Restoration of our 62 4 speed Jetfire

[graytoad]

Diamond Back does not make tires. They take name brand black wall tires and customize them for you. You are still limited to what is available in specific sizes: as we know not all brands come in all sizes and they deal with many major brands. They actually use a vinyl product and the black rubber can not bleed thru like the old white walls did so the ‘white’ stays white. They also offer red line, gold line, blue line etc. I have the wide whites with baby moons on my 63 long box Chevy and they look as good as they day we got them; very easy to maintain.

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[jensenracing77]

I started on this tank a year ago. The original tank was not undercoated and was really rough. It even sprung a little leak at the seam. I pulled this tank from another 62 Cutlass and was undercoated. So far, All the Jetfire cars and parts cars I have had never had undercoating on the tanks and the Cutlass’ cars did. I already had the tank dried out and safe from flames last year. I decided to finish removing the undercoat today. I use a little propane torch and heat up the undercoat and then it comes right off with a putty knife. Then the black greasy spots come right off with a little WD-40. The tank still has a really nice zinc finish to it. I will need to touch up some places but it is very nice. I am not going to repaint it and use as is other than a couple touch up spots. I am going to clean and paint the top side. The inside is as nice as the outside but sadly, I did not close off the sending unit hole and a mouse started a nest inside. I am just glad it didn’t have time to ruin the tank from mouse pee.

Also found the date code. Luckily, the date still matches my car very well.

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[jensenracing77]

More bead blasting today. Also cut out the rubber strips for the front corners of the fenders. I wanted to find staples like the originals but I will likely just get some wire and make my own. My original parts for the headlight area were not any good so luckily I have some good ones from another car.

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[jensenracing77]

Had some time tonight so started polishing the chrome interior screws. Polished them and then blew out the polish from the heads and wiped them down again. This is just a small sample of the interior screws. Man do these have lots of chrome screws on the interior.

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[jensenracing77]

I have the air cleaner finished. The decal is about 1/4 inch off center but I don’t think it will bother me any. Thought about warming it up and taking it off to redo it. I think I will just leave it as is.

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[Greg Oakley]

Eric, the assembly manual has dimensions for the air cleaner decals. It actually goes up to the cover on the side.

[Greg Oakley]

Photo of mine

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[jensenracing77]

I Knew it was in the manual but I was going by the original one from my car. I am not sure how I ended up with it off because I had them side by side. I decided to not restore the original one from my car and keep as an original reference. I ended up pulling this one off my wifes car and restoring it but I am going to do another one and the best one will go on my car. I need to pull her fluid tank off and redo it along with one for this car. Again, I will use the best of the two for my car.

[jensenracing77]

I did get word yesterday that my windshield wiper motor will be delayed. The place he is using for zinc plating has a military contract that has all priority and then Chicago shut them down over the virus. I guess the feds have to get involved over Chicago shutting them down. When they are running again, this stuff is on the back burner. He offered to send it back to me till it is all over but I just told him to keep it for now.

[jensenracing77]

The first picture is of my original air cleaner to my 4 speed car. It don’t match what the manual says. The last two pictures are of the original to my wifes car before I bead blasted it and redone it the first time. I did not know of the assembly manual at the time so took measurements of that one. It was crooked from the factory and was very noticeable. I would assume that the guy that stuck these on just got it “close enough” and sent it down the line.

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