'69 road runner......like I needed another!

[moparnation74]

Nice work! Keep em coming

 

[gdrill]

Thanx a bunch guys. I'm glad some are enjoying this resurection. I can't wait to get it on the road. I'm sure some out there and on here will wonder "what the hell are you doing?". But I will happily know to myself that I am enjoying this car and don't have so much time, money and effort in it that I'm afraid to take it down town! As long as it is mechanically sound, I will be content with what it will be, even if it is just patched up. I haven't done anything that can't be easily undone!
Thanx again for looking in!

Disclaimer: No road runners were harmed in the making of this thread!

 

[Basket case]

looks god to me. way to many perfect cars never get driven.

 

[gdrill]

Today I decided to do a few things after I went to a friend's house and watched him play with his new '69 Charger he picked up. He gave me a trunk lock cylinder and the little clips for the reverse lights too. Kinda gave me the get at it feeling, so I did some small things. I pulled the rear interior metal panels, blasted and painted them. I painted the over the door trim too. Then I decided to clean up the arm rest bases as they were rough. I turned the blaster pressure down to 70psi and they came out quite nice without damage. I had some chrome type paint so that is what they are now. Also a while back I bought a bunch of parts for the '66 Coronet. They happened to include new '69 road runner door panels. I didn't know at the time how happy I would be about that! In the meantime I figured AMD plastic shipping bags are perfect to replace the old plastic behind the panels.

 

[gdrill]

These aren't the greatest but they aren't too bad. The backs are quite nice but the fronts are a little rough. They cleaned up OK though.

 

[Basket case]

they look fine to me....

 

[gdrill]

Rear window repair. The worst hole I cut out and replaced steel. There was a another smaller hole I was able to just weld up. Along the dutchman I just used fiberfill to smooth it up as it will need replacing for a full resto. Good enough for now.

 

[gdrill]

Well I dug out the rear seat and figured I would give a shot at recovering it. As I mentioned earlier, I have a rear seat cover that came with a bunch of parts I bought from a guy.The door panels are 69 and I thought he said the seat cover was as well. It's not. Oh well, I don't care. It is new and better than what I have. I'm putting it on anyway. Now as for a question that I see come up now and then. Rear seat interchange. I have a 67 seat as well so I compared them. They do appear to be interchangeable as the mounting and overall structure are the same. However at the front of the seat the attachment points for the cover are different. Still interchangeable, but updated in the latter years. Just thought I'd share that tidbit of useless information! Here is a pic of the difference. The white seat is the 67. Also here is a link to a handy video on recovering, faster than me by far, but handy!

 

[gdrill]

Well it isn't a "Legendary" cover, but it is just fine for now. That's the bottom done. If it's anything like my Scamp was the wrinkles should come out once the sun hits it. I need to find some wire for the top, it didn't come with it in the seam. I'm not sure what model or year it is really for, the closest I could find was Charger but it isn't an exact match to that either.

 

[gdrill]

Turns out my 69 seat back has a rusted out frame. Damn. Oh well. I decided to just put the cover onto the 67 frame for now. I put it right over the old skin with just a few hog-rings to hold it in place. I found the back has more difference than the bottom. The bottom will switch quite nicely and not be noticeable. The back however is slightly narrower at the top and shorter top to bottom. Also the rings that the clips go through to secure it to the car are in slightly different position. It will mount up and be fine but if someone is considering seat swaps, it would be best to stick with the body runs to match up.

 

[Phillipkj4]

Nice, nothing feels better than pinching your fingers with hog nose rings though.

 

[moparjohnny]

Turns out my 69 seat back has a rusted out frame. Damn. Oh well. I decided to just put the cover onto the 67 frame for now. I put it right over the old skin with just a few hog-rings to hold it in place. I found the back has more difference than the bottom. The bottom will switch quite nicely and not be noticeable. The back however is slightly narrower at the top and shorter top to bottom. Also the rings that the clips go through to secure it to the car are in slightly different position. It will mount up and be fine but if someone is considering seat swaps, it would be best to stick with the body runs to match up.

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man you are rock and rolling with that bird,you could open your own restoration shop with your talent.

 

[gdrill]

Thanx guys. I don't know about a resto shop, but I would enjoy doing low buck builds! I just went out and installed the new side panels in the back so I could put the seat in. They are way more padded than the ones that came out. Nice and fluffy! Damn, I'm happy! I still need a carpet, but it looks great. Even though it isn't road runner pattern. I'll buck up for some real skins in the future.

 

[Mike67]

Looking good!

 

[gdrill]

I figured I should test fit the rear window since I hadn't done that with the corner repairs! Yup, just as I thought, fit's fine.

 

[gdrill]

The replacement kick panels I got have a couple unwanted holes in them but they aren't nearly as bad as the ones with the 70's speakers installed! Cleaned them up, plastic prepped and sprayed with SEM.

 

[gdrill]

Another test fit and the latest acquisition!

 

[gdrill]

I didn't have a pumpkin to carve up so I figured I would work on something else that was orange today. The engine needs to come out for freeze plugs and gaskets. But I decided since I have a great '70 383 sitting in the corner I will install it instead and store the numbers engine safely. I am also glad I'm not putting the headers back in. The second bolt on the passenger side is a real pain. The header has to move with the nut the whole way on or off. And there is no way in or out without at least lifting the engine. The blue bottles still have blue paint and the gaskets had no leaks, surprising. Treytan figured he would help me today. He is already a gearhead. He figured out the nut driver fit on the heater hose clamp all on his own.

 

[gdrill]

And the pumpkin is out! Now I'll clean the bay and make it look half decent for the replacement mill. It's the wrong color, but it's a fresh coat so I'm not going to worry about it. The headers are like brand new, not even a dent in them. They were likely put on shortly before it got parked. This is the new engine and exhaust that will be going in as well (with a different air cleaner of course). Now the original engine will get new gaskets, frost plugs and be painted for storage.

 

[moparjohnny]

And the pumpkin is out! Now I'll clean the bay and make it look half decent for the replacement mill. It's the wrong color, but it's a fresh coat so I'm not going to worry about it. The headers are like brand new, not even a dent in them. They were likely put on shortly before it got parked. This is the new engine and exhaust that will be going in as well (with a different air cleaner of course). Now the original engine will get new gaskets, frost plugs and be painted for storage.

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man you are rock and rolling with this car,great job, not sure how correct you are trying to go,but 69 b body engines was street hemi orange.