1966 Coronet 440 field find

[gdrill]

I cleaned up the engine bay wiring today and re-wrapped it. I had to do some repairs, but overall, not too bad. Then I blasted and painted the fender bolts. The hood hinges I blasted and primed long ago. They got some color today as well.

 

[gdrill]

I had to dig out some different LCA's. I am going to put a sway bar on so the originals won't do as they don't have the tabs. Blasted, cleaned and painted cast.

 

[gdrill]

I am avoiding getting into the major paint because I have to run away to work for a few days. So I am doing little things that are quick. I scyffed the dash with red scotchbrite pads. It was in very nice shape, but very faded as the windows were down on the car for years! My dash paint choice, which I have used many times before, Krylon High heat BBQ paint! It has a nice satinish finish and has no reflection. I think it is just right.

 

[Mike67]

That is awesome, and looks great! You've made a lot of progress and can hopefully see the end of the tunnel!
Could you post a close up of the LCA sway bar tabs?
Mine don't have them either so I was just going to buy the tabs from QA1 and need a reference.
Thanks gdrill!

 

[gdrill]

Thank you Mike. I'll get some close ups when I get back home. They are basically dead even with the outer end of the bump stop pad.

 

[gdrill]

Well, I know I said they were even with the pad. I obviously only looked at the one! 2 parts, 2 positions! Barely different but an example of Ma's tolerance back in the day! You can see there is about 1/8" - 3/16" difference between the two. I'm sure it doesn't matter as there is plenty of play to work with.

 

[Brandy]

They close to the same distance from the bends though......

 

[gdrill]

Here is a better shot of the dash. I hope you can see the finish. It is really nice.

 

[gdrill]

Back home from work and back to the Coronet! I soldered the pins and voltage sockets to ensure no future worries. Then I decided to paint the dash face. It obviously isn't like stock exactly, but it is way nicer.

 

[Brandy]

Looking great! Good job.

 

[gdrill]

Well I think I'm going to have to do the trim around the gauge boxes. I was hoping to avoid that, testing my steadiness, but it just seems too dark without it. Oh well, that;s tomorrow's project.

 

[moparnation74]

Nice work as always! Great progress....

Btw are you running a 70 plus sway bar? Those tabs on your LCA's are for 70 and above....That is the bar that runs through the bottom of the K member...pre 70 the mounting bracket is near the lower ball joint..A few of those showed up in late 69 for some odd reason unknown...

 

[gdrill]

Thank you very much. Now as for the bar tabs.......shoot......I have both styles of bar, but my K-member is not for the later one. This doesn't surprise me though as I got them with a bunch of 71^ parts I acquired. I will have to find some different arms I guess. I have not assembled the member and components yet. The car is still rolling on the slant 6 stuff. I will now have to go look at the road runner to compare. Thank you for pointing that out.

 

[moparnation74]

Thank you very much. Now as for the bar tabs.......shoot......I have both styles of bar, but my K-member is not for the later one. This doesn't surprise me though as I got them with a bunch of 71^ parts I acquired. I will have to find some different arms I guess. I have not assembled the member and components yet. The car is still rolling on the slant 6 stuff. I will now have to go look at the road runner to compare. Thank you for pointing that out.

The date on your control arm is 71....It is stamped on the large round rivet...

Post a pic of the bottom of your K member if you get a chance....

 

[gdrill]

I went and looked at the k-member and now I'm not sure what I have there either! Anyway, it has the idler arm mount with only the lower plate. That's OK by me as it will work with what I have, but a buddy said the engine mounts are different for the earlier years. They look like later ones to me. But I know in A-bodies, the 67/68 model is when the idler changed. Aside from this new dilemma, I played in the engine compartment today!

 

[moparnation74]

First pics is a pre 68 K frame. The idler bracket is correct for those years. The mounts are correct for 318-440....

Some of these could have made it into some early 68 cars but not 100% sure on that...

 

[gdrill]

Perfect. Thank you very much Sir. It's been so long since I bought all these parts, it's hard to remember what I picked up! I thought I got the right frame. Now to source a set of correct LCA's, which I think I have lined up already!

 

[gdrill]

Well today I picked up my floor shift, power steering column. I contacted a member that I have bought parts from before for this project. @elephantengine has helped me in the past and he came though big time on this column. Being 66 is a unique piece, as always, I got lucky and he had one tucked away! It was red though so I took it apart, cleaned and blasted it. It's now black. Here is a pic of my assembled dash. I am going to get my wife to do the fine lines around the gauges etc. She has much steadier hands than I do! It just looks a little dark without them.

 

[moparnation74]

Well today I picked up my floor shift, power steering column. I contacted a member that I have bought parts from before for this project. @elephantengine has helped me in the past and he came though big time on this column. Being 66 is a unique piece, as always, I got lucky and he had one tucked away! It was red though so I took it apart, cleaned and blasted it. It's now black. Here is a pic of my assembled dash. I am going to get my wife to do the fine lines around the gauges etc. She has much steadier hands than I do! It just looks a little dark without them.

View attachment 440930

View attachment 440934

Looks Great!

 

[gdrill]

Thank you. I forgot to mention, I installed the new Spectra fuel tank. I got this from 521 Restorataions. Jeff is awesome to deal with and his pricing with shipping was the best I found. Plus being a member here gets a discount. However, if I never have to hook up 1966 fuel fill lines again, it will be too soon! What a pain those are. Install, check angles, lower, crimp clamps near tank, re-install, check angles at edge, lower tank, crimp clamps and install! There are 3 hoses involved and 3 steel lines to contend with. What a pain.