Since my other account was flagged for spam like activity: here’s a project overview
About this Mopar:
- Year
- 1967
- Make
- Dodge
- Model
- Coronet 440
1967 Dodge coronet 440 that was seen in the episode “Trading Down and Giving Back!” in season 10 of motortrends Roadkill!
Man has this car been through the works since then! A lot has changed since I got the car and I’ll do my best to explain it all in this post.
When I was given the car it came to me as a practically destroyed, but driveable 318 2 barrel automatic car. It was hardly even a week later I started to add speed parts too it by swapping for a 4 bbl. With the original motor I did a few other things such as headers a few different carbs and whatnot but eventually, 4 months after I got the car, the original 318 had had enough and rod #1 blew right out the oil pan.
At this time I really didn’t know what to do. I had just started college and most of my money had to go that direction. I wanted to get a 440 but that wasn’t in the budget at the time. I had planned to got with a 360, but I couldn’t find one near me that I wanted. So I stayed with the 318 and decided to build that. I found an extremely low mile 69 318 that was just what I had been looking for. It was also at this time I bought a 4 door parts car for the front clip and a few other parts. I later sold it for next to double what I paid. I put a summit k6901 cam and lifters in along with a new timing chain. Paired with the old intake and carb I had put on the old 318, it was back up and running!
But the only thing I really didn’t like was how it ran. So 3 months later I decided it was time to do a few things. The first of which was to change the heads out for my 67 heads. I had them done up by a friend of a friend. The second of which was adding in a summit k6900 cam with comp lifters. I also decided to re ring and put in new bearings. This combo ran great till my poor assembly of the bottom end got me. The #1 main cap had loosened both bolts and it dropped on my way to school. Not knowing what to do and having a lot of exams coming up. I had another winter to decide what to do.
Come March of 23’ I really had no desire to work on the car. My friends hated seeing me so down about it so one weekend we fired up the heater and got to work. This next one I’m not too proud of but on my shoestring budget it worked enough. We got the motor out of the car and rushed off the oil pan to see what happened. We inspected everything and decided that we only needed a new main cap. So I ran to the junkyard a pulled a set of mains off a 88’ 318. I should remind everyone that this was not my best decision, we tested the 3 main caps to see which one had the best clearance to replace the old one and slapped the motor back together. Not my finest work but it did work
This new combo ran great! I went on several road trips with this engine and even dynoed it! It only made 186 hp at 4300rpm and 254 ftlbs at 3300. It was a strong runner nonetheless. Until I decided to go on my longest trip yet. From southeast Michigan to Chicago. About halfway there in a little town called Harbert MI it blew a head gasket. At the time and for a while after I thought I totally lost the rings on cylinder 6. I had to have a buddy come pick me up 4 hours away and tow me home. I had RKN and Woodward coming up and no car to go to either.
I do love my friends and their desire to have a street race. One of them found a friend of a friend with a 318 and I pulled mine out to do the swap. Just for curiosity sake I pulled the heads to try and see what had happened and that’s when I found the blown head gasket. I slapped my old combo back together with new gaskets and I was back up and running, 1 day after RKN…
I still had Woodward the weekend after and it was a blast. Especially letting everyone see my car up and running at Woodward. After Woodward I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a 440 and 727 for $300! I got it home and completely tore it down. It had some mild surface rust in the cylinders so I ball honed it to knock that off. I gave it new rings and rod bearings. And threw it back together with a Mopar Performance 484 purple shaft. I then proceeded to mix and match the tailshaft and housing off my small block trans to match the one off the motorhome 440 and it works great!
This is how the car is at this moment. The exact specs are as follows
78’ 440 factory rotating assembly
Mopar performance 484
“516” casting heads with red stripe springs
Pancake intake with 1” spacer
Holley 700 cfm mechanical
B&M hole shot converter 2400-2600
727 auto
Aluminium 3” shaft
489 case 3.23 sure grip with new axles and green bearings
11” drums in all 4 corners
And a driver who is constantly finding something to fix on the car
Man has this car been through the works since then! A lot has changed since I got the car and I’ll do my best to explain it all in this post.
When I was given the car it came to me as a practically destroyed, but driveable 318 2 barrel automatic car. It was hardly even a week later I started to add speed parts too it by swapping for a 4 bbl. With the original motor I did a few other things such as headers a few different carbs and whatnot but eventually, 4 months after I got the car, the original 318 had had enough and rod #1 blew right out the oil pan.
At this time I really didn’t know what to do. I had just started college and most of my money had to go that direction. I wanted to get a 440 but that wasn’t in the budget at the time. I had planned to got with a 360, but I couldn’t find one near me that I wanted. So I stayed with the 318 and decided to build that. I found an extremely low mile 69 318 that was just what I had been looking for. It was also at this time I bought a 4 door parts car for the front clip and a few other parts. I later sold it for next to double what I paid. I put a summit k6901 cam and lifters in along with a new timing chain. Paired with the old intake and carb I had put on the old 318, it was back up and running!
But the only thing I really didn’t like was how it ran. So 3 months later I decided it was time to do a few things. The first of which was to change the heads out for my 67 heads. I had them done up by a friend of a friend. The second of which was adding in a summit k6900 cam with comp lifters. I also decided to re ring and put in new bearings. This combo ran great till my poor assembly of the bottom end got me. The #1 main cap had loosened both bolts and it dropped on my way to school. Not knowing what to do and having a lot of exams coming up. I had another winter to decide what to do.
Come March of 23’ I really had no desire to work on the car. My friends hated seeing me so down about it so one weekend we fired up the heater and got to work. This next one I’m not too proud of but on my shoestring budget it worked enough. We got the motor out of the car and rushed off the oil pan to see what happened. We inspected everything and decided that we only needed a new main cap. So I ran to the junkyard a pulled a set of mains off a 88’ 318. I should remind everyone that this was not my best decision, we tested the 3 main caps to see which one had the best clearance to replace the old one and slapped the motor back together. Not my finest work but it did work
This new combo ran great! I went on several road trips with this engine and even dynoed it! It only made 186 hp at 4300rpm and 254 ftlbs at 3300. It was a strong runner nonetheless. Until I decided to go on my longest trip yet. From southeast Michigan to Chicago. About halfway there in a little town called Harbert MI it blew a head gasket. At the time and for a while after I thought I totally lost the rings on cylinder 6. I had to have a buddy come pick me up 4 hours away and tow me home. I had RKN and Woodward coming up and no car to go to either.
I do love my friends and their desire to have a street race. One of them found a friend of a friend with a 318 and I pulled mine out to do the swap. Just for curiosity sake I pulled the heads to try and see what had happened and that’s when I found the blown head gasket. I slapped my old combo back together with new gaskets and I was back up and running, 1 day after RKN…
I still had Woodward the weekend after and it was a blast. Especially letting everyone see my car up and running at Woodward. After Woodward I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a 440 and 727 for $300! I got it home and completely tore it down. It had some mild surface rust in the cylinders so I ball honed it to knock that off. I gave it new rings and rod bearings. And threw it back together with a Mopar Performance 484 purple shaft. I then proceeded to mix and match the tailshaft and housing off my small block trans to match the one off the motorhome 440 and it works great!
This is how the car is at this moment. The exact specs are as follows
78’ 440 factory rotating assembly
Mopar performance 484
“516” casting heads with red stripe springs
Pancake intake with 1” spacer
Holley 700 cfm mechanical
B&M hole shot converter 2400-2600
727 auto
Aluminium 3” shaft
489 case 3.23 sure grip with new axles and green bearings
11” drums in all 4 corners
And a driver who is constantly finding something to fix on the car
