Black Ice Superbird...Next Chapter Now with pics !!!

[mauve66]

i hope you don't    have fun, dammit

[hotrod98]

It would be more fun if we lived in Vegas. We didn't make it out this year. Spent too much money buying a certain Superbird. 

[41husk]

I think I love Sandra!  Sandra make sure he doesn't play with the Plymouths until the Daytona clone is finished

[hotrod98]

Lucky you.  I worked on it all day Friday. Hope to work on it again tomorrow. It's cold here, even with both 30' radiant heaters going full blast.
I thought this was the warm, sunny south. 

[69bronzeT5]

I'm digging that Barracuda.....looks SO sweet with the TT's

[hotrod98]

This car has a petina to it. I'm tired of driving show ponies. This one is actually fun to drive and I don't worry about the folks dinging the side of it when I go to Wal-Mart. 

[hotrod98]

Time for a little update since the weather's getting a little nicer. The builders have started on my new shop addition so I can't get Allen's Daytona into the booth for a few more days. So, I decided to start sanding on the Black Ice Superbird. For the most part the car is pretty straight. I need to rework one small area on the right quarter.
I'm thinking that the fog machine that the band used to carry around in the trunk might have slid over and bumped the right quarter from the inside a little. Just a guess... 
I plan to re-prime the right quarter and then block the entire car one more time. I'll use NCS black PPG sealer, three coats of black PPG DBC and then three coats of 2021 clear. I have a guy that's been working for me that is great at wet sanding and buffing so he gets the job.
I received the new interior pieces from Dante's last week so as soon as the trim shop gets an opening I'll drop the seats off. I ordered black vinyl covers with silver welting (piping?). I also located a non-console pistol grip shifter handle so I'll remove the console and console style shifter, replace the carpet with new black carpet from ACC and install the non-console shifter handle. This is what the buildsheet shows that the car should have had and I like the non console look. I ordered a new package tray, seat divider and trunk mat. The door panels look pretty decent and I'll re-install them for now. Might replace them later.
I had the rear bumper rechromed and my son has already replaced the clutch. I've driven the car some around here close to home and so far it runs and drives great. I love the sound of the exhaust but it's a little tired and needs to be replaced. I'll try to get that done later. In fact, I'm thinking about going with a full TTI exhaust. I love the 3" TTI exhaust system on my 71 Barracuda.
I'm very glad that I bought this car. No regrets. It is obvious that it's a west Texas/southern California car. While Tom had it in Alaska he kept it stored inside most of the time and drove it in the snow very little and it shows.

I won't paint it until after Allens Daytona clone is painted. According to my builders, I'll be able to get back into the shop in a few days. We'll see. Updates to follow. I have to get these two wing cars completed...soon.

[472 R/T SE]

Looking good Larry.  I hope to start on the red car tomorrow.  For me, just getting it turned around will be a job.

I don't remember, are you keeping those wheels staying with the Black Ice theme?

[hotrod98]

Yes, the wheels are staying. I don't want to change the look of the car. I'll stick to updating a few worn items and leave it at that. Maybe after I've owned it for a while, I'll start making some changes. Maybe not. Next year, I may run the car with rallyes and the flat hood just for grins. I do plan to convert the 4-speed to an o/d 3-speed with the Passon cluster kit. They've been out of them all winter long for some reason.
I have no plans to ever restore the car back to original.
I'll leave that to the next owner/caretaker.

[hotrod98]

Tom, I was just thinking about that outie in the right quarter. There were a lot of parts stored in the trunk when it was on the ship. It's a definite possiblilty that it could have happened on the trip from Ketchikan to Seattle.
No biggie. I blocked it out and I'll just re-prime and block again. I truly appreciate all of the hard work that you put into it before you shipped it. Saved me a lot of time and trouble.

[superbirdtom]

yeah  hey its not perfect but I just wanted you to be happy and not have to do hours of bodywork .  it really is a nice bird as far as rust. I have seen em with the whole plug and rear drip rails  rusted out  this one is solid as a rock,  wait till you take out the carpet  the floor is perfect  probably not a speck of rust. also the headlight buckets just had surface rust where lots of them the bottoms have heavy pitting or are rotted out completely. Did you unpack the flat hood yet?  I want your opinion on the job I did on it.

                                                          Boy  I can hardly wait to see it done and you guys taking it to your first cruise in. It definetly went to the right people ,  did you get the bucket seat buttons I sent?  I will keep looking for anything I might have forgot. I think I found a local guy who might buy the purple runner, he bought a 69 ss 396 chevelle in eastern washington that turned out to be a el-fako and wants a true muscle car. I am glad to see your adding onto the shop. I hope to visit someday and check it out

                                                       when or if you ever change the valve covers I really want to know  what kind of adjustable rockers were put on the engine, I lost the build up paperwork. but know  that supposedly all the  parts were top notch , the heads were supposedly ported and polished all internal bolts are the best quality and motor was balanced. I truly have always believed that it needs headders and a good flowing exhaust to reallly unkork the power. It just wants to go faster and faster. The motor was built at bills speed shop on aurora avenue in Lynwood Wa just north of seattle. Now  this was done about 1992 as the Original build I messed up when I foolishly thought I was a mechanic and installed a purple cam without changing the lifters and the lifters were slowly chewed up, I know  it was boared .030 over and theirs trw pistons, Take care and keep the pics coming!

[hotrod98]

As for the engine, all I know is it starts easy and runs great. I'll let you know when I pull the valve covers. I almost hate to since this is one of the only mopars that I own that has no leaks whatsoever.
I'll take some pics of the floor when I pull the carpet.
I put the car up on a lift when I first got it. I couldn't find any rust anywhere. I'm surprised that this car has the heavy undercoating on it since it started out as a west Texas car. I thought that the heavy undercoating was for the rust belt areas. The undercoating all looks factory applied to me. Of course, it looks kind of nasty and dirty but I'll take that over rust any day of the week.
Gotta get back out and start sanding on the bird.

[superbirdtom]

Just one more letter and Ill leave you alone to block sand.  Ill bet the build sheet might show  factory undercoating. It is factory for sure and probably helped a great deal through the years.  all you have to do to plus it up is steam clean it with a soapy wash with some degreaser too and I really like the duplicolor black bedliner coating. they sell it in gallons with a application gun I put it on the paint shaker and add about 7% real lacquer thinner. it then sprays on very nice and dries real good. I use it all the time at the shop. it will make the bottom look brand new.  Hey  don't pull the valve covers on my account.

                                         The mopar polished aluminum valve covers on it now  I accidently messed  up when I used that super clean stuff on it. I had no idea how strong it was and it totally etched the aluminum   ,but with a small polisher setup on a drill those covers will polish up real nice.  have a great day!   

[hotrod98]

Okay...Allen's Daytona has left the building and it's time to get back on the Black Ice Superbird. I had the seats recovered last week and they turned out great. I removed the console and console shifter and installed the correct shifter handle. I ordered the correct shifter boot from Brewer's and I also bought a new carpet set from ACC. I'm going to re-use the original door trim panels since they don't look too bad.
I will be block sanding the car this week and hope to paint the car by the middle of next week. I would paint it this coming weekend but my son and I are taking both of our racecars out to the dragstrip for a little test and tune.

I drove up to Tulsa this last weekend and bought Howie's 1980 Dodge crew cab dually. It was a one owner, 75,000 mile truck that he bought last year. I only mentioned to Howie that I wanted it every other phone call. I didn't want to bug him too much about it. This truck will be a nice hauler for my cuda drag car. Reminds me of the crew cab dually that I used to haul my ex-top fueler around with back in the early 80's. I might even use it to haul the Superbird around on those rare occasions that I don't drive it.

[Charger-Bodie]

Very cool truck Larry. Should fit the bill nicely.

[Aero426]

Great looking truck, what does it have for power?

[superbirdtom]

It needs to be black with an airgrabber

[hotrod98]

Great looking truck, what does it have for power?

It still has the original 360 four barrel, but the original owner installed an aluminum intake, holley carb and headers.
I have a complete 440 drivetrain that I plan to install in it. I kind of hate to remove the original 360 but Howie wants it back to go in a 74 Dodge Charger that I sold him a couple of years ago. We tend to trade and sell a lot of stuff back and forth.

I have every piece of paperwork for this truck from the day that it was bought new. I even have the build sheet, owner's manual, and the original factory brochure.

It needs to be black with an airgrabber

I've thought about doing something like that but the truck is a rare color combo as it is and I only need to do a little touch up to make it nice. I may paint the new cuda drag car white to kind of match the truck.

[hemi68charger]

Great looking truck, what does it have for power?

It still has the original 360 four barrel, but the original owner installed an aluminum intake, holley carb and headers.
I have a complete 440 drivetrain that I plan to install in it. I kind of hate to remove the original 360 but Howie wants it back to go in a 74 Dodge Charger that I sold him a couple of years ago. We tend to trade and sell a lot of stuff back and forth.

I have every piece of paperwork for this truck from the day that it was bought new. I even have the build sheet, owner's manual, and the original factory brochure.

It needs to be black with an airgrabber

I've thought about doing something like that but the truck is a rare color combo as it is and I only need to do a little touch up to make it nice. I may paint the new cuda drag car white to kind of match the truck.

Man, that is a shame.. You can't find another 360 to give him or does he HAVE to have that 360?

Troy

[hotrod98]

I have several engines sitting around in storage. I might have a nice 318. The Charger had a 318 in it to begin with.
It would be a shame to remove the original engine and not hold onto it.

[hotrod98]

I've moved the bird into the back shop to get started on it. We removed the hood and deck lid. I've already removed all of the other trim so I'm ready to get down to business. I'm welding up the holes where the six pack emblems were on the hood. One of the emblems is broken and I really don't care for having a Dodge nameplate on a Plymouth anyway. I also plan to remove the original spoiler that was damaged several years ago and install the spoiler that Mike Goyette built for my Superbird clone. I'll place the original spoiler in storage. The only other thing that I've done body-wise is to have the rear bumper re-plated. It wasn't terrible but the new chrome really does stand out.

I should have the car ready to shoot in the next few days. I have a show here locally that I want to enter the car in so I have to have it completed by the 24th. That shouldn't be a problem. I hope to have the body panels and trim painted and assembled by the 16th and then I can start re-installing the interior. The interior usually takes less than two days. We may be able to do it in one day since I won't be re-installing the console which makes installing the carpet much easier and I'm re-using the original door trims. Less prep time there.

I can always put off doing the engine stuff until after the show. The engine runs great just the way that it is but I need to replace the hoses, belts, plug wires, etc. and do a general clean up under the hood. At some point, I would love to order a new TTI exhaust. The exhaust that's on it sounds great but it's showing some age.

Sandra and I are getting very excited about getting the bird back on the road.

[41husk]

Lookin good!!!

[moparstuart]

 If your not putting the console back in and you have a consle wring harness the one from the console  acrooss the floor to the kick panel and then over to the fuse box the birdible needs one badly .    
     glad your getting her done .

  I have one spot left for a road runner to do parade lap at kansas speedway May 2nd .  I can get you tickets to both the indy car race saturday 1st and the nascar truck race sunday the 2nd  if your game .  Parade lap the 2nd only .



     

[hotrod98]

This car didn't have that harness. Tom made one up using parts and pieces back when he put the console in. I'm going to alter it and make some underdash courtesy lights.
I may have the short harness with the console lights around here somewhere. I would have to look. You could make up the long harness from scratch since no one sees it anyway.

[moparstuart]

This car didn't have that harness. Tom made one up using parts and pieces back when he put the console in. I'm going to alter it and make some underdash courtesy lights.
I may have the short harness with the console lights around here somewhere. I would have to look. You could make up the long harness from scratch since no one sees it anyway.

my short harness and lights are find  , just need the long one .