67 R/T... Back to Life

[Paul Boucher]

I agree! I bought a pint and was amazed! Even brushing it on and letting it rest makes a huge difference! I think I will be buying a gallon shortly. Soaking makes a world of difference. Want to try it on things other than my car!

 

[69L48Z27]

Harbor Frieght carries it, use one of those 20% off coupons that's in all the magazines. Not 'cheap' stuff but it does the trick. I was able to find 5 gallon of it from Summit (or eBay) I think for under $90.

I think a gallon is between $25-30.

 

[Paul Boucher]

Harbor Frieght carries it, use one of those 20% off coupons that's in all the magazines. Not 'cheap' stuff but it does the trick. I was able to find 5 gallon of it from Summit (or eBay) I think for under $90.

I think a gallon is between $25-30.

Thanks! I have a Harbor Freight 1/4 mike from my house. Some cheap stuff, but for the right things it is a BANG for your buck! McGuires polishing compound! And sand paper! Found some other good things there as well.

 

[68HAVOK]

Awesome work and skills. Subscribed.

 

[69L48Z27]

Had a visit at the body shop today. Progress.... Sealer was shot last Friday. At this point they're going to let it sunbake for the week and see if any body work moves around. Next week it's scheduled for color.

The lines really show up with the darker color and lights on the side of the booth.

 

[Paul Boucher]

Looking good! What color did you decide to go with?

 

[69L48Z27]

Looking good! What color did you decide to go with?

Back to original. EE1 dark blue.

 

[69L48Z27]

I've just about got the front and rear assemblies done. Rear brake drums were blasted and turned. Took less than .005" to clean them up. Front drums are cleaned up and in need to get those turned this week. I was waiting on some small gaskets that came in, when I took the wheels cylinders off the backing plates they all had foam gaskets behind them.

Front brakes are back together. Goal here was to clean everything really good and evaporust it all and not replate or paint everything. Linings front and rear are Raybestos Pro grade organic. Self adjusters on the front are not original. Last owner said he added them back in '79.

Emergency brake cables are from inline tube. I didn't spend a lot of time comparing against the old ones but they look pretty good.

Next weekend I hope to get all the steering done and possible get the car back from paint... maybe.

 

[69L48Z27]

At our local service center in Yoe they do regular service work on old cars still. One of the few remaining. This week when I stopped in they had a 65 Coronet 4 door there. This thing is survivor as it gets. All original, paint, engine bay, interior. Inspector stamp under the hood was bright as it was on day one. Still had the plastic on the seats, they definetly smell funny after 50 years. Anyway, this car was sold at the same little Dodge dealer that our 67 was. This car still had the dealer sticker on the back.

 

[69L48Z27]

Brake drums are originals on the front and rear. I was able to de-scale them and then run them through the bead blaster. After that, a light coating of cast blast and off to get turned. Both front and rear took less than .005" to get the true again. Very fortunate that these worked out. Here you can see the date code format used on drums. (M)onth (W)eek (Y)ear. J - Oct unless they skipped I, 2 2nd week, 5 - 1965. Seems hard to believe these were cast and sat almost a year but they should be original to the car and all 4 were in the same time frame.

 

[69L48Z27]

Major milestone today, both front and rear assemblies are ready to install! Today I got the front brakes completed and put the steering together. Nothing is tight and fully installed yet, no cotter pins. I figure I'll do that once installed in the car plus I'm sure something will have to come apart. Steering box was cleaned up and painted, I found a lot of black paint on it when cleaning. The tie rod sleeves really cleaned up well with the evaporust. I'm only missing a couple hoses, clamps, sway bar and the coil.

Even though the steering parts are all Moog type replacements I did keep all the original castle nuts. Torsion bars are painted and ready to go back in too.

Ready for the car to come back painted! Next up... heater box. Teaser - original heater core went to the radiator shop this week and came back with a clean bill of health.

 

[69L48Z27]

Over the last few days I tore down the heater box and dipped all the metal pieces in evaporust. Using one of those containers for gift wrap worked pretty good. Having 5 gallons of that stuff around doesn't hurt either. Everything was cleaned, nothing was painted except for the front cover where the electrical connections are. New seal kit from DMT did the trick on putting it all back together. I did not drill out the rivets for metal brackets that were attached to the box itself. Date code on the blower motor looks original - 39th week of 1966. Fresh air box for left side is done too.

 

[Paul Boucher]

Wow that looks amazing! Great job! And I love Evaporust!

 

[69L48Z27]

I haven't posted in a while but I'm still working at it. Stopped at the body shop today and we have color, shiny color! Deck lid and hood have been jammed. They're trying to have the car ready for me to pick up next Friday. Fingers crossed.

This blue is going to look awesome in the daylight. These old colors were very nice and when under clear coat they really pop. Car is almost going to be like a mid-night blue.

I'm working on the dash and steering column now, both are blown apart and I picked up paint to redo the suede. More on that later...

 

[dave dodge]

Wow, can't wait to see that color in the Sun ! You are really kicking butt on that resto.

 

[69L48Z27]

This weekend I was able to paint the dash and steering column, and associated parts. This is something that is harder to accomplish with the restoration, getting the 'suede' finish right. Luckily the dash and column had some hidden areas that had good paint to match up. I took my trusty 67 Dodge manual to my PPG paint supply and went with the intent of using DDL lacquer. Chrysler and Ditzler suede paint codes are towards the rear of the book. We're lucky to have a long time employee at the paint store, he's a wiz at paint match and getting the special paints together. Long story short - no lacquer. PPG has discontinued the line and what's left is what's left. He was already working with a couple resto shop and they made up a suede formula for Shop-Line base coat. Base coat can be used without a top coat on interior finishes. Makes it super easy to reduce and spray. Much more forgiving than lacquer would have been, that had me nervous. This product can be sprayed over factory coatings, I prepped with 400 and very fine scotch brite.

Results are very good. This blend was dead on, probably a little more on the rough side but I'm sure the profile of 50 year old paint got knocked down a bit.

The bonus is, this pint of paint was only $31. Not the almost $200 for lacquer.

These pictures are right after it flashed over, a little more texture came out after it cured. You can be the judge if the color is the same in the before and after pics.
Product:

Before:

After:

 

[TxDon]

Damn, you do nice work!

 

[67RT]

I love watching another B Body be reborn. I just finished mine and its wild to think back about the the 5 year journey. Love the pics and love the workmanship. Keep it Up !!!!!!

 

[69L48Z27]

Damn, you do nice work!

I love watching another B Body be reborn. I just finished mine and its wild to think back about the the 5 year journey. Love the pics and love the workmanship. Keep it Up !!!!!!

Thx! If things go as planned I might be dragging the car home later this week. It should start going back together pretty quick after that. I probably just jinxed myself....

 

[69L48Z27]

Well, baby steps I guess. Went to the body shop this evening to wet down the car and have one final look at it and sign off. Under hood area and trunk are painted. Hope to pick it up next Friday AM... fingers crossed.