MOPAR JOHNS EK2 SUPERBIRD RESTORATION!!

[Mopar John]

Doug,
The heater boxes themselves are done in house.
They recently had both stamps made for the correct yellow part number on the front covers!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                         SUPERBIRD JACKS AND SPARE!
In this segment I will share pictures of the restoration work done on the jacks and spare wheel.
The first two pictures are of the original front jack handle.
The last picture is of the unrestored front and rear jack hold down plates.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                       SUPERBIRD JACKS AND SPARE PART 2!
In this batch of pictures we continue on with the jack restoration.
The first two pictures show the original rear jack mechanism before restoration.
The third picture shows the original lug wrench that came with the Superbird.
The last picture is of the front jack hold down plate bead blasted and coated with glazing putty to remove the small pits.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                             SUPERBIRD JACKS AND SPARE PART 3!
In this batch of pictures I share views of the front scissors jack.
The first two pictures feature the original warning decals.
The third picture is an overall view of the scissors jack and rear bumper jack base.
The last picture is of the scissors jack expanded, blasted and hung for primer.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                         SUPERBIRD JACKS AND SPARE PART 4!
In this batch of pictures I cover the restoration of the spare wheel.
The first picture shows the wheel blasted and ready for primer.
The last two pictures show the wheel in primer front and back.
A note here about the wheel.
The wheel shown is NOT the correct wheel for a Superbird!
Back in 1988 when we drove the Superbird from northern Indiana to Talladega we blew the sides
off two of the original tires! We stopped and had to have the spare tire removed and mounted
on a Rallye wheel to look correct. So after that I bought a correct 5th rallye wheel and used it as a spare.
Fast forward about 25 years and it's time to restore the Superbird and I can't find the original spare !@#$%^&*()!
So I did the best I could at the time and used the mid to late 70's NOS 15 X 7 wheel I had.
After the MCACN show I was lucky to find and purchase a correct 2944450 wheel and swap it out.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                          SUPERBIRD JACKS AND SPARE PART 5!
Here we show some of the items in primer.
The first picture is of the scissors jack hold down now in primer.
The second picture shows the scissors jack in primer.
The last picture is of the fine thread jack screw before it's cleaned up.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                SUPERBIRD JACKS AND SPARE FINAL!
This is the last of the pictures I have for the August invoice of the trunk area.
The first picture shows the rear bumper jack, hold down and hardware restored and installed!
The last picture shows the front scissors jack, hold down and handle restored and installed!
Note the reproduction trunk mat too shiny and incorrect colors. It almost looks blue!
This was replaced with an NOS original at a later date. ENJOY!
MJ

[Mytur Binsdirti]

 

[Mopar John]

THANKS!

[Mopar John]

                                                                            SUPERBIRD RADIATOR!
We were lucky to have the original 2998956 radiator still with the Superbird in good shape.
Troy sent it out to his local shop who still works on the old copper radiators.
In the first two pictures you will see the top and bottom tanks in good shape after it was dipped.
The third picture shows the front view of the radiator now painted with the foam seals ready to install.
The last picture is of the back of the radiator now painted.
MJ

[maxwellwedge]

Buying that 450 wheel must have reduced the quantity of Christmas presents under the tree.....  

Looks great John!

[Hemi Runner]

I'm still using an original 956 radiator in my race car!

[hemi68charger]

Looking great John... Did your scissor jack's hold down fit ok? Mine doesn't, the stud was welded in the wrong spot, too close to the quarter...... I have heard this is a common Superbird hiccup....

Troy

[Wingnut426]

Great thread on the restoration of your Superbird. but I have to comment on your scissors jack. It is not an original jack. Wrong rivets, knob is too big and not tapered. thread on shaft is too coarse.  Superbird jacks did not come with decals either.
I know you want to do a correct quality job, so I had to throw in my 2 cents. WINGNUT426

[Mopar John]

Buying that 450 wheel must have reduced the quantity of Christmas presents under the tree..... 

Looks great John!

Thanks Jim!
The wheel was expensive but I bought it from a fellow DC.COM member at a reasonable hobby price!

I'm still using an original 956 radiator in my race car!

The 2998956 radiators were getting very expensive even though they were used on many cars the HEMI application ran the price up!
GLEN RAY RADIATORS has nice reproductions now that take care of most needs and stopped the rise of the originals!

Looking great John... Did your scissor jack's hold down fit ok? Mine doesn't, the stud was welded in the wrong spot, too close to the quarter...... I have heard this is a common Superbird hiccup....

Troy

Danny,
My Superbird jack hold down stud was a ground off bolt stuffed into the trunk floor to trunk floor extension seam and welded.
I do not have any problems with the hold down plate fitting.
MJ

[Mopar John]

Great thread on the restoration of your Superbird. but I have to comment on your scissors jack. It is not an original jack. Wrong rivets, knob is too big and not tapered. thread on shaft is too coarse.  Superbird jacks did not come with decals either.
I know you want to do a correct quality job, so I had to throw in my 2 cents. WINGNUT426

Pete,
Thanks for your expertise on the scissors jack.
A few years back we dug out my folding picnic table at the INDY AERO meet and started digging scissors jacks out of trunks.
We dug out Superbird and Daytona jacks.
My jack was the next to the finest thread on the shaft with two more varieties being more coarse?
The decals were an item that I have rarely seen on any others.
Are the original Superbird and Daytona jacks Identical other than color?
Thanks! John

[Mopar John]

                                                                               NOS TRUNK MAT!
I decided to go out and take some pictures so that I wouldn't forget later.
The first picture is a large view of the NOS trunk mat installed.
The second picture is a close up.
The third picture is a close up of the surface print on the back side.
The last picture is an original dealer invoice for 5 NOS trunk mats Mopar part number 3415956.
Being they ordered 5 might be why there was one left? Thanks to AERO426 for the rare part!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                        ORIGINAL BREAK OFF GREASE FITTINGS!
I had used up all of my decent original break off grease fittings on the Daytona.
Late this summer I traded a friend of mine a pair of NOS wiper blades for a nice set of original break off grease fittings.
They arrived recently and I will swap them out soon.
My first picuture shows the nice set of original fittings already broke off and ready!
The second picture is of the correct 2944450 wheel installed with the rest of the rear bumper jack parts restored.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                    SUPERBIRD LATCH TRAY!
While other items on the Superbird were being restored and detailed the body man was moving along also!
The first picture is of the latch tray prepped and hung for primer top side.
The second picture is the bottom side view.
The third and fourth pictures are of the bottom side in primer.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                   SUPERBIRD LATCH TRAY FINAL!
In this batch of pictures there are only two.
They both show the Superbird latch tray views now painted.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                  SUPERBIRD NOSE CONE INSIDE PAINT!
With the Superbird nose cone all prepped and painted on the outside it was now time to finish the inside.
The first two pictures are passengers side and drivers side views of the nose prepped for paint inside.
The last two pictures are from the same views of the nose now painted black inside.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                   SUPERBIRD NOSE CONE HEAD LIGHT OPENING PAINT!
This step is often messed up on Superbirds!
The folks restoring the Superbirds either leave the body color paint showing around the head light openings
or they mask off a small section that shows the tape line after the decals are installed!
This batch of pictures is only two that show the drivers side and passengers side tape and paper
peeled back and the headlight openings feathered in with black paint!
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                SUPERBIRD HEADLIGHT DOORS!
With the nose cone, Z brackets and other parts ready it was time for the headlight doors.
This batch of pictures show the headlight doors sanded and ready for paint.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                        SUPERBIRD HEADLIGHT BUCKETS!
The first picture in this batch is actually the passengers headlight door now painted.
The second picture is of the headlight buckets hung and ready for paint.
The last two pictures show the headlight buckets painted.
MJ

[Mopar John]

                                                                     HEAD LIGHT DOOR ACTUATORS!
This batch of pictures has only two!
The first picture shows one of the headlight actuators unrestored.
The second picture shows the actuators after Troy restored them. WOW!
He copied the formula he developed from the Daytona actuators.
Most NOS actuators are black and most of the originals have lost their finish.
MJ