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Changing things up...

patrick66

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...maybe! I've owned my '66 Coronet since April 1980, and am the second owner. I'm thinking about going a new route on my car. It's fairly stock with the original 361 built to 383 specs, with a 3.23:1 SG rear. It was painted Daffodil Yellow from the original Cream way back in 1970, and I kept the yellow in 1985 when it was repainted again...here is what I'm considering, not to seek approval or any of that, just tossing around a few ideas that came down to this:

Repaint black, retaining the vinyl top and all stock trim. Power would be from a 5.7L or a 6.1L Hemi, with the automatic transmission. Interior would remain stock, other than a well-hidden stereo with Bluetooth system installed. Wheels would be like what is on it, but in a 17" or 18".

That is what I have in mind, so far. It needs very minor rust repair in a few small areas. I'd probably install new door cards and carpet, along with repainting the upper and lower areas inside the doors.

I'd do all the teardown, and haul the roller to a fantastic local Mopar racer and restorer to do the paint and drivetrain. I'm looking to get this completed by April 2020, my 40-year anniversary with the Coronet.

Anyone with actual experience with drivetrain swap out there??? Any ideas or experiences you've had with this swap are appreciated!

My theory about all this is simple...it's my car, and I'll die one day, still owning and driving it up to that point. It'll never be a huge$$$ car, and that's fine. I want to make it what I want. A new black car is common. A black '66 is not.

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I like black paint, on someone ejse's car. Had a black car it looked dirty by the time I got it dry. A slight exaggeration but something to think about.
 
if you do a repaint black I'd take off the vinyl top too. I think vinyl just holds moisture; it does look nice though

just add some hotchkis front/rear sways and subframe connectors, mopar heavy duty rear leafs, and fresh shocks of your choice. you'll thank me later

and squeeze in some wilwood front discs





watermelon
 
I've done the hemi swap on a 66 coronet,
Used the milodon pan and pickup and the Schumacher mounts, the engine was from a 2005 Durango , the stock exhaust cast iron manifolds work, the drivers side one we had to trim some of the heat shield away and grind down a rib on the side of the manifold were it gets very close to the power steering gearbox just to have a little more "wiggle room" . We used the Durango head pipes , cut off the cats swapped the pipes left and right and they exit in just the right places under the car

Transmission is also from Durango a 545rfe 5 spd automatic required tunnel mods to fit as its body is much wider than the 727 automatics,
floor shifter was a Lokar had to flip the brackets that mount the shifter to the trans mounting plate to move the shifter way back. I can't really recommend the Lockar shifter we used it has a rod from the shifter to the the trans shift arm. A cable actuated type would work much better and allow you to mount it where you want as mine gets close to the dash when in park.
engine/trans ecm wiring harness used was the hotwire one, you will need to buy a new brake light switch and mod the mounting bracket to mount it as you aren't supposed to reuse the 2005 switch as it has a 1 time adjustment , this switch not only controls the brake lights but also has a switch for the computer. the brake light wire and backup light wire come from the hotwire harness. you also wont need a neutral/park starter safety switch as the ecm controls that .
Its been said that the stock ignition switch doesn't work right with the ecm and you have to use a separate push button to start but I just jumpered the 2 terminals ( one is hot in run only other goes hot in start postition ) on the factory switch and have not had any issues, ymmv.
Remote mounted the oil filter .
used a 26" radiator with the small block inlet and outlet locations from engineered cooling products. its seems to be a decent unit for 219 $

One of the nagging issues I had to solve was controlling the electric fans as there was no place to add a 2nd temperature sender or switch without drilling and tapping a hole in the block as I abhor using the temp probe types you slip into the hose or radiator fins or a radiator tank mounted one. ( you can probably use the factory clutch fan setup, might have to fabricate a shroud ).

you will also have to use a speedbox https://www.speedhut.com/Speedbox.html or something similar to drive the speedometer.

interfacing a charger dash tachometer and temp gauges:

I have built a microprocessor based solution that plugs into the obd 2 port and reads the rpm and sends out a voltage to directly drive the tach meter movement itself totally bypasses using the tach circuit board.
There are other ways to do this with off the shelf items though.

I also made a microprocessor based control unit that shares the ecm temp sender to control the fans and to drive the temperature gauge it also monitors the AC trinary switch to turn the fans on full if the AC system demands it regardless of engine temp. It should be possible to make a single controller that can take the obd data and control the fans and drive both the tach and the temperature gauge.
The oil pressure gauge was no issue just use a factory oil pressure sender and a brass 1/8" pipe threaded female "T" fitting and a short 1/8" npt threaded pipe 2-3" long from the local hw store one port on the "T" for the sender and the other for the low oil pressure switch for the ECM. The hotwire harness even has a wire for it that comes out right where the sender mounts to the block and the other end comes out under the dash out of the main hotwire harness bundle.
 
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If you really want to go a new route for your car --- put a 66 Charger grille in it. That will make some heads shake.
 
If you plan on something different, go to a different color. Something that really pops in direct light.
Why not upgrade the drivers.....but now you need suspension and brake upgrades.
Looking to build a low maintenance sleeper with modern power?
I like the idea.
 
Mine was already black, head turner for sure. Bought it from my dad and tore it down to make it what I want. Didn’t go modern drivetrain so I have no input there but if budget allows do it!

4AF197EB-22D6-4B07-B5C5-7437E3FC4AB2.jpeg CFCF3C6B-CE1D-41A1-BF12-B81B263CE9C0.jpeg 16848D13-588C-49F6-B66D-1EA1C0F00D3D.jpeg
 
I like Black, the blacker the better. Today the Gen III Hemi swap is no big deal with the plug and play stuff from Chrysler. All modified parts are now available from many vendors. I have 2 modified cars that were done the hard way. Hand fabricated motor mounts, cross members, custom headers, and reprogrammed Chrysler computers with custom harnesses. I kept original K members of both, notched for A/C compressor clearance on the air car.
Car #1 Car #2
67 Satellite 66 Satellite
5.7 Gen III (2012 with 12 miles) 6.1 Gen III (2010 Crate Motor)
Tremec 5 Speed 727 Small Block Automatic Upgrades for up to 600 HP
3:23 Sure Grip 3:55 Sure Grip
Frame Connectors Suspension Upgrades in Progress
Disk Brake Conversion on Front Gear Vendors to be added
Front & Rear Sway Bars
Numerous Suspension Upgrades
 
I had the cars separated well in my post, but it got changed and messed up when posted.
 
...maybe! I've owned my '66 Coronet since April 1980, and am the second owner. I'm thinking about going a new route on my car. It's fairly stock with the original 361 built to 383 specs, with a 3.23:1 SG rear. It was painted Daffodil Yellow from the original Cream way back in 1970, and I kept the yellow in 1985 when it was repainted again...here is what I'm considering, not to seek approval or any of that, just tossing around a few ideas that came down to this:

Repaint black, retaining the vinyl top and all stock trim. Power would be from a 5.7L or a 6.1L Hemi, with the automatic transmission. Interior would remain stock, other than a well-hidden stereo with Bluetooth system installed. Wheels would be like what is on it, but in a 17" or 18".

That is what I have in mind, so far. It needs very minor rust repair in a few small areas. I'd probably install new door cards and carpet, along with repainting the upper and lower areas inside the doors.

I'd do all the teardown, and haul the roller to a fantastic local Mopar racer and restorer to do the paint and drivetrain. I'm looking to get this completed by April 2020, my 40-year anniversary with the Coronet.

Anyone with actual experience with drivetrain swap out there??? Any ideas or experiences you've had with this swap are appreciated!

My theory about all this is simple...it's my car, and I'll die one day, still owning and driving it up to that point. It'll never be a huge$$$ car, and that's fine. I want to make it what I want. A new black car is common. A black '66 is not.

View attachment 660079 View attachment 660080

WHO IS THE GUY UR GOING TO HAVE DO THIS WORK ?
 
In process on the grill swap, on my old car.........

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