For the Love for my Father, My 69 GTX Restoration

[The Rebel]

Thanks! I need to lube mine and was considering White Lithium but since I'm following your thread I'd rather do it right the 1st time.

It's a super secret formula....one of those if I told you well I would have to...you get my drift, lol.....

I was once told by a retired garbage man at an old Chrysler plant spotted a can of this grease in the infamous hidden hemi room at Chrysler....it has to be real right....why it would be there, why would the consider using it, who knows.....lol

Really, all kidding aside it is an otc high temp grease from O'Reillys. I will snap a picture and post tonight. I like this grease because it is low odor and works in very well. Most use wheel bearing grease which is fine but it has a significant odor. Now when it comes to the wheel)axel bearings I sent the standard grease....

 

[moparnation74]

Thanks! I need to lube mine and was considering White Lithium but since I'm following your thread I'd rather do it right the 1st time.

White lithium is to thin and watery IMHO...Wheel bearing grease is the best but I just cannot stand the odor and the clean up. However, once those areas are covered up the odor is gone. That is what the factory used originally....

Apparently you can get it at wal mart too....Here is what I used....

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sta-Lube...ure-14-Ounce-Can-Premium-Red-Grease/143785549

 

[moparnation74]

There was no car action this weekend....Mainly because we celebrated our 17th Anniversary this weekend...We traveled to an area here in Texas called Gruene. It is about 4 hours south of Dallas near New Braumfels. The area was settled in the 1800's by German immigrants and has a German influence of course. Part of my heritage is German and my Mom's side of the family settled here in the 1800's my great great grandfather. Of course the family is long gone but was nice to see history wise. We stayed at the Gruene Mansion Inn which I highly recommend to anyone it was a phenomenal Bed and Breakfast. Everything thing popular in town is within walking distance. Great bars, restaurants and the infamous Gruene Hall. Green Hall is the oldest Honky Tonk in the US...George Strait started there and many greats have played there. Last weekend Miranda Lambert dropped in unexpectedly and that routinely happens there for other country singers...

This area is also well know for "tubing" in the Guadalope river....and man the "white" folk were tubing it up....We however hit the shopping(no choice), german pubs, the oldest bakery in Texas(yummy), Gruene Hall....We had an absolute wonderful time and the locals were a joy to be around and to meet....

Gruene Mansion Inn:

Gruene Hall:

Look at the Sheriff in the far coroner...Bufford T Justice!

This was our building at the mansion inn...Had a full patio overlooking the Guadalope river.....Was Serene...Scored some serious brownie points

 

[69 GTX]

You can never score enough brownie points!

 

[moparnation74]

You can never score enough brownie points!

Very true and I don't like being in the negative points, lol....

 

[69 GTX]

Me either but seems I've spent more time there than not.........

 

[moparnation74]

Things are delayed a bit. Red interiors are very tricky and are rare. Only a few people are left on this planet that know what is correct. Colored interiors contains many colors, shades and sheen's...Red and Blue are the worst....Red interiors have 4-5 different colors and 4-5 different sheen's. Currently, several survivor cars and a true OE gold winner is being compared at the moment. Several restored pieces have been sent to an expert that has master plates of the original colors for comparison. In no way is this doubting what has been done but it is being done to ensure correctness.....The survivors/original pieces are compared on the backside versus the 40 plus year old faded and cracked parts...

Needless to say when you look at a colored interior for a Mopar and all colors match. It is incorrect! Most do not know there are variances and most do one solid color for aesthetics and cost. This area in this build has been very challenging and a headache to figure out....Just think how many 69's had red interiors? How many survived? How many were restored correctly?

So needless to say the dash installation is on hold for the moment but will be clarified next week. Resulting in more than likely just a few pieces to be redone. No biggie but just delays the build a bit.

In the meantime, I will be assembling the console this weekend and the steering column after....So hopefully I can get some updates this weekend.

 

[69 GTX]

Good luck.

 

[The Rebel]

Very interesting Justin but make sense as I'm guessing different vendors made different parts (dash, panels, headliners...etc...) and they received different lots of the material so there would be varying shades. As a printer I know that colors shift throughout an entire press run but as long as they fall within the approved tolerances they are still acceptable.

 

[moparnation74]

Very interesting Justin but make sense as I'm guessing different vendors made different parts (dash, panels, headliners...etc...) and they received different lots of the material so there would be varying shades. As a printer I know that colors shift throughout an entire press run but as long as they fall within the approved tolerances they are still acceptable.

Roger

That is correct...They had roughly 4 vendors for the interior pieces. It is a big difference btw.....Hence the confusion....

As one expert put it, "after seeing survivor examples of colored interiors...I cannot believe people even accepted them new."

Short example, The seats match the pads on the door panels bit not the upper red on the door panel, the seats do not match the upper red door frame, the headliner, the package tray, the kick panels, the console, the dash frame, the carpet, A pillars, upper windshield rim piece, the seat belts(few more). That is just the seats...

The dash pads, a pillars, horn button match the headliner somewhat and the seatbelts. The column cover and vents match the dash frame closely but not exact...There are more but that is a taste....

 

[themechanic]

Let us know if your console top plates and door line up. Many on FBBO, including me, have trouble with this. Mine lined up perfectly until I installed the console into the car. Then the plastic console got tweaked when screwed to the floor braces. No amount of adjusting with it installed in the car can correct this. Take the console out and you can get the door and top plates in perfect alignment again.

I settled for close enough.

BTW, all my posts are there and I used the push nuts under the acorn nuts to keep things tight.

 

[moparnation74]

Let us know if your console top plates and door line up. Many on FBBO, including me, have trouble with this. Mine lined up perfectly until I installed the console into the car. Then the plastic console got tweaked when screwed to the floor braces. No amount of adjusting with it installed in the car can correct this. Take the console out and you can get the door and top plates in perfect alignment again.

I settled for close enough.

BTW, all my posts are there and I used the push nuts under the acorn nuts to keep things tight.

Infamous consoles...I have yet to have one to be perfect...If they line up. Typically, when you open the door it hits the plastic frame and gouges it.

The console was probably the most poorly manufactured part on these cars. On the plus side at least the 68-70 console is not like the pot metal predecessor version that weighed a ton....

Like everything else in this build thread I will post detailed pics of the assembly......

 

[69b3rt]

Mine lined up perfectly until I installed the console into the car. Then the plastic console got tweaked when screwed to the floor braces.

I would then try shims where the console screws down to body to prevent console flexing.

 

[threewood]

I would then try shims where the console screws down to body to prevent console flexing.

More of an issue when brackets are removed for floor replacement. I had to screw my console to the rear bracket before it was welded down to get it in a state of rest without tension. The console is a very flimsy piece of plastic that distorts easily if the bracket is off.

 

[moparnation74]

Well...Good news and not so good news...The good news is I got my NOS bumper guards back from getting chrome and the front set installed. The not so good news is in relation to the rear bumper. One side the bumper guard fits perfect the Driver side not even close. I have another NOS rear set and the same side, same fit issue. So I have tried 3 driver side rears and none fit. They only go on one way hence you cannot mine them up and they are numbered inside(odd/Even). Odd is driver side, even passenger for Mopar parts.

So I can only elude to the fact the issue is the rear bumper. Visibly the bumper appears ok but the curve may be off enough to cause this issue. I say this because the bumper got rechromed by a previous owner and the rear guards were never with the car, only the front. Per the window sticker the car was coded for front and rear guards. I think whenever the bumper may have gotten straightened and the chromed the guards got tossed because the one side didn't fit...

Anyhow, this will get rectified and is not a hold up of any sort but just another thing to figure out.....

 

[moparnation74]

Well I completed the #2 thing I hate doing on the cars restoration wise: The Console.....

Dave Patik at Performance Car Graphics beautifully restored the original console back to the correct Red and sheen. He also added support pieces to the notorious are known to crack or break off. On the rear compartment door area the edge of the door gouge the plastic pretty deep through the years. Dave built this area up and added the texture and you cannot even tell it, amazing work!

The carpet is from ACC and is molded to accept the hump cover. The cover is the original piece and check out the factory sticker.

The woodgrain is from Dave Patik at PCG. I wasn't happy with the compartment door piece that was not due to the product but the way it laid to the aluminum piece. The aluminum need to be smoothed out a bit...So I will get another on it's way and finish that portion off easily..

The infamous metal top plate fitment....What a joy...I spent a lot of time dealing in this area and overall I got a very good fit. The top plates were chromed by Pauls and the color was applied by Totally Auto....

Here are the pre and post pics.....

 

[moparnation74]

 

[moparnation74]

Pictures from Dave.....WOW!!!

 

[moparnation74]

Getting Her back together......

 

[moparnation74]

Those are NOS Console light housings with lens....Big difference in the lenses from the repops....