Talladega or Bust - 1970 Super Bird Cleanup

[dadsbee]

Had a quick moment under the car, between playing the pool maintenance guy and the grounds keeper. 3/8 hose from the tank outlet to pump is weeping, loose and cracked. Hopefully that's the total tank leak issue!

 

[dadsbee]

 

[moparnation74]

Love hearing Janice in the background....Great videos.....They will turn faster in Dega, right?

 

[dadsbee]

Right side LCA bumper with the HD suspension 1/4" reinforcement spacer. Need a plate and bumper for the drivers side as it's missing entirely.

Front calipers and hub/rotors off. Nothing seized and that's a good thing!

Was about to stamp the hubs left and right before I drop them off for turning and then thought.. you dumbass..

Rear brake shoe retaining washer re and re'd in the correct orientation.

Doesn't get any more original than this, and they're soft.. don't leak, pistons retracted easily and they are staying original! No need to rebuild.. Yeah!

Passenger side took a bit of work to retract, but once I got it going centered it went back fairly well.

The old OE red paint peeking out on the rear drums...

Boy do I wish the underside of the Bee had been in this shape! Would have saved me at least 45K!

 

[dadsbee]

Kinda like the Dildo advert.... shipped in a plain, unmarked, box and the wife signed for it off the UPS truck. So she can't say she doesn't know I bought parts! Brake pads, shock absorbers, 3 rubber brake hoses, sway bar rubbers, upper bump stops, spindle seals. Need to drop my rotors off, at the shop that did all my Bee drums FOR $40, and have them turned. Two more airplanes to get serviced and then I can get back on the car.

 

[Hemirunner]

What a mint, original bird, love it!! I still remember the hemi bird for $10K that I could never afford in 1983...

 

[dadsbee]

Thanks, pictures help it along... it's a driver, but certainly a LOT better than some rust buckets that have fetched big bucks.

 

[Hemirunner]

Thanks, pictures help it along... it's a driver, but certainly a LOT better than some rust buckets that have fetched big bucks.

I’d love to have an original and it’d have to be an unrestored driver. No trailer queens for me!

 

[dadsbee]

This one was painted yellow in the late 80's, it's supposed to be an EW1 car, but they did a pretty good job of hiding any evidence.,... and there's no trailer Queens in this household, I'm heading to the Beer store shortly with the Bee!

 

[dadsbee]

Piece of metal strapping makes a perfect grease scoop to clean out the hubs.

Our dearly departed dog helping me out today. Bowls are perfect for filling the hubs with cleaner (100LL) to degrease. It then took me 2 hours driving around town to find a garage that can still turn rotors !

Photo for the file, Kelsy Hayes (KH) caliper pin rubbers. Part #80140

Bearings, caliper pins, retainers, etc all cleaned up for repack and reassembly.

A new one on me, BOWER bearings. Googling shows they are now NTN.

Inners both Bower's as well, not Timkens.

Thought I'd tackle the rear brake hose, even though I came to the realization that "weep" around the splitter block on the axle was not actually brake fluid but 50 years of "mist" from the axle vent bolt.

I actually got the line apart without twisting it off and then removed the flex hose from the axle splitter. I'm under here and having a very hard time keeping my brain from kicking in to restoration mode vs driver.

DO NOT buy this rear brake hose for a '70 Plymouth, it is the correct length, line to hose thread is correct, but the hose to axle block thread is WRONG.

Too small... Not happy. Now I have to locate and wait for the correct hose.

 

[kiwigtx]

It then took me 2 hours driving around town to find a garage that can still turn rotors !

Do you not turn them on the vehicle with a brake lathe? That's how we do it down these parts...



That makes the rotors true to the actual vehicle...and not just true to the lathe they were turned on.

 

[kiwigtx]

DO NOT buy this rear brake hose for a '70 Plymouth, it is the correct length, line to hose thread is correct, but the hose to axle block thread is WRONG.

Too small... Not happy. Now I have to locate and wait for the correct hose.

Have you found one yet? I think I have one in a box of bits in my storage locker....if Barry Weiss hasn't raided it yet. Let me know if you need it, and I'll go hunting.

 

[dadsbee]

I probably could have built one Roger. Since everything is throw away these days once their old machines break or need a cutter they toss them. Funny thing was, I ended up at a garage that I've never been to or used before and turned out the owner is the guy that custom bent my exhaust for the Bird in 1990 when he worked at my regular garage so he's stoked to do the rotors perfectly.. and he has a newer machine.

As for the hose, I appreciate the offer but I'm sure shipping would be a real killer. I have a call into Nigel at National Moparts, hoping he has one in stock and I'll go for a tour tomorrow or Thursday if he does. He's about 1.5 hours away.

 

[kiwigtx]

I probably could have built one Roger. Since everything is throw away these days once their old machines break or need a cutter they toss them. Funny thing was, I ended up at a garage that I've never been to or used before and turned out the owner is the guy that custom bent my exhaust for the Bird in 1990 when he worked at my regular garage so he's stoked to do the rotors perfectly.. and he has a newer machine.

As for the hose, I appreciate the offer but I'm sure shipping would be a real killer. I have a call into Nigel at National Moparts, hoping he has one in stock and I'll go for a tour tomorrow or Thursday if he does. He's about 1.5 hours away.

I'll check tomorrow anyway....see if it's the right one first. I'm not a greedy man.

 

[dadsbee]

Rear shocks removed for replacement and to allow better access to the fuel tank outlet / sender unit.

Always check the hole for lube before driving.

I believe it's just the outlet hose weeping that's making this mess, but we'll check it all out. I also thought my vent lines where backwards, but looking in the tank they are correct. My long vent back to the filler is closest to the sender / outlet unit and the short front of tank vent is outboard and hooked to the trunk vent line as correct. Only thing incorrect is the rubber hose for a shock tower vent vs a metal line.

Gauge that has always worked was showing empty, so thought I should just drain the bit of old fuel that was in the tank. FIFTEEN gallons later....

Outlet hose is definitely a suspect.

Outlet tube and sender sitting a bit cocked and should be corrected.

Hmm, sender doing exactly what it should. 70.5 ohms at empty.

One of the very few things WD-40 is good for, cleaning stuff.

A quick test wipe after spraying with WD-40.

Decided to pull the fuel outlet / sender assembly as it should be properly "clocked" anyhow so the outlet tube sits on the tank bottom. Sure looks OE to me..

 

[dadsbee]

Time to test the rheostat on this OE appearing sender unit.

Full = 10.8 ohms = darn close to what it should be at a spec'd 10 +/-

Empty out of the tank now showing 69.6 ohms on a 70 spec.

A quick drawing of how it sits in tank and 1/2 tank = 26.8 ohms

3/4 = 19.1 ohms.

1/4 = 41.2 ohms. Before I put this sender back in I'm going to take readings at every few degrees of sweep for future reproduction sender calibrations as they are mfg linear and OE is not.

This is where the little guy on my shoulder kept saying " it's a driver.. not a restoration Wayne, move along" ! Lots of PB blaster and cleaner + lots of scrubbing to carefully remove the rust and scale looking for numbers.

2947 693, jackpot, an original OE sending unit.

Manufactured on the 240th day of 1969

I had found this number first and got discouraged and then thought to myself "it's 5 digits, it's a vendor ID number.. keep looking"!

 

[dadsbee]

I think the front shocks were done...

New Monroe's in place.

Gonna cut a hole in that ceiling, my back is not liking the 6" lower that I need to have this car compared to the Bee.

I gave the gauge showing empty and the sender seeming to work correctly some more thought. Grounded out the sender wire and it sweeps past full, so gauge and wire good! Sender is good, what can it be. 56,211 miles...

And then a light bulb went off, that float seemed to swing awfully hard! Full of fuel.

Popped it off the swing arm and there's the crack.

Received a replacement lower control arm bumper reinforcing plate for my missing one (and a brake caliper anti rattle spring) from an FBBO member @70gtx440dana . Now all I need is a rebound bumper with a bolt in it.

 

[kiwigtx]

Just got back a short time ago from my storage locker...have a brake hose here Wayne.
measures 368mm ...which in old money is a 'CH' under 14-1/2" ....let me know if it the right one for you. I am quite sure it is a spare I bought back in the mid-eighties for my Road Runner...never used in the end. I used the two fronts but never touched the rear.

 

[dadsbee]

Looks right, but I think it's 2 inches longer than mine (although I can't be positive it's OE anyhow). I'll have to go out to the shop and check..

The real mystery is why my ordered Dorman H73278 hose didn't fit.. as it's supposed to replace the OE 3461728. Hopefully Dorman F'd up and put the wrong smaller fitting on the block end and I don't have some mutant block and hose on the car.

 

[kiwigtx]

Looks right, but I think it's 2 inches longer than mine (although I can't be positive it's OE anyhow). I'll have to go out to the shop and check..

You might need the extra 2 inches for high speed lift.....