Now Complete Restoration / Pulling my 1969 'Bee down for strip and paint

[CDN72SE]

Like the Fram comment, was looking at the pics and thought oh no he's got a Fram people are going to go nuts. 

[birdsandbees]

Repop wing nuts that came with the battery hold down kit. Close, but not exact.

I'm looking for someone that has some spare wing nuts! Would like two (or more) of these OEM ones for my oval cleaner if someone has some kicking around.

Orange has to be THE worst colour to try and get a true "as viewed" picture. Bought a "hen's tooth" last month, that being an ORIGINAL 1969 Fram CA-332 air filter.

Jen's view !

#57 bulbs for the instrument housing lights. Need 7.

Headlight switch harness has run a BIT hot over the years!

Luckily Blk68RT sold me (almost gave me) a beautiful replacement.

All spliced in ready to install the instrument cluster.

[birdsandbees]

A LOT easier taking it out, than hooking up the short wires and getting it back in! Dash complete, just needs a steering column.

Hooked up the battery and everything seems to work. Glove box light on.

Radio light on

Hit the Ebrake and the warning light works.

Dome light on.

Reverse light works!

More brand new junk... do manufactures even check that their shit works. Supposed to be variable resistance... shorted to ground! .. and a bitch to change out back there.

Sender shorted to ground makes the meter go full with engine off.

[birdsandbees]

Videos of success... 

4 ways

https://youtu.be/tyO_Ba8fsHM

3 speed wipers

https://youtu.be/1i8chbmprmo

Engine crank

https://youtu.be/eE80zn_1wcE

[Lennard]

Pretty soon you'll be cruisin'!  I hear you were watching drag boat racing while tinkering with your car.

[birdsandbees]

Thanks Lennard!! Yah.. it was background noise, came on after Bitch'n Rides! 

[birdsandbees]

Needed the tach wire from the coil - to the firewall pigtail. Grabbed a plastic end from the old engine harness, a new connector and some black wire.

Finished tach wire.

Wire connects to the single firewall pigtail, that was an optional mod by the factory for the dash tach. Some cars only have a clock...some like my Bird have neither.

I imagine this is the way the factory added it to the engine harness.

Time to tackle the steering column restoration.

Horn pad and ring in good condition, steering wheel severely heat cracked. Marine container storage wasn't kind to it.

Note the tab at 3 o'clock when you go to pop the center plug so you don't break it. Pry it up from 9 o'clock. (I got lucky!)

Horn pad while still in good condition needs some contact cement help.

[birdsandbees]

Pulled the old wheel.

Found why my signals didn't cancel after turning right. %(*@($

Note the retainer "spring" also has a stub sticking out. This is what cancels your turn signals, and this one is in the correct location on the old wheel..

Reproduction wheel came with the "stub" oriented wrong. A little tap with a hammer moved it into place.

Simple way to remove the retainer pin on the steering knuckle. Wrench into place and pry it up.

Knuckle apart. Minimal wear and a good thing, as the repro rebuild kit is CRAP !

Repro rebuild kit gasket is wrong colour, wrong profile, missing the side tabs.. but I either have to use it or source a better one. EDIT: Just ordered the correct black gasket and good cover from DMT.

Original hardened, clean ground ends, press fit pin from the end of the steering shaft vs the repro CRAP that is machine chopped and undersize. I can throw it through the shaft hole. I'll be reusing the old.

[birdsandbees]

Repro knuckle retainer on the left, original on the right. Repro is about 75% the thickness of the original.

Picture to note the OEM black tape on the wiring harness coming out of the wheel.

OEM part # label and noting the green Quality Control (I presume) paint on the inner tube

You have to remove the 7 wires from the connector to pull it through the steering collars.

These have dual tabs.. one on each side.. of each connector. Pry one side while pulling lightly and then do the other and out they pop.

More mfg markings.

Outer and inner snap rings removed from the upper steering shaft bearing. Using a tight fitting wrench jammed in a hole in my bench and a brass hammer to remove the bearing. Thankfully both my bearings are still good and can be reused.

Steering column totally disassembled.

[birdsandbees]

Guess when the old man ditched the car, way back in it's early life, he hit the wheel a BIT harder than he ever claimed! LOL Looks like a bit of stretch needs to happen and some TIG welding.

He also sheared the plastic "shear" pins in the main shaft as well, that I will have to reset into place and retain again by injecting epoxy or some soft rivets.

Thankfully the plastic shear pegs are still in the inner tube's slip joint.

[birdsandbees]

Video of the crap rebuild kit knuckle pin. Not even close to a light press fit, and the pin ends are machine sheared.

https://youtu.be/UrtYnFVmPLA

[Lennard]

Most likely made in China.

[birdsandbees]

Most likely made in China.

YEP... gotta look through my paperwork to see whom I bought it from, so I NEVER buy another item from them. Ordered the correct black seal and retainer from DMT last night. Will use my old pin and slider blocks on the reassembly.

[birdsandbees]

Ordered this Chrysler service part for 10 Bucks US + postage, hoping it will work to repair my broken one. I'm not paying $300 US for an OEM replacment assembly to keep it original (not if I can help it anyhow..)

Inner column tube and the green paint on the upper section between the plastic telescopic pinning and the tooling hole. Possibly QC to confirm the pinning.

Lower green QC paint.. maybe to say the spring is on? Also noting the tube was wiped / smeared with Cosmoline.

Plastic crush zone cover, to show the tape used to secure it.

Interesting it's 9/16 wide on one end.

..and 7/16" wide at the other end.

Some steering columns were dipped in black paint from the knuckle up to the lower bearing. Mine was not. It has no evidence of that and was obviously left bare. Lynch Road car, built last week of Feb ' 69.

Lower steering shaft is clean metal, no evidence of black paint or dipping.

[birdsandbees]

Using a hose clamp to pull the "swelled" and cracked area of the crush zone section back into shape for welding.

All cleaned up ready for welding. Also rolled the tube on the panel stand to make sure it's straight.

Knuckle and lower spring into the Evaporust, along with the original seal retainer.

Carefully placed the horn ring in another bucket of Evaporust and topped it right up. Don't want the "silver" ring turning black.

Made an Evaporust soak tray for the inner tube out of a cardboard box and poly.

Drilled out the remnants of the plastic "shear pins" on the telescopic shaft with a 3/32 bit. Will inject with Epoxy on reassembly or use a soft rivet to restore the intended function.

Not taking any chances with the oil pressure sender I bought today at NAPA. Pressure test and ohm check for correct function of the variable resistance before I install this one.

20 psi = 41 ohms

[birdsandbees]

40 psi = 31 ohms

60psi = 26 ohms

80 psi = 19 ohms

New sender installed.

Put about 3.7 gallons of distilled water in the radiator / engine for test runs. When all is okay I will drain 1/2 and top with Antifreeze.

..and the floor is dry!

And so is the cabin below the heater box. Great start.

[birdsandbees]

Went back out to the shop after supper. Horn ring cleaned up very nicely in Evaporust and some light scrubbing.

Steering shaft also cleaned up nice, ready to coat with RPM.

Knuckle still needs a bit of cleaning before coating with RPM.

Filled my "trough" with Evaporust to soak the inner tube overnight.

[Lennard]

 

[Dino]

Wayne you're moving along at the speed of light! It's an absolute joy to follow this thread. You must be getting real antsy to get her back on the road.   

[birdsandbees]

Thanks guys!

Dirk, I keep thinking to myself..... BUT IT ONLY TOOK 32 HOURS TO TAKE IT ALL APART!!  

Still have the ramcharger hood air box to rebuild and install to hood.. bumpers.. all the glass to redo and install.. fenders and hood install.. cut and buff.. tail stripe.. carpet.. seats.. seat belts... door panels.. DANG...  

[Dino]

In other words, you're almost done.   

[birdsandbees]

In other words, you're almost done.  

I want it at least running by my Birthday and I've got 16 days to do so... but will be away for a week in there, so I'd better get my ass out to the shop!

[Dino]

Go go go!

[birdsandbees]

Go go go!

I'm on it! Forgot I still have to put the sway bar back in as well.... rubber bushings should be fun!  

..and restore the horns, install the headlight buckets, washer reservoir, repair and paint both the front grill and the rear tail light trim panel, restore the tail lights... hell, now I don't wanna go to the shop! 

[birdsandbees]

Ground wire from column to dash... for the concurs part # watchers.

Crush zone damage all welded up.

There Dad... nobody will ever know about you hitting that wheel !

Column, wire cover and both collars painted in Duplicolor Trim CTP700000 to match what I used on the upper dash.

Retainer bracket and flange painted in gloss black .

Turned the paint booth on "bake" for the night.

Inner column tube cleaned up really nice. Of course I can't find an old shop can of green paint to replicate the markings. Why do we do this stuff for things that will never be seen? Because we can...

The next car.. this stuff is going up on a table. So tired of being on a knee, degreasing and Evaporusting parts.