1970 Coronet Wagon - "Queen Bee"
- Thread starter MaxWedgeWagon
- Start date
MaxWedgeWagon
Well-Known Member
Well gentleman… I drove the wagon! Still alot to do before she has street manners. But i drove the car on her first journey. Roughly 30 miles on some back roads to our other shop in Johnstown. And got a wave from a dude in a yellow 70 GTX, honestly the best part was seeing 2 B bodies on the road.
Halfway there my used alternator took a ****. Luckily my dakota digital gauges gave me a warning that said low volts. So I had time to pull into a walmart and buy a battery to keep on truckin. Unfortunately the whole drive I had no secondaries whats so ever. The vacuum diaphragm is stuck, so i limped her the whole way over but still managed good air fuel ratios and did 65mph. Got to the shop and tried to open them by hand and we got a pretty awesome fireball for my new cover photo haha.
The other plus is the car drives super straight. Took a few hard turns and the car is planted! I still want to stiffen the rear up with a sway bar and add one more leaf to my springs. That should get my ride height right and help out alot.
My list of work is still huge but i can now tinker with it at home or on lunch breaks maybe. Looking forward to driving this pile this summer. Hopefully get to a point where its just body work left. Alot of body work
Halfway there my used alternator took a ****. Luckily my dakota digital gauges gave me a warning that said low volts. So I had time to pull into a walmart and buy a battery to keep on truckin. Unfortunately the whole drive I had no secondaries whats so ever. The vacuum diaphragm is stuck, so i limped her the whole way over but still managed good air fuel ratios and did 65mph. Got to the shop and tried to open them by hand and we got a pretty awesome fireball for my new cover photo haha.
The other plus is the car drives super straight. Took a few hard turns and the car is planted! I still want to stiffen the rear up with a sway bar and add one more leaf to my springs. That should get my ride height right and help out alot.
My list of work is still huge but i can now tinker with it at home or on lunch breaks maybe. Looking forward to driving this pile this summer. Hopefully get to a point where its just body work left. Alot of body work
MaxWedgeWagon
Well-Known Member
Slapped a 600cfm carb I had laying around on the wagon and same issue. Im wondering if my timing is off or something. Will be checking my settings on the 6al tomorrow.
Threw my wheels and tires on and the wheels are different for sure… maybe warming up to them. But aesthetics aside - 275s all the way around with zero rub is pretty cool. These tires are sticky! Throwing everything off the road into the wheel wells sticky.
Still Losing sleep over this secondary / power problem
Threw my wheels and tires on and the wheels are different for sure… maybe warming up to them. But aesthetics aside - 275s all the way around with zero rub is pretty cool. These tires are sticky! Throwing everything off the road into the wheel wells sticky.
Still Losing sleep over this secondary / power problem
MaxWedgeWagon
Well-Known Member
Apparently I need to read instruction’s.
You cannot time a msd 6Al with a dial back or digital timing light. My 6al is a digital unit and I have it retard timing based on a map sensor, and rpm.
Once my new old school timing light and timing tape came in. I was able to see i had my timing set at 0 degrees and then my 6al advanced it after top dead center…. Yikes
Good news, my carbs fine. Now that its actually timed, the Car runs great and has pretty decent power for an rv 440.
Next project is to wrap up the interior by adding car seat anchors mount the console, chassis saver on the floors, sound deadening and carpet!
You cannot time a msd 6Al with a dial back or digital timing light. My 6al is a digital unit and I have it retard timing based on a map sensor, and rpm.
Once my new old school timing light and timing tape came in. I was able to see i had my timing set at 0 degrees and then my 6al advanced it after top dead center…. Yikes
Good news, my carbs fine. Now that its actually timed, the Car runs great and has pretty decent power for an rv 440.
Next project is to wrap up the interior by adding car seat anchors mount the console, chassis saver on the floors, sound deadening and carpet!
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Awesome project! 
Derwud
Well-Known Member
Any Updates? Here is my Wagon.
MaxWedgeWagon
Well-Known Member
Love the Hood! One of the smaller things on my list to do but man does it add alot of Attitude!
As Suspected the 2 shops and the kiddos have made it hard to prioritze the wagon. However I have some time off in April to focus on her. Really need to iron out the body work and finish welding the stiffiners. Then I can paint the interior and throw carpet on it.
Literally yesterday I took the carb off to go get some machining on it to allow for adjustable air bleeds to help with my rich condition.
Wiring and body work are time consunming for me and hard to tackle in small incriments.
Hoping to get some help on it in the next few months so I can enjoy it this summer.
Derwud
Well-Known Member
I hear you.. Moving and Job loss has sidelined my builds.. I installed Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 on my Small Block...
Derwud
Well-Known Member
Updates?
slapstickjim
Well-Known Member
Wow memories of my childhood. How's the car now?
I have this for you. Cliped out of the local paper
Give me $10 shipping free
Thanks jim
I have this for you. Cliped out of the local paper
Give me $10 shipping free
Thanks jim
Derwud
Well-Known Member
I would like that if the OP doesn't answer..
As a Kid, we had a 63 Valiant Wagon, Dodge A100 Camper Van and 70's Chrysler Town and Country Wagon.. So yeah lots of Mopar Wagoning as a kid.
MaxWedgeWagon
Well-Known Member
Derwud should have it! Very cool and much appreciated
slapstickjim
Well-Known Member
Pm sent derwud
MaxWedgeWagon
Well-Known Member
The time has come to prioritize the wagon! After replacing the engine in my daily ( a Ford). I’m ready to grind away and get this thing moving along.
The goal is to finalize my hideous body work. Paint the car in the next 2 months.
Not only do I have time to give her. I have parts… I had my carb drilled for adjustable air bleed to aid in idle tuning, sound deadening, carpet, paint and bondo lots of bondo!
But more importantly MAX WEDGE HEADS!
My co-worker just so happened to have TFS 270’s in his garage and he needed an axle for his jeep. Some trading and begging later. I now have a set of 270 heads ready to slap on to my low compression 440. This should bump me to a better but still not ideal 9.1 compression and I am stoked!
Next step - fix some body work. Fill some sheet metal holes and slap on some horsepower!
The goal is to finalize my hideous body work. Paint the car in the next 2 months.
Not only do I have time to give her. I have parts… I had my carb drilled for adjustable air bleed to aid in idle tuning, sound deadening, carpet, paint and bondo lots of bondo!
But more importantly MAX WEDGE HEADS!
My co-worker just so happened to have TFS 270’s in his garage and he needed an axle for his jeep. Some trading and begging later. I now have a set of 270 heads ready to slap on to my low compression 440. This should bump me to a better but still not ideal 9.1 compression and I am stoked!
Next step - fix some body work. Fill some sheet metal holes and slap on some horsepower!
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Nice. In the new MCG, did you see the feature on a 70 wagon? Pretty cool. Twin Turbo'd 383 with a 6 spd m/t.
MaxWedgeWagon
Well-Known Member
Just looked it up. Pretty cool! I actually just turbo’d a landcruiser at work. For this build I wanted an NA carb big block oldschool vibe.
While i am typically a manual trans kinda guy my wife can’t drive any of my vehicles and is too scared to learn on them given a crew cab longbed dually, or my beloved 71 k5 blazer. So the wagon needed to be auto so we could both drive it. One day i would love a modern automatic like a 6L80e or 8hp like modern Chally has.
For some reason I wanted oldschool tech for easy tinkering. Plus my most reliable rig in the fleet is an all manual no thrills 69 c20 that just works and works well.
MaxWedgeWagon
Well-Known Member
I have successfully worked on the wagon 3 times this week!
Did some body work on the wonky quarter panel, feeling much better. Need to make the rear bumper symmetrical to fine tune the quarter lines. But Boy that spot welder slide hammer tool works wonders. Hammer and dolly smoothed out the weld seams nicely too.
My wife actually picked up a grinder for the first time in her life and started sanding the wood grain off the fenders. That **** is a pita to get off but she did great. Grinder knocks the vinyl off then the 80grit makes quick work to get to bare steel.
Broke up the body work a bit today and pulled a head to stay motivated. What a reminder how much i hate those headers. Damn near pulled the engine! Cool to see the giant 270 heads compared to stock. Went with prw roller rockers, i get a good deal compared to other companies and wanted steel rockers with 1.6 ratio. Otherwise i would have bought the comp cam rollers in 1.5.
The roller rockers are a pita the shim. Almost like a differential shimming those things. Messy too. Got those roughed in and measured for push rods. Ordered some 3/8 tapered and oiling. 1/2” longer than the old ones.
Ran into an issue with the prw/270’s. All the pedestals are wider than the rocker caps. Making the shims at an angle. See pics. .03 Black shims leaving what is a .03 gap or more on the top side by the caps. Not sure the solution or how important this really is.
Overall feeling good. Hoping to get the car moving and back to my house asap for some sanding every-night till shes ready for primer.
Did some body work on the wonky quarter panel, feeling much better. Need to make the rear bumper symmetrical to fine tune the quarter lines. But Boy that spot welder slide hammer tool works wonders. Hammer and dolly smoothed out the weld seams nicely too.
My wife actually picked up a grinder for the first time in her life and started sanding the wood grain off the fenders. That **** is a pita to get off but she did great. Grinder knocks the vinyl off then the 80grit makes quick work to get to bare steel.
Broke up the body work a bit today and pulled a head to stay motivated. What a reminder how much i hate those headers. Damn near pulled the engine! Cool to see the giant 270 heads compared to stock. Went with prw roller rockers, i get a good deal compared to other companies and wanted steel rockers with 1.6 ratio. Otherwise i would have bought the comp cam rollers in 1.5.
The roller rockers are a pita the shim. Almost like a differential shimming those things. Messy too. Got those roughed in and measured for push rods. Ordered some 3/8 tapered and oiling. 1/2” longer than the old ones.
Ran into an issue with the prw/270’s. All the pedestals are wider than the rocker caps. Making the shims at an angle. See pics. .03 Black shims leaving what is a .03 gap or more on the top side by the caps. Not sure the solution or how important this really is.
Overall feeling good. Hoping to get the car moving and back to my house asap for some sanding every-night till shes ready for primer.
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