MOPAR JOHNS B5 DAYTONA RESTORATION!!

[Mopar John]

Congratulations to Linda!

Mike,
I am starting to settle in. I really don't know where to start but am making progress! I can't wait till we get away on vacation and take the Daytona to the Mopar Nationals!
Thanks! 426 Linda

[Mopar John]

                                                         LEAF SPRINGS!
As the parts were being added to the body thoughts of putting it on it's own suspension were becoming a priority for Troy. Todays posting will be about the leaf springs. When the leaf springs were taken apart Troy called me and wanted to know if I knew where any better ones were at. The reason being is when the Daytona sat on the ground in the salvage yard the springs got pretty rusty! I did find another correct pair off a 1969 GTX from Gary Mendy out of Ohio. He sent me pictures and I let Troy take a look before I bought them. They looked a lot nicer and I had them shipped directly to the shop. This batch of pictures shows the original leaf springs. The first picture is one of the sides still together. The last three pictures shows them as they came apart!

[Mopar John]

                                                      LEAF SPRINGS PART 2!
This batch of pictures shows the prep work being done on the leaf springs. The most important part is to have nice deep visable part numbers and no deep rust pitting! The first picture shows the end of one of the main leafs and the second shows it a little farther along and a lot nicer appearance. The last two pictures shows all the leafs laid out for assembly!

[Mopar John]

                                                  LEAF SPRINGS PART 3!
This batch of pictures shows the start of the leaf spring assembly process! The first picture shows all the parts prepped and laid out for assembly. The second picture shows one of the springs stacked. The third picture shows how one of the part numbers turned out and the last picture shows that side assembled.

[Mopar John]

                                                     LEAF SPRINGS FINAL!
This batch of pictures shows more leaf spring assembly and is the last batch of pictures for today! The first picture is another of the first side being assembled. The second picture is of the other part number. The last two pictures are of the other side being assembled! ENJOY!

[Mopar John]

                                                               DAY 7!
Just one week to go! I can't wait! Yesterday I called Troy down at the shop just to see how things were going? Usually if there's a problem he will call with the details and I hadn't heard from him. He informed me all the NOS parts were switched out and on the car except the trunk seal. The reason being is that Paul Jacobs and Troy had been looking for a more correct weatherstrip adhesive. The 3M product that is so commonly used is too bright of yellow when compared to the original Mopar adhesive. After much searching they found a supplier with a very close colored adhesive! The only problem is it was special order and they had to buy a case! Somehow they split the order and Troy will have this product in time to use it on our NOS trunkseal! Troy also informed me that the last NOS piece I purchased, an ignition switch bezel arrived and is on the Daytona. The focus now is small details and putting together the documentation for the judges!

[BigBlockSam]

GETTING THERE . 

[Aero426]

It's beautiful John, good luck the rest of the way.

[Mopar John]

GETTING THERE . 

Thanks!

It's beautiful John, good luck the rest of the way.

Doug,
Thanks again for the critical rare NOS parts at just the right time. For those who don't know I purchased some NOS from Doug when he was buying the #7 Ramo Stott race Superbird. Some of the nos items were a Daytona grill frame, nose to hood seal and a rear window stainless trim set!
John

[Mopar John]

                                             REAR END ASSEMBLY!
Today I will post about the rear end assembly before and after! This first batch of pictures shows the brake area and the center section area before restoration! Like the rest of the Daytona sitting on the ground wasn't kind to these parts!

[Mopar John]

                                           REAR END ASSEMBLY PART 2!
This batch of pictures shows the backing plates taken off and blasted. There is also a couple of pictures of the center section blasted and prepped.

[Mopar John]

                                          REAR END ASSEMBLY PART 3!
This batch of pictures shows the start of the reassembly process! The first picture is of the center section case. The second picture shows the original posi unit with the factory paint marks. The third picture is of the internals and the last picture is of the axles ready to go back in!

[Mopar John]

                                            REAR END ASSEMBLY PART 4!
This batch of pictures continues on with the assembly process! The first picture shows the backing plates after restoration. The second picture is of the axles installed. The third picture is of the center section now bolted into the housing and the last picture is of the backing plate, axle and now the brake cylinder installed on one side of the housing! The white gaskets in the pictures are NOS Thanks to Paul Jacobs!! The wheel cylinders are the originals that were restored!

[Mopar John]

                                        REAR END ASSEMBLY FINAL!
This batch of pictures is the last that I have before the rear end assembly was installed in the Daytona! The first picture is of the rear end housing assembly with the brake lines now on! The second picture is of the top view of the assembly and the last picture is a view of the assembly from the passengers side. What a differance! ENJOY!

[69_500]

Looks like you are finding all of the last little pieces for the car John. Hoping to see it once its all completed. I'm still hoping to at least swing over to the Nats for at least one day of  the show, but knowing my luck when I get over to see the car will be when they have it up on the lift and I won't be able to look it over as much as I'd like.

[68RT4ME]

 With the day being rained out, I took the time to watch today's NASCAR race and to read this thread from page one till right here. John, I feel like I know you and your wife Linda even though you don't know me. This has been an amazing story. Every part of it was well told and very interesting. The pictures a first rate as is all the work being done by Troy and his crew. I'm glad I took the time and look forward to the rest of the story.

Best of luck. 

[Mopar John]

Looks like you are finding all of the last little pieces for the car John. Hoping to see it once its all completed. I'm still hoping to at least swing over to the Nats for at least one day of  the show, but knowing my luck when I get over to see the car will be when they have it up on the lift and I won't be able to look it over as much as I'd like.

Dan,
Good to hear from you again! I hope your enjoying the story past and present. If it's up on the lift you will be able to check out all the bottom details! At least you had a chance to see the top side in Indy! It is amazing on all the parts that have come together 40 years after the car was built! If you would have told me a couple of years ago all the items that were found I wouldn't have dreamed it in a thousand years! Speaking of details you mentioned the carburetor idle adjusment caps in Indy. After looking at pictures of other cars and discussing them several times we have decided to put a very nice set on the Daytona! See you at the Nats!
Mopar John

[Mopar John]

With the day being rained out, I took the time to watch today's NASCAR race and to read this thread from page one till right here. John, I feel like I know you and your wife Linda even though you don't know me. This has been an amazing story. Every part of it was well told and very interesting. The pictures a first rate as is all the work being done by Troy and his crew. I'm glad I took the time and look forward to the rest of the story.

Best of luck. 

68RT4ME,
I am glad you have enjoyed the story! My plan was to get caught up to present day with the restoration before the Mopar Nationals. I still have the front suspension, engine, transmission and final assembly to post. So I'm not going to make it by the Nats and that will add a whole new chapter to this story! I hope to meet you at a show some day!
Mopar John

[Mopar John]

                                                                 DAY 2!
Really I don't know where to start! I have been so busy I havn't had time to finish the restoration story before the Mopar Nationals and that was my goal! I just got off the phone with Troy Angelly and the Daytona is ready! The restored heater control panel from Dave Patik made it and is in the Daytona. That was the last part that we were waiting for. 426 Linda and I are leaving early Wednesday and are expected at the shop at 9am. Troy will have the 1970 Challenger 440 six pack convertable loaded and ready. Then when we arrive we will load the Daytona and all the take off parts that most likely end up on the R4 Daytona. We will then head for Columus, Ohio and spend the night. We plan to get to the track early Thursday and position the three Mopars for judging. Paul Jacobs has finished the panther pink 1970 Superbee and is going with us also! Here is what I know at this point about the OE class judging: There are 4 cars for sure our Daytona, Dave Walden from ECS with a Valiant 4 door, a car out of the Roger Gibson shop and a car out of the Muscle car restorations shop. I have heard that the 5th and final spot dropped out but that Ken Mosier of the Final details shop was trying to add a late addition to the open slot? Someone is scheduled ahead of us on Thursday for judging so that will put us late morning or afternoon Thursday on the lift! I hope this all works out and that we can enjoy the show the rest of the weekend!
    Yesterday 426 Linda along with my Daughter Michelle and her fiance's two boys went with me to Osceola Dragstrip racing my BITTER LIME 1970 GTX! I did real well in time trials and for the second week in a row an event at the starting line during the first round of eliminations messed me up and I lost @#$%^&*()!!!! Last week I got the bye run which means that you don't have to run anyone if there is an odd number of cars. They pulled me off to the side and I waited. I don't like to run other Mopar guys till I have to. But another Mopar driver hung back and he has one of the quickest cars in our class and I ended up running him. To make matters worse the guy in front of me dumped a load of stones on the track when he took off @#$%^&*()! I then heated up while I waited for the starting line guy to do his best and sweep most of the stones off the track. Well you can guess what happened. With all that dust my starting traction was off and I lost. This week in the first round of eliminations I get ready to stage and the starting line guy walks over and opens the door of my oponents car. Again my car is heating up and my rear tirs are cooling off @#$%^&*(!! My oponent had one of those velcro dial in boards with his dial in on it and it had fallen off. So the starting line guy was looking for it. The NHRA rules state that you must have your dial in on the car before you pass the white line leaving the staging lanes to race. With all this action I ended up RED lighting #$%^&*(! I protested the run up in the tower and they offerred to buy me back in. I didn't accept the offer because when you buy back in you no longer earn season points. I went to speak with the guy I ran and his dial in board had fallen off again! I explained what a distraction it caused and that it took me out of my game. I asked him to make sure it didn't happen again! The good news is that with that event in the books I have qualified for the NHRA DIVISION 3 SUMMIT RACING SERIES FINALS in Indy in September!! WOW!! This is where the top cars from each track in the division race each other for a division champion! Last night after racing all day I worked a twelve hour midnight shift and slept about 5 hours this morning! I am going to spend the rest of the day getting everything ready for the trip! If there is any time left I'll post a little more about the restoration! See you in Columbus!!
Mopar John

[Dave Kanofsky]

GOOD LUCK JOHN!!

[Dan T]

I'm really looking forward to meeting you and your car John!! Best of luck! You deserve it

[Mopar John]

GOOD LUCK JOHN!!

THANKS DAVE!!

I'm really looking forward to meeting you and your car John!! Best of luck! You deserve it

Dan,
See you there! Thanks!

[Mopar John]

                                                    FRONT SUSPENSION!
Today I am going to post about the Daytona's front suspension! The first two batches are the before pictures that I have. Then I will get into the restoration pictures! This batch of pictures is of the front suspension as it came apart!

[Mopar John]

                                                 FRONT SUSPENSION PART 2!!
In this batch of before pictures there are one of each inner fender area with the suspension coming apart. The last two pictures show the front suspension with engine now out of the Daytona! WOW!

[Mopar John]

                                              FRONT SUSPENSION PART 3!
Now you will see the parts restored and coming back together. Troy was able to use the original K member, lower control arms, ball joints and tie rod! We used better backing plates and upper control arms along with NOS upper and lower bump stops. The first picture in this batch shows the K member and left strut rod. The second picture is the same as the first but now the left lower control arm is there! The third picture is of the K member with right strut rod. The last picture shows the K member with the restored hardware laid out for assembly!