MrMopar's 1969 California Highway Patrol restoration

[MrMoparCHP]

If the garage was detached there would be no requirement to even drywall it. Being attached they must create a fire separation. My parents house built in the 60's they only did the one wall and did it all the way to the roof surface, here they chose to do the full garage (probably faster, or the code changed). The joints must be taped and they do a quickie at that, no care about finish as it will not get a texture as it is just a garage.

So short answer, Building Fire and Safety Code requires it.

Alan

 

[ayilar]

I had the original water pump rebuilt

Where did you get the work done? Was it shot/completely rusted inside, or was it in better shape?

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Where did you get the work done? Was it shot/completely rusted inside, or was it in better shape?

The one on the car was the wrong style and I had a housing with a pump on it that I found in a parts car. Not knowing the history I chose to have it rebuilt.
Kellogg Automotive - Water Pump Rebuilding - Water Pump Parts - Obsolete Parts Manufacture
At the time it was $97.50

This was before it was rebuilt, if I recall it did spin.

Alan

 

[tbm3fan]

I had to get out the passenger side on both cars, there is just enough room in front of the Barracuda to walk in and along side.


Alan

Plenty of room. I have a similar garage with storage shelves on both sides along with washer/dryer on the back side and easily get two cars in there. Of course, once in I need to get out of them and that is where I morph into..... The Thin Man who can squeeze out in 10-12" of space.

 

[ayilar]

I chose to have it rebuilt.
Kellogg Automotive - Water Pump Rebuilding - Water Pump Parts - Obsolete Parts Manufacture
At the time it was $97.50 (...) if I recall it did spin.

Thank you, helpful info -- including the fact that it did spin. Mine is shot inside, let's see.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Spring Fling weekend, Saturday I was in the swap trying to get rid of much of my leftovers, only did about $500, some good stuff didn't sell.

On Sunday I took the Polara, they had us practically in the parking lot. I didn't officially enter the show, I came in on the day two of the swap. There were no other emergency vehicles and the other car belongs to the class judge. They ended up bringing a different judge over who did a cursory judging and I ended up with another 1st place, in the box it goes. It is always nice to get the cars out and visit with people

Alan

 

[traintech55]

Spring Fling weekend, Saturday I was in the swap trying to get rid of much of my leftovers, only did about $500, some good stuff didn't sell.

On Sunday I took the Polara, they had us practically in the parking lot. I didn't officially enter the show, I came in on the day two of the swap. There were no other emergency vehicles and the other car belongs to the class judge. They ended up bringing a different judge over who did a cursory judging and I ended up with another 1st place, in the box it goes. It is always nice to get the cars out and visit with people

Alan

Looks like his has a different Grille and the side molding on the door.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Looks like his has a different Grille and the side molding on the door.

Side molding yes (Dodge mid year change)
Grill no, mine is just in the shadows.


Alan

 

[71Polara383]

@MrMoparCHP when you plugged the rear window, did you cut away the entire inner brace along the top? Was the roof stable or very flexible after the cut. I am about to do exactly what you did to my 71 Polara 2 door. Just looking for some input. Thanks.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

@MrMoparCHP when you plugged the rear window, did you cut away the entire inner brace along the top? Was the roof stable or very flexible after the cut. I am about to do exactly what you did to my 71 Polara 2 door. Just looking for some input. Thanks.

There is enough compound curve in the roof to hold its shape, my car had another roof brace about 14" forward of it so I wasn't worried about the width issue. Once you do the cut you will see that the c-pillar structure holds everything in place quite well. I would avoid removing the trunk hinge towers if at all possible.


Alan

 

[71Polara383]

There is enough compound curve in the roof to hold its shape, my car had another roof brace about 14" forward of it so I wasn't worried about the width issue. Once you do the cut you will see that the c-pillar structure holds everything in place quite well. I would avoid removing the trunk hinge towers if at all possible.


Alan

Why is that? Pain to get everything lined back up? It seems like the inner bracing under my Dutchman panel held the moisture and is pretty crusty. I have a solid plug very similar to what you started with, just for a two door.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Why is that? Pain to get everything lined back up? It seems like the inner bracing under my Dutchman panel held the moisture and is pretty crusty. I have a solid plug very similar to what you started with, just for a two door.

I had concerns about getting things lined up, I initially removed the Dutchman panel only but the hinge towers were bad (and in the way). I fist cut around them then removed the strip off the top by grinding the spot welds through. The trunk hinges have some slop so there is some room for error.

Alan

 

[71Polara383]

Thanks alot! Beautiful CHP Polara by the way. If not for this thread I'd still probably be trying to figure out the best way to attack all the rust at once...thank you. Here's my donor roof, again I am basing this aspect of my resto of of what you did. Time to start chipping away...

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Just realized I haven't posted updates.

May 12, 2018
Even before the car was done we discovered the crack in the manifold but chose to wait till we knew if was even an issue. At first it wasn't but it soon became one, the tick got so bad it sounded like a bad rocker. My friend needed to do something on his car so we moved my car to the lawn (and the Barracuda to the street) then pulled his car in so he could work on it. We put my car back in the garage and returned his car to storage had lunch and tackled mine once it cooled back off.
No real issues, I already had a replacement manifold and we made quick work of it. I kept the cracked one, not sure if is worth anything.

Alan

 

[MrMoparCHP]

June 2, 2018

An event I went to last year was a Chili Cook off in Gilroy put on by area first responders. The previous year this was in-route to another event but this time it was a different weekend. This one like most events are not in my backyard, a 200 mile 3 hour drive. About 2-1/2 hours in I hit traffic and came to a dead halt and within minutes the temp started to rise. We were creeping but it was getting to the point where I may need to pull over and I saw an intersection. I made the turn and followed the farm road with an idea it would get me around the holdup. Right away the temp dropped although I was only doing 35-40, sure enough I came upon a secondary road headed the right way. I get there and park the car, there were a dozen or so emergency vehicles and this year they had some other cars there. It was so hot out I couldn't even attempt to wipe the car down.

When I got home I checked the fuel pump push rod as I had issues with it in the past, it was perfectly fine.
Will need to look into more.

Alan

 

[MrMoparCHP]

June 5, 2018

A year ago I stopped by the Fresno Office on the way home from a show as Fresno is where this car was originally assigned. I knew they were in the process of building a new office and wanted to get a picture of the car in front of the original office. At that time they told me that the new off was going to be done soon and wanted me to bring the car to the open house, well a year later and it is done.
The drive up was uneventful and I made it to the hotel in a neighboring town. The next morning I headed to the new office and parked the car with some other display cars. During the event I was able to get a picture of the recently appointed CHP Commissioner Stanley Warren.

Alan

 

[MrMoparCHP]

June 23, 2018

While at the Fresno event I was told about another event in a couple weeks in Mojave. Knowing it may be hot I had my Mechanic friend look the car over and make some adjustments to the timing and carburetor. Again a 3-1/2 hour drive, and again about 1/2 hour from my destination I hit traffic behind a slow truck on a grade. Soon as I saw it I slowed down and tried to time it with the top of the grade, I couldn't drive slow enough and was in line pretty quick. Needless to say it started warming up again and again I was looking for a place to pull over. Just as I spotted a wide shoulder the truck pulled into it and on we went, once rolling the temp dropped back to normal.

After a quick picture out front I pull the car in and join the others, as always the car is well receive with the public and the Officers, "Chipper" even liked the car.

I chose to take a different route home, not sure either of them was going to be cool but the return route had more alternates if needed.

On the way home I checked in on an area known for a rouge sheriff running speeders off the highway. The severity of the curve isn't as bad as reported.

Alan

 

[MrMoparCHP]

August 10/11, 2018

The annual local car show and cruise night. The Friday night cruise was fun, probably spent more time hanging out with friends than actually cruising.
The show is a mixed show with about 300 cars.

Alan

 

[MrMoparCHP]

September 3, 2018

A while back I had noticed the right valve caver was leaking and wanted to take care of it. As soon as I pulled the cover I realized it wasn't that simple, the cover would need to be replaced. With all the heat issues the exhaust cooked to gasket and damaged to valve cover, not just the paint. A replacement cover was acquired and a heat shield exhaust gasket was used. One thing that was done at the same time was to replace the thermostat, my mechanic friend thought it may be an issue or that we could improve the flow with a different style.

Alan

 

[MrMoparCHP]

September 13-15, 2018

Off on another adventure, a 6 hour drive to Sacramento. Once again I stared at my temp gauge with hopes it would be a smooth trip. About halfway we stop for lunch but just as we pull in my friend was leaving a trail of coolant, Initially we couldn't see the issue so we let it cool and went in and ate. Refreshed we looked at it and thought it might have been a loose heater hose so we tightened it and tried, nope. It then appeared, bad water pump, coolant was coming out the vent.
Right in the middle of four parts store and none with a pump in stock, a couple said they could have one in by 4:00 but not wanting to wait I drove 20 miles to the location and get it myself saving us 2 hours. When I got back the old one was already pulled and we got it back together pretty quick (sorry no pictures of our little mishap).

Back on the road we stopped at one of the CHP inspection stations that we often do, pump is doing just fine.

We continue to the event location where we were told where the display cars were going to be?? We later found out that many people didn't even know the cars were there, previous events there would be countless numbers looking at the cars,a constant flow, this year maybe a dozen.

On the way home my friend raced past me and exited the freeway, I followed and he was telling me he heard a loud bang and a bunch of rattling. Upon inspection we discovered the tailpipe hanger came free of the clamp, he said it happened right after a bump, probably the muffler hitting the ground.
No sooner than we got going he did the same thing, back off the freeway he said parts are falling off the car, we looked it over and found nothing and it was running fine, then we spotted it, delaminating tire.

Just once I'd like to have a trip with no issues.


Alan