Help me get my 1968 Coronet coupe into the 12's...

[daniel_depetro]

I will definitely re-weigh the car again, as I get free weighs on a local certified scale.

It was a super lightweight (if there is such a thing..hahahaha) base model Coronet.
Do I mean base model.
The only thing it originally came with were Am radio & the chrome mouldings (drip rails, belt line, B-pillar, and rocker panel).
I mean the dash is all steel with no plastic trim panels covering it even. I didn't even think they made them like that in the 1968-70 B-bodies.
Of course everything is manual and being a coupe I don't have any window winding mechanisms in the rear either.
I do not carry the jack & spare tire around in the car either.
Granted neither is serious weight, but just helping show why this one maybe lighter then most fully dressed B-bodies.

There is definitely more weight to be lost though as the body is 100% steel and I have not cut anything up, though I doubt I ever will on this car.
However I would like to get a new set of headers so I can get a mini-starter to fit, as well as upgrade to the 10.5" clutch & flywheel set-up with a blowproof belhousing (right now I am using a stock 11" flywheel, cast iron 11" belhousing, and 11" 23-spline perfection clutch).
The transmission is a 1970 all cast iron 4-speed unit and the driveshaft is a factory 1968/69 Road Runner piece.

 

[Revhendo]

You really need to take a look at your suspension. IF you still have all of the stock /6 stuff under there, you are leaving a lot of potential on the table. All the power in the world won't help you if you can't put it to the ground.
Side note: Running 12's is great, but not a lot of fun if it takes you longer to stop.
How are the brakes?

 

[daniel_depetro]

They work great, but will definitely be upgraded.
Manual 4-wheel drums; original small finned drums in the front, original 11 x 3" finned drums in the rear.

I know it's not ideal, and I'm a fan of big brakes and hard cornering but obviously not with this car. The only time I really run it hard is at the track. On the streets it's just a "mean" cruiser that's in no hurry to go anywhere.


I will definitely be upgrading the suspension over the summer as paychecks allow for it.
Afterall making $8.60 before taxes doesn't leave a lot of room for my Mopar obession.
Most of my paychecks go towards the family and the rest towards paying insurance and fuel for these old pigs.

 

[UrbanXX]

Since you said you wern't going to spend much more money, which I can understand.

Sometimes small things can get overlooked.

Check and see if your engine has a windage tray installed, it should but could have been overlooked.

A windage tray in the oil pan is usually good for about 15 horsepower and this is cheap horsepower.

Hang in there you can do it.

 

[69HEMICORONETR/TCONV]

A windage tray in the oil pan is usually good for about 15 horsepower and this is cheap horsepower.

:yes:

 

[poppaj]

Tunede and driven properly it should run 12.5 area with what you have.

 

[B1satellite]

Make sure to have the dist. recurved. They rarely package those for each individual engine. And those new heads might not be the hot ticket on a stock motor. They have the same chamber volume so your compression ratio stays the same. On top of that, they are aluminum so they conduct too much heat out of the motor that it doesn't already make.

 

[lazermule]

They work great, but will definitely be upgraded.
Manual 4-wheel drums; original small finned drums in the front, original 11 x 3" finned drums in the rear.

I know it's not ideal, and I'm a fan of big brakes and hard cornering but obviously not with this car.

I wouldn't be afraid of those brakes (as long as they are working perfect). I run the same ones on my Roadrunner running 10.90-11.00 and they work great. They are light and have less drag than disk brakes. Again, have a look at them and make absolutely certain they are working perfectly and they'll do fine IMO.

 

[rdrunner6pack]

my brother's 71 GTX with a stock 440 6 bbl with a 509 mopar cam,727 tran's and 3.55 gear's On drag radial's has gone 12.85@107mph.

 

[lazermule]

my brother's 71 GTX with a stock 440 6 bbl with a 509 mopar cam,727 tran's and 3.55 gear's On drag radial's has gone 12.85@107mph.

Pretty darn respectable with those gears....:yes:

 

[FrankieG]

replace the heavy advance springs in the distributor with the lite type springs.

 

[daniel_depetro]

Ok, long time and no update.

I'm finally going to bring the car out for the first time this coming weekend.
We'll see what happens!

 

[1badgtx]

4.10 gears will help...A holley 750 dominater will also help!!!!
Petty Blue 67 GTX

 

[lazermule]

Ok, long time and no update.

I'm finally going to bring the car out for the first time this coming weekend.
We'll see what happens!

So what happened? How did it go??

LM

 

[daniel_depetro]

I don't know yet, I just posted that about 50 minutes before you quoted it!
:icon_lol:

It will be going as is. I don't have time (or money) to swap any parts out. I'll also have to make do with the gears and the old street tires the car has on it.
Unfortunately our "local" track (~4 hours away) had some washing out issues and went to 1/8th mile for the rest of the year (this is the last weekend for racing).

 

[lazermule]

I don't know yet, I just posted that about 50 minutes before you quoted it!
:icon_lol:

It will be going as is. I don't have time (or money) to swap any parts out. I'll also have to make do with the gears and the old street tires the car has on it.
Unfortunately our "local" track (~4 hours away) had some washing out issues and went to 1/8th mile for the rest of the year (this is the last weekend for racing).

Silly me, should have looked at the dates. I'm going this weekend too...

 

[daniel_depetro]

What should I aim for with the timing?

 

[Manifold]

What should I aim for with the timing?

Whatever your engine likes. I'm still a fan of using a vacuum gauge to set timing.

My quick list:
- Disconnect vacuum advance, if equipped.
- Ensure your mechanical advance is all in by ~3000 rpm.
- Determine initial timing by advancing to achieve the highest vacuum then back timing off for a 1-2* drop in vacuum. Write down this number (best have a timing tape or a degreed balancer).
- Determine total timing by holding rpms above all in rpm, advance timing until highest vacuum is reached. Write down this number, and reset distributor to initial timing number.
- Adjust mechanical advance to match these number. For example, if your motor liked 18* initial and 38* total, set mechanical advance to provide 20* of advance.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

start taking weight out the car. things you don't need and remember every 100 lbs. is a tenth off your et.

 

[daniel_depetro]

Other then spending a lot of money (that I don't have) or cutting the car up I don't think I can get it much lighter?!?!
If I can, I'd love to hear some tips/pointers.
I'm not removing seat springs, a fuel strap, or window regulators to do it either.



OK, I got the numbers, and they're not pretty!
I wasn't expecting much as this is the first time I drove the car at the track and in fact, it's the first time I drove the car since it went in storage back in October of 2009! Worst of all I only have about 10 miles in the car in the limited time I had it together before it went to storage.

At the very least I have a baseline and now we can go from there and the weekend went extremely well.


My 2001 Ram with the 1968 Dodge Coronet 440 4-speed loaded on the 2006 18' Road Warrior trailer.

I was kind of bummed that W.I.R. is running 1/8th mile since they have had the wash out issues, but anything is better then nothing.
Unfortunately it rained the entire trip down and they cancelled the Real Street Drags / Test 'N Tune Friday afternoon. At least we're able to have a nice sit down dinner, do some swimming, and get some rest at a nice Motel.
I woke up took my son swimming for a bit (again), cooked us some golden malted waffles for breakfast, packed everything up, and we left for W.I.R.
Saturday morning was the final points elimination race, and we arrived just in time to get two qualifying passes in. I wanted to unhook the tiny 1-7/8" exhaust that would surely be plugging up the 440, but being in the street class "full muffled exhaust" is mandated.
I found a spot to park both rigs (Dad brought down the 1972 Dart with the supercharged 360 and we hustled to unload the Dart & Coronet. We were pretty late so I jumped in and drove up to the staging lanes immediately while dad stayed back with the Dart to check the fluids.
Shortly after it was time for me to make my first pass in the Coronet. I launched from idle and let the clutch out slowly. First gear was still useless and when I hit second it wheel hopped like crazy. It went into third with a chirp and it finally settled down but I was already at 1/2 track at this point. The car pulled pretty strong, but I knew a good time was never going to happen that day with the old hard 265/50R-15 radial all seasons, weak/tired slant six sleaf springs, non functioning shocks, and puny exhaust. I was surprised how well the OEM parts store clutch worked actually. No doubt limited traction helped it survive.
I hit the return road and rolled down my window to pick up my time slip. A disappointing time, but at least I now had a baseline. 10.42 E.T. @ 71.45 MPH was all I could muster. I left the time slip shack and saw the Dart charging down the strip and the could hear the supercharger spinning. Sounded great!
I drove around and got right back in the staging lanes for my second qualifying run and waited for dad to catch up.
Once he showed up in the staging lanes he said the car hesitated hard on launch and then came on all at once and spun the tires out of the gate in first and then a tiny bit in second. His time slip still put mine to shame. He ran a 9.5x E.T. @ 80.x MPH.

My second run was actually worse. I left basically the same way but rolled on the accelerator pedal at a much slower rate to avoid so much wheel spin. When I hit second the back end stepped out and it was like the car was on ice. I put it in third and just finished with it pegged from there. 10.62 E.T. @ 70.89 MPH.

My dad had much better luck in the Dart this run and ran a 8.85 E.T. @ 81.xx MPH.

Qualifying was over and it was time to race. I dialed the Coronet in with a 10.35 E.T. and I dialed the Dart in with a 8.90 E.T.

Round 1 of eliminations paired me up against Brian Hegemeister from Ishpeming, MI in his mid 2000's Camaro. He redlighted and I ran a 10.70 E.T. WOOT! I was moving into Round 2.
Dad's Round 1 luck was not as good and he redlighted. Too bad because he ran extremely close to his dial in and probably had a good shot in Round 2. We loaded up the Dart then & there.

In Round 2, I decided to bump my dial in back a bit to a 10.50 E.T. I was against a vehicle with a similar E.T. (though I forget what it was). I took off even easier and it was the same old, same old. Though I found myself in third a tad earlier then the past three runs and the other guy was nowhere to be seen. Instead of hitting the brakes and hoping for a win, I just ran it through to a 10.00 E.T. @ 73.55 MPH. Of course I seriously broke out which put me on the trailer. This run also had my best 60' time of 2.475 E.T.
The others were 2.616 E.T. (Qual #1) / 2.680 E.T. (Qual #2) / 2.618 E.T. (Rnd #1).

Good news is we had a ton fun and nothing broke. Other then an extreme shortage of time neglecting me to get the tachometer installed in the Coronet or the much better flowing B&M street scoop on the Dart (stopped by Advance Auto parts in Escanaba, MI to get all the parts needed for both) we didn't even have any problems!


Now hopefully the car will be "ready" first thing in the spring. Then I can start swapping parts and trying new things (and will be surely asking for a lot more help).