Biohazard

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Side note: I'm so much happier here in Northern New Mexico. I see really nice classic cars all the time. Its like people who are into old car keeping gravitate here for the dry climate but whatever the reason, seeing these things on the road is just amazing.
 
In fact, my GTI needed a quick exhaust fix and here's what I found in the shop.

 
I think you landed where you belong and your ride will be happier with the drier air. Good to see you back in the saddle!
 
Good news!

An exhaustive nationwide search of craig's list postings turned up a '69 driver's side grille in eastern North Carolina which was delivered to my door just today. I now have all the necessary pieces!
 
Glad to see you haven't stalled out. Perfect parts are hard to find.
 
Lolz, 69conv...definitely not searching for perfect. In my case, just 'right' will do.

I haven't been able to look the part over in person. I've been out of town since I bought it. But if it looks appreciably better than the one I already have, I may consider buying his other one. Just need to be careful about throwing good money away. Car still needs a lot of material goods before I can even drive it to the gas station.
 
Kinda in the same spot. Lotsa parts I want but gotta prioritize. Concentrating on getting it running first and prettify later.
 
Time to work on these grilles. Everyone knows how much fun this is, especially the hours you spend reading the package of every adhesive on the shelf at Home Depot only to have that one seemingly perfect glue bond to your project about as effectively as baby oil.

Loctite's super glues...don't bother. I am having good results from JB weld's Plastic Welder putty (comes in a stick).

After breaking down the grille assembly, I glued the missing chunks back into the rest of the surround with the JB putty, let it set up, sanded the joints down on the visible side, and lightly sanded the entire inside (for paint prep) and the outside (for better bonding).









I wrapped the surround with some lockwire once the broken-out pieces were reattached to help pull the entire assembly together. It's also keeping all the cracks pulled together so that I can just go around the outside and add some plastic welder putty.
 
So I want to post this photo, shot it just the other night, because it's fairly significant. First, you can see that the car is actually sheltered properly and that's a big deal for what I think are obvious reasons. Its nice to not have her sitting, exposed, in the driveway. Secondly, if you read back to the earliest part of this thread and recall how horrendous the mold contamination was on this thing, the fact that she's now being kept INDOORS is simply tremendous. It means that the decon project was a success and, after seeing plenty of 90+ degree days here, I have yet to smell anything remotely funky in the enclosed space.

 
That broken off rocker shaft bolt...got it out last weekend. Since I snapped it trying to use too big of a torque wrench, I figured I may have over-stressed all of the rocker shaft bolts so I replaced them all.

 
and...still picking away at the grilles. Today I straightened all the bent bits and shot it with gloss black epoxy paint. For those wondering, matte silver is going on the surrounds and lamp bezels. The honeycomb is the only area where I'm deviating from factory specs.

 
Wow... Great thread! It took me a couple days of off and on reading to get to this point, but it was time well spent! The car has undergone quite a transformation since you aquired it, and I am looking forward to keeping tabs on the rest of the restoration!
 
Why thank you, sir! I wish things were moving faster than they are but, since the 1st of the year, events have kind of worked against that. Up until then, I was cruisin' but with the new job and the move...kinda been dragging the brakes. To further complicate, my job has me away from home for 7 days at a time though I have been trying to bring some little projects with me (like the grilles, for example) to work on during my off-time.

Need to pop the windshield back out and get that dash frame removed again for paint.
 
If anyone is interested, I have put the 68 grilles up for sale on the Mopar Exterior parts section. Taking offers.

 
Interesting....

Not what I expected to see.

Welded a upper section of a 69 beak to a 68 header. No wonder the grilles fit pretty darn good!

Do you have a replacment header or did I miss that in a previous post?
 
I think you missed that one. Picked it up in Missouri back in July. (pg 5)
 
1969383S said:
Interesting....

Not what I expected to see.

Welded a upper section of a 69 beak to a 68 header. No wonder the grilles fit pretty darn good!

Do you have a replacment header or did I miss that in a previous post?
Click to expand...

It does look pretty sweet. I bet it would sell if the right person saw it.
 
Hopefully they'll see it quick. My need to not have excess stuff hangin' about is epic.

Personally, I think it was a silly idea. They could have used an earlier nose panel and just put an earlier hood on it as well. The earlier hoods look better IMO but I love the 69 grilles.
 
Teeth & Tires said:
Hopefully they'll see it quick. My need to not have excess stuff hangin' about is epic.

Personally, I think it was a silly idea. They could have used an earlier nose panel and just put an earlier hood on it as well. The earlier hoods look better IMO but I love the 69 grilles.
Click to expand...

Agree that it would have been easier to change the hood!!!

I had my original 69 grilles fitted to a one piece fiberglass 67 front end on mine once with a 67 hood. Easy to cut the glass!!

Also like OK says I would think that header would sell. Sometimes you have to hold on longer than you want and re-coupe some cost.

Good luck as always!
 
Here's the dash frame sanded down to 320 and rinsed off. Had to shoot quick - things dry so fast out here.



Small dent in the steel had to be filled.





Need a dab o'spot putty.

 
Got the primer down on the dash frame. The little tree there kept the direct sun off my work and helped moderate the wind a tad. Excellent conditions for shooting paint!





 
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