69 Coronet 440 project

[BigBlock61]

Looking good on the spring relocation ( and does that bring back some memories ) . . . and the Foreigner tune . . . that brings back some old memories too ! ! !

Keep up the good work . . . I'm waiting for this cold spell to blow by so I can get back out in the shop to get some work done - in the meantime - - - I'm working on redoing the bathroom in my house where the temps are a little more bearable . . . ( smile )

I'm glad you brought that up. It took awhile but I went back through your build and found where you did this. I have the same concerns that you had and thank god you already did all the leg work for me. haha
But seriously I'm going to have to make the same frame cutouts for the spring shackles that you made so the original geometry won't be off, thanks

 

[BigBlock61]

Not a whole lot done to the Coronet today. Had some running around to do, gas bottles to fill, and scrap metal to buy. After getting all of my running done I came home and started looking around on Craigslist. I found me a sweet little upgrade for the car.



Yup the Coronet is officially going to have a man pedal. The guy I bought it from listed it today for $1000 and I got it for $900. He told me that he had 3 other people who called him on this trans after me. I think I can believe him because when I see Viper T56's for sale on Craigslist they are gone within hours of the listing. This one is missing the throwout bearing and I'm hoping I can get one for it. I also need to get a manual for this trans because I don't know anything about them. I also figure I'm going to be studying 747 and Khans threads so I can do what they did to make this work for me.

 

[moparjohnny]

nice score there john,your coronet is going to be special,i can not wait to see the final product,you will learn all about this trans and have it mastered in short order.

 

[BigBlock61]

nice score there john,your coronet is going to be special,i can not wait to see the final product,you will learn all about this trans and have it mastered in short order.

I can't wait to see the final product myself. As for the trans I'll definitely learn it but master it???????? I did download the manual from the Tremec site and also downloaded a full tutorial from a Viper forum so I should be good.

 

[BigBlock61]

Now that the spring relocation is done on this side and the frame is boxed it's time to put the mini tub together. I ran string from the left wheel tub to the same place on the right tub so I could line up the back half of the right tub. Right now it's clamped in place. I'll screw it to the frame before tacking it in place so I can add the center strip of metal to the wheel tub.

 

[747mopar]

Sweeeeeeeeet!! Welcome to the 6 speed club, easily the best upgrade I've made to mine. 19mpg with 4:30s is a beautiful thing likely better now with the 3:55s back in it and they shift so nice on top of that. You'll love it

- - - Updated - - -

I'm just going to warn you now, build your motor with the low rpm's in mind and buy a good carb as well. Big cam motors like higher rpm's and won't be happy with that tranny behind them.

 

[BigBlock61]

:icon_study:

Sweeeeeeeeet!! Welcome to the 6 speed club, easily the best upgrade I've made to mine. 19mpg with 4:30s is a beautiful thing likely better now with the 3:55s back in it and they shift so nice on top of that. You'll love it

- - - Updated - - -

I'm just going to warn you now, build your motor with the low rpm's in mind and buy a good carb as well. Big cam motors like higher rpm's and won't be happy with that tranny behind them.

I'll keep that in mind. The cam I'm considering is good from 2000 to 6500 so if I can keep it at 2000 to 2500 RPM at 70 I should be good. I'm also thinking about running a 4:10 gear. At least that's my thought on this. I'm going to have to research this more. Thanks for the heads up. :icon_study:


After school today I made it out to the garage for some welding.



Got it tacked in place.



Then finished it off. Now to do the back half.

 

[Ron 73]

John< You have some great stuff going on with this build, Before long your going to be a threat on the street!!!

 

[747mopar]

Tubs are looking great!

I'll share my experience with the gearing. I did the math figuring my car would be in the 12 second range so 4:30 gears put me threw the traps right on the money in 4th plus put me in the ideal rpm range (2,000 rpm) for 70 mph cruising. I hated them..... it felt slow because you went threw the gears so quick and never felt like you could pull threw a gear but freeway cruising was awesome. I went back to the 3:55s and love going threw the gears again but now 6th gear is ridiculous, I'm turning about 1,800 rpm at 80 mph now. My cam is spec'd at 1,800-5,800 rpm so it's still happy but it prefers 2,000 rpm on the freeway ideally. I'd eventually like to swap 5th and 6th out but doing so requires an Austin Martin shaft which hasn't been available for quite some time. 4:10s might be a good happy medium?

 

[BigBlock61]

Tubs are looking great!

I'll share my experience with the gearing. I did the math figuring my car would be in the 12 second range so 4:30 gears put me threw the traps right on the money in 4th plus put me in the ideal rpm range (2,000 rpm) for 70 mph cruising. I hated them..... it felt slow because you went threw the gears so quick and never felt like you could pull threw a gear but freeway cruising was awesome. I went back to the 3:55s and love going threw the gears again but now 6th gear is ridiculous, I'm turning about 1,800 rpm at 80 mph now. My cam is spec'd at 1,800-5,800 rpm so it's still happy but it prefers 2,000 rpm on the freeway ideally. I'd eventually like to swap 5th and 6th out but doing so requires an Austin Martin shaft which hasn't been available for quite some time. 4:10s might be a good happy medium?

I guess the next question would be was it slower with the 4:30's or did it just feel slower?

 

[HYRDGOON]

I guess the next question would be was it slower with the 4:30's or did it just feel slower?

I got a chance to drive Dev's car with the 4:30's and as you may have saw in his thread I'm also doing the T56 conversion. I can't answer if it felt slower or was slower but I can say from a driving standpoint it did feel like you were going through first and second to fast. I immediately just went to starting out in 2nd because 1st hits the rev limiter immediately.

I'll be keeping my 3:55's as well but there are plenty of guys in here with A833's (the 1st and 2nd on T56 are the same ratio) that drive with 4:10's

 

[BigBlock61]

I got a chance to drive Dev's car with the 4:30's and as you may have saw in his thread I'm also doing the T56 conversion. I can't answer if it felt slower or was slower but I can say from a driving standpoint it did feel like you were going through first and second to fast. I immediately just went to starting out in 2nd because 1st hits the rev limiter immediately.

I'll be keeping my 3:55's as well but there are plenty of guys in here with A833's (the 1st and 2nd on T56 are the same ratio) that drive with 4:10's

So how did it pull starting in 2nd? Sorry for all the questions but I'm going to end up having a lot. I'm already considering treating 1st like a granny gear and only using it when needed. My thinking right now is to drive it like a 3 speed with overdrive. start in 2nd, shift 3rd and 4th, 5th is overdrive and 6th is freeway. From what I've been reading about the T56 the gearing seems to be it Achilles heal. you either gear it low and shift quick or gear it high and top out at 200+ mph. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. I'd like to find someone who runs the T56 with a 4:10 rear gear and see what they have to say.

 

[BigBlock61]

Ever closer to finishing the mini tub on this side. All that's left is to fit the top piece and this side will be done. I'm also going to redo the outside wheel well to completely remove the hump like hemirunner did. What can I say this site has a lot of inventive and great ideas when it comes to Mopars. Why not emulate some of those modifications and hopefully have an idea of my own to add at some point. :headbang:

 

[BigBlock61]

Switching it up a bit from all the fit, weld, grind on the wheel tubs. :buffer: I find that I have to take a brake from the metalwork, do something else, then comeback to it, so I figured I would tackle one of the issues with the T56. As you can see in the pics the trans did not come with the adapter for a shifter handle and I can't seem to find that piece by itself online. I could buy a complete shifter assembly just to get that piece but I really didn't want to do that when the shifter I have works just fine.



After going to a few of the larger junkyards in the area in search of the missing piece of the shifter assembly, I came up empty. Since I can't seem to find the piece that I need, I decided to just make it.



It looks pretty good and locks in place with the jam nut for a solid fit. :headbang:



A quick mockup with a shifter handle I had laying around in the shop. I will need to find a shorter shifter handle because I think this one would be hitting the top of the dash if I were to use it. Can anyone say ape hanger????? Now to look online or a swap meet for a shifter handle that will look good for my setup.

 

[747mopar]

When installed the shifter comes out pretty far foward for me, I ended up making an offset handle for mine to land it comfortably in my hand. I say this just as a precaution, I'd wait until it's in the car before settling on a handle.

 

[BigBlock61]

When installed the shifter comes out pretty far foward for me, I ended up making an offset handle for mine to land it comfortably in my hand. I say this just as a precaution, I'd wait until it's in the car before settling on a handle.

It's funny you should bring that up. I don't have much of a filter when it comes to message boards so what I'm thinking is usually what gets typed and I think about it later. After posting that it's time to look for a shifter I started thinking that I don't even know where this shifter is going to land in my floor. I had better wait to figure out where it's going to be before buying the handle. You'll notice that I haven't even drilled the holes for the handle in the adapter, because I don't even know that type of handle I'm going to end up with. I would like to end up with something similar to the handle that is there now, just shorter.

 

[BigBlock61]

Been having a lot of school work lately that won't let me work on the Coronet as much as I'd like. I was able to get back out to the garage today and decided to do a little work on my passenger door. Whoever owned the car before me must have loved to beat on this thing. The latch on the passenger side door was virtually nonexistent and a large hole was in it's place. The metal was twisted and jagged like the latch was ripped out of the door. Cracks radiated out from the hole and needed to be repaired. I bought the door latch repair kit from Dynamic Renovations to fix both of my doors. The piece is sturdy just as they said it would be. It's made from 16g metal so it's a bit thicker than the original doors. Here's how it turned out. i think it looks pretty good. (I never think to take pictures before I start the work, just during. :dontknow: )

 

[moparjohnny]

mr.fabricator himself, another masterpiece,by the fabmaster.

 

[mopar4don]

Nice job

 

[BigBlock61]

More work on the Coronet today after the drug test for my new job. Started working on fully removing the hump from the outer wheel well. I figure the best way to do this is to start in the middle and work my way down both sides. I should have done the same with the minitub but it's a learning curve in progress.



Pics that are close to the start of this.





Cut out the first section



My boy likes the idea of MAXIMUM TIRE SIZE!!!!!!!!!! :headbang:





Hopefully I'll be able to do more tomorrow.