MOPAR JOHNS EK2 SUPERBIRD RESTORATION!!

[Mopar John]

                                                            SUPERBIRD UPDATE!
I havn't posted about the Superbird in a while and it's time for an update! The restoration appointment is drawing closer and closer and at this point is about 2 months away! Slowly I have been gathering all the parts I have laying around and putting them in one area so I don't forget something. The big news is that I purchased an NOS drivers door skin! Ours has a few rust bubbles down low and was off a car with a side molding so there are some tiny spots where you can see the holes welded up. I have never gotten over the Daytona doors having to be cut up where the rust was in between the skin and the frame also. The door skin was pricy but it was close enough where I could go pick it up! When I went to pick it up the seller tells me that when he dug it out he found a matching NOS passengers door skin under it! So I drained my PayPal account and took some extra NOS parts and made a deal for both door skins! I have attached some pictures of the skins that are still in the factory wrappers!
MJ

[tan top]

   good stuff , it amazes me how much stuff its out there

[hemi68charger]

Very Cool John............. 

[Mopar John]

                                                                           THE CALL #2!!!!
This past Tuesday evening while I was at work Linda and I got the call we had been waiting for! It was Troy Angelly and he informed us that the R4 Daytona fender and valence were done and he would be ready for the Superbird on Friday. When we last talked I gave Troy my schedule and days that I would be able to haul the Superbird down to his shop. I have attached some photos! The first one shows the Superbird in the trailer with the original trunk floor underneath that we will be using. The second and third pictures are of all the NOS sheetmetal that is going to be used during the restoration. The Superbird also has an NOS nose that was installed in time for the Cleveland meet!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                         THE TRIP TO TROY ANGELLY'S SHOP!
Since Linda had some things to do I left for Eldorado, Illinois just after 8am when I finished loading the sheetmetal parts. All went well till I got down to Mount Vernon, Illinois where I 57 and I 64 cross. I noticed that my trailer lights and BRAKES were not working! A quick check of the plug revealed that something was fried in there !@#$%^&*()! I tried to fix it and failed so I made an attempt to make it to Troy's shop. It all went well and I unloaded the Superbird and all the sheetmetal. We went over the project and spent sometime discussing Mopars and current events. We then loaded up the R4 Daytona drivers fender and front valance that I had left there when we picked up the B5 Daytona. I want to put those parts and others I have on the R4 Daytona and make it a complete car again while Troy has the Superbird. I have a couple of pictures attached from the visit! I was able to fix the trailer plug before I headed for home. The trip is normally a 6 hour drive and I left at around 4:30pm. All went well till I got about 15-20 miles south of Effingham, Illinois. There was a semi a safe distance ahead of me turn his emergency flashers on as he approached an overpass? I let the overpass approach slow my momentum from 55mph to about 40mph. When I got to the top I saw a state police car with it's flashers on and I hit BLACK ICE on the bridge. I didn't hit the brakes but started fishtailing and saw the BORZYCH RACING logo on both sides of the trailer@)_+@#$%*)!!! WOW!
I hung on long enough to get off the bridge! There were cars and suv's all over the median and roadsides! That trucker saved my BUTT!
This black ice continued on most of the bridges! I came up to one that had 2 lights flashing up and down? When I got to them it was a Ford ranger on it's side at the edge of the payment! WOW! I must have seen 50 vehicles off the road and some were smashed into each other! I made it through all that and then it got REAL windy! It was having it's way with the empty trailer! The wind let up and I made good time up to I-80 and started east toward Indiana. I got to I-65 near Gary and ran right into a lake effect blizzard@#$%&*()!
The vehicles were moving so slow that I  was getting worried that I wouldn't be able to pull the trailer through the deep snow! I started working my way to the next exit in Portage, Indiana. I'm close to home and know the roads but it was still tough! I didn't want to stop on the incline of the exit ramp and almost ran a small car over with the dumptruck! I got off and made it to a truck stop and filled up the gas tank. I then had to decide if I was going to get the blankets that the parts were wrapped in and stay the night at the truckstop or try to make it home? I decided to try and make it home. It was really bad the first 5 miles and then things started to lighten up and I made it at 12:30am! I was completely wore out from the trip! Note to self- TRY NOT TO USE TRAILER IN THE WINTER EVER AGAIN!!!
MJ

[pettybird]

I know it'll be perfect and that Troy will do a fantastic job, but I'm kind of sad our 'birds are losing a playmate...

[Mopar John]

Doug,
Some parts of this are definately SAD! First off we won't be able to drive it the next couple of years! The second thing is that it will loose some of it's identity! Way back in 1980 when I redid the car myself back in the old shop I didn't put the decals on. Knowing that it needed more work I didn't want to WASTE my NOS decals. So for 32 years there were no decals on the nose and until a couple of years ago there were none on the quarters either! The ones that I slapped on there were not correct for a Superbird either! I think they were some direct connection truck decals. That will all go away now! In fact I am going back to the white decals that this Superbird originally came with. I didn't like the white but like the bird is more unusual! The one thing I am really torn up about is the 440 SIX PACK fender decals! Should I leave them off? Should I leave them on in black? Or should I put them on in white to match the other decals?
MJ

[pettybird]

tough call on the six pack decals.  get a set in black and white and make magnets out of them.  Like the black scoops on our B5 car--you could tell at a glance whose car it is.  Personally I'd put decals back on, but you're going through a LOT of time and money to make this one perfect.


Funny you mention wasting the decals--I did the same thing with our cars.  for whatever reason the petty car came with Plymouth on the driver side only, and I also didn't want to waste the NOS stuff.  I finally got tired of that and bought a repop one.  I also got tired of the naked nose on the B5 car and my buddy and I just masked off where the black should go and painted it with trim black.  that lasted like 10 years...


I'm a HUGE fan of white decals on Vitamin C, though!

[Dave Kanofsky]

I'm a HUGE fan of white decals on Vitamin C, though!

x2!

[moparstuart]

I'm a HUGE fan of white decals on Vitamin C, though!

x2!

x3 three  i say put the six pack back on in white !! if you dont like it or decide you want it stock they will come off   

[Mopurr]

wow your trip sounds like my fear of when we came your way for the racecar but that weekend the weather was fine.

At Mt. Vernon you were only 30 miles away you should have called.......we were home.

At Effingham you were very close to the Barnicks and could have called them or my sister was only 10 miles away if you had wanted to stop right off of 70

Glad you made it safely, I am sure you will miss the car a lot while it is away.

[jonw29]

I was gonna try to log onto Troy's website and  over his work but apparently his website is down.Is this right MJ?

[Mopar John]

I was gonna try to log onto Troy's website and  over his work but apparently his website is down.Is this right MJ?

jonw29,
I'll check into his website and let you know! You can read through my personal experiance with his shop in my B5 Daytona post! He also has another restoration car being featured in the next Mopar Collectors Guide! It is a sassy grass green sunroof 1971 GTX! I'll also mention that he is a small shop and doesn't spend a lot of his customers money on advertising and show sponsorships! The bottom line is the restorations speak for themselves and he has one of the best labor rates in the buisness!
MJ

[Mopar John]

Recently I was out in the shop and decided to take the pile of stuff that was in the Superbird console into the house and sort through it.
I found almost all the license plate registrations going back to the late 70's. The dash plaques were already discussed in my story but there was other stuff I found from past meets. When I got done there was two stickers from the early Hoosier Auto Show and swap meets that were held in the infield of the Indianapolis 500 Track. Right next to them was the pass for this past years display also in the infield of the Indianapolis 500 Track! What really hit me at that moment was that 30 YEARS have gone by since the Superbird first arrived on that infield and last year! WOW does time fly by! I am hoping for an update on the Superbird restoration soon!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                         WHAT EVER HAPPENED WITH THIS SUPERBIRD RESTORATION??
Here is an update! When Troy Angelly dissasembled the Superbird he made a short list of things that we would need. I had a few spares here and had to find some things. Several of you on this forum have seen my ads and tried to help. I am still looking for an original passengers side wing washer and a drivers side outer wheelhouse.
 Not to long ago a fellow Mopar guy Jerry Hogan passed away and some guys I know bought several parts cars and extra parts that he had. They saw my wanted ads and e-mailed me. I was able to go over there and cut the entire tailpanel and trunk gutters off a 1970 Sattelite. When I repaired the Superbird back in 1980 I didn't do a real nice job when I replaced the quarter panels where they met the taillight panel. Now with the NOS quarters, an original trunk floor and this piece the whole back end will be original MOPAR! I have attached a picture of the part I cut off. I also was looking for an original pair of passengers side headlight bracket pivots. After no responses to my wanted ad I decided to contact Erik Nelson who I had done buisness with before. I asked Erik if he could make me a pair of pivots? He responded quickly and after hearing my story and how I was trying to keep the Superbird original came up with a very nice pair of original pivots for me! WOW! I have attached a picture of those also.
 I spoke with Troy last week and the Superbird body is back from REDI-STRIP! His shop is getting the back end ready to put the new original trunk floor in. He will need the tailpanel I have soon after that so I am going down there next Saturday. I will take some pictures then and will be picking up the pictures of work done up to this point! So stay tuned!
Mopar John

[Mopar John]

                                                                       UPDATE!
  Last Saturday my friend Jim from work who has a 1970 GTX 440 six pack and a 1971 Superbee 440 six pack made the trip down to Troy Angelly's shop. Jim went along to check the place out and I was there to drop off parts and bring some old stuff back. I dropped the Superbird off last January and this is my first visit. The Superbird has been completely disassembled and taken to REDI-STRIP! I feel the REDI-STRIP process saves time and money on labor! When the Superbird came back from REDI-STRIP it was steam cleaned and dried. Most of the rusty metal has been cut off and remaining parts are being prepped.
    I will start getting you all caught up with this first batch of pictures! The first picture is of the Superbird with the incorrect pattern vinyl top removed and the doors off. The second picture shows the back half of the body stripped down! The last picture is from the front with the body all stripped down!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                      UPDATE PART 2!
   Here are some more pictures of the Superbird being disassembled! The first picture is of the rear of the body with the window plug removed. I bought this piece NOS from Dave Patik back in the late 70's and is still in very good shape! The second picture shows the Superbird body with the drivers quarter panel removed! The last picture of this update shows the back of the body with the old quarters removed and the trunk floor. When I went to the dealer back in the late 70's I was able to buy NOS trunk floor extensions but not the trunk floor? I had an old Chrysler Imperial that I was parting and used the hood turned upside down for the new trunkfloor. Hey, at least it was still all Mopar! ENJOY!
MJ

[Dave Kanofsky]

Wow, that is one disected chicken!

[held1823]

 

[Mopar John]

Wow, that is one disected chicken!

Dave,
I was going to come back at you with a chicken thing but was afraid it would derail this topic!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                REDI-STRIP!!
So once Troy and the guys had all the parts cut off that they didn't want to dip it was off to REDI-STRIP! The Superbird shell waited it's turn and then was put through the dip tank! Once it was done it's was back to Troy's shop for a good steam cleaning and drying!
The attached two pictures show the Superbird body all cleaned up and ready to go into the shop. Next up will be the metal work and sanding and priming! Stay tuned!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                               ENGINE COMPARTMENT!
  Once the Superbird was moved inside work started right away on sanding and priming the body! This reply shows the passengers side of the outer engine compartment, the engine compartment and the drivers outer engine compartment. These areas only had to be lightly sanded and are ready for primer! The next reply will have these same areas in primer!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                             ENGINE COMPARTMENT PART 2!
  Here are the same areas that are now in primer! WOW! It's on it's way back!
I knew the engine compartment was rust free as I had sanded it and painted it
for a Talladega reunion back in 2004!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                   PASSENGERS COMPARTMENT!
The passengers compartment was about the same as the engine compartment. It just needed a light sanding and would be ready for primer. The first 2 pictures ahow this area after it was sanded. The last 2 pictures show the same area already in primer! The front 2/3 of the body looks great at this point! ENJOY!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                       REAR FRAME RAILS AND CROSSMEMBER!!
  Next up in the process was to get the rear frame rails ready! Believe it or not they held up real well also! The first 2 pictures show the left and right frame rails when they were back from REDI-STRIP. The third picture shows one of the frame rails with the top part taped and ready for the epoxy primer to protect them! The top was left bare because that is where the weldable primer will go. The last picture shows the rear frame rails and the crossmeber painted with the epoxy primer! Next up will be the original replacement trunk floor! ENJOY!
MJ