A Friend and Restoration Enthusiast (Nathan R.) asked if I would post some detailed photos of the completed Underside. I’ll take a quick detour from the Interior to post these pictures per his request. These do not show the finished Inspection Marks and some of the hardware still needs to be tightened/secured. Thanks for the inquiry Nathan!

Here are a few photos of the finished Underside. We still have to add the inspection marks & secure some attaching hardware but the Exhaust, Suspension and other components are in place.

Here are a few pictures of the Factory (date coded) Exhaust System for this Project. We (ECS) manufacture all of the components for these Exhaust Systems.

As with any project of this magnitude, there have been a few set backs. We had used an original Rear Sway Bar from another car but after installing it, the appearance was not acceptable. It had too many pits and did not look like a new component. I located an NOS unit and restored it to “like new” condition. The old unit had to be removed which caused the problem of having us to correctly re-blend the Undercoat. Making sure the pattern matched was crucial. We had to take into consideration the exact amount of material to be applied to match the surrounding areas as well as the trajectory that it was originally sprayed. After the NOS unit was bolted into place, we taped off the surrounding areas and sprayed the brackets and Bar Ends. The process went as planed and the repair is undetectable. Here are a few photos of the NOS replacement unit installed and complete.

I’ve had quite a few inquiries about the Vent Tube Tape that is located on the Rear Axle Housing. There are a few details surrounding this topic that others may have more information about. The Tape was used to cover the threaded Axle hole during shipment to the Assembly Plant. I can’t be sure if they were suppose to remove this Tape on the Assembly Line, prior to installing the Vent or if the Line Workers accidentally left it in place. I have seen quite a few original examples with the Tape still in place and others that had no signs of it ever being there.

There were also variations of the Breather/Vent Fittings. One had a thicker hex head and longer threads. The other had a thinner hex head and shorter threads. Both shared the same part number. Most of the earlier versions that I have documented exhibited the thicker hex head and longer thread shaft. I don’t know why they were manufactured with these minor changes. Pictured below are a couple of NOS examples. One is dated 1984 and the other is dated 1986. The label showing the date is not when the Parts were manufactured. That date was when the part was pulled from inventory (for shipping) from a “Picking Ticket”. One has the older Chrysler packaging used in the mid Seventies. The other has the newer style packaging that was used in the Nineties.

Here are a few pictures showing the Tape used on the 4 Door Axle Housing, the variations between the Vent Breathers and a couple photos of original examples.