DodgeCoronet.com

Hello All I figured I'd share my project with all of you. Back in February of this year my son had been bugging my about doing a project car together. We found a 69 Coronet on Craigslist that a lot of people had passed on. After many emails and some negotiation I was able to buy it from him. It's a 318 automatic car with very little options, so it's a perfect car to make my own. It is an A4 Silver Metallic car but I'm not sure it's going to stay that way. It is badly in need of frame, body and mechanical work. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a challenge. I've been a master mechanic here in SE Michigan for about 25 years now so the mechanical portion for this build will be no problem. the frame and body on the other hand will be a learning experience for me and my son. Here are a few pics to get this thread started.

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When the weather started warming up in April I decided to start in the back of the coronet and work my way forward. I've replaced the rear frame rails, rear cross rail, and trunk floor. I've cleaned and repaired the inner wheel wells, upper shock mount, and trunk floor support.

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I'm currently trying my hand at repairing the rust holes in the tail light panel. I figure if it doesn't work or I don't like the way it turns out I'll have to buy a new one so there is no reason not to try and fix what I have. I'll post more when I get the chance.

nice work! looks like you have you hands full with that car. keep working at it, it will be worth the effort.

65rbdodge Wrote:nice work! looks like you have you hands full with that car. keep working at it, it will be worth the effort.

Thanks, I think of it as one piece at a time. I'll fix one spot then move on to the next, this way it doesn't become overwhelming. Now I just need it to stop raining.

Today I started making patches for the tail light panel. I've been watching a lot of you tube videos on the subject, with some being really informative and some being really bad. Here's the process I came up with. I traced out the pattern on construction paper, rough cut it out, and then trimmed the paper till it was perfect. Then I transferred the paper to metal and repeated the process of rough cut then grind to fit the pattern. After that I overlayed the new patch over the old and bent to fit. Once the new panel fit perfectly I rough cut out the old rusted metal and trimmed to fit the new piece. This is the spot where I had to stop for the day. Tomorrow I'll weld it in place.

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I'll continue this process till all rust is gone from the tail panel

looking good ...

I make my patches the same way, it saves lots of time and material if you screw it up.

I am impressed with your handy work, you just dove in head first and took on the challenge.

What is your son doing on it?

Welcome aboard keep the pics coming

67r/t4speeder Wrote:What is your son doing on it?

I've been asking myself that same question. He hangs out with his friends a lot. he's more interested in the mechanical things to do on the car. He wants to build the engine.

What worked with my son to get started on learn mechanicals of the engine is find an old engine or something for him to tear into and learn what it looks like inside. Just one that your not going to use for practice, you know like a 426 Hemi out of some old farmers pick-up, there not worth anything .

67r/t4speeder Wrote:you know like a 426 Hemi out of some old farmers pick-up, there not worth anything .

I think I have one of those buried in the corner of the garage! LOL I do have a 383 that came with the car that I think I'm going to let him build. just a flash hone and some new bearings. maybe find a Mirada or Cordoba to throw it in for him.