Step one, take out the back seats, which was the easiest part of the entire job. That spare may not be this cars original spare, but, it's really damn old and pretty close. Good enough for giving people the thrill of seeing a really old tire that MIGHT be original to the car.
luckily, they are in good shape, and haven't been attacked by mice/ I've never seen or noticed the seat belt holders before, none of my previous Mopars (Barracuda, Challenger, Demon, Super Bee) had these, but, maybe these are an R/T standard item. After all, the R/T was the most expensive trim level for a reason
step two, take out the two screws and retainer pieces that hold in the rear deck cover, and there you have it, rust free sheet metal! Yay!
notice the strange variation in the shape of the speaker holes.
using the speaker box as a template piece, I took a marker and traced out the two holes, showing the difference in the holes, easily compared on the cardboard. Does anyone know why they had different sized speaker holes, but drilled for mounting 6x9s?
I used those to cut out some gaskets from thin styrofoam so the speakers are sealed to the bottom of the deck, keeping the noise of the trunk out, and the speakers from getting rubbed against the deck
I got these to help the sound get reflected into the cab, and prevent noise from the trunk from echoing the speakers, etc. They turned out to be a bit oversized, but still worked fine. I'd make them a nit smaller, but, personal preference etc.
bottom of the back seat
inside of the center console drivers side carpet covered kick panel... that date is 12/16/1968
Maybe the "C" body and "B" body are the same part number, or maybe previous owners replaced the original with this one from a junkyard car.
a Channel Master AE 6803, Deluxe Stereo
theres the 8 track mounted, but not wired in, and the center console not completely put back together, but it was getting dark, and I wanted a photo before it was too dark. Using a flash always results in too much light
and this is what my R/T looks like, in case you were curious. Up close there are a lot of scratches and scrapes that don't show up in the photo, 16 years of being in a garage getting things dropped on it have taken their toll. Better in a garage than on the street though, it's at least stayed out of the rain... 100 a month for the rent on the garage... pretty good! And only 3 minutes from where I live now
Beautiful Dodge and nice job on the tunes.
ReplyDeletethanks! I just wanted to make it more 1969-70 day two. And, well, it's just a hoot to have some 8 tracks and since the only speaker in the car was a weird 2x8 shaped thing, you can't hear the damn radio much anyway, as loud as the exhaust is through a pair of Flowmasters
DeleteA few scratches and scrapes......so what. It's a great looking ride and you can enjoy it without fear of a bang, bump or a little rain. That's my mind off car. If I can't use it I don't want it.
Deletetrue, so what is a good point. I'd rather it look as nice as when I bought it, but, the repaint was done by a couple dimwits, and they caused paint runs, and the painting was done around 1980, when there were no tail wrapping decals, so, that R/T on the side is sort of lousy. It is paid for though, and if I can hold onto it long enough, maybe I'll be able to afford to repaint it and fix the dings.
DeleteThat's a great looking ride! And a 4-speed, that's gotta be a blast for you to cruise around in. That's a "hero car" for sure and day-2ing it is a perfect way to go. I have a 69 Plymouth wagon with a Hemi, in-op now for a transmission swap from A727 to A833/Gear Vendor and you've inspired me to get hot with it!
ReplyDeleteI like it. License plate signify anything?
ReplyDeleteno, just the sequential plates that can be simply interpreted to reflect the year they were issued, which is a simple way to see what year a car was made, as long as it has california black and yellow plates
DeleteYou reminded me, I have a factory spare from '77 Caddy Seville Milan roadster that has never been used. I should try to find a Caddy collector that might be able to use it, as it's of no use to me.
ReplyDeletefacebook pages, or send me photos of it, I'll post them. There probably aren't many people with a 77 Caddy anymore... and fewer who want to pay for a spare tire. Maybe send a letter to the Cadillac clubs? Facebook page?
Deletefinally some info on your personal ride, great, congrats!
ReplyDeleteYou could update us with news on your car/cars once a while, that would be appreciated.
thanks, but the daily driver hasn't had a single thing done to it since I bought it, except warranty work... and the R/T is a money pit I haven't been able to afford to do anything with. If I were rich, I could make a blog just about it, and it's upgrades, alone. But I'm broke, and it's ridiculous how much it costs to do anything on a car.
DeleteExample, the wiring harness on the back of the 8 track has 4 pins, and the wires had been wiggled enough over the decades to cause them to break off, and so I took it to a local audio electronics repair to get the wires soldered into the pins on the harness jack, after they got the insulation stripped back.
That 10 minutes of soldering cost me 35 dollars. That's stupid. A haircut is 30 minutes of work, costs 20 bucks.
Anyway, work I can do myself I am fine with, but the parts are expensive. The tips from readers go into the car, and last year paid for back tires, and this year paid for an MSD 6AL controller, and that will be the next project after the 8 track is installed and working.
Might as well admit it, working on the ignition before I can listen to music would suck!
With the 8 track working, it will be more fun to install the ignition.
But I simply haven't had money to fix stuff on my R/T for years.
I don't think I've done any work on it in the past ten years except for new brake pads, replaced the oil pan (posted on that) instead of fixing the old deep pan with JB Weld again. Back when I bought the R/T I hadn't started this blog yet, I got the car in 2002, and started this blog in 2006.
When I got the car I still had my 69 Super Bee, so I swapped a couple things between them, like the steering wheel, sun visors, turn signal arm, ash trays, arm rest silver colored bases, light covers, and maybe a couple other little things.
I had to rewire the engine and under dash harnesses when I got the car, for safety, and the alternator was shorting out, so it got replaced. But that was 2002, and after that, I hadn't needed to do much of anything, and couldn't afford to either.
I'd like to get the radiator cleaned out, it's still 50 years old. The front suspension, steering, and tires need to be replaced.
The rear brake slave cylinders need to be replaced, the gas tank float, and the high beams ought to be swapped for the low beams, and some Hella headlights, the 30 amp ones used in off road motorcycles? Those need to go in for high beams, I did that on my super bee, and the results are amazing.
the 1969 lighting system simply sucks and has less than 1/2 the light new cars have, on regular or high beam. It's not good to be driving at night unable to see out ahead.
Oh, and I only have the daily driver Veloster and the 69 R/T
yeah, I know that maintaining/modifying a car can take some serious money. I drive a newish Mustang (Europe here), and modding a modern car is a money pit, don't even wanna think how much $$ a classic like your R/T needs.
DeleteWhat happened to the SuperBee? Sold?
Keep up the good work though, I've also sent a small tip. Cheers!
It seems most parts cost twice what I think they ought to cost... well, I guess my value system is still stuck back with what prices were before inflation. I think the cost of most everything doubles in 20 years. Price of a Snickers bar, gallon of gas, 12 pack of Coca Cola, rent, etc.
DeleteSo when I think, a pair of tires ought to cost me 100, and it's twice that? I get a bit upset at the ridiculousness of it. After all, wages don't go up, just the cost of living goes up.
The R/T would be so darn nice if I had unlimited money, and could make an Optima challenge level car... but, that's not going to happen. I don't even have ambitions in that direction. Nor do I see making a drag racer. I'll just be making it a bit more reliable and trouble free for driving, in the smallest ways, like new brake slave cyclinders, get the gas tank level indicator ( fuel gauge ) working, upgrading the ignition like I mentioned, and the headlights. That ought to be all I can afford for this year and next year.
The Super Bee was a piece of junk that a redneck had, and he took all the nice stuff off it, and put all the bad stuff on it, and I wanted a cheap B body that was driveable.
Over the course of 5 years starting in 1993 or 4, I bought it for 2600, installed emergency brakes, replacing the factory cable that had been sheared off, replacing the brake pads, slave cylinders, power booster, master cylinder, replacing the steering box with a fresh rebuilt unit, replacing the fuel tank with a new one to get rid of the leaking old one, new carpet, new shocks, upgrading the radiator core support from a 22 to a 26 inch frame from a junkyard car, then installing a new 26 inch repop radiator, replacing the 383 heads with some 906 castings I took over to a machine shop for a new valvetrain, and 5 angle valve job, new carb, upgraded from points to Mopar electronic ignition, swapped out the green interior parts to junkyard black ones, new junkyard wiring harness to replace the chopped up backyard hacked harness, new glove box cardboard, new tires and rims etc etc. after 6 or 7 years I was going to get the body worked on to eliminate rust, but was convinced that I ought to sell it and get an R/T with all the stuff I really wanted, a bigger engine, 4 speed, Dana 60, and rust free body. Sold the bee for 5k, bought the R/T for 26k
Thanks for the tip!