My 69 Coronet project

[CoronetDarter]

Where have I been? Wow everything is coming around nicely and congrats on a really solid car coming back from media blaster. I started to cringe when I was reading about all the POR 15, that stuff is a mess and like you said a real pain to get off without just sanding your hide off. Looking good :headbang:

Thanks 747. I have to keep up the posts 'cause Mike is ahead of me now. I've come to rely on the POR. I used the semi gloss on the chassis and the hi gloss on the K and spindles and really like the finish. And it's durable. I sprayed at least 10 coats of Rustoleum Hammered copper on the LCA's and they scratched just installing them on the K member. At least they looked good for the photos. LOL...

 

[Superfreak]

Things are looking good.
I wish I had taken my coronet to the scrap yard when seeing the mess after the tear down.

 

[CoronetDarter]

Things are looking good.
I wish I had taken my coronet to the scrap yard when seeing the mess after the tear down.

I went back and searched your build thread. Awesome work you do. Fab work that members like you can do is what inspires the rest of us.

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To finish off the front suspension, a Stage III rebuild from Firm Feel. After talking to Dick we came to the conclusion that the stage III with the heaviest steering was right for me. FF even took the pitman arm off.

 

[CoronetDarter]

Happy Turkey Day Everyone

Got a few moments of down time before the guests arrive. We're having 12 - 15 people over depending on who shows. There's a 25 lbs bird in the oven, homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce, butternut squash soup, apple pies. I know I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah, a fully stocked bar. Waiting on the 49er - Seahawk game.

This week I finished up the gauge cluster. Mucho thanks to Propwash for his tutorial on converting to a voltmeter. Followed his playbook step-by-step and it came really nice. I still have to hook the harness and check for power. The link is to Prop's thread; there's not much I can add to it. Everything he mentioned in his post played out when I did it. Only I didn't have the cajones to start cutting and pasting needles so I left the vm needle alone and painted it fluorescent orange along with the others.
http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...529-Volt-gauge-conversion&highlight=voltmeter

While I had the cluster apart I changed out the bulbs to LED's and swapped in a digital voltage limiter from Real Time Engineering. I also swapped out the non-functioning clock with an in-dash tach.
I bought the black faced gauge 'cause for a short time I considered using the vm face in the dash - it didn't look good.


Some heat discoloration

As Propwash mentioned, the vm posts touch the cluster frame so you have to insulate them.

Bolts right in

Once the gas gauge is placed over the ammeter face plate and bolted down it holds it in place.

Done!

Almost looks factory. In the background is the new RT Eng. voltage limiter


LED's That's it for now, gotta tend to the turkey.

 

[CoronetDarter]

It's been a while since my last post. Between work and holiday prep I haven't been working on the car much, maybe a couple hours a week. I did manage to take apart and refurb the dimmer switch. When I got the car the dash gauges were barely illuminated and rotating the thumb wheel didn't help. Part of the problem I found out after taking the gauge cluster apart was that a couple of the lights were missing. The LED's should brighten things up quite a bit.

The dimmer switch was nasty! It looked like it was growing hair. I found this thread on dodge charger.com on how to refurb a dash and specifically a post on dimmer switches.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,37999.0.html

The one thing I did different was to cut off the back of the rivet where it mushrooms over the cage. Nothing fits better than OEM so I wanted to keep the original rivets instead of replacing with new hardware. Otherwise taking it apart and cleaning and reassembly is pretty straightforward. As usual I took plenty of pics beforehand for reference - and I needed 'em.






I followed lilwendal's post and cleaned and sanded all contacts. The spring was glued down securely and I didn't want to damage it so I just cleaned around it was best i could using Simple Green and a soft toothbrush.

I used JB Weld on the small ends to secure the rivets. It seems to work, cage is solid.

 

[CoronetDarter]

Body work

While I've been doing my thing, Mike has been steadily working on the body work in the garage. The upper cowl needed massaging after welding it back in place. At the same time we decided to punch up the engine compartment a little by filling in all the spot weld dimples and smoothing out the pitting where the battery was. I'm thinking about moving the battery to the trunk so in the absence of a battery that area needed some work. Mike does the body work and I sand.


Sprayed with high build primer. I'm not finished sanding yet but man, it looks good!

 

[CoronetDarter]

Mikes been plugging away at the body panels. The hood, doors, RH fender, and trunk lid only needed light massaging. Time to test fit the panels. For the first time in 10 months the Coronet is looking like a car again. The panels are lining up real nice. The door/hood/fender alignment gave me the most concern, especially the drivers side. It took some tweaking and shims, but I think it fits better than it did before the accident.


Had to drill holes in the LH donor fender for the turn signal. The Coronet originally came with the fender mount turn signals and I want to leave 'em on.

 

[Ron 73]

Looks sweet! I imagine the excitement is growing big time now, it sure would with me...

 

[CoronetDarter]

Donor fender

Last year I picked up a front clip from a FBBO member. He lived outside of Tacoma, WA. My buddy and I left Sac at 4:30 in the morning towing his trailer, got to Tacoma at 5:00 pm that evening, then turned around and drove home. Twenty six hours after leaving the trailer was unloaded at my house. That was a brutal road trip.

The clip was a little rough. Not much rust but the front fenders both were bashed in at the nose, like someone tried to drive through a gate or garage door that was too narrow. Six inches later they decided the car wasn't going to fit and backed it out. But these were the best fenders I had come across, AMD doesn't make repops and there's not a lot to choose from out there. All you Coronet owners out there, better to back into something than head-on. lol. AMD makes quarter panels.

So Mike had his work cut out for him. The front of the fender is closed in from the inside so you can't get a hammer and dolly on it. In the end he cut the piece out, straightened and welded it back in. He does amazing work.


I didn't get a picture while the fender was still on the car. This is after he primered it.

For a point of reference, this is the other fender. The driver's side was in pretty much the same shape when we started.

 

[CoronetDarter]

Looks sweet! I imagine the excitement is growing big time now, it sure would with me...

Thanks Ron. It is exciting, seeing the car together again after almost a year, even if it was for only a week. Stripping the quarters is next. They'll need some work done where the trim holes were welded up. But then it's primer and paint! I gotta make a decision here pretty soon.

 

[Ron 73]

That is some real work that's been done and done good.. Seems you showed these banged up ones before without going back thru your thread, they really do look great.. Forgive me if im confusing yours with someone else but they do look familiar...

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Good luck with the quarters but i bet they will turn out good, after a year i would be excited too, FUN fun, fun! You'll get it!!!!

 

[CoronetDarter]

That is some real work that's been done and done good.. Seems you showed these banged up ones before without going back thru your thread, they really do look great.. Forgive me if im confusing yours with someone else but they do look familiar...

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Good luck with the quarters but i bet they will turn out good, after a year i would be excited too, FUN fun, fun! You'll get it!!!!

lol….I probably have shown them before. After a year I can't remember where I started or what all I've said. The closer to the end the funner it becomes.

 

[CoronetDarter]

Should have had the dash done by now

The gauge cluster was done around Thanksgiving and the frame was painted months ago, dash pad installed. Just have to put it back together, hook up the wiring harness. I decided at the beginning of the resto to add a/c and I'm going to use Classic Air. Being a non-a/c car originally I could install the aftermarket vents underneath the dash; when I bought my Dart it was setup like that and it works great. But I keep going back to Dwayne's (68 Sport Satellite) posts on his interior work and love what he did to create a factory look to his conversion. So I bought side vents from a FBBO member, cut out the dash and fitted them this weekend. It took me a long time, about 5 hours on the first vent and 2 hours on the second. But I'm pleased how they turned out. I"m not going to cut into the center of the dash; I'll have to go with the aftermarket ones. The hardest part is getting over the anxiety of cutting into a perfectly good factory dash frame. The measuring and cutting only takes 1/2 hour, the rest of the time was fitting and grinding.
Used the vents as a template.


A step drill started the pilot holes. My trusty Dremel with cutting wheel made short work of the dash frame

It's tricky because the opening at the back of the vent is 4" in length and expands to 4 1/2" where it attaches to the face plate. And it's on an angle so the hole has to be larger than the back of the vent, the excess metal is cut from the bottom of the hole. The faceplate covered up all my sins.

It took some grinding to get the hole the right size. Lastly a hole is drilled at the bottom of the dash for the vent lever.


They fit pretty good. Still need to prep and paint them.


This gives an idea of the angle you have to deal with when cutting the hole.

 

[Dennis H]

These 4 pieces purchased from Darryl at Spring Fling for the Princely sum of $400. The center vent took three donors. After seeing your install, I'm having second thoughts about the outer vents being fitted with the dash in the car. These outer vents are heavy, it was explained that the 70 application they look the same but are lightweight plastic. Learning lots from this thread.

 

[CoronetDarter]

These 4 pieces purchased from Darryl at Spring Fling for the Princely sum of $400. The center vent took three donors. After seeing your install, I'm having second thoughts about the outer vents being fitted with the dash in the car. These outer vents are heavy, it was explained that the 70 application they look the same but are lightweight plastic. Learning lots from this thread.View attachment 230644

I paid $60 just for the sides. If the '70 vents are plastic that would make a difference 'cause you're right, the ones I got are heavy. Dwayne had his done with the dash in place, but it was done by an upholstery shop. I couldn't imagine fitting them with the dash in place; I had that thing turned every which way figuring out the placement. And then there's the wiring harness.

That lower dash pad looks to be in good shape - they are almost impossible to find. You're almost home Dennis - you got the pieces, you already got the a/c system. Thinking about pulling the dash? Fair warning - that's how my project got started. :toothy10:

 

[CoronetDarter]

Stayed up at Donner Lake last weekend with the missus to celebrate our birthdays together. We had a great time swinging by Truckee and North Shore. But Lake Tahoe is low, the boat ramp at Kings Beach for 40' from the water. And there was no snow. We need some precip or it's gonna be a long summer.

Not a whole lot to report. The quarters have been worked and will be primed this weekend. Then block sanding and another coat of high build. While fishing around the garage pulling together all the loose pieces for paint came across this bracket that the PO had put in the trunk at the time of sale. The Coronet originally came with a 22" radiator but using this bracket allows for a 26".
Drill out the welds

Here they are side by side. The new bracket has the factory stampings.

Weld the new bracket in place

Ready for a 26". After primer and paint it will look like factory.



In addition to primering, the goal this weekend was to finish putting the dash together. Detour - my son's Sonata has a valve cover leak so I'll be tearing into his car on Saturday. It's got a transverse V6 so if the front valve cover is leaking not a big deal. But if the rear is leaking you have to pull the front valve cover and remove the upper intake manifold to gain access. Major PITA. With my luck….

 

[Ron 73]

Your car looking great as it should, I really do feel bad for ya with lake Tahoe being down a bit, The pond out back here is 1/2 froze and i wont mention the couple feet of snow, you know the single digit temps and all this!!! lol, I have fun when my small shop reaches 80 degrees! NOW thats sad, im ready for the outside temperature to be 80 buddy!! I do hope you know im just havin some WINTER COLD fun here rofl Great job on your Mopar... and..... PLEASE keep warm

 

[CoronetDarter]

Hey Ron - I know it's a lot milder here than over by you. We haven't had rain in almost a month and today its in the mid-60's! Winter in NorCal, it's the payback for enduring the 110* summer days. And I was born and raised in NY so I remember the winter months and humid summers.

BTW, you're doing some fantastic work on your project, love all the pics. As you say, one step at a time; it feels good knowing we're saving one more Mopar.

 

[Ron 73]

Thanks buddy! I love these cars having them back when i was younger, back in a day they were just cars, oh well its a blast building one, enjoying them and i do appreciate your input, the biggest tool in my little shop is the inspiration you guys give!
BTW, Man, hear that sounds like robins singing and the warmth of the sun shining in, well the sun shines in our kitchen window when the clouds allow it and looks as pretty as can be but right now, open that door and i grab an extra piece of wood and stick it in the stove, ill more then likely remember this until spring comes when the sun shines in that window lol... Teaser! Keep up your work and enjoy, it's as fun building as driving!

 

[CoronetDarter]

Thanks buddy! I love these cars having them back when i was younger, back in a day they were just cars, oh well its a blast building one, enjoying them and i do appreciate your input, the biggest tool in my little shop is the inspiration you guys give!
BTW, Man, hear that sounds like robins singing and the warmth of the sun shining in, well the sun shines in our kitchen window when the clouds allow it and looks as pretty as can be but right now, open that door and i grab an extra piece of wood and stick it in the stove, ill more then likely remember this until spring comes when the sun shines in that window lol... Teaser! Keep up your work and enjoy, it's as fun building as driving!

I'm like you, I knew when I was about 10 years old that I was going to own a '69 Charger one day - and sure enough that was my first car. An R/T S/E, F8 green. If I only knew then what I know now!