moparfanUSA
Well-Known Member
what area in North NJ are you in?
Bringing it back to factory specs
- Thread starter resq302
- Start date
resq302
Well-Known Member
Im in Passaic County. Dad is over in Sussex County.
TUFCAT
Well-Known Member
Nice clean-up and detail job. What are your plans with the hood? You haven't mentioned it so far, so I'm not sure if you know this but the red inserts in the scoops are for air grabber hoods. Since your car doesn't have the air grabber your inserts should be black. I'm not sure about the honeycomb type.
Maybe someone else can answer the question if the honeycomb type is correct for 1969 or 1968. If memory serves I think the honeycomb was for 1968, so I think yours are correct but just the wrong color. Also for FYI, the performance tape stripe option isn't on your fender tag. Based on the tag, you should have a body color hood (missing V21).
Maybe someone else can answer the question if the honeycomb type is correct for 1969 or 1968. If memory serves I think the honeycomb was for 1968, so I think yours are correct but just the wrong color. Also for FYI, the performance tape stripe option isn't on your fender tag. Based on the tag, you should have a body color hood (missing V21).
resq302
Well-Known Member
Hi Tuffcat,
Thanks for the response. The car does not have a functioning fresh air set up on it. In essence, both pictures above are technically incorrect since the red insert was for the fresh air option and would have been honey comb (at least in 69 to my knowledge). The non-functioning inserts would have been the straight lined one like our car has but painted black. This is how our car came and I am not about to remove the hood insulation and fight trying to get those clips back in again. For now this is how the car will stay as the exterior of the car is in fantastic shape. Why mess with a good thing.
You are correct that it was not coded for on the fender tag. However, I have heard where some cars that have had this black out treatment have it on the build sheet but not on the fender tag. Again, this is how the car came and Dad right now likes the way the stripes look. I like them, too, however, that organisol textured black paint is a royal pain to keep clean and also prevent lint from catching on it leaving fuzz on the car. If we should ever need to give the car a repaint I'll try to convince Dad to go back to a solid color car but right now, it adds eye candy to the car I think. I'm sure that a lot of people back in the day also added this as a "day 2" option as I have seen more Roadrunner's and GTX's with this than without it.
As far as a clean up and detail job, this isn't something as simple as taking a pressure washer to it and "whal-la" it magically appears to be restored back to new. lol. Granted, we did have an excellent starting point with this car and I'm sure a ton of people would kill to have a car in this condition to start with. Very little has been changed out in this car over the years it seems so either someone babied this car or tucked it away and cared for it!
With the way this car is going, who knows..... maybe we will enter it into OE judging at some point (of course we would have to repaint the hood then!) lol
Thanks for the response. The car does not have a functioning fresh air set up on it. In essence, both pictures above are technically incorrect since the red insert was for the fresh air option and would have been honey comb (at least in 69 to my knowledge). The non-functioning inserts would have been the straight lined one like our car has but painted black. This is how our car came and I am not about to remove the hood insulation and fight trying to get those clips back in again. For now this is how the car will stay as the exterior of the car is in fantastic shape. Why mess with a good thing.
You are correct that it was not coded for on the fender tag. However, I have heard where some cars that have had this black out treatment have it on the build sheet but not on the fender tag. Again, this is how the car came and Dad right now likes the way the stripes look. I like them, too, however, that organisol textured black paint is a royal pain to keep clean and also prevent lint from catching on it leaving fuzz on the car. If we should ever need to give the car a repaint I'll try to convince Dad to go back to a solid color car but right now, it adds eye candy to the car I think. I'm sure that a lot of people back in the day also added this as a "day 2" option as I have seen more Roadrunner's and GTX's with this than without it.
As far as a clean up and detail job, this isn't something as simple as taking a pressure washer to it and "whal-la" it magically appears to be restored back to new. lol. Granted, we did have an excellent starting point with this car and I'm sure a ton of people would kill to have a car in this condition to start with. Very little has been changed out in this car over the years it seems so either someone babied this car or tucked it away and cared for it!
With the way this car is going, who knows..... maybe we will enter it into OE judging at some point (of course we would have to repaint the hood then!) lol
TUFCAT
Well-Known Member
I like the hood also. That's the way I would want my GTX if I had one. With that level of detailing I wasn't sure how far you'd be willing to go with it. I know how far you went into detailing the car, I saw the pictures. Good job. Nice car.
resq302
Well-Known Member
Thanks. Like I said, if it were to have a repaint, I'd strongly urge Dad to not put them back on. Believe it or not, Dad's whole intention when he got this car was to be a touring car to go on trips with all of the various clubs we belong to. Little did we know what kind of car we were actually getting. Best laid plains, right? lol. With it being such a low production car and all of the originality, I couldn't see doing the car a dis-justice with an average type of resto since we had to freshen up some things on it. Why not go all the way! lol
resq302
Well-Known Member
Lets see how good of a trained eye everyone here has. Below is a picture of the two headlight surrounds for our GTX. One has been restored while the other is factory applied stuff.
resq302
Well-Known Member
Meanwhile, here are some other things that I restored.
Hood secondary latch. Black zinc.
Date coding - 271 8 (271st day of 1968)
Also while I had the wiper motor out, I pulled the back up / neutral safety wire harness out and repaired a couple of cuts and cracks to the insulation. I also had to replace one of the Packard 56 terminals as part of it broke off when I was removing it from the wiper motor harness plug. Once all the repairs were made, it was re-wrapped back in the dry wrap tape.
Hood secondary latch. Black zinc.
Date coding - 271 8 (271st day of 1968)
Also while I had the wiper motor out, I pulled the back up / neutral safety wire harness out and repaired a couple of cuts and cracks to the insulation. I also had to replace one of the Packard 56 terminals as part of it broke off when I was removing it from the wiper motor harness plug. Once all the repairs were made, it was re-wrapped back in the dry wrap tape.
moparfanUSA
Well-Known Member
I would like to see the car sometime. I live in Morris county with my restored 69 GTX. I purchased mine with 72,000 mile about 4 years ago.
resq302
Well-Known Member
If you went to the Two Kids car show last year at the Birchwood Manor in Whippany, NJ, we had the car there. Wasn't close to what it looks like now though in correctness.
68sportsatelliteragtop
Well-Known Member
Nice work on the GTX. Hope you don't make it so nice your Dad won't be willing to drive it! :happy3:
resq302
Well-Known Member
Oh, I'm sure he will drive it. Its only a car. If it has been restored once, it can be restored again! lol
Ron 73
Deceased, But not forgotton
1st one restored second one factory. Everything looking good! 
resq302
Well-Known Member
thanks! I should hopefully have the other side done in the next couple of days.
BumperMan
Well-Known Member
Resq302, nice thread here buddy I love how you are documenting everything. I have a 68 GTX all original and I was wondering did you have to do anything to the motor? My was stuck so I had to pull it and I continue to go through it replacing seals and other things in it.
resq302
Well-Known Member
Thank you bumperman for your kind words! According to the write up from the broker we got the car from, the engine was rebuilt at some point (can't remember how many miles are on the rebuild). Whoever did it apparently did not strip the paint off of the intake manifold or heads as there is remnants of red paint on them. I will be pulling those parts off and paint stripping them and then repainting the engine so it is all nice, fresh, and not built up with paint in areas.
Working in law enforcement and interning with the county Sheriffs office CSI unit, you learn to take pics of things before you start moving or "contaminating" the scene. Perfect example, if it were not for me taking a picture of the before condition of the carburetor, I would not have remembered which way the metal linkage would have gone where the choke thermostat attached too. A simple picture to go back and look at sure beats having to mess around with stuff and wasting all that time which could be spent elsewhere making even more progress on the car. (besides, my memory isn't what it used to be!) :head_smack:
- - - Updated - - -
Here's a better close up of the one restored headlight surround.
Working in law enforcement and interning with the county Sheriffs office CSI unit, you learn to take pics of things before you start moving or "contaminating" the scene. Perfect example, if it were not for me taking a picture of the before condition of the carburetor, I would not have remembered which way the metal linkage would have gone where the choke thermostat attached too. A simple picture to go back and look at sure beats having to mess around with stuff and wasting all that time which could be spent elsewhere making even more progress on the car. (besides, my memory isn't what it used to be!) :head_smack:
- - - Updated - - -
Here's a better close up of the one restored headlight surround.
resq302
Well-Known Member
Ok, so lots of progress in the last 2 days when I was at my Dad's house! I started disassembling the engine to get it all cleaned up, repainted, proper factory items put back on, etc. Here are some before pics of the engine.
Correct horn mounting bolts
Original engine harness with original fuseable link.
Original Chrysler water pump!
Grille and headlight bezels back on! Looking good! Also Westinghouse and GE original sealed beam headlights with wider diffusers.
Original condenser mounted on the bolt holding the ignition coil down. (disregard the blue tape, just so I remember which side of the ignition coil it attaches to)
Engine ID stamping pad
As you can see, someone had painted it red before it was painted the street hemi orange again. I was able to find the factory applied street hemi orange under some of the red areas that also flaked off. I'm guessing the paint prep was not done that well on the engine.
Original Chrysler temp sending unit.
Tail light bezels that were rechromed and repainted.
Restored striker and secondary hood latch.
Fixed fan removed from the engine and cleaned up. Someone had painted it black with the solid aluminum spacer on it at the time. I guess I should actually thank them as they covered up the ink stamping on the "ENGINE SIDE" of the fan revealing this when I removed the spacer to strip the paint off.
Correct horn mounting bolts
Original engine harness with original fuseable link.
Original Chrysler water pump!
Grille and headlight bezels back on! Looking good! Also Westinghouse and GE original sealed beam headlights with wider diffusers.
Original condenser mounted on the bolt holding the ignition coil down. (disregard the blue tape, just so I remember which side of the ignition coil it attaches to)
Engine ID stamping pad
As you can see, someone had painted it red before it was painted the street hemi orange again. I was able to find the factory applied street hemi orange under some of the red areas that also flaked off. I'm guessing the paint prep was not done that well on the engine.
Original Chrysler temp sending unit.
Tail light bezels that were rechromed and repainted.
Restored striker and secondary hood latch.
Fixed fan removed from the engine and cleaned up. Someone had painted it black with the solid aluminum spacer on it at the time. I guess I should actually thank them as they covered up the ink stamping on the "ENGINE SIDE" of the fan revealing this when I removed the spacer to strip the paint off.
resq302
Well-Known Member
solid spacer previously had been painted black along with the fan at the same time. Paint stripped and RPM applied to prevent oxidation.
intake manifold paint stripped and then blasted to remove any flash rust after the paint stripping. I was lucky enough to have to remove maybe 2 coats of the recent street hemi orange, 2-3 heavy coats of red paint on the engine, and even got to see the original color of the factory applied street hemi orange. After the intake was cleaned, a coat of primer was applied to prevent flash rusting again and should have street hemi orange applied tomorrow.
date code of 7-3-68 in line with the build date of the car.
poor picture of the date coding on the original radiator but I think it was something like 276 8 which is the 276th day of 1968.
Date coding on pass side exhaust manifold. Sept. 16th, 1968
Pass. side exhaust manifold. This is what the driver side exhaust manifold looked like prior to me blasting it and repainting it.
This is what the driver side exhaust manifold looks like now! driver side exhaust manifold blasted and painted with VHT Nu Cast iron paint. Excellent product!
intake manifold paint stripped and then blasted to remove any flash rust after the paint stripping. I was lucky enough to have to remove maybe 2 coats of the recent street hemi orange, 2-3 heavy coats of red paint on the engine, and even got to see the original color of the factory applied street hemi orange. After the intake was cleaned, a coat of primer was applied to prevent flash rusting again and should have street hemi orange applied tomorrow.
date code of 7-3-68 in line with the build date of the car.
poor picture of the date coding on the original radiator but I think it was something like 276 8 which is the 276th day of 1968.
Date coding on pass side exhaust manifold. Sept. 16th, 1968
Pass. side exhaust manifold. This is what the driver side exhaust manifold looked like prior to me blasting it and repainting it.
This is what the driver side exhaust manifold looks like now! driver side exhaust manifold blasted and painted with VHT Nu Cast iron paint. Excellent product!
resq302
Well-Known Member
master cylinder all cleaned up and ready to be bolted up to the power brake booster
Original radiator stripped, pressure tested, and also flow tested. Dated 246th day of 1968. Rad shop said the 2 row 053 rad is spec'd to flow 18 gals/min. Ours tested at flowing just under 20 gals/min.
before:
after:
Pass side exhaust manifold dated 9/16/68. Lightly blasted and revealed some stubborn paint which did not want to remove that easy. Appears to be factory paint from when the engine was painted which backed onto the exhaust manifold and turned whitish.
Original harmonic balancer, dated 256th day of 1968.
Original radiator stripped, pressure tested, and also flow tested. Dated 246th day of 1968. Rad shop said the 2 row 053 rad is spec'd to flow 18 gals/min. Ours tested at flowing just under 20 gals/min.
before:
after:
Pass side exhaust manifold dated 9/16/68. Lightly blasted and revealed some stubborn paint which did not want to remove that easy. Appears to be factory paint from when the engine was painted which backed onto the exhaust manifold and turned whitish.
Original harmonic balancer, dated 256th day of 1968.
resq302
Well-Known Member
Fan restored and "ENGINE SIDE STAMP" reapplied.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
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