MrMopar's 1969 California Highway Patrol restoration

[MrMoparCHP]

Where id you get your bumpers re chromed? Was it expensive?

Vern's Chrome Plating in Gardena California
http://www.verneschromeplating.com/

$500 each (is phone quote was $300-$500 depending on work needed and size, no real work needed but they are big)

A friend had them do some stuff for his Dodge D-700 truck and said it is a white Mopar guy that speaks english.


Alan

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Thanks for the E-bay link, just ordered the seal package for the heater- A/C box, perfect timing as I'm getting ready to put it back together.

Great, it is nice to know the last 18 months were not for nothing.
I think he knew the orders would come in but not like other cars.

I'm still waiting for the yellow insulation and seat back board.


Alan

 

[vdk2010]

Please post some pics about fitment of the seals. The two seals I bought from DMT were not fitting without cutting them to fit.

 

[polarus]

Great, it is nice to know the last 18 months were not for nothing.
I think he knew the orders would come in but not like other cars.

I'm still waiting for the yellow insulation and seat back board.


Alan

I'll contact him, I'll be interested in those as well.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Please post some pics about fitment of the seals. The two seals I bought from DMT were not fitting without cutting them to fit.

What seals?
I got the full set for my 67 Barracuda, underdash, heater, trim, grills taillights....full set, no problems.
My friend got the full set for his 70 Cuda with no problems.

So far what I have got has been perfect.


Alan

 

[vdk2010]

What seals?
I got the full set for my 67 Barracuda, underdash, heater, trim, grills taillights....full set, no problems.
My friend got the full set for his 70 Cuda with no problems.

So far what I have got has been perfect.


Alan

I bought two gaskets for the wiper motor and the inner diameter on both were too small.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Over the weekend my friend Ron (who owns the fully restored 69 CHP Polara seen everywhere) came by to share his expertise in getting the doors back together.

With both of us working it still took 10 hours to get all 4 doors together. He started on the rear door with the runs and I sorted parts, I still had parts to two cars and not everything was labeled for which door location it belonged to. Mixed with sorting parts I was cleaning them, the glass have not been touched since the car was taken apart over 4 years ago.

I was able to keep ahead of him through all 4 doors but bearly. On the fronts I was not happy with the quality of the chrome on the vent glass bracket, so I chose to remove them from my other Polara. Easier said than done, the vent window regulator needs to be detached from the bracket to get the bracket out. That point of attachment is swaged and probably done with the vent window assembly out of the car. Once I realized that they were swaged I came of with a way to remove the swage while in the car.

Cleaned up the assemby was installed into the door (a two person job). Even still I had to remove the other side and have it cleaned up before he needed it.

Everything went like clockwork till we got to the last door (drivers). We got the vent assembly with the door glass installed and pushed it up so we could get the regulator in. The problem is the window isn't square in the door, there is no adjustment for this like on a hardtop. We loosened everthing and tried to figure it out but it was getting late and we closed up for the day.

I have a couple ideas and will look at in my next work session.

 

[polarus]

I have the same problem ahead of me, tote full of door parts with no labels.

 

[commando1]

Alan, you are probably at the worst stage in putting a car back together. The door windows. Ugh!

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Alan, you are probably at the worst stage in putting a car back together. The door windows. Ugh!

Tell me about it, when I did my Barracuda I spent several days on it. The factory service manual was of no help in fact is more confusing than it needed to be. There was a hidden channel that cannot be seen and unless you know it is there you'd never find it, getting the roller into it was another story. The Barracuda being a hardtop had its issues but once it was together getting it aligned was a piece of cake.

I hope to look at the Polara this evening and find out why the window isn't square in the frame, the vent frame may be hanging up a little keeping it from going in fully, this would cause the windw not to be square in the frame.


Alan

 

[1970cat]

your right. the service manual isn't much help with the windows. trial and error (along with shredded hands ) worked the best. very time consuming though

 

[MrMoparCHP]

It sometimes feels like I haven't been working on my car but bit by bit I'm doing something.

Recently a friend rebuilt my carburetor which opened up a bunch of stuff I could do.

I need to get a new kickdown spring but for now the original is on the car.
Original clamps were cleaned up and painted for the power brake booster and the breather cap.
The carb (as the rest of the engine) has the original hardware.

I still need to put the distributor in.

The hole in the pie tin was not centered so I took a step bit (uni-bit) and opened the hole up. The way it was the tin would jam up in the threads of the air cleaner stud.

Also got the shifter linkage in but no pictures of that.


Alan

 

[vdk2010]

That's real nice progress! Your love for details and originality is awesome! Keep it up!

 

[1970cat]

amazing work. sometimes it's the details that take the longest. i can't imagine the amount of research you have done.

 

[commando1]

Yet more fantastic work. Keep it going.

 

[vdk2010]

The oil breather was chrome from the factory? Looks a little bit lost as the only chrome piece in the engine bay.

 

[Ripinator]

Looking mighty fine there Alan. Look at that orange paint and those HP manifolds ! Aaarrff !

 

[1978 NYB]

Stunning work Alan!!!

 

[MrMoparCHP]

The oil breather was chrome from the factory? Looks a little bit lost as the only chrome piece in the engine bay.

Yup, the original was on the car when I got it. I have a picture somewhere of a CHP car showing the chrome one.

Looking mighty fine there Alan. Look at that orange paint and those HP manifolds ! Aaarrff !

The orange does look good in the black engine bay. I still think the orange is a little too orange and not more red. It should be Street Hemi Orange.


Alan

 

[polarus]

A TRUE restoration, amazing work, thanks for letting us watch the progress.