67 Coronet R/T in NJ

[Qbrozen]

Someone said I had to start a project thread as I work on my car. haha. Well, here goes.

This was stated in the new members thread, but, in short, I bought the car from an Ebay listing from several states away. The first time I saw it in person is when it rolled off the delivery truck. It is a real R/T but the engine not original. It has an 8/66 cast non-hi-po 440.

The first day, I went over the car and assessed what I wanted/needed to do:
gauges not working
left front signal/marker lamp not working
trans dipstick is incorrect to car
hood release appears homemade
replace grille badge
replace door handles
replace locks (missing key)
replace/repair rear trim
add power brakes
rebuild/replace steering column and/or box
add air con
reface gauge cluster
reface/replace steering wheel
side mirror controller missing
bumpers and c-pillar trim need rechroming
air cleaner cover is wrong
new carb, intake, headers, heads, cam

Since that time, I have gotten almost nothing done because the electrical issues are eluding me. I bypassed the ammeter, replaced the voltage reducer, replaced the voltage regulator (battery not charging), replaced the battery cables, and played with the gauges and that turn signal for hours and hours with no positive results just yet. Oh, but I did replace the door handles and locks, the speedo cable (did not fix that problem), and we (my 7-yr-old and I) removed the heater box in preparation for the new A/C install.

So far, I have ordered and have sitting in a stack, the following: edelbrock carb, cam, valvesprings, and intake, jegs headers, classic auto air complete A/C retrofit, power brake booster, steering column rebuild kit, 170 degree thermostat, classic industries retromod stereo, autometer underdash gauge cluster, autometer tach ... I'm probably forgetting some stuff at this point. Let the games continue!

 

[malex]

Excellent project and you've got a great start on a nice Mopar. The gang here loves to see pictures as you go. Good luck!

 

[super-bee_ski]

GREAT!
I'm following

 

[TxDon]

Im subscribed, that car looks and sounds good.

 

[Qbrozen]

LED dash bulbs and a set of Testers paint for the emblems are on their way to the house.

Drove her yesterday quite a bit. In the morning, she felt down on power and a bit rough. I figured I must be down a cylinder. Sure enough, the wire on the #5 cylinder was hanging loose. No clue how that could have happened.

Finally got the left front signal working. I have no idea how. It just all of a sudden decided it is time to join the party.

On the way home late last night, she started steaming and popping. I pulled over and upon inspection discovered that the fan belt had gone missing. No idea when or where it may have ejected from the car. AAA came about an hour later and flatbedded her home. I had to drive her into my garage and she started and ran just fine, so it seems no harm done.

 

[Mopartisus]

That's weird. Any of the pulleys frozen/not spinning?

 

[Qbrozen]

Nope. Water pump and alternator spin freely

 

[malex]

Nope. Water pump and alternator spin freely

I had a belt flip off like that on my 64 too. It was still in the engine compartment though. Upon inspection I found that it was fairly old and pretty stiff. I installed a new one and all was good.

 

[Qbrozen]

This past weekend, I installed an electric fan in place of the fixed fan, converted the distributor from points to electronic, and finished installing auxiliary gauges. Also, of course, replaced the belt. I did notice that the water pump pulley is a bit warped, which may explain the belt fleeing the vehicle. I'll have to keep an eye on this one and see if there are any ill effects that warrant replacing the pulley.

I'll have to get a pic of the fan, but here is the dash, followed by a pic of my ghetto glovebox fix that works surprisingly well. It is the receiving end of a drywall anchor that I drilled 2 holes in to align with the stock holes for the glovebox latch, then just used slightly longer screws to secure it.

 

[SublimeSixpack]

One of my favorite Mopars. Had one back in 1968, same color and interior.

 

[Qbrozen]

Today was educational. I have been away from the car for a while getting things off the honeydo list. Finally had some time today and went to put the new mopar valve covers on when I made the discovery that I can't reuse the stock breather cap and PCV. So now waiting on yet more parts.

Decided to move on. Opened my carb and intake boxes and discovered they don't include manifold gaskets. Sigh. Add that to the order. But went ahead and pulled the old stuff off while I have the time. Found a couple of interesting things. 1) no gasket was used on either side of the valley pan, which probably explains that particular oil leak. And 2) someone dropped a washer and electrical connector and decided it wasn't worth fishing them out of the head crevice. Not too comforting to think what else they didn't bother with.

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

She sure is purty!

 

[PlagueOfBadgers]

Spare parts are always nice to have.

 

[Qbrozen]

Looking much better!

 

[Mopartisus]

Looking good brother, what air cleaner you going to run?

 

[Qbrozen]

Sticking with stock. I can't imagine there would be any performance improvement with anything else. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the correct 440 Magnum air cleaner cover to find its way into my hands on fathers' day.

 

[oldbee]

The lockwasher&eyelet would've helped the heat transfer,lol!

 

[Qbrozen]

Finally tuned the carb and took it for a quick drive today. It could spin the tires a bit before on takeoff, but now it downright lights them up. I had to back off the throttle to gain traction.

It did, however, get hot again. The thermal switch is not doing its job. So I'm just going to run to a toggle switch in the cockpit.

Moved on to the AC install today, too. It is beating me up a bit but I'm slowly winning.

 

[Mopartisus]

Ok, have you checked the thermostat, timing, etc? You will be generating more heat with the a/c.

 

[snakeoil24]

Car looks great. The car is a 500 or 440 body. Front grill center section can be replaced. it is still available and also an R?T tail panel is available..