MOPAR JOHNS EK2 SUPERBIRD RESTORATION!!

[1970Moparmann]

Congrats John! Looking good....

[pettybird]

our cars won't recognize each other lol

[Mopar John]

Thanks guys!
Doug,
Lets park them next to each other again at Talladega!
I sure wish your dad was around to see all this!!
MJ

[pettybird]

I sure wish your dad was around to see all this!!
MJ

You and me both.  Can you believe it's been 25 years?

[Hoser2455]

Looks great John! Bet you can't wait till summer!

[Mopar John]

I sure wish your dad was around to see all this!!
MJ

You and me both.  Can you believe it's been 25 years?

Doug,
I can not believe it's been that long!
But as we age he is forever young!
MJ

[Mopar John]

Looks great John! Bet you can't wait till summer!

I can't wait for summer but I'm going to get a dose of Superbird next Wednesday when I go for another visit to the shop!
MJ

[70Sbird]

Looks great John! Bet you can't wait till summer!

I can't wait for summer but I'm going to get a dose of Superbird next Wednesday when I go for another visit to the shop!
MJ

Just don't forget your camera....those of us that are living vicariously through your posts want updates!

[JB400]

 

[Mopar John]

                                        PREPARING FOR THE JANUARY 2ND VISIT!
  It was about the time of the visit that I bought the NOS cat whiskers from Tony Malcien and decided to upgrade the Superbird restoration! The body was turning out great, the chrome was being replated and all the original glass had been polished to perfection. I was also buying anything that was NOS for the outside of the car. This batch of pictures shows the parts that I loaded up for the visit. The first picture is of the NOS front sidemarkers and rear backup lenses. The second picture is of the NOS driveshaft, emergency brake cables, trans dust cover and trans mount. The third picture is of the cat whiskers, dash pad and restored dash speaker. The last picture is of the NOS front suspension parts. Many of these were put away for the R4 Daytona restoration!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                           VISIT PART 2!
The first picture is of the NOS parts we took down for the engine. Included is an early six pack oval air filter, gaskets, plugs and an original date coded fuel pump!
  Also included in the picture is the original power steering fan belt and PCV hose that I saved when I put new ones on! I wish the alternator belt would have been good also!!
The second picture is of a batch of parts that a good friend came up with for me. Included are Nos battery cables, wiper blades, tie rod ends, exhaust hangers and more!
My next reply will be the pictures I took during the visit!
MJ

[FJ5WING]

 

No wonder I cant find anymore NOS parts! 

Hey John, hows your trunk mat?

[Mopar John]

No wonder I cant find anymore NOS parts! 

Hey John, hows your trunk mat?

I am using quite a few nice parts in the Superbird restoration! There are still some NOS parts out there but the prices are going up way faster than the cars are! I just saw an NOS quarter panel for $3500.00!
  When I bought the Superbird in the mid seveties it had a shag carpet in the trunk! Around 1980 I bought a new trunk mat from Chrysler and used it all these years. But due to lawn chairs, tables, coolers and a tool box it has seen it's days. I saw one for sale on EBAY a year or so ago and that was before I decided to ramp up the quality of the restoration. So for right now all I have is an REM reproduction that I bought about 10 years ago.
Thanks! MJ

[Mopar John]

                           PICTURES OF THE SUPERBIRD FROM THE JANUARY 2ND VISIT!
426 Linda and I headed down to Eldorado, Illinois bright and early on January 2ND to visit the Superbird and deliver parts. This was all planned out to see the freshly painted body! We were in for a bit of a surprise when we arrived!
Troy and the guys had got some reassembly done by the time we arrived! The first picture is of the back of the Superbird. You will notice the trunklid is painted on both sides and installed. The second picture is of the front of the Superbird and you will notice the hood painted on both sides. It is installed along with the painted hood hinges.
The third picture shows the passengers side with the door now installed. The last pciture is of the drivers side with the door installed. The whole body had been polished and cleaned up also! WOW! What a sight for us!
MJ

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Absolutely beautiful!!!     

[1966hemi]

  Drop dead GORGEOUS!

[Mopar John]

                                         THE DAY BEFORE THE BIG VISIT!
When I decided to ramp up the quality of the restoration on the Superbird many wheels started turning in my head!
One of my first thoughts was how many nice original parts were in my basement from the 1970 GTX race car? I have decided it will always be a racecar durning my ownership! Some of the parts like the seats were removed when the GTX had 8,000 miles on it back in 1972!! My first picture is the pile of parts I have removed from the GTX and bought from swap meets for it. The second picture is of the original seats after 42 years of storage! The third picture is of some of the original door panels. The last picture is down at Troy's shop last Wednesday with all the seats laid out. There are two original back seats and the original buckets from the GTX. There is also the buckets from the Superbird which I put Legendary covers on a few years back. You don't realize how differant reproductions are till you have originals next to them! There will be original seats and door panels on the Superbird! WOW!

[hemi68charger]

That's awesome John !!!! So, cater to my ignorance, the GTX's seat pattern is the same as the Superbird, which is still the same as a Road Runner in '70?

[pettybird]

That's awesome John !!!! So, cater to my ignorance, the GTX's seat pattern is the same as the Superbird, which is still the same as a Road Runner in '70?

yep

there were two different bench seat patterns (cheap and dee-lux) but only one for buckets.

the door panels are the same too, but the GTX's have that slab 'o woodgrain on the metal door upper

[Aero426]

                                        THE DAY BEFORE THE BIG VISIT!

One of my first thoughts was how many nice original parts were in my basement from the 1970 GTX race car? I have decided it will always be a racecar durning my ownership! Some of the parts like the seats were removed when the GTX had 8,000 miles on it back in 1972!!

How many times have you moved those parts over the years?    A lot of them would normally be gone as soon as they were pulled off the car 40 years ago.   

[hemi68charger]

That's awesome John !!!! So, cater to my ignorance, the GTX's seat pattern is the same as the Superbird, which is still the same as a Road Runner in '70?

yep

there were two different bench seat patterns (cheap and dee-lux) but only one for buckets.

the door panels are the same too, but the GTX's have that slab 'o woodgrain on the metal door upper

Thanks Doug !   

[Mopar John]

                                         THE DAY BEFORE THE BIG VISIT!

One of my first thoughts was how many nice original parts were in my basement from the 1970 GTX race car? I have decided it will always be a racecar durning my ownership! Some of the parts like the seats were removed when the GTX had 8,000 miles on it back in 1972!!

How many times have you moved those parts over the years?    A lot of them would normally be gone as soon as they were pulled off the car 40 years ago.   

Doug,
The parts removed early on like the seats have been moved 3 times and have always been inside. I still remember way back in 1972 I bought a 4 point bolt in rollbar out of a local trader paper called " THE BARGAIN FINDER ". I removed the seats and put in the rollbar and a fiberglass bucket seat that's still in the GTX. I went back to US 30 in Gary Indiana and failed the tech inspection !@#$%^&*(! The tech guy told me that once you had a rollbar installed you must have a race approved helmet so you don't hit your head on the rollbar !#$%^&()! THANKS A LOT!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                    MARCH 26TH VISIT!
The visit went very well looking over the Superbird and all the components! We looked over each item that was questionable and tried to make decisions. My want list was down to 3 items and grew back up to about 20!
Some items I had put away and others I knew where to get. Tonight I'm back down to about 10 items on my want list. Most can be added at any time. I am only going to share 2 pictures from the visit because I'm back to being 2 discs behind again because of a junk computor. One picture shows a long table full of NOS, restored and good used parts ready for action. The other table has almost all of the front suspension parts at the ready! ENJOY!
MJ

[hemi68charger]

I'll take that,,,,, that,,,,,,,,,,, that over there............ Oh wait,,,,,,,, that too......... 

[Mopar John]

                                                    MORE PROGRESS!
I know some of things I'm going to post now won't have the impact that the paint did but it all has to be done!
I will try and post more of these pictures and get to some good stuff as quick as possible!
  The first picture in this batch shows the original 440 six pack engine. It was rebuilt by the shop that does my race engines back in 2004 for that years Talladega meet! It has about 800 miles since the long block rebuild. The paint on it was from Totally Auto. The second picture shows the engine with the transmission and front suspension that was taken out the bottom as one unit! The third picture shows the front suspension after the engine and trans were pulled. I had a local guy powder coat this back in 2004 also. I don't like the way it started peeling and will go back to original style paint with the restoration. The last picture shows the engine stripped down ready for the old paint to be removed! STAY TUNED FOR MORE!
MJ