My 1968 Dodge Coronet project.

[revel68]

Hey guys. I used to post on here a while back. I thought I would repost my project. A lot of people really helped me on this forum and i'd like to get back into posting now and then.

A couple of years ago I bought a 1968 Dodge Coronet 440 318/727 car. It was always a dream to have a car like this. My first car was a 1963 Plymouth Sport Fury.

The Coronet started out in pretty much a blank garage with hardly any tools. Over time I upgraded and built up my garage which was a big project of its own.



I stripped down the entire car all by myself. I bought an engine crane and loaded it into my altima, assembled it, and removed the 318/727 at once. The glass. The panels. I basically stripped down the entire car in my garage using air tools and elbow grease by myself. It was a learning experience.
The car has invaded my house!

Obviously I found a lot of the car to be in worse shape than I thought.

I put the car on rotisserie (which I also fit into my altima) in my home to work on it. Here you can see the car on the rotisserie in my garage. Scary by yourself but it is possible!



I bought a welder and took a small welding class. I started to practice welding.

After a bit I found myself a bit in over my head. More and more I wanted things to be done right and more and more I saw things that needed to really be done to the car that were outside of my ability. I was lacking more and more in time to work on it and had more and more responsibilities at work.

So I decided that I had a blast getting this far all by myself but I should have a shop help with the major structural stuff. The whole rear of the car was quite rotted out. More than I had thought. The quarters were pretty bad. I was prepared to live with them but am happy now that things are really clean.

So off it went to the shop.

Here it is back from the blaster


All was well. A bit of a surprise on the cross support (torsion bar area). Also trunk floor was a titch worse than expected.


This is closer to where it is at now




What has been done on the car so far.

- Replacement Panels = Quarters. Doors. Floor. Trunk Floor. Deck Filler. Rear Crossmember. Torsion Crossmember.
- Patches around car including frame to rear crossmember (was really bad). wheel well stuff. Lots of little stuff
- Mini Tub
- Framerails/extra structure
- Por15 work where applicable while panels were off (I.E under the trunk floor)




Soon will be Sealer/Primer/Undercoating

I am looking into RMS AlterKtion and will be doing a 4-link rear job on the car.

I'm thinking of trying to fix the fenders/trunk/hood myself in my garage.


* If anybody has any tips etc.. just hit me up.
* If anybody has any 1968 Dodge Coronet Fenders for sale. And possibly trunk lid. I am looking for these but I am looking for something nice. I already have fix-er-uppers on hand.

I am currently trying to figure out the drive train for this beast! I am looking at doing a 440/Manual setup. The biggest confusing is the rear end. I am not sure what to do about a shortened Dana 60 rear to accommodate a minitub tire. If anybody has good information on what to do for a rear end on my car - Dif/Axle/Ratio/Rims/Tires please let me know!

Glad to be back!

[70rtvert]

Looking Good!!
Your makng great progress

[ws27]

Wow, very nice work. You sure took the bull by the horns.

It really looks great.

On the shortened rear, I'm not too familiar with them, but if you are only mintubbing, you might be able to get away with using a standard rear with the correct backspacing.

And your poor Altima...LOL

[67r/t4speeder]

Really glad you decided to return to DCR, my you have been busy.

I am impressed.

[R/T XTC]

Shaping up nicely , glad to see your car is turning out nice.

[Mark's 69]

Nice rescue. She'll live a lot longer life thanks to you.

[Tyrra]

Nice work !

[68 500]

Looking Good

[mrtillie]

I'm impressed with your project. looks good and ur on the right track. Making it the car u want to drive. Keep up the great work.

[revel68]

Thanks guys! I hammered away on the project/garage heavily for quite a while. Around March 2013 I kind of faded off of it for a while and had other people work on it. I'm hoping to get back into it more since December and in 2014.

ws27: Yeah I am considering either the backspacing or shortened. I'm not sure right now. I am still researching that. One reason I am looking into it is because I typically like deep rims like this (http://www.hotrodders.com/classifieds/da...-large.jpg). I bet I could still get a good look with just a backspaced rim though. I've heard people suggest either way.
Right now i'm looking at something like a Street Radial 29/15.50 (at largest).
Oh and yeah the altima has been put to the test!

Mark's 69: That is the hope! I have wanted to do this for a long time and thought it would never happen. It is good because I wrecked my first car (T-boned at a terrible intersection. Long story.) 63 Ply Sport Fury about 18 years ago . So it is nice to pull this one out from under a tree and help fix it up.