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 | | May 29, 2023 - Beltline Trim What a pain in the butt! First I had to locate the holes in the body then I had to put the trim of the locate the places for the clips. With the clips in place I had to work blind putting screws in from the bottom... |
 | | April 25, 2023 - Replacement Fan Shroud I had a fan shroud but one I got it on the car I noticed a small chunk missing... |
 | | April 17, 2023 - Reproduction Batttery Cable I finaly got a new battery cable but it didn't have the clip. Having one I located it using an old one. I will confirm it as there were two different locations and this isn't the cable from this car... |
 | | March 19, 2023 - Pinstripe The car probably had a pinstripe from the factory. The strip most likely would have been white, I'm thinking about having a partial stripe in red... |
 | | March 18, 2023 - Door Seal The door seals are not available for this car. It looks like I can get the raw material, I'd just need to move the molded end... |
 | | March 15, 2023 - Restored Jack Assembly I had the jack sections powder coated. the mast was sand blasted and painted with a steel finish... |
 | | March 4, 2023 - Headlights Finally got around to installing the headlights... |
 | | February 26, 2023 - Double Checking Just confirming all the wiring with the digrams... |
 | | February 20, 2023 - That Didn't Take Long As soon as I started testing the door windows didn't seam right. It took a while to find it had eaten a couple teeth... |
 | | February 19, 2023 - ...and the Other Side The other side was smooth as well... |
 | | February 18, 2023 - Door Assembly The doors went together relatively simple, no real issues... |
 | | February 5, 2023 - Door Anti-Rattle The door anti-rattle wedges hadbeen painted over and needed cleaning up... |
 | | February 4, 2023 - Misc. Work I wanted to make a more accurate template for the motor mounting access. A seal from one of the motors was used and some bolts to better locate the centers... |
 | | February 3, 2023 - New Rear Motors With the amount of work the rear motors were going to need I chose to try and locate full motors. I was able to locate two NOS motors but they were the same side so I needed to swap gear heads... |
 | | January 31, 2023 - Two Down I got the two door motors back together, the rears are going to need a little more work... |
 | | January 30, 2023 - Window Motor Cleanup Some of the parts came in and I started the reassembly... |
 | | January 29, 2023 - Window Motor Teardown All four motors were torn down and cleaned while I look for parts... |
 | | January 28, 2023 - Rearward After seeing the fronts ifelt I needed to service the rear motoras as well. The main complication here was getting them out of the car... |
 | | January 27, 2023 - Left/Right I just started to paint the door runners when I realized I needed to take note of the sides... |
 | | January 25, 2023 - M I C... Knowing how the power window motors are known for needing work I chose to service them before they went back in the car... |
 | | January 24, 2023 - Door Time Gearing up to get the doors together so prior to cleaning parts I needed to note the orientation and sides of some of the parts... |
 | | January 22, 2023 - Mecum Auction When I got the car it came with some of the paperwork from the Mecum Auction. I wasn't sure the window sticker was there as i couldn't find it. Needless to say I did... |
 | | January 21, 2023 - Vacuum Lines and Cruise Control Back under the hood, the original vacuum lines were cleaned up and put back in. I chose to use heat shring and not tape to hold them together... |
 | | January 17, 2023 - Unique Hardware Although the trim is install some of the harware was worn. This is something that I'm likely going to need to find used... |
 | | January 12, 2023 - Power I was looking for an easy way to test the power window motors still in the quarters. So I made a cable long enough that I could reach the battery on teh Barracuda that was parked right there... |
 | | January 7, 2023 - Helping Hands to the Rescue Here is another task that people say you need two people to do. Once again my buddy Box was there to lend a hand... |
 | | January 5, 2023 - Better Late Than Never Something I should have addressed while the harness was out of the car. New fuses, burnish the contacts... |
 | | January 1, 2023 - There are Holes Someone was asking about holes in the battery tray to mout the heat shield. The reproduction trays have them... |
 | | December 31, 2022 - Steering Coupler Time to rebuild the steering coupler, in the past I just used c-clamps but I felt a press would be better. I went by my nephews to use his and realized it would go high enough, back to c-clamps... |
 | | December 30, 2022 - Ooops! Just ran across a couple parts that got overlooked in puting the defroster duct in. Not all cars had them so I'm no t going to worry about them, just put them aside... |
 | | December 27, 2022 - Temp Battery Cable I'm still having dificulties in getting a new restoration battery cable so I'm going to make my own till I can get a better one... |
 | | December 26, 2022 - Console & AC Controls The console goes in in pieces unlike the a-body one. In working on it I noticed that he inside of the console lid was painted black, will need to look into it some more... |
 | | December 25, 2022 - Console Carpet The carpet that was on the console was saved and reused. I took some time before going to my family's house to glue it down... |
 | | December 24, 2022 - One Down The interior is starting to take shape, the passenger seat was put in along with all the seatbelts... |
 | | December 21, 2022 - Hmmm? My body guy should know me by now, I just noticed that he masked off the tire preasure decal. I hope the new one will cover up the mistake... |
 | | December 18, 2022 - Underdash I started tucking the dash harness away tying it into the other harnesses in the kick panel area. The hardware for the bulkhead block were not original and I needed to locare some correct ones... |
 | | December 17, 2022 - Fibre Washers The original fibre washers on the wiper linkage were worn, replacements were sourced at the local hardware store... |
 | | December 12, 2022 - Dimples Currently I have a reproduction voltage regulator in the car, I do have an NOS one but it is worn. I found an old stock Standard one that has the dimple that was a feature on the early units. The plan is to refinish this on and have it printed to match the NOS one... |
 | | December 11, 2022 - Dashing The dash went in without too much effort, still need to dress all the cables hanging down... |
 | | December 10, 2022 - Dash Time In order to work on the car I sometimes need to pull the other car out of the garage so I can open the door fully. This time I also needed to move the car to the middle of the garage... |
 | | December 4, 2022 - Silence Well multiple things have been going against me on my audio system. The speakers I wanted to use are just too big. They will fit the dash but will interfere with the dash installation in the car... |
 | | November 20, 2022 - Trunk Spatter One of the unique things abou the full size Chrysler products is the use of spatter paint in the trunk... |
 | | November 14, 2022 - Shifter The original console shifter was cleaned up and an original knob for an earlier car was use... |
 | | October 26, 2022 - NOS Hood Hinge I found an NOS hood hinge to replace the sloppy hinge on the car... |
 | | October 18, 2022 - Thin Paint and Harness Rebuild The paint on one of the hinges is thin, not realy a problem as we plan to replace the assembly anyway... |
 | | October 17, 2022 - Mixed Connectors One of the changes associated wit the alternato upgrade was the change in the transmission harness. The new (1970) harness had the same connector as the wiper motor... |
 | | October 11, 2022 - Modified Console Harness One of the things I upgradded on the car was adding the courtesy and lighter to the rear of the console. The harness that came with the upgrade would work so I would need to mix parts from both the new and the original harnesses... |
 | | October 10, 2022 - Power Seat Terminal The power seat power terminal broke off in the connector. I could just cut them off and use a generic one but I'm going to look for options... |
 | | October 9, 2022 - Power Window harness The power window harness needed work. The tape had worn off from the doors opening and closing and the boots were painted over... |
 | | October 8, 2022 - Voltage Regulator Retainer I'm upgrading the alternator and voltage regulator the the later (1970) style isolated field style... |
 | | October 4, 2022 - NOS Battery Cable I located an NOS battery cable, not one of the ones made for the parts counter that say Mopar... |
 | | August 15, 2022 - Electrical Harnesses The long awaited harnesses came in for the forward lamp and rear body... |
 | | July 31, 2022 - Rust Holes This is some rust that I've know about all along, not sure why it wasn't taken care of during bodywork. It is in the area where the top attaches to the body under the rear window. We have a plan on the fix... |
 | | July 9, 2022 - Mecum The car went throuh the Mecum Auctions prior to my getting it, got a plate just because... |
 | | July 6, 2022 - Ash Tray The ash tray bracket was a little weathered so it was blasted and painted, not perfect but for the most part it isn't seen... |
 | | July 4, 2022 - NOS Rotors I had the opertunity to get a pair of NOS rotors, they were both left had thread so one of them needed the studs pressed out and new right hand ones pressed in... |
 | | July 1-3, 2022 - Front Speakers I got a pair of speakers for the front but I needed a spacer to make the fit well. The bell off a plumbing fitting was cut off and used... |
 | | June 8-29, 2022 - Dash Assembly The dash assembly has started... |
 | | May 31, 2022 - Cowl Screen I needed a new cowl screen and heard about one, it was several hours away but I happened to be on a roadtrip that was going to put me right by there... |
 | | May 15, 2022 - Visor Mounts The visor mounts were pretty pitted. Afetr the first pass on sanding the down the pits went away so a coat of primer and later silver and they will be good to go... |
 | | May 14, 2022 - Interior Trim Pieces Got all the interior trim pieces painted blue... |
 | | May 9, 2022 - Reference Just a reference before some harness repair... |
 | | May 3, 2022 - Audio You are not going to find me listening to radio, I saw no reason to fix/retrofit the factory radio so I got a Bluetooth amp that was mounted to the original center speaker... |
 | | April 24, 2022 - Sping Special a No-Go The Spring Special trim required holes to be trilled in the hood. All hoods prior to a certin date didn't have the holes, after they all had the holes... |
 | | April 18, 2022 - Sun Visors The original sun visors were in sad shape, new ones were acquired. They are close enough, not perfect... |
 | | April 17, 2022 - Wheel Opening Trim A collection of original used and NOS trim. Not always a good one, just the best one... |
 | | April 10, 2022 - Engine Compartment - Right Side Before the right side wheel liner can be installed the heater housing needs to be installed. With that done the wheel liner was installed... |
 | | April 8, 2022 - Engine Compartment - Left Side Got the left side wheel liner in and related components. There still are some holes in the floor to patch... |
 | | April 1, 2022 - Not Quite Correct NOS Mirror Got an NOS mirror before I realized it wasn't correct. The search continues... |
 | | March 20, 2022 - Grill Time The grill frame was painted; one of the many grill inserts was selected and used... |
 | | March 19, 2022 - Front Bumper The front bumper was a repeat of the rear... |
 | | March 16, 2022 - Rear Bumper Once again I took on a two person job myself. I employed the help of a box to assist... |
 | | March 12, 2022 - Taillights and 500 Trim The taillight housings were cleaned up and installed. New rivnuts were installed for the 500 trim... |
 | | March 7, 2022 - 500 Trim Detailed When I got the car the 500 trim was polished and not painted as it should be. It will be interesting to see it on a dark car... |
 | | March 6, 2022 - Fender Extension Hardware Trying to find the correct fender extension hardware... |
 | | March 5, 2022 - Trunk Finish The trunk was painted with a textured paint to help even out the finish... |
 | | March 3, 2022 - First Round Buff Done The first round buff is done... |
 | | March 1, 2022 - AC Box Reference Need to clean up the actuators so a reference is needed before removing them... |
 | | February 28, 2022 - Console Bracket Reference Console bracket reference for someone who asked... |
 | | February 25, 2022 - More Cut-n-Buff The Cut-n-Buff continues... |
 | | February 21, 2022 - Dash Texture Although these cars didn't have a distinctive texture I wanted to add texture to it... |
 | | February 19, 2022 - Plates I found a Spain Plate on eBay that was from the same area, thought it was interesting. I have a pair of California plates I may use, still looking... |
 | | February 18, 2022 - Spring Special Looking into whether or not this car could have originaly had the Spring Special trim... |
 | | February 13, 2022 - Dash and Glovebox Reference The switch area on the dash frame makes it difficult to connect and remove the switch panel. On the CHP car they cut the area open to help. My plan is to cut it open as well... |
 | | February 12, 2022 - Glove Box Door Reference Glove box door reference to show the hinge orientation prior to paint... |
 | | February 7, 2022 - Buff The cut and buff continues... |
 | | February 6, 2022 - AC Housing Overall the engine side AC housing was in good shape, there was a crack that needed to be fixed along with a blown out mounting hole... |
 | | February 5, 2022 - AC Harness (2) / Ash Tray Back to the AC harness. I had another harness that was in far better condition but had a cut lead going to the compressor along with much of the wrap on the engine side of the grommet was in bad shape... |
 | | February 3, 2022 - Wet Sand My body guy was finaly available to come over and start the cut-n-buff. The underhood details are about as done as it can be withought the sheet metal on the front... |
 | | January 23, 2022 - Sound System (2) With a plan in place for the front speakers so I continued with the rear. This car had provisions for a single 6x9 in the center of the back seat, the plan was to fit two 4" speakers in the same place. |
 | | January 16, 2022 - Sound System I have no interest in trying fix or update the original AM/FM radio. An amp with Blue-Tooth is being mounted in place of the original 4x10 center speaker. Having the three speaker dash I will have new speakers in the outboard spots... |
 | | January 15, 2022 - No-Go NOS Dash Harness Not long ago I acquired an NOS dash harness that was in a box labled "69 Polara" but looking at the harness I soon realized it wasn't. Further checking I found out it was for a 69 Fury, it has already been sold... |
 | | January 11, 2022 - NOS Wheel Cover NOS wheel cover, a little shelf wear... |
 | | January 9-10, 2022 - AC Harness The AC harness needs som work, several hard dried and cracked wires and some broken... |
 | | January 6, 2022 - Console Courtesy Light This car didn't have the courtesy light at the back of the console (wasn't even an option), I got the parts and will need to modify the harness... |
 | | January 3, 2022 - Windshield Washer One thing about restoring C-Bodies is you can't just get a "kit" when you need something. I was able to find a vendor that sold the washer hose by the foot but there was a little confusion on the sizes, in the end I got what I needed... |
 | | December 21, 2021 - Brake Line Error (2) Normally Inline Tube is the go-to place for new brake and fuel lines. In a recent order they had the wrong fitting on one end of one of the lines. The proper fitting was acquired and swapped out... |
 | | December 19, 2021 - Fuel Filter Line I put a little more effort into the fuel line, the bent hose needed some thought, ended up needing to be as short as it could be to keep it clear of the balancer and belts... |
 | | December 18, 2021 - Brake Booster Adjustment I was not happy with the booster install, took it all apart and made some effort to get all the holes lined up before locking down the bracket mounting hardware. That done the booster slid right in like it should. Tires are now mounted and on the car... |
 | | December 15, 2021 - Brake Booster and Floor I got the brake pedal bracket in and booster, It was not easy and I'm still not happy with it, will need to look at some more... |
 | | December 13, 2021 - Firewall Insulation Differences Every time I turn around I find parts popping up, this time a heater core, I'll be sticking with the one from the car... |
 | | December 11, 2021 - Tires and Floor Paint Continued Had to fit a tire and wheel cover on the front as well. More paint on the floor... |
 | | December 7, 2021 - Wheel Details Geek stuff on the wheels, these are rare extra heavy duty wheels... |
 | | December 6, 2021 - Red-line Tires Got the new tires, had to fit one (no wheel) with a wheel cover... |
 | | December 5, 2021 - Floor Painted Sanded every inch of the floor that I could and painted it... |
 | | December 4, 2021 - Miscellaneous (5) Power steering hoses, alternator pulley painted. Reproduction shoddy pad was used for reference in gluing the original back in and patching the missing piece... |
 | | December 1, 2021 - Wiper Bushings The wiper bushings are not in good shape, will be looking for options... |
 | | November 28, 2021 - Alternator Issues I'm not sure if this alternator is larger, shaped differently or what but I could not get the belts on and there was no more room to move the unit down. One of the issues was the fuel line but even with it removed I could not get the belts on... |
 | | November 27, 2021 - Steering Column Paint The column had to be painted in stages to get the different shades of black... |
 | | November 26, 2021 - Correct Hardware Although it isn't seen I wanted the correct hardare for the brake pedal assembly, the car didn't even have most of it when I got it. |
 | | November 24, 2021 - Part Detailing More painting parts... |
 | | November 22, 2021 - Steering Column Work With some work I was able to get the column cleaned up enough to get the bearing off enough to get the mounting plates moved clear for painting... |
 | | November 21, 2021 - Steering Column and Wiper Refference Not sure what I'll be doing with the steering column, it isn't something I want to take apart if I don't need to... |
 | | November 20, 2021 - Cruise Control I took a gamble and took the cruise control servo apart for refinishing... |
 | | November 17, 2021 - Window Trip Clips In doing bodywork most of the trip clip hose were filled in. The good thing is the convertible molding can be used as a guide to locate the clip locations... |
 | | November 16, 2021 - Miscellaneous (4) The hood and fenders are ready for paint... |
 | | November 15, 2021 - Super-lite Hardware Orientation Just noting the Super-lite hardware orientation... |
 | | November 14, 2021 - Broken Top Latch Hadn't noticed till now that the top latch was broken. Just found an NOS dash harness that I had from the CHP project, will need to compare it to the original... |
 | | November 13, 2021 - Back on all Four Put the front wheels on the car and got the core support ready to get painted... |
 | | November 12, 2021 - Engine Paint Touch-ups Just realized I needed to paint the intake where the lift plate was along with the bracket that needed more paint. With that done I got the frame bolted up... |
 | | November 11, 2021 - Engine and Frame Install A handful of details needed to be done before the engine. The balancer was first, an installer was used. Followed up with the cooler lines engine mounts and exhaust manifolds. With a strap attached to the transmission to keep it from spinning... |
 | | November 10, 2021 - New Dash Pad Got the new dash pad back, far better than what was on the car. Even the color was perfect... |
 | | November 9, 2021 - Brake Line Error Went through this on the CHP car, the axle brake lines in the kit are wrong. This should be a quick fix... |
 | | November 8, 2021 - Engine Install Prep Engine and transmission rigged up for the install to the frame... |
 | | November 7, 2021 - Miscellaneous (3) Upon further inspection of the crack it turned out to be just the paint, a little cleanup and repainted it was fine... |
 | | November 6, 2021 - Engine Paint First the engine was painted with black engine paint to give a uniform base and maybe darken the orange a bit. Once the paint was dry I went over it with an air hose to check to see if there were any issues, there were... |
 | | November 5, 2021 - Miscellaneous (2) With the engine back together it was prepped for paint... |
 | | November 4, 2021 - Firewall Paint While I was at work the firewall got painted... |
 | | November 2, 2021 - Needed Part Refference A wanted listing was posted on one of the forums, someone should have them... |
 | | October 31, 2021 - No Boom Boom! With no worries of blowing up the engine I finally removed the heater hose nipple... |
 | | October 30, 2021 - Small Stuff (2) Still chasing original hardware, these are pictures of a friend's car for reference... |
 | | October 29, 2021 - Firewall Patch (2) The patch was done, once the sealer has set everything will be prepped for paint... |
 | | October 27, 2021 - Radiator Hoses There were two different hoses for the car listed, initially I thought one of them was wrong but once I lined them up I could see that they'd both work, still not sure why the difference... |
 | | October 22, 2021 - Firewall Paint Prep With my body buy scheduled to work on the car in a few days I chose to cover up everything I could to protect it from overspray as he would be painting the firewall in the garage... |
 | | October 21, 2021 - Finished Frame Got the rest of the front end together, the sway bar bushings needed to be slid on the strut, heat gun to the rescue... |
 | | October 18, 2021 - Cleaning The steering gear and transmission were cleaned, new rocker shafts installed, still waiting for the new valley pan gasket... |
 | | October 17, 2021 - Firewall Prep (2) The area in front of the car was cleared so my body guy has room to work... |
 | | October 16, 2021 - Riveting I wasn't sure this was going to work and even when working on it I wasn't sure it was. I put the rivets to the brake hold off valve in the vice grips and attempted to drill them so they could be tapped... |
 | | October 15, 2021 - Hostage My body guy needed me to transport his welder to my house so he could do the rust repair on the firewall. I now have a little more leverage in getting him here to do the work... |
 | | October 13, 2021 - Bushing One of the things I needed was the bushing sleves for the front of the strut rods, the C-body ones are different than the B/E-bodies so some tubing of the correct size and material was sourced... |
 | | October 11, 2021 - Brake Line Refference All set to get moving on the frone susspension, first up was to put the boots on the lower ball joints. A piece of PVC was used to knock the boot on. I then went to put the joint on the control arm but something wasn't right... |
 | | October 9, 2021 - Part Refference (2) Again just a reminder of how bits go together. This time a bracket to hold a bracket to the brake pedal assembly for the cruise switch... |
 | | October 5, 2021 - Part Refference Back to blasting, shift rod, nothing special other than a picture to remind me of the orientation of the bits... |
 | | September 30, 2021 - Inspection Time The valve covers and intake were remove to replace the gaskets, everything looked clean aside from the damaged gaskets... |
 | | September 29, 2021 - Boom! Split the engine and transmission, use my 10mm wrench to keep the converter in place. With the converter secured I took the transmission to a friend's shop to see if he could get the broken starter bolt out... |
 | | September 28, 2021 - More Parts (2) The firewall insulation on the car was in bad shape, no kit was available but I was able to get the correct material.... |
 | | September 26, 2021 - Strut Sway Bushing One of the odd things about the C-bodies is the way the sway bars attach to the strut rods. The hole in the bushing was about the size of the threaded part of the shaft and there was a shoulder it needed to go over and down the shaft that is also larger than the hole... |
 | | September 24, 2021 - Fresh Frame Just got the frame back from the powder coater, looks like new. Not much room to work but it will have to do... |
 | | September 22, 2021 - Firewall Patch While I was waiting for my body guy to be available to fix the rust on the firewall I chose to map out the patch as I saw it... |
 | | September 19, 2021 - Part Cleanup Been busy blasting parts, what should be simple has been a workout, looks like everything was coated with something like POR-15. The hood latch required a lot of work scraping with an xacto before blasting it again and again... |
 | | September 18, 2021 - Part Reference I wasn't able to find someone local to do the control arm bushings so I'm sending them to a friend down in Los Angeles so I put a coat of paint on them first (even knowing I may need to repaint them)... |
 | | September 17, 2021 - Control Arms I took the upper control arms to a friend's shop where he had a big (3/4") impact gun and removed the ball joints. I still need to have the bushings removed prior to going to the powder coater... |
 | | September 13, 2021 - Powder Coat Parts List An inventory of all the parts going to the powder coater... |
 | | September 12, 2021 - Engine Pull From day one we knew about the broken starter bolt, will address once the transmission is separated from the engine. With a strap holding the transmission I lifted the engine off the frame and dragged the frame out... |
 | | September 11, 2021 - Frame Teardown With the calipers and rotors off I wanted to break loose the upper ball joints with the control arms still in check. My compressor is down so I attempted to do it manually with a breaker bar, I got lucky on the right side and was able to get a full turn out of it... |
 | | September 10, 2021 - Frame Reference With the car being essentially the same as the CHP car I didn't bother to take a bunch of reference shots. Wheels were removed and will start the teardown tomorrow... |
 | | September 8, 2021 - Firewall Prep Nothing, just the body ready for bodywork and paint... |
 | | September 6, 2021 - Front End Pull Once I jockeyed the frame over the exhaust I was able to move it clear of the body. I still wanted to remove the alternator bracket so it could be refinished but the heater hose nipple was in the way.... |
 | | September 5, 2021 - Front End Drop Back from my trip and the car is calling my name. First thing I needed to do was turn the car around. I wanted to remove as much of the bulk as I could before pulling the frame out. By the end of the day I had the frame out, not clear but free... |
 | | August 13, 2021 - Its Painted Car is home, I have a trip next week and will be on it as soon as I get back. The plan is to pull the front end and have him paint the firewall During that time I will tear down the frame for detailing and get it back in after the firewall is painted. |
 | | August 12, 2021 - Body Work Progress (4) I came by the shop to check on the color prior to painting. Tat evening I get pictures that he has the body painted... |
 | | August 10, 2021 - Parts Hunt (2) More parts that I'm looking for, the switch panel has some broken mounting posts, convertible specific. The seat back has a cracked corner, probably could repair, doesn't hurt to look... |
 | | August 9, 2021 - Body Work Progress(3) Dropped by the shop to drop off some cash, some pictures while was there... |
 | | August 7, 2021 - Body Work Progress(2) He needed the convertible beltline trim, some pictures while was there... |
 | | August 4, 2021 - Body Work Progress Dropped by the shop today to get the taillights and he is essentially done with the Dutchman panel repair, still some cleanup to do where the trim attaches... |
 | | July 31, 2021 - Steering Wheel Progress (2) I went buy the body shop to look at the steering wheel, there were some questions about the other one and I felt seeing this one would answer the questions... |
 | | July 21, 2021 - Steering Wheel Progress I have been working on trying to find someone to restore this steering wheel. I had a very nice original that may be used to create molds from. I hope this source works out, will report back later... |
 | | July 19, 2021 - Body Shop Progress Pictures (2) Returned from my trip and wend by the shop to see the car first hand... |
 | | July 17, 2021 - Body Shop Progress Pictures Progress pictures from the body shop, No real surprises, the dent in the trunk lid was worse than expected... |
 | | July 7, 2021 - Body Shop Bound The time has come, car is headed to the shop... |
 | | July 6, 2021 - Getting Tight Spotted online a dash panel with a second light, I had not seen this before. Max's car left for the shop leaving space, not enough to get my Barracuda back in as the Polara's dash has exploded. It is hard enough doing one restoration in a two car garage, try doing two!.. |
 | | July 5, 2021 - Hot Wired With the car going into the shop I thought it might be nice to be able to fire it up, a couple switches later and it was set to go... |
 | | July 4, 2021 - Dash Disassembly (2) I got the dash apart, the switch panel has a broken mounting stud that will have to be repaired, doubt I'll find another convertible panel. When the dash was removed from the car some of the bezels were taken off first... |
 | | July 3, 2021 - Dash Disassembly With the dash out I was able to get some picture of it before taking it apart... |
 | | June 30, 2021 - Really? (5) As it gets closer to getting the car in the shop I chose to remove the dash assembly. For different reasons it fought us, a lot more connections that the CHP car had... |
 | | June 19, 2021 - More Parts There always seems to be some parts that get misplaced, I knew I had these but couldn't locate, found... |
 | | May 24/25, 2021 - Really? (4) I got a needle scaler to get in and remove the rust on the inside the area, perfect tool for the job... |
 | | May 22, 2021 - Drop Top? I detached to top from the body as it would be in the way doing the bodywork. The attacking strips and a little weathered but serviceable even being rusted through in a few places. I got some propane and was able to remove the rest of the lead... |
 | | May 19, 2021 - Really? (3) Nothing special, what a mess... |
 | | May 18, 2021 - Really? (2) Didn't do much, took the little brackets out and cleaned a little... |
 | | May 17, 2021 - Get the Lead Out Gave up on trying to remove some lead filler from a different repair... |
 | | May 16, 2021 - Really? Time for exploration, I already knew of the poorly done repair and wanted to expose it so that I could better understand what might be needed to fix it. Lots of filler needed to be removed to expose the rivets... |
 | | May 15, 2021 - Gutted the Doors Time to gut the doors and get them ready for paint. The impossible to get slides were there and in ok shape, doesn't matter I have new ones (lucky me)... |
 | | May 8, 2021 - AC Pulley Received a new (NOS) AC pulley... |
 | | April 26, 2021 - String on the Finger Just noting the part number of the one I have to make sure I don't get the wrong one... |
 | | April 25, 2021 - Tire Pressure Decal (2) While Ron was in town I took at his car because he indicated the tire pressure decal was the same. I wanted to compare it to the one I had done, his is also I reprint but I may have one somewhere... |
 | | April 24, 2021 - Pitted Mirror Probably the worse piece in the car, the mirror post will need to be replaced... |
 | | April 18, 2021 - Floor Cleanup Started painting the floor... |
 | | April 17, 2021 - Belt Trim Clips The convertible boot trim needed new clips and they are not available. There is a clip for a different car that is almost identical so I ordered one to see if it would work. Although it fits a little loose I could not wiggle it out of the trim, it should work... |
 | | April 16, 2021 - Tire Pressure Decal Even the simple things about working on a car like this are not simple, I had a friend do the layout work for the tire pressure decal. I did have an original to work from and it matched the broadcast sheet... |
 | | April 13, 2021 - Parts Hunt Gathering information on parts that I need... |
 | | April 7, 2021 - Dash Pad The dash pad in the looks great but wasn't done correctly, in my mind it needed to be redone. I chose to work from another core and leave the incorrect one for someone that may not care about accuracy... |
 | | April 6, 2021 - Floored (2) I had the day off to take care of Max's car so I took advantage of it to get some work done on my car. One of the problems I wanted to address was the top alignment. The left side was askew compared to the other side... |
 | | April 4, 2021 - Floored With Max in town I took advantage of the extra hands to get the carpet out of the car, the extra hands made quite a difference. Once Max left I took some time and cleaned the floor... |
 | | April 3, 2021 - Alaska Recently I received a picture from the previous owner. The picture is from about 1994 while the car was in Alaska. The picture differs from the 1993 ad for the car, in this picture you can see that the side trim has been removed... |
 | | April 2, 2021 - Quick Fix In general the bumper bolts that you find are for everything else but c-bodies, big difference side-by-side. When I took the side trim off I noticed most of the clips had been repaired, it looks to be working and I should be able to reuse... |
 | | March 28, 2021 - On to the Doors I took as much as I could off the doors and still latch them, all the weatherstripping door handles, mirrors etc. Closed up the day breaking down the grill and bumpers... |
 | | March 27, 2021 - Forward Ho With the rear done I moved onto the front, the plan was to pull everything not needed to drive to car. Bumper, grill, condenser. Moved on to one of the AC hoses and it was a royal pain in the butt... |
 | | March 26, 2021 - Getting Closer I moved on to the trunk and rear bumper, the bumper came off relatively easy and then I was able to pull the taillights to access the trim. I then pulled the trunk light and vacuum trunk release leaving a pull wire to get it back in... |
 | | March 22, 2021 - Mirror Post The mirror post is badly pitted and will need to be cleaned up or replaced. I know there are reproductions out there just not sure if this style is one of them... |
 | | March 20, 2021 - Teardown From the beginning I thought it was odd that some of the trim was held on with screws. Although factory I do not thing the retainers were, not the place for drywall anchors. I did get all the trim off along with the windshield trim... |
 | | March 19, 2021 - Problem Solved Just when you think a part is impossible to find one pops up, the rare Super-Lite switch that I was trying to fix. One showed up on eBay, got it, and tested it, good to go... |
 | | March 7, 2021 - Cars and Coffee With the recent work being done I felt the car would be good for the 20 mile drive to the local Cars and Coffee, lite turnout. The car got some attention... |
 | | February 14, 2021 - The Rusty Dutchman The other day my body guy was looking over the car and tapped the area around the dutchman panel and got a tin rattle, it looking inside we found pieces of sheet metal riveted in. Whaen the car goes in for paint we'll be taking care of this... |
 | | February 8, 2021 - New Brake Lines A friend of mine had a new brake line set that was labeled 69 Chrysler. I compared all the lines and they were different, not sure what they modeled some might be the same and made to work but others like the axle ones were not even close... |
 | | February 7, 2021 - Carburetor Time Well I couldn't start the car this morning and gave up. This car has cruise control so I made sure I understood how it was hooked up before I removed it. I setup my workspace and started pulling the carb apart... |
 | | February 6, 2021 - Cadiz Spain The previous owner sent me a picture of the Spain plate that was on the car when he got it. Best I can tell the car was in Spain between 1988 and 1993.On the bumper there is evidence of an oval sticker... |
 | | February 5, 2021 - Super Charger After running out of gas I felt I needed a way to plug the GPS in so I could measure miles and have a way to charge the phone. A parts store accessory port was installed and did the trick, no excuse now.The Super-Lite switch in the car is missing its knob... |
 | | January 31, 2021 - Out of Gas With the recent work I did feel it was good enough to take it for a drive, 15 miles from town I run out of gas, didn't think I drove it that much but I have been running it a lot trying to get it running better. Eventually got some gas, it did drive nice... |
 | | January 30, 2021 - Inch by Inch Recently I acquired a pair of OEM wiper frames but they are a little long, probably work but not correct. Got an electronic ignition distributor and installed it, went through all the motions again just to be sure it was installed and hooked up correctly... |
 | | January 28, 2021 - Wheel Covers Right away I started looking for wheel covers, these are potmetal on two of the three pieces. Most I have been finding are very pitted. So you get what you can and hope to find better later... |
 | | January 24, 2021 - Car Wash The car has been wiped down a few times but after yesterday's drive it needed a real wash. Yes I left the top down. Best it has looked since I got it... |
 | | January 23, 2021 - Distributor (2) Since the car still had the factory distributor I chose to put a low mile used one in, TDC, check the gear, stab the distributor, mark it, cap, plug wires, fired right up. Took it for a quick spin, more to check the exhaust than anything else. Needless to say the roads... |
 | | January 18, 2021 - Electronic Ignition Like the CHP car I chose to mount the ignition module in the fender... |
 | | January 17, 2021 - Distributor We needed to remove the alternator to get at one of the bolts, in doing so we noticed the distributor can was off. In looking at it we noticed that one of the clips was missing, we looked around and nothing. Looked at a bunch of pictures and noticed it was... |
 | | January 16, 2021 - Engine Mounts Well engine mounts it is, I made a jacking cradle for the engine, worked like a charm. Both side fought us in different ways, just not a lot of room to get at the bolts... |
 | | January 12, 2021 - Exhaust Not So Fix I took the car to the local exhaust shop to see if there was something that could be done to fix the clearance issues. I could see the problem but I couldn't figure out the cause. We heated up the pipe and put a flat spot in it and got a 1/4" more than there was... |
 | | January 10, 2021 - Exhaust Accessment Out of curiosity I pulled the front trim off the hood and to my surprise there were studs through the hood. One thing that came to mind was that the engine mounts looked small, measured, yup, 1/4", that might make the difference I need. The recycled exhaust... |
 | | January 3, 2021 - Parts Run (2) Back to the yard that had the Polara 500, had time to get everything else I thought I could use plus some extras... |
 | | December 31, 2020 - New Hoses Got the new hoses installed, not happy with them at all, way too long, need to try and find out what original was as I'm not sure what was on the car was original... |
 | | December 29, 2020 - Top Fix The new hardware came in, a bolt, three washers a bushing and a nut to replace a bolt and nut. Got the pivot bolt repair done and started in on the new hoses, soon as I touched the pump two more feet broke, now I need to track down new ones... |
 | | December 27, 2020 - Dash Pad Core Not much time for the car, went to storage to check the dash pad core I had... |
 | | December 26, 2020 - Picture Day Redoux The weather was more suited for pictures than the other day so I took a bunch more. With the top down I took some time and looked at the top mechanism the best I could as you can see things differently that you can with the top up. One thing I noticed... |
 | | December 25, 2020 - Assessment (6) Christmas, took a few minutes to look at the car, the coat hanger throttle pump linkage kept falling off so I took care of that till a proper once can be sourced. There are some things I don't like about the dash pad and will probably be doing another one... |
 | | December 24, 2020 - Assessment (5) The car had been repainted at some point and the painted over the door wiring, not an issue, I can clean the boots and brackets and rewrap the cable. Couple of the parts I got at the yard are some of the 500 trim that I can use to as a guide to repaint the ones I have. The convertible beltline transition pieces are both pitted... |
 | | December 21, 2020 - Miscellaneous I've been collecting parts to rebuild the front suspension and I found an NOS taillight bezel that I still had... |
 | | December 20, 2020 - Picture Day Picture day, as always I like to get a full set of picture early on to document the starting point. Back at the house I wanted to look into the electrical and see what harnesses there were as I might need to replace the main body harness. Once I got the kick panel off I... |
 | | December 19, 2020 - Back-up The original license plate light was blasted and painted, new lens and gasket, good as new... |
 | | December 18, 2020 - Small Stuff I prepped the hardware for the plate bracket for sandblasting (done elsewhere). The console latch isn't working, the one on the car was keyless and I want to keep it that was, I believe the originals were keyed. Parts book doesn't show a keyless option... |
 | | December 17, 2020 - Exhausting (5) Received some new exhaust hangers, not sized for the 2-1/4" pipe that these came with but I should be able to make them work... |
 | | December 16, 2020 - Top Assessment Time to start looking into the top and see if I can sort out the problem. First the seat bottom was pulled, no real surprises, floor was a little weathered, not more than expected. I could see that the cylinders were leaking and would need to be replaced, I chose... |
 | | December 15, 2020 - Clip Knowing down the road I plan to have the car painted I knew I might need some replacement clips. I got a few from a recent yard run that are the correct ones, time to start looking... |
 | | December 14, 2020 - DMV Comfortable with the car I went to DMV to get the car registered. In short order I had plates, no front plate bracket, on to storage. In storage I had the needed bracket, in digging for original hardware I found the bracket for the started cable that this car is missing... |
 | | December 13, 2020 - Exhausting (4) Got the left side exhaust done and was able to fire it up, oh what a big difference, no massive exhaust leaks... |
 | | December 12, 2020 - Exhausting (3) I needed to purchase a drill and bit to get at the head to install a Heli-Coil. The drill was good but the bit was too long, cutoff wheel to the rescue. It was a hard reach but I was able to get the tap in and install the Heli-Coil. While I waited for the Loctite to setup I... |
 | | December 11, 2020 - Exhausting (2) Put the car on rollers so I could move it away from the wall to give me more access to work on the stripped stud. Closed up the day with cleaning up the original exhaust hangers, not much to save, will need to replace as soon as they can be sourced... |
 | | December 6, 2020 - Exhausting The dome light switches were painted over and need to be replaced, a friend had an NOS one for reference. Having all the pieces to rebuild the exhaust the old pipes were cut out of the car. While my friend worked on the exhaust manifolds I dropped the gas tank... |
 | | December 5, 2020 - Parts Run On the way to my friends place to get the exhaust manifolds and steering wheel we stopped at a couple yards to look for parts. The first yard was more about getting some wheels for the friend we were heading to. That yard was more about 50s cars and we... |
 | | December 4, 2020 - Exhaust Hangers One thing that is not available for the car are exhaust hangers, I took some pictures of a friend's car along with some measurements to see what I might be able to cobble together... |
 | | December 1, 2020 - Assessment (4) Again looking for parts, this car originally had the right hand mirror, if it wasn't original I would worry about replacing it as they are useless. Not reproduced, will need to find an original. The parts are starting to stack up, I got a set of new sill plates as I like the... |
 | | November 30, 2020 - Badge Took a chance on a reproduction badge with what I see as the correct number and the one I got was correct for the car, has the skinny studs. A very nice part... |
 | | November 29, 2020 - Tire Pressure Label Might be minor but I'll be needing a new tire pressure label, I don't think this one is available... |
 | | November 20, 2020 - Steering Wheel In talking with a friend about the car it turns out he has both a steering wheel and the exhaust manifolds, too bad the wheel is the wrong color, it might be a good sample to make a new one. There appears to be two different part numbers for the trunk badge... |
 | | November 18, 2020 - Emphemera The seller sent the paperwork that came with the car, two broadcast sheets both quite faded and the ad for the car when the previous owner purchased it, there is some other paperwork but these were the most interesting. The Polara 500 trim has some screws in... |
 | | November 15, 2020 - Assessment (3) Still looking for exhaust manifolds I patched the exhaust with hopes of making it less embarrassing. I put some parts store exhaust patch tape on it then wrapped a soda can over it with hopes of preventing it from a blowout. We had planned on installing the new gas... |
 | | November 14, 2020 - Assessment (2) The day started off by going to storage and digging out some parts, not sure what I still had. Before I did anything I wanted to cut the fuel filter open and see how bad it was, it was hard to believe the car even drove at all. With limited time to work on the car I cleaned... |
 | | November 13, 2020 - Assessment First up was to swap out the fuel filter as I suspected it was clogged up. While working on the fuel filter I spotted a bad water leak, I must have bumped something as it was fresh, right away I spotted it coming from the heater control valve. I closed it up with fixing... |
 | | November 11, 2020 - Black and White and Blue All Over Right away we head to the place that was selling the car and made contact, the car was in a service bay to be washed but we dove into it right away. After a cursory walk around we got in and checked out the interior and fired it up, it was immediately apparent that... |
 | | November 10, 2020 - Hell Froze Over This morning I wake up and check the forums, one of the first posts was a 1969 Polara 500 Convertible for sale, initially I glazed over it but as I read on there was a comment with additional pictures... |
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