1970 Road Runner Restoration
Parts Updates
While I am waiting for the paint work to
be completed on my car I have continued ordering new parts and refinishing removed parts.
One of the first items that was rebuilt/refinished was the windshield wiper motor. I
made contact with Jules from the Moparts website who is know for his work with
3 speed wiper motors. He was planning to be at the Carlisle, PA Mopar
Show, so I decided to make the
trip personally and drop off my motor. I believe it was about 4
weeks later and I received my rebuilt wiper motor. As you can
see from the photo below, it looks great.
Jules can be reached at
gdaddio@videotron.ca.
I ordered a set of heavy duty rear leaf
springs from Springs-N-Things and received them in record time. I wanted the rear end to sit up a bit higher than stock and wanted to do it
without installing shackles or air shocks. The really nice thing
about Springs-N-Things is that you can order springs with additional arch. I
decided to go 2" above stock and if I figured it correctly, the rear of the
car should sit exactly
where I want it to. The springs arrived a bit scratched up so I
needed to refinish them. I decided to scuff them up and paint them with
POR-15. They came out looking great if i say so myself.
Springs-N-Things can be contacted at www.espo.com.
I got my transmission back from Les Adams and refinished the exterior case and misc parts. I decided to use POR-15
Metal Mask to give it that natural metal finish. I thought
the end result came out very nice, see the photo below and judge for yourself.
While I was removing the turn signal assemblies from the front and rear bumpers, I noticed numerous scratches in the chrome. I tried to polish some of them out but that proved to be a waste of time. The only thing I could do at this point was to have them rechromed. Based on some negative feedback, I can no longer recommend the shop where I got my bumpers chromed.
Another item that has been refinished was the rear end assembly. I had most of the parts powder coated with the exception of the third member. Since the gears were in great shape I did not have to tear the assembly down so I just refinished the case with POR-15 Metal Mask. The nuts securing the case and the axles were blasted and refinished using the Eastwoods Metal Blackening Kit. The kit is so easy to use and the results are great. When it came time to actually put the rear end together, I turned to my good friend Bernie. He has a vast knowledge of everything mechanical and with his help (he did most of it) everything went together with ease. While I was at Bernie's garage, we also put my front end completely together. I did not get any photos, but I will soon and post them.
I just picked up my rebuilt engine from Les Adams and I will soon be cleaning the block and getting some Mopar Orange sprayed on. I will post some photos as soon as I get my butt in gear and refinish it.
Finally, after the last few months of thinking about it, I have come to a decision on what to do regarding headers and exhaust. Since I have put so much work into making the bottom look as good as the top I ordered a set of TTI headers and exhaust. It was not cheap but from the positive feedback I have read and photos of installed systems I have seen I am convinced it will be worth it. I should be getting the complete system in about 2 weeks. Unfortunately it will be quite awhile until I can install it to see what it looks like.
I received a call from Richard at Sessums Polishing and he told me that my stainless will be ready for pick-up this next weekend. I am very excited to get it back and I will post some photos so you all can see how it came out. Richard informed me that two of the pieces I dropped off are chrome plated and therefore cannot be polished. I guess I will be sending Eric in Ohio some more parts to plate very soon. Oh well it is all part of the restoration experience.
During my assessment of the parts that
have not been restored/refinished I took a look at the wood grain steering
wheel. Overall it looked good but if I were to install it surrounded by
all the other refinished items, it would look bad. I made contact with
Mike of Steering Wheels By Mike and asked about getting the wheel refinished.
I have seen two wheels that were refinished by Mike and they look awesome.
I shipped the wheel earlier this past week and it arrived at Mike's the very
next day. USPS was rockin this week I guess. Anyway Mike emailed me
and told me the wheel is in great shape and that he will have it back to me very
soon.
Contact Mike at
www.steeringwheelsbymike.com.
I received the seat belts back from
Ssnake-Oyl Products and they came out awesome. The webs have been replaced, the
painted areas refinished, the rubber boots redyed, and the buckles have been
rechromed. The cost of the set is ridiculous at $700 but they are the only
game in town at this point so if you want them redone you gotta pay for it.
I decided not to have new part number tags attached to the belts as it would
cost another $200 and that would really make the cost crazy. They will
work the same with or without the tags installed.
Visit their website at www.ssnake-oyl.com.
I went down to Burleson and picked
up all the stainless trim from Sessums Polishing. Richard is a great guy
and he went over each and every piece with me to be sure I was satisfied.
The man knows how car folks are and how to treat them. I paid him and
headed back home. The work he did is beautiful, it looks as good or better
than
chrome. I pulled a few pieces out of the wrapper to get some photos for the website.
The photos are nice but they do not truly do the polished pieces justice.
I took many shots on several different backgrounds and what you see below is as
good as I could get.
Contact Richard at 817-426-0939.
Awhile back I had quite a few parts powdercoated and I just realized that I never have posted any photos of the parts. That said, here are some of the parts for your viewing pleasure.
I received the radio, heater control
panel, & ashtray assembly back from
Performance Car Graphics, they take quite awhile to restore/refinish the parts, but the wait was
worth it.
Contact them at 1-850-878-1450.
Here are some photos of the restored
wheel and it looks great!!!
Contact Mike at
www.steeringwheelsbymike.com.
About 2 weeks ago, Bernie and I rebuilt the front end and assembled the "K" member. As you can see in the photos below, it came out great. We used Moog parts for the buildup because I really did not want polyurethane and Moog is well known for quality and durability. The tie rod ends, idler arm, & lower ball joints were cleaned and painted with POR-15 Metal Mask. It gives the parts a sorta natural metal look and should be durable. The Firm Feel steering box and pitman arm were painted with POR-15 clear coat which let me keep the natural finish of the parts. The "K" member, A-arms, lower control arms, centerlink, spindles, swaybar, adjustment sleeves, and strut rods were all powdercoated with various colors. I wanted to use multiple finish colors to replicate a factory like appearance. I think I succeeded quite nicely.
Here are some additional progress photos of the body panels after paint. At this point everything is painted and ready to be installed on the car. The doors, trunk lid, hood, and drivers side fender all still need to be buffed out after they are installed. At that point the entire body should be ready for me to start the assembly process.
I have quite a bunch of parts that are ready to be installed so initially the assembly will go quickly but very soon slow down as I run into the more difficult parts to install or those that still require refinishing. Thankfully that list is short and getting shorter week by week.
Over the Memorial Day weekend I decided to concentrate on the engine exterior refinish. I got it back from the rebuilder awhile back but just have not gotten to it until now. I put the engine stand together and then mounted the engine. I used wire wheels to get some of the crap off as well as brake cleaner to remove any solvents or grime. I finished that off with a propane torch over the entire engine to burn off anything the cleaner missed. Once I was satisfied that the block was clean, I primed the entire engine with Plastikote Hi-Temp Primer. I followed that up with 2 coats of Plastikote Chrysler Orange. I have never used Plastikote before and I am very impressed with the coverage and color. I like it much better than the Mopar Paint which is like water and takes much more paint for good coverage. Here are some pics of my handy work.
