoration process. Next is a couple of pictures of the attachement plates before and after bead blasting! In my next post I will show the restored actuators!

[Mopar John]

                                    DAYTONA HEADLIGHT ACTUATORS PART 2!
The first picture in this post is of the restored headlight actuators with the plates on and ready for installation! The next picture shows an original unrestored next to one that has just been restored! The picture doesn't do the restoration justice! The originals had like a red varnish type finish on them and Troy did a great job duplicating this finish! Both of my Daytonas still had this finish on the bottom of the actuators! I have another picture of one from the R4 car where you can see this finish! All the used ones that I have seen are down to the raw metal and pitting depending on the driving/storage conditions! Also the NOS ones are finished in black paint! Next up will be the original headlight vacum hose fittings!

[Mopar John]

                                    DAYTONA HEADLIGHT VACUM HOSE FITTINGS!
In this post I will cover the original Daytona headlight vacum hose fittings. These were often broken and replaced with all kinds of fittings. On the B5 Daytona I was lucky to have a full set of originals! I want to warn you here to be sure you heat up and soften the hoses before you try and remove them from the fittings! The first couple of pictures are of the original vacum hose fittings. They were originally white and faded to a yellowish color over the years! The last picture shows them in the vacum hoses. I have not been able to find any NOS fittings and Jeff 69RTSE4SPD on this site machined me an extra straight fitting for my R4 Daytona! Thanks Jeff! Next up will be the nose to hood seal and the front valance! ENJOY!

[nascarxx29]

The NOS actuator brackets#341236. I had and a white part number here is a reference picture

[Mopar John]

                                                  DAYTONA NOSE TO HOOD SEAL!
I was able to buy an NOS hood to nose seal thanks to Doug AERO426 on this site! I have attached a couple of pictures. The first picture shows the old seal, the attachment bracket and the NOS seal laid out for assembly. The second picture shows the seal assembled and on the Daytona! Notice the small rivits and large attachment rivits! While I'm discussing seals, we were able to save and use the original nose to fender seals! The reproduction seals are not the same in size and shape! They are also missing the little mold line where the Daytona seals were made longer than the 1970 Charger seals! I have attached a couple of picture of the seals before Troy restored them!

[Mopar John]

                                                DAYTONA FRONT VALANCE!
I don't have a lot of pictures of the front valance to share. The first two pictures show each side of the valance during the body work stage. The third picture is of the valance in primer and ready for paint! The last picture shows a view with the valance installed on the Daytona body!

[hemi68charger]

Good Stuff John....   

[Mopar John]

                                                       FRONT SIDE MARKERS!
Before the front valance was installed on the Daytona body the front sidemarkers were installed! The first two pictures show an inside view of the sidemarker assemblies installed left and right sides. The last two pictures are of the NOS assembly line red and amber 4 section reflectors that I was lucky to find! When I post again it will be about the restoration of the jacks! ENJOY!

[Mopar John]

Good Stuff John....   

Thanks Troy! I hope to stay with it. I don't have much more till I'm done with the restoration! I do have a couple of items to share of interest in trying to upgrade/improve the Daytona after the restoration was complete!
Mopar John

[hemi68charger]

Good Stuff John....   

Thanks Troy! I hope to stay with it. I don't have much more till I'm done with the restoration! I do have a couple of items to share of interest in trying to upgrade/improve the Daytona after the restoration was complete!
Mopar John

I hear ya, it's never done....................

[Mopar John]

                                                      DAYTONA JACKS!
As we all know the Daytonas came equipped with 2 jacks! The standard bumper jack to be used on the rear bumper or under the front valance when in a hurry taking off parts! The other jack is a scissors type for under the front frame rails to raise the front of the Daytona without damaging that rare sheet metal! When I bought our Daytonas the trunk was pried open and the scissors jack was missing out of the B5 Daytona but the date coded bumper jack was there. The trunk was bent but not opened on the R4 Daytona and it still had both original jacks! WOW! We used the original bumper jack for the B5 restoration and the original scissors jack and handle for the R4 Daytona. The first picture attached is of the original scissors jack before restoration. The second picture is of the original handle being worked on. The third picture is of the scissors jack after bead blasting and the last picture is of the bumper jack base after bead blasting.

[Mopar John]

                                                    DAYTONA JACKS PART 2!
With the jacks all bead blasted and prepped it was now time for paint! The first picture is of the scissors jack painted and drying! The second picture is of the bumper jack being painted and the third picture is of the jacks all finished and ready for installation in the Daytona! WOW!!  When I post again it will be about the Daytona up and running and going in for alignment! ENJOY!

[Richard Cranium]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to detail your restoration. I'm finding each update to be invaluable.

What is the 2nd straight bracket for (with the slotted holes)?

t's interesting to see that the inside of the nose cone is painted black, but the insides of the fenders and valance are primer.

[nascarxx29]

Slotted hole bracket not used on daytona .As the bumper jack is secured by floor bracket and spring on the left side .A superbird and some other b body where bumper jack is behind the spare used that bracket to secure bumper jack to trunk floor  

[maxwellwedge]

John - How come they didn't take the bumper jack apart to paint it?

[kw mopar]

I just did mine last week. painted the mechanism first. Then slid the mechanism to the top and painted most of the post with the siver paint, then slid the mechanism down and painted the rest of the post. It turned out nice in the 2 diff. colors. Would you have to split the jack or grind down the tabs on the post to seperate the 2 pieces?