For the Love for my Father, My 69 GTX Restoration

[moparnation74]

The infamous carburetor tag....Long story behind this little piece of aluminum. The guy whom actually makes them for the carb rebuilders and the high end restoration shops is a total FLAKE...Remember Scott Harms built my carb and a tag was suppose to be included.....Well a good reason why it wasn't included....I called the guy myself and 3 months later no tag and a bunch of calls, long babbling and promise after promise....Reminded me of passion4mopars....

He makes the right tags and thats the crux...I finally ended up telling the guy to piss off and shove the tag up his azz....So I had to find another option and thanks to Scott Harms he put me in touch with a guy that does these close to correct....

Pretty sad we can't even get an exact carb tag made these days....

The last two images I installed the correct NOS Fram air filter element.....After the two pics it went into the box and behind the back seat, lol....

 

[moparnation74]

Installed the NOS brake inspection plugs.....

 

[khryslerkid]

I'm trying to remember seeing red tags. Does the original color wash off easily, or is it anodized? I remember a lot of green and natural aluminum ones.

Engine compartment looks sweet.

 

[moparnation74]

Before I get questioned over this stamp on the N96 air cleaner base.....I have seen a couple original examples where this was applied....Once the filter is in place you cannot see it....

 

[moparnation74]

I'm trying to remember seeing red tags. Does the original color wash off easily, or is it anodized? I remember a lot of green and natural aluminum ones.

Engine compartment looks sweet.

John

Thanks for the compliment....

This one is anodized but the red is a little off.....The originals were anodized and years had different finishes....from natural to red and several other choices in between those...

I can't speak for other carbs but this carb is supposed to have a red anodized tag....

Justin

 

[TUFCAT]

The infamous carburetor tag....Long story behind this little piece of aluminum. The guy whom actually makes them for the carb rebuilders and the high end restoration shops is a total FLAKE...Remember Scott Harms built my carb and a tag was suppose to be included.....Well a good reason why it wasn't included....I called the guy myself and 3 months later no tag and a bunch of calls, long babbling and promise after promise....Reminded me of passion4mopars....

He makes the right tags and thats the crux...I finally ended up telling the guy to piss off and shove the tag up his azz....So I had to find another option and thanks to Scott Harms he put me in touch with a guy that does these close to correct....

Pretty sad we can't even get an exact carb tag made these days....

The last two images I installed the correct NOS Fram air filter element.....After the two pics it went into the box and behind the back seat, lol....

View attachment 568187View attachment 568188View attachment 568189View attachment 568190

The tag looks perfect. Closed hood temperatures can easily get to (300-350 °F). The tag was there for ID purposes and had zero consumer impact. I'm glad you had a good original one to restore! ....most of them never survived the test of time.

 

[Superb_Bee]

Jim

Thanks for the compliments! Glad you are finding this thread helpful in relation to your restoration...

I have tried many many things on the exhaust manifolds...Each one with mixed results....The current ceramic coating is holding up well and has a more "original look" appearance. They also are coated internally all the way through....The key mistake people do is putting them on a motor and then breaking the motor in....The issue is timing is not set and one can create high than normal temperature and it will destroy the ceramic coating....

My motor was dyno tuned and then got further break in and tuning on a engine run stand prior to paint and assembly of the manifolds. Even once the motor was detailed and installed there is a process to properly "break in" the ceramic coat...They send directions with the manifolds on how to do this....

From this point we shall see how it holds up...so far so good...

They factory was a bare cast finish...They also did not use gaskets either btw....I stewed over doing the bare cast but once they rust thats it....I have heard people coating them with anti-seize to retain the original look....There are just some areas on these restorations I just don't gamble with....Bare manifolds, no manifold gaskets and natural fuel/brake lines....They can ding me all day long in those areas.......

Justin

I will take some better pics tomorrow...

View attachment 568184

Justin,

Thanks for the photos and the guidelines for breaking in ceramic coated castings. I like how your manifolds look -- kind of like I'd expect them to look on Day #2. No rust (of course), with some fading of the orange overspray from the heat. I'm thinking your method is the way to go.

I don't know the history of my engine, but it's the original block and pulls strong in a running car, so break-in won't be a factor. I just can't hack those ugly, rusty chunks of iron hanging on the sides any longer and now I know the way forward.

Kind regards,
Jim

 

[moparnation74]

Justin,

Thanks for the photos and the guidelines for breaking in ceramic coated castings. I like how your manifolds look -- kind of like I'd expect them to look on Day #2. No rust (of course), with some fading of the orange overspray from the heat. I'm thinking your method is the way to go.

I don't know the history of my engine, but it's the original block and pulls strong in a running car, so break-in won't be a factor. I just can't hack those ugly, rusty chunks of iron hanging on the sides any longer and now I know the way forward.

Kind regards,
Jim

Jim

You do realize they were fired up multiple times prior to reaching the dealer....Hence every car was a day 2.....That is why they did not care about the paint overspray on the manifolds. By the time it reached the dealer the only orange one can see left is what is on mine and the rest of the manifold looked the same per se....Day one is prior to firing the engine up......lol

Justin

 

[moparnation74]

The tag looks perfect. Closed hood temperatures can easily get to (300-350 °F). The tag was there for ID purposes and had zero consumer impact. I'm glad you had a good original one to restore! ....most of them never survived the test of time.

The tag is completely new......

Thanks for the compliments Tom!

 

[moparnation74]

Aftermarket vs NOS radiator cap....The differences are obvious...

 

[snakeyes]

nice very nice thanks for keeping us updated

 

[moparnation74]

Justin,

Thanks for the photos and the guidelines for breaking in ceramic coated castings. I like how your manifolds look -- kind of like I'd expect them to look on Day #2. No rust (of course), with some fading of the orange overspray from the heat. I'm thinking your method is the way to go.

I don't know the history of my engine, but it's the original block and pulls strong in a running car, so break-in won't be a factor. I just can't hack those ugly, rusty chunks of iron hanging on the sides any longer and now I know the way forward.

Kind regards,
Jim

Some more pics.....As one can tell the hottest points are where the orange paint burnt off exposing the cast ceramic coating. Since these are coated inside and out the cooling properties are much better and efficient....Hence is why the majority of the orange paint hasn't burnt off....Keep in mind almost every day this car is ran up the operation temperature...

The grey zone is whether one wants a rusty look or a worry free look....The judge can kiss my azz if he wants to ding me on such....

Jim, just for my curiosity are you a member over on DC.com?

 

[moparnation74]

I just noticed a key item to point out and I don't think I noted this earlier....The #8 spark plug wire plastic retainer clip is a real NOS piece. They are hard to find and have a different look...

 

[moparnation74]

nice very nice thanks for keeping us updated

Snake

Thanks my friend for the compliments....Good to see ya around here!

Justin

 

[69 GTX]

Justin, those # 8 clips look like they'd be easy to make. The plastic retainer on the other hand might be hard to come up with.

 

[moparnation74]

Justin, those # 8 clips look like they'd be easy to make. The plastic retainer on the other hand might be hard to come up with.

Not the metal retainer, the plastic wire retainer...The repro's are bright white....

All my plastic retainers are NOS for the plug wires...I just pointed this one out because of the pic I posted earlier..

 

[69 GTX]

Man your patience tracking done NOS stuff is out of this world.

 

[moparnation74]

Man your patience tracking done NOS stuff is out of this world.

Tim

Funny thing you bring this up....I have a few friends out there in the Mopar OE community(believe it or not lol) and sometimes we run into bulk items and go in and split the cost.....Maybe a couple years ago now a guy was selling a mix of NOS spark plug parts including wires and these and my friend told me about them. So I bought them....Some of the wires my friend needed to finish off his complete wire set for his Daytona and I ended up with the other half of wires correctly dated for the X(doubtful to find other half but who knows). Also included were NOS boots and these retainers.

So I do have a knack at finding things but I also have many friends out there keeping an eye out for things....

Justin

 

[moparnation74]

This is the guy whom did the tag for my carburetor....Nice guy and great communication and less than a week turnaround...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1966-72-MO...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649


This is the FLAKE to stay away from....Total time waster and one BS story after another...Waited months and zero product
http://crossramconnection.com/carbservices.html

 

[69 GTX]

Sounds like Kim at Passion