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69 Coronet, 440 6 pack ex wannabee in Aus

aussiewannabee69

Well-Known Member
Local time
6:30 PM
Joined
Dec 26, 2016
Messages
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Location
Australia
Hey guys, ive decided to document my build so far, the very small amount i have got done anyway.
Back story on the car.
I bought the car on ebay from a fella in Wisconsin a handful of years ago. Needless to say, i was lot more trusting and naive then. First issue was when it got off the boat in Melbourne and they were about to load it onto the car trailer to bring up to QLD, the transmission shifter cable burnt through the exhaust not allowing to shift into gear to get onto the truck. So then it was another 1K plus, to get it on a flat bed to get to me. Ah well its just money right. After some ******* around,I managed to drive it into my fathers shed once it arrived. That was in the December 2016. the first and last time i have ever driven it.
It was meant to be just fix the cable up and bobs your uncle, but once i pulled the carpets up found rust on the drivers floor pan and then some more around the place, the steering bearing was flogged out, wires just run any which way, the steering wheel was on a really crazy angle and the steer box rubbed on the inner eng bay wall. The engine would die if you gave it WOT. The amount of smoke that came out of the headers on at the gasket. All these things were a sign for a full strip down. And im glad i have so far.
Anyway life put on hold for a few years and a few kids until just a few months ago, once i got myself a house with big shed on it. So now i have some progress.
This is the first car i have ever had a go at so its pretty new to me. Ive always loved cars since my teens. American cars were actually quite new to me at the time of buying this car. It was funny actually, i was really after a 1964 Lincoln Continental but the deal fell through. So my second choice was a 69 Charger but i could find any in the price range.. To be honest, i had never even heard of a Coronet before stumbling across this one online. Loved them ever since. They are still quite rare over here in Australia, most people dont know them. Generally the only ones who have heard of it are into American Cars, or Yank Tanks as they are referred to over here. I do love Aussie muscle but again the price range for any 2 door car here is crazy and we dont have near as much choice as the American Muscle. So that made mind up and ive never looked back.


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First thing i started doing was in vane. I tried repairing the wiring. After much mucking around, the whole wiring just got binned and i decided to make it myself.

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Actually in pretty good shape for a Wisconsin car. Any state that uses salt to remove ice from the highways, generally produce a lot of rust on cars.
 
Actually in pretty good shape for a Wisconsin car. Any state that uses salt to remove ice from the highways, generally produce a lot of rust on cars.
yes i should have really known that since i lived in Canada for a few years but didnt even think of it. But yes the drivers floor pan was the only rust on the floor pan itself. The think underbody coating helped a lot.
 
Ive made the harness but want to get braided once the build is complete. The harness is going to run under the DS wheel arch and out of the eng bay all together. Ive added a relay bank and some new switches. It now has a Dakota Digital dash because the swept one didnt work and i wanted a different look. This car was originally a 318 column so being original on this build isnt something im sticking to
 
Skip along a few years, a few kids and it has a new home for it. At this point the car is bare. Im spending most of my time underneath on my back with a heat gun, scraper and a lot of regret for not buying a rotisserie.

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So by this stage all the under body is off and man that is some **** to get off. Still have regrets not buying a rotisserie. The panel under the battery at some stage had rotted through and they used fibre glass to fix it. Well since the battery is going in the boot i will cut the whole panel out and smooth it out. I also noticed the the frame rail under that area had rotted through so i have to repair that as well.

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I bought a front end kit from PST and re kitted the front end. Gave it a quick freshen up while i was at it as well.

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I cut the old rail out and made a new piece out of some 2mm sheet i had in the shed. I have made it a little different to what the original is. Instead of using the lap on the join at the top on the inside i have chosen to make it flush. Just never like the look of the flap of metal hanging over. But now i have to do the same on the other side. It was my first crack at anything like a frame rail but overall im pretty happy.

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Some more shots of the frame rail and what appeared to be a rats nest inside.
I have found some old repairs on both the rear wheel wells. it appears they have welded a piece of sheet over the top of the cancer. so i have started cutting that out and patching it up

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Have got the engine bay all welded up. Just needs some filler and another epoxy. Underneath ive coated in tinted raptor. Turned out pretty good. Will be needed here on our roads in QLD. They leave a lot to be desired...

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Just an FYI on this build. The underneath and engine bay are getting done first due to possibly moving house at the end of the year unfortunately. So i would like to get the undercarriage all sorted before then so i can at least drive it out of here.
 
So we are now up to current progress. I pulled my trans sump to have a look into the so called "New" TCI tranny.
Found some debris in the pan so i decided to strip it down. I made another thread in the trans forums about it and thanks very much to all the guys in that thread who have helped me through it.
So now im trying to sort out parts from either CRT or a local guy here in Aus.

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It's a great looking car you have.....and it looks like you will make a great job of the repairs. :thumbsup:

It is clear though that the dealer you bought from is a liar.....or just plain stupid. Taken from the advert......

No rot, no cancer, look at the pics they speak for themselves.
 
It's a great looking car you have.....and it looks like you will make a great job of the repairs. :thumbsup:

It is clear though that the dealer you bought from is a liar.....or just plain stupid. Taken from the advert......
Haha yeah the bloke had a way with words alright. The ad online was actually pretty funny. Should have been a red flag straight up haha.
 
That is going to be a beautiful car when done. Sticking with the B5 blue I presume? If so, I would recommend using PPG Deltron for paint. I just painted my Road Runner in that color, and the PPG is a much nicer color than Martin Senior or DuPont.
That rust sucks for certain, but I guess it could have been far worse. Looks like a mouse nest in the frame rail. Pretty common around here. They build their nest and then their piss rots the frames from the inside out.
Nice smooth look on the inner fenders, but I bet your alignment guy will have a few choice words for you, lol.
 
Your car is coming along nicely. Its too bad the previous owner took advantage of you. Some people have no morals.
 
That is going to be a beautiful car when done. Sticking with the B5 blue I presume? If so, I would recommend using PPG Deltron for paint. I just painted my Road Runner in that color, and the PPG is a much nicer color than Martin Senior or DuPont.
That rust sucks for certain, but I guess it could have been far worse. Looks like a mouse nest in the frame rail. Pretty common around here. They build their nest and then their piss rots the frames from the inside out.
Nice smooth look on the inner fenders, but I bet your alignment guy will have a few choice words for you, lol.
Yeah definitely the B5. I love that colour. Ok thanks for the heads up. I will see if we can get that in Aus.
Yeah I’m glad it was only that one. All the rest are solid. I am cutting a small section from the other front one but bugger all.
Haha yeah i will just tell him they mushy have ever had any access holes in these back in the day haha
 
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