[njsteve]

The last thing to do before taking it off the jack stands was to adjust the subframe and tighten it up. I loosened the bushing bolts and then used a tapered 3/4" brass drift to align the holes in the subframe mounts with the pilot holes in the body mounts. It worked great. I then tightened the 4 bolts to 95 pounds. I finally was able to put the T/A back on the ground again and then rolled it out of the way to sweep out the garage and clean up the workbench. I found all the little clips and nuts and things that have been flinging out of sight over the past 6 months or so. It's amazing how they all migrate to the center, underneath the car.

I Hooked up the battery and cranked the engine over just to get the oil pressure up. The factory gauge is actually still accurate. After about 5 seconds of cranking it was reading 75 pounds, which is the same as the mechanical gauge I had hooked up.

[njsteve]

I unbolted the rear spoiler, tail panel, rear lamps and bumper. You can still see where the remnants of the original set of tape stripes were. Interestingly, the factory was about 3/8" inch to the left of center. So much for assembly line precision.

[njsteve]

Here's the finished dash and gauges. I removed everything and cleaned it up (mainly removed all the dust). The 1970-73 engine-turned dash panels are nearly impossible to find in nice shape -they all turn yellow with age. I ended up disassembling mine, removing the factory clear varnish with lacquer thinner and then sprayed a new layer of clear over the aluminum. It worked great -really pops now. The switches all function properly now too, even the A/C stuff: you can hear the compressor clutch click when you trip the switch. All the gauges work too, even the clock. That was actually fun to restore. It's even rather easy, just remove the unit, take a small file (your wife's favorite nail file works perfectly) and file the set of points flat. Then spray all the gears and internals with WD-40. That's it. The clock runs, well...like clock now.

Here's the "before" shot, complete with cheesy aftermarket Grant steering wheel and stereo:

[njsteve]

Here's the "after" shot, complete with my daughter's baby shoes hanging from the mirror -she's already claimed the car as hers.
I guess that means now I have to teach her how to powershift an M-22:

[necdb3]

I found exactly the same thing with my stripe sticker under the spoiler.
They must have installed all the stripes of to the left like that.

Also found the obvious original cameo paint. My car was repainted twice. When they repainted they must have used a much brighter white. Funny how you don't really notice that the car isn't the correct color until you see it against the original. Cameo looks like it has alot of cream tint in it.

Dave

[eaglesan13]

NJSTEVE,

Nice job on the car. Is that a new steering wheel, and if so, which brand/model did you go with. If not, did you have your old one restored and who did it.

[njsteve]

That is the original wheel that came with the car. For some wierd reason one of the previous owners took it off and went with the Grant wheel instead. Luckily they saved it and I just needed to clean and repaint the adapter and then reinstall everything.

[OLDFLM72]

How do you find the time to work on the car with the kids/wife/job etc???

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by OLDFLM72

How do you find the time to work on the car with the kids/wife/job etc???

The wife lets me play out in the garage one day a week so I make the most of it. And I have moved some of the minor components into the basement to play with during random evenings. But other than that I know exactly what you mean!

[Rad TA]

Hey njsteve, I noticed the before pictures of your radio that your dash was cut out. How did you get the factory radio to work back in the dash?....Thanks

[njsteve]

About 3/4" of the edges were still there and the face plate holds in there fine. The nuts for the radio stalks hold it all in place along with the rear support bracket that bolts on the side of the radio.

[thedude]

hey Steve,

The car looks great! It's amazing what you can do with attention to detail!

BTW I bought the wheel "restored" from a guy in Canada. I'll have to look for his info if anyone is interested, as I remember the wheel cost was about $225.

I wish I was going as fast as you are, as my Black Judge project is going..... One word.... SLOW!!!!

[njsteve]

I removed the doors and trunk lid and loaded the front sheetmetal up, to bring them to the bodyman tomorrow so he can start on them. This way he can have 1/2 the car semifinished when the body arrives. More evidentiary photos show that these cars must have had their doors and trunk lids installed when they went through the red oxide primer dip. Notice that there is no primer under the hinge area at the door jam and only some seepage on top of the trunk hinge.

[njsteve]

Here's how it looks at the moment:

[njsteve]

Here is the original plastic front valance from the car. All of the mounting points are broken and it is cracked in several places...and the parts that aren't cracked are melted from a past carb fire. Next to it is the "Parts Place" reproduction. The upper flanges seem to be wider than the originals and of course the whole thing is much thinner tha the original factory piece, but it's all we have to work with at the moment until someone makes a better one. I would think that these pieces would be in high demand to accurately reproduce as the cars look so much better with the plastic valance than the steel one: you don't see the unfinished lower nose flange with the plastic valance as you do with the steel ones.

[njsteve]

I took a little break while getting my 69 Camaro sold and delivered, so now it's back to work. I sent the original radiator out to be recored and got it back a week later. I went to reinstall it and it wouldn't fit. Very strange, it was 3/4" too wide for the saddles. The following Monday I called the radiator guy (very reputable, long-time radiator overhauler and custom tank fabricator) and he was scratching his head also. Until finally he says: "Hey wait a minute I was recoring a Camaro radiator the same week...could I have switched the cores? He picks up the phone and calls the Camaro guy and asks him if he installed the rad yet. The guy says: "I was just about to, right now." The rad guy tells him: "Just bring it back now, I'll explain later." Turns out he did swtich the cores and there was a 3/4" difference in the widths for the same year cars. He redid my radiator with a new corre (and the other guy's too) and had it back to me in a few days. No charge. I have to say he was a stand-up guy about the whole thing, no questions, no excuses. You don't find that very often these days in service industries. I would definitely recommend him: Arts Radiator Fabrication in Flemington, NJ. He was surprised that I wasn't angry. I explained it this way: if it was a simple mistake that I could have made, there is no way that I would fault anyone else for making the same mistake. So I guess the lesson for all of us is the old saying: "measure twice and cut once." Or in this case: "measure twice and install once."

I also found a correct, original master cylinder on ebay for $18, complete with the bleeder screws and had my local auto parts store send it out and had it rebuilt. I installed it and filled the system with silicone brake fluid and bled it. I prefer the silicone fluid on restorations because if you ever have a leak or a drip, it won't hurt the paint. Easy insurance.

[njsteve]

I found another 1971-72 charcoal cannister and restored that. My original had some slight nipple damage (insert joke here) from the previous owner's fire. Being the dummy that I am I always wondered why they called it a charcoal cannister. That was until I pulled the filter off the bottom while having it right side up. Here's what came out: about two pounds of charcoal.

[njsteve]

Here's the new one back in the car. I reused the original hose clamps after cleaning them up a little. I went to the local pet store and bought two pounds of activated charcoal (for fish tank filter use) and poured that into the cannister and then capped it off with a new filter on the bottom. I then reinstalled it on the base and bolted it back up to the radiator support. It should actually work as intended now.

[bossbirdta]

steve, see as how your car had the orig. radiator still in it, i'm wondering if the lil stamped steel number tag was still intact? if so, was it cliped on the inside or outside of the tank?(pass. side)

[njsteve]

No, unfortunately the radiator was previously recored and that shop must have tossed it away, or it fell off on its own. They are very fragile. I had one on my Camaro Z11 and for safety sake I actually applied a large bead of black silicone sealer behind it to make sure it stayed in place: those little crimps don't hold very well after 30 or so years.