69 Coronet 440 project

[roadrunnerman]

Make sure when you start on your frame that you go far enough up the rail till you find good solid metal so you have as good of a strong weld bond as you can get. You're not alone, i'm sure others have done what you are about to do and I have to do the same thing on my frame rails also. So if you get yours done before I do, i'm going to keep a close on this to help me when it is time.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

First off I just found your buildthread and you're off to a great start! I love '69 'Nets and 'Bees, and very cool you're passing the hobby down to your son. I'm 21 so I'm always asking my dad stuff about this or that or how to do something on my Charger and we have a lot of fun with it. :icon_thumleft:

Make sure when you start on your frame that you go far enough up the rail till you find good solid metal so you have as good of a strong weld bond as you can get. You're not alone, i'm sure others have done what you are about to do and I have to do the same thing on my frame rails also. So if you get yours done before I do, i'm going to keep a close on this to help me when it is time.

:iamwithstupid: Make sure you're grafting onto good solid metal when you weld in your new piece, but that option should work fine! I also agree with Prop on bending up your own patch, that wouldn't be too hard and would save you a penny or two if no one on here has a donor car they'd cut a section off of for you

Also that rust in the windshield area doesn't look too bad, over on my buildthread (theres a link in my signature) I'll be doing a step-by-step this weekend on fixing similar rust in my rear window surround. My rust is just a little worse lol. :icon_thumleft:

And just a note on subframe connectors, those are the very last thing you'll want to put on the car. The manufacturer will tell you in the instructions that the car has to be fully assembled and ready to drive before installing, as the subframe positions relative to each other will shift as you add weight. Definitely a good upgrade though

Keep us updated! Looking forward to seeing it back on the road
ccasion14:

 

[Propwash]

And just a note on subframe connectors, those are the very last thing you'll want to put on the car. The manufacturer will tell you in the instructions that the car has to be fully assembled and ready to drive before installing, as the subframe positions relative to each other will shift as you add weight. Definitely a good upgrade though

Good point!

 

[BigBlock61]

So if you get yours done before I do, i'm going to keep a close on this to help me when it is time.

So it's a race. Ok 1, 2, 3, GO!............Oooh Cheetos

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I'll be doing a step-by-step this weekend on fixing similar rust in my rear window surround. My rust is just a little worse lol. :icon_thumleft:

Can't wait to read that. I'd rather fix the one I have, versus buying new.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Can't wait to read that. I'd rather fix the one I have, versus buying new.

Yep it ain't no thang, pretty simple spot to patch and saves quite a few pennies from buying new! I should have that posted after this weekend as long as I don't hit any unforeseen roadblocks. *knock on wood lol

 

[BigBlock61]

With all the rain we had here last night I decided to try to straighten up the garage to make it easier to work in. It's amazing the stuff I had buried away and forgot I had.



A Carter AFB Carb




A Holly Carb with the Mouse Nursery option.




A dual point dual coil distributor for a RB Mopar.




Finally a Mallory RB Distributor. Time to do some research to find out what these are and go to. Then Craigslist to see if anybody wants them. Maybe I should do a good cleaning and see if there's a hemi buried in there somewhere. lol

 

[BigBlock61]

Now that I know that I have to replace a section of the frame rail in the back I now have a direction. Today I started removing panels so I can have access to the section of frame rail that I need.



I removed the tail panel and I think it will be easier to just replace it than try to fix it. One too many holes and dents for my liking.



Tomorrow I will remove this section of floor so I have access to the rail that needs to be replaced.



I did learn a valuable lesson today. Against the advise of this board I bought a cheap spot weld cutter.



After 30 welds this is what it looked like. I'm going to order a Blair tomorrow.

When I removed the coroners from the tail light panel I broke all the studs. This sucks!



The good news is that I'm going to pick up some new metal tomorrow morning. I'm getting the trunk floor, The extensions, The RR frame rail, and possibly the rear cross member extensions if they have them in stock. Stay tuned more to come!

 

[BigBlock61]

Just got back from a metal run to Shermans. Now I really feel like I can get something accomplished on the Coronet. I got lots of funny looks driving down the freeway with a trunk floor strapped to the roof of my Taurus. lol Everything else short of the one piece floor should fit inside the Taurus from now on.

Propwash I ended up buying a rear frame rail. The thought of fabbing one up was a little intimidating. I'm not there yet.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

I did learn a valuable lesson today. Against the advise of this board I bought a cheap spot weld cutter.
After 30 welds this is what it looked like. I'm going to order a Blair tomorrow.

LOL no worries, I learned the same way you did. Also when you buy the Blair one make sure you get the "Premium Rotabroach," the cheaper Blair "spot weld cutter" will last about as long as the one you posted. "Damn Chinesium cutting tools!!"

Making some good progress, keep it up! :icon_thumleft:

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And nice score! New sheet metal is always a sight for sore eyes

 

[Basket case]

keep up the great job! :happy1:

 

[hunt2elk]

X2 on the Premium Blair cutter. The double ended ones don't last nearly as long. That new metal sure looks nice - I think you made the right decision on the frame rail.

 

[747mopar]

Nice car, always liked the Coronets. I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents worth of advice, most of these guys have heard me say it before but I'll say it again "check your spot welds closely". What I'm referring to is the factory spot welds in the overlapping panels especially where the front and rear floor pans meet and where the quarter panels are welded to the trunk gutters. When I was doing mine I noticed that mine where sunken deeply, I ended up drilling the welds out and found a thick build up of rust pushing the panels apart. Left not repaired I'm sure it would have led to rust stains coming out of the seams. Those where the only two spots that I found it but it's worth looking at. Keep plugging away

 

[BigBlock61]

When I was doing mine I noticed that mine where sunken deeply, I ended up drilling the welds out and found a thick build up of rust pushing the panels apart. Left not repaired I'm sure it would have led to rust stains coming out of the seams. Those where the only two spots that I found it but it's worth looking at. Keep plugging away

I've already found that. Mine is where the trunk floor meets the rear cross member on the passenger side. When I removed the tail light panel I noticed it through the rust holes.

 

[roadrunnerman]

Just think, if you had a couple mattresses tied to your roof everybody would've thought that was normal. That new trunk floor is going to make it look completely different.

 

[BigBlock61]

WOW nobody ever told me what a pain in the azz it is to cut out spot welds. 30 more to go and the trunk floor will be history. From there I can start removing the rotted frame rail. Pics to come later. it's raining today and I have midterms to study for, so no working on the "Net" today

It's fun being a single dad, working full time, going to school, and restoring my Coronet. LOL Thank god the kids are old enough to fend for themselves. Break times over back to studying.

 

[BigBlock61]

finals and midterms are over so I have time to work on the Coronet again. I rechecked the level on the car and measured everything. Now that I know where everything is located I started removing stuff. I finished removing the trunk floor.



From there I removed the shock tower. I thought this was going to be spot welded in place. The ends were stitch welded in place. Time for the grinder.



I removed the spot welds from the center trunk cross member on the right side. I figure it can help with realignment of the new rail. Then the fun part! After measuring the new frame rail I transferred those measurements to the old frame rail and marked where to cut. I gave myself an extra 1/2 inch on the old rail for fitment. and I cut!




I then started to clean up the left frame rail. I was removing the undercoating and found this.



RUST HOLES!!! It looks like I can patch this portion though. I'm not replacing the other side unless it's necessary. With the frame rail removed, it looks like it would be easier to patch the inner wheel well rust. I'm going to see if any of the trunk metal can be used for the patch. This way I can keep as much of the original metal as possible.

 

[hunt2elk]

That weak area in the other rail sucks. Hopefully it is just that small area. Maybe you could get a portable blaster in there to be sure. It would be a shame to fix the spot you see and then find out later that more of it is not in the best condition.

 

[BigBlock61]

That weak area in the other rail sucks. Hopefully it is just that small area. Maybe you could get a portable blaster in there to be sure. It would be a shame to fix the spot you see and then find out later that more of it is not in the best condition.

That's what I plan to do today. When I removed the trunk floor there was a mouse home right on this spot and it was damp. Hopefully that was the cause of the damage. If I have to replace that rail....... It's only money and time. :edgy:I'm in to deep to give up now. I'm looking forward to cruising in the Net.

 

[hunt2elk]

That's what I plan to do today. When I removed the trunk floor there was a mouse home right on this spot and it was damp. Hopefully that was the cause of the damage. If I have to replace that rail....... It's only money and time. :edgy:I'm in to deep to give up now. I'm looking forward to cruising in the Net.

Mice caused problems on my project too. Your mindset is the same as mine - in to deep to turn back now. Might as well do it right the first time and move on.

 

[BigBlock61]

Today was a good day to work on the Coronet. (I really need to come up with a name for this project.) I went out and checked the new frame rail against the old one. The rear hole on the new rail was 3/4 of an inch forward from the old one. of course that was the hole I used for my measurements. This was measurement A on Donnys measurement pic. I'm also finding out that my measurements are different than what the image shows. Dimension A on the Coronet was 64 1/2 inches and I had to take away 3/4 of an inch for the new rail. Dimension B was 37 inches even and dimension C was 31 3/4 from the bottom of the rail to my floor.





From there I did a test fit to check the length. and I took a grinder to the frame on the car till it fit. After that my daughter marked the final position so it was easy to tell if anything moved.







She when let the world know that she helped



After that it was check the measurements A,B,C from the chart. Recheck the measurements. Recheck one more time and tack into place.



This feels really good because it's finally a step towards completion. :blob1::yes:

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After careful consideration I think I'm going to replace the left frame rail too. There's a lot of rust pitting on the inside and after blasting the small rust holes got bigger.