69 Coronet 440 project

[Ron 73]

X 2 Looks like things are coming together, literately! Glad to see and hear you have things figured so it will all work right, I thought the outside rocker cover was placed at the bottom there, Im confused a bit on that.. But i wish you good luck with it all!

 

[BigBlock61]

John, good to see all the great progress going on here. Wish I could say the same. Really starting to look like a car again.

Thanks Roger, as long as you still own the runner it's all good. She's just waiting for you to find the time.

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X 2 Looks like things are coming together, literately! Glad to see and hear you have things figured so it will all work right, I thought the outside rocker cover was placed at the bottom there, Im confused a bit on that.. But i wish you good luck with it all!

It's starting to Ron, and yea, the quarter extends out about 4 inches in that area. They probably didn't include it with the quarter skin so you wouldn't have to mess with the factory lead work to replace it.

 

[Ron 73]

A bit confusing isint it! Doesn't sound right for some reason and im not expert by no means, weird... With the work ive, we've seen you do i know it will look and be the way it should, sometimes patience is all we need, I walked away today gathering my thoughts, BEFORE i mess something up if ya know what i mean lol!

 

[BigBlock61]

sometimes patience is all we need, I walked away today gathering my thoughts, BEFORE i mess something up if ya know what i mean lol!

Oh I know it, right now I have a lawn chair under a shade tree. I'll stop what I'm doing and sit down and examine the car as a whole. That's usually enough to clear my mind and come up with a solution. For the harder stuff yea, I walk away for a day or two to clear the frustration.

 

[Ron 73]

If i had my wife home to keep an eye on my Gabby girl, I think i would go out and try to tackle some more but she left at 530 this AM and Gabby has been away for a few days and she slept in until about 930 this mornin lol Maybe its a good thing as im kind of tired being up and in the garage 1/2 the night, I always say the next day coming is a good day, fresh day and things will work better, lol, sometimes that works BUT! . . . . . . . Even with me watching the young one, a lawn chair in the shade is a great idea! Take a break and tackle it again the next time, your mind and you will be refreshed!!

 

[LeoD]

I love this thread! Looks killer so far.

 

[747mopar]

Oh I know it, right now I have a lawn chair under a shade tree. I'll stop what I'm doing and sit down and examine the car as a whole. That's usually enough to clear my mind and come up with a solution. For the harder stuff yea, I walk away for a day or two to clear the frustration.

Captain Morgan helps me when the going gets tough haha.

 

[BigBlock61]

I love this thread! Looks killer so far.

Thanks Leo, I'm not sure but I think there is now more good metal on the car than rusty metal.

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Captain Morgan helps me when the going gets tough haha.

So ya got a little Capt'n in ya haha.

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Today I started installing the floor. Here it is with all the holes drilled and fitted in place.



I started welding at the trans hump, then moved to the front where it meets the firewall and finished with the passenger side.



The welds aren't pretty but they are solid.



Even with screwing the floor to the frame I still had to hammer some of the holes flush with the frame, and I need to get a hole saw and cut out the hole for the seat belts.

 

[roadrunnerman]

Floor looks good sitting in there. I know when I got mine put in, I just stood there and couldn't believe how much of a difference that made things look.

 

[BigBlock61]

Floor looks good sitting in there. I know when I got mine put in, I just stood there and couldn't believe how much of a difference that made things look.

Thanks Roger, I've been saying "what a difference" a lot lately. It seems like the Coronet is at a tipping point where it's going from parts car to something salvageable. It's a good feeling.

 

[BigBlock61]

The floor is finally welded in place. It took a few days but I've been fighting a summer cold. I figure lots of nyquil, lots of beer, mix in some heavy machinery and it's all good, right? I still have all six fingers......oh wait! haha.



Now that the welding done the fun part can begin, grinding all those welds flush. After that lots of cleaning, blasting and then install the rear footwells.



I've been putting off doing the quarter on the passenger side until I figure out if I'm going to dehump the wheel wells or not. Does anybody know how big of a tire will fit under the stock wheel wells? I'd like to get a 12 inch wide tire in the back.

 

[Basket case]

275 seems to be the normn, but I do believe some have gotten bigger meats under there. floor looks great!

 

[Ron 73]

Your floor looks nice and well done! Hope your cold gets better! That weld grinding will have your ears ringing louder!

 

[747mopar]

I'm running 285's but I'm sure 295's will fit and maybe even 305's on my Charger. I dehumped mine but I did it because I knew I'd be lowering it and that hump didn't look like it would allow for much travel if filling the fenders. So I guess it all depends on if your lowering it or not. The 285's give me around 3/4" of clearance on both sides (inside wheel well to the rolled lip at the fender opening) and are about 11" wide. I'm hoping there's more available in the 295's by the time I wear these out so I can go a little wider but these hook up pretty good.

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WOW!!!!! That looks awesome 61, that sure did change the scenery in there now you can put your seat in there and start motor mouthing haha. Enjoy the progress and pat yourself on the back "NICE JOB".

 

[BigBlock61]

Ok I've been doing a lot of thinking about dehumping the wheel wells. I've read all the threads I could find about it and there doesn't seem to be a consensus for or against dehumping. Survey says! "do it if you want to." The tires I'm looking at are 315/35R17 Goodyears, They work out to be 26" tall and 12" wide. So I decided the best thing to do would be to mock up a tire and see what kind of clearance I have. So here's what I came up with.



Stock tires are about 26" tall and from this pic you can see that the top of the tire is roughly level with the opening.



My well opening is just about 14" I think I'll be trimming it so it is 14"



and the tire I'm using for the mock up is a 27.5x12-15



It's tread width is 11 "



I stuffed it up in the well as far as it would go and tried to center it in the opening as well as placing it where the axle should be.



This is where it ended up and that's about 3" into the well. Lets go with the fact that this is all an approximation and I could be off by an inch in any direction. This still leaves me with the fact that, if I'm going to use a wide tire like I want to, I have to dehump the wheel well and select the right rim offset to center that tire in the wheel opening.

 

[747mopar]

Can't argue with that! On my Charger 0 offset (5" in & 5" out on a 10" rim) centered it perfectly but it could be different for you.

 

[BigBlock61]

Can't argue with that! On my Charger 0 offset (5" in & 5" out on a 10" rim) centered it perfectly but it could be different for you.

Aww come on you can always argue haha. I would think that a Charger and a Coronet would be the same. So a 0 offset is a good starting point, and if I remember correctly, someone here had a tool to measure offset. I just don't remember who or where they go it.

 

[CoronetDarter]

Today was a good day! I spent the entire day outside working on the Coronet. I got to tryout my new needle scaler on the undercoating and, man, I love this tool!!!! It took off 1/2 inch thick undercoating like butter and got the nooks and crannies clean with no problems.

Hey BB; I never heard of a needle scaler until your thread. I was checking them out online. Can the scaler be used on other parts of the car, like the firewall and outer skins, or its it too harsh?

 

[747mopar]

Aww come on you can always argue haha. I would think that a Charger and a Coronet would be the same. So a 0 offset is a good starting point, and if I remember correctly, someone here had a tool to measure offset. I just don't remember who or where they go it.

Hunt had one for sale but I don't know if he ever sold it or not and I made my own. Summit sells them, just look in the wheels and tires section. I could always send you mine but I don't know what shipping would be (it's got a little weight to it).

 

[BigBlock61]

Hey BB; I never heard of a needle scaler until your thread. I was checking them out online. Can the scaler be used on other parts of the car, like the firewall and outer skins, or its it too harsh?

So far I've used my scaler on all of the undercoating on my car. Even on the inside of the fenders without any incident. I'll never go back to scraping off undercoating. I got mine at Harbor Freight for something like $20.00.

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Hunt had one for sale but I don't know if he ever sold it or not and I made my own. Summit sells them, just look in the wheels and tires section. I could always send you mine but I don't know what shipping would be (it's got a little weight to it).

That's where I read about it, in hunts thread. I should have thought to check out Summit but it's actually going to be awhile before I need it. Still too much rust to remove lol.