CONGRATS TO JOHN A. ON WINNING OE GOLD!

[paul jacobs]

Wow Gene. Even after the years of research you have done, and quite a bit on my part, we are still learning! And to think some people know it all already Well now you have a nice seal for a 70 Charger that you may want to restore someday

Anyway,
After it was all said & done it's easy to see just how little yellow paint ended up on bottom-as it should be. A lot of times it's overdone and places get painted that could have never been.

[hemi68charger]

When both Davtona and I each bought the car, it DID have the seal - but that's because it was sporting a replacement '70 Charger hood...   

A quick look through my photo archives did not turn up a single original hood that had a radiator seal, whether or not it had a hood pad.  Such a car may exist, but I saw enough to think it should probably been omitted as was the case with John's car.

Hey guys.. Geno, Paul, Dave...

In an attempt to get a better understanding, did Daytonas not come with the hood insulation pad and front hood-to-cowl radiator seal? I have both on mine, but as you know, things get added/deleted/lost. I know my hood is the original one, I've spoken to every owner. Of course, during conversations about the car, the hood pad and radiator seal were never discussed...


Troy

[hemigeno]

Whether the hood insulation pad was installed or not is an enigma.  Cars coded with Sales Code J55 (undercoating/hood pad) were often sent out from Creative Industries without the hood pad, and more than a few original cars got the hood pad which were not J55 cars.  There is no rhyme or reason to the pattern at all, sorta like the tab for the trunk light switch.  Hamtramck probably got it right, the problem was with Creative's workers.

So... unless you have back-in-the-day photographs showing the hood pad and want to follow that pattern, you'd be safe to either have one or leave it off.  If you use the pad, it normally makes contact with the air cleaner pie tin even with the stock carb/intake.  Personally, I'm glad my car didn't have the pad.

As for the hood to radiator seal, I had obviously thought they were supposed to be installed - but to be honest, I hadn't paid particular attention to that detail when looking at photos of original cars.  Yesterday I went through the photos on my hard drive of the "usual suspects" (known original Daytonas), and none of them had the seal or any real evidence it was there but had been removed.  Even the original Daytona hood purchased for my car didn't have a seal.  All indications lead me to believe the radiator seal was not transferred from the '69 Charger hood over to the Daytona hood.  There are lots of examples that the rear hood seal was usually installed, although it depends on the car as to whether it was installed before or after paint (I've seen it both ways).  My car's seal came off this morning, it took maybe 1-1/2 minutes even taking my time.

Of course the archived photos I looked at are just a small sample of the number of cars built, so I don't think it can be definitively said that NO cars came with the seal.  You'd think that with how cooling-challenged these cars were to begin with, they'd have done everything they could to assist the radiator's efficiency (I think the seal kept radiator fan air from blowing towards the front of the car and "short-cycling" while idling or at low speeds).

[Aero426]

I think it is fair to assume that all cars should have had the hood seal.   But whether Creative's personnel transferred it over was hit and miss, or not at all.

[nascarxx29]

Creative slapped my car together on 606 Fri .
I might have underhood shots of my daytona hood backside.To see if it had a pad or not

Not a archive picture but untouched daytona no hood pad
http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/hrdp_1209_roddin_at_random_hot_rod_bike_1969_dodge_charger_daytona/photo_04.html

[paul jacobs]

Actuall yif you look very closely you can see there are hood pad remnants on this hood-look at the lower corners

[paul jacobs]

Here-or am I seeing things??

[paul jacobs]

Something no one noticed all weekend, was that this is a 4 speed car that's missing the clutch bracket brace! The factory never drilled the holes and put the bracket there!!

[paul jacobs]

These two holes are where the nut with star washer would have normally went and dug into the metal-like the holes visible behind this bracket.

[ECS]

Here-or am I seeing things??

Hi Paul!  Am I understanding the descriptive & picture that was provided by another member as proof that Daytona's did not come with hood pads?  If so, does that picture of an "untouched daytona" mean that they also came without valve covers, batteries and air cleaner housings?  

[paul jacobs]

 
Your killing me mr obvious!

[paul jacobs]

Something else I noticed at the nats was that no one told me my antifreeze sticker was in the wrong place, because it didn't cover my VIN. This is contrary to what a major Mopar magazine just printed as being the correct placement!  Lucky for me the factory, Gene and Tony all got it wrong too
Before the resto

[paul jacobs]

One of the things I had touched on earlier is how nice the original interior was, and how we were able to use nearly every part. The carpet insulation had a few stains, but after a good cleaning it looked great. The date code stickers were intact and very legible. One thing I noticed was that the front half of this original carpet was different than reproductions I have seen in that they are only serged about the first twelve inches. Under the seats and console it is simply cut. Also the tan jute is very thick under the seat area and invisible when looking under the seat. Also seen here is the excellent job my wife did restoring the original sill plates!

[paul jacobs]

The original tag. I've never seen any NOS carpet with this tag. In fact I've only ran across a few NOS carpet sets in 20 plus years. Maybe someone can chime in & give details, or even pictures, of some NOS carpet & it's details for comparison?

[paul jacobs]

Date code on door & quarter interior panels. One rear had a slight blemish around the seat I was able to repair. Besides, even after 20 years of going to hundreds of swap meets and checking out NOS parts stashes, I've only seen a few NOS interior panels. I don't recall NOS interior panels being date coded either, but maybe someone can give their observations and maybe even pics-especially of how they would have been packaged!

[Ghoste]

I thought I had always seen them date coded?  But then again, what I "think" I saw and what I actually saw (and in this case, prove) are two very different things

[resq302]

Paul,

Were the sill plates on daytona's the brushed or the polished type?  Just curious as I have never seen really nice brushed ones only ones that have shown 40 something years of age on higher mileage cars.

[paul jacobs]

Hey Brian,
If you look at the backside of originals they are pretty shiney. The photo I posted is not great because of the glare, but you have seen them in person. Again, they were 40 year old originals & they turned out great-not perfect. OH and I forgot! To answer your question yes, I have been using RPM also with great results! There are quite a few parts I preserved with Cosmoline. I had a friend that worked in a tool specialty store in the 90's and I bought a few 5 gallon pales-the real deal. It makes it nice because I can dip the parts and wipe them off, knowing that they are protected.


Here is yet another original Daytona with hood pad.

[FJ5WING]

Hey Paul....

Do you care to share how the sill plates were brought back to life? My originals are good and straight, just old.

[paul jacobs]

Well, they were pretty good to begin with but had a lot of surface scratches. She (my wonderful wife) started off with 400 grit wet sandpaper & worked to 800 then 1200. Finally she took 0000 steel wool and Mothers alumium polish and finalized them. It took about 8 hours but I was really happy with the way they turned out.

[paul jacobs]

Brian,
These are the gas tank/exhaust tip brackets. They were one of the first things I had restored and I got some of the first RPM to hit the market-something like 3 years ago? They were stored in my back room which is not heated ot air conditioned, so not really the best environment.
Anyway, this was photgraphed right before I put them on, so it's obvious how good the stuff works.

As I stated earlier, Dave at ECS also has a new product that is as good for interior as RPM is for metal.

Dave, feel free to jump in here if you want to tell everyone about the new stuff you have out.

[FJ5WING]

Thanks Paul...I would have just started with steel wool and progressing with that. 

[moparstuart]

Hey Brian,
If you look at the backside of originals they are pretty shiney. The photo I posted is not great because of the glare, but you have seen them in person. Again, they were 40 year old originals & they turned out great-not perfect. OH and I forgot! To answer your question yes, I have been using RPM also with great results! There are quite a few parts I preserved with Cosmoline. I had a friend that worked in a tool specialty store in the 90's and I bought a few 5 gallon pales-the real deal. It makes it nice because I can dip the parts and wipe them off, knowing that they are protected.


Here is yet another original Daytona with hood pad.

another picture of jims unrestored

[pettybird]

was it typical that the lower radiator shield (big rubber flap) was installed prior to paint? 

[resq302]

Interesting.  All of the sill plates that I have come across on the back sides must have just been oxidized then as they were not shiny.  I was always led to believe that they were brushed and not polished.  Looks like its time for some more elbow grease for me!

I must say, the RPM stuff is absolutely fantastic.  I cleaned up (first time using Evaporust) a pair of disc brake spindles and was amazed at how nice they came out and even left the inspection marks behind.  I then rinsed them off and dried them and applied the RPM.  I figured I would do a little test of my own as we had some really cold and wet weather last winter so I treated the spindles in RPM and let them sit out in the rain and freezing temps for a week.  Sure enough, if there was ANY rust forming, it was where I missed it when I was applying it.  The spots I missed, I went back over after cleaning it up again and it remained rust free!  I can't wait to see what this new interior product is!