What did you do to your Coronet this Week ....???

[theman440]

Nuthin'

[ws27]

I leaned a truck tire against the wagon. Does that count?



And don't worry, I didn't hurt it. LOL

[67440Dodge]

Making sure that 273 doesn't slap the valves against the pistons..

5546

[thebankerstoy]

Making sure that 273 doesn't slap the valves against the pistons..

5546

Looks fantastic Mike!

I have one that looks like that also!



Richard

[67r/t4speeder]

What pistons are those Richard?

I have some Venolia 12.5 that look like that out of my 426 wedge

[thebankerstoy]

Hello Andy,

Those are TRW forged pistons rated at 12.5 to 1 compression and with the 69 HP block being decked a bit, final compression ratio on that engine is 13.5 to 1. I had the engine professionally built here in Phoenix back in the late 80's by one of the top Mopar engine builders at that time. It was built for the 1970 'Cuda race car that my brother-in-law and I purchased back in 1979 and still own, but has never been completed since we disassembled it back in 1981 and now probably never will be. That 440 has never been fired, nor has the brand new Mark Williams Dana 60 with 5.13 gears and a spool unit ever been under power that we bought in that same time period.

This car has a long and weird story behind it, but 'll just say that it was special ordered by it's original owner here in AZ as a 440 Six Pak 'Cuda with a Hemi 4 speed and a Dana 60 with 4.10 gears and a Sure-grip. Color was White over Green and the car was going to be built for Super Stock racing. My brother-in-law and I are the fourth owners and we know all three of the previous owners after finding the original owner in Northern AZ back in the 90's and having him tell us that it was an original 440 Six Pak, 4 speed car and how it ended up with an Arizona issued v.i.n. number, fiberglass fenders, hood, doors, deck lid and a one piece fiberglass Sox & Martin dashboard, along with a 1966 426 Hemi as it was equipped when we bought it in 1979. The car was painted in the Black & Gold color scheme that you see in a couple of the pictures below. Unfortunately, I don't have a single picture of the car as it looked when we bought it, or during the 1980 race season when we were racing it and running low 11's while granny shifting the factory Hemi 4 speed shifter linkage. I will also mention that pulling both of the front wheels off of the track at the starting line wasn't difficult in the few races we ran that year!

Our plans were to build it to run in the then 9.90 second "Super Gas" class, but as mentioned, that never happened and the car hasn't run since the end of the 1980 season with the Hemi in the car.

Richard

[67r/t4speeder]

What a cool car, I do hope it gets assemble again in one form or another for some more drag racing fun.

[thebankerstoy]

I use to think about putting that 440 in my Coronet, but I would have had to do a lot of upgrades to run that engine and it would cost an arm and a leg to keep racing fuel in it. I've also thought in the past about rebuilding the '66 Hemi engine, but it needs a lot of machine work to repair the spun rod journal and some hair line engine block cracks, so neither will see the light of day for me anymore. Maybe my brother-in-law will do something with the 'Cuda after he retires in a few years, but his wife is my wife's sister and she does NOT love cars like my wife does, so who knows what will happen to the car and it's interesting parts.

Richard

[67r/t4speeder]

Racing cost big bucks, I sure couldn't afford it.

Cool dash there aren't very many of those still around

[thebankerstoy]

I agree Andy, that Sox & Martin fiberglass dash is the only one that I've ever seen in person or otherwise. It weighs a fraction of the factory unit.

Richard