Mr.Mk1’s ‘70 Dodge Coronet 440

Mr.Mk1 · March 23

The consolidator fucked around for a week and we missed the container. Gotta wait another month until the next one, then another for it to float over.

Fuck you Robert, I’m sour!

Leisurely scraped some underseal + all the old deposits and shit off the diff to aid the sandblaster. Pulled the rear brake hose to match at work..it’s identical to the fronts just a little shorter so that’s a bonus.

talked to the blaster tonight and will tee up a quick inspection in the weekend.

Mr.Mk1 · March 26

I just assumed it was a cheap aftermarket finger trimmer fan painted black but she’s original

Part of me wanted to paint strip and polish up the alloy blades; but the rest of me just blastedit all and painted it black.

In other news there’s a fucking ship wedged in the Suez Canal and global shipping is all up the shit until god knows when.

sigh

Mr.Mk1 · March 28

Blaster was keen. Some sorta glass and water deal, but won’t bugger anything left attached.

Pulled the bumpstops and exhaust hangers, blasted and zinc sprayed.

Quality template (just a reference pic for later)

Stripped the hinges, power steer, brake lines & more wee bits off the front and firewall, screen Trims came off cleanly (plenty of bite on the clips, was never going to fall off).

Got rust in the lower rear screen like all the other cars but the front was lush! Cooked old vinyl still sandwiched in there.

cracked the screen!

Next to no effort on the trim it and it provided a wee crack.. gutted it’s the factory glass but it was bound to fail anyway, as there is plenty of delaminated areas around edges

Mr.Mk1 · April 2

Today’s mish was to clean up and paint the bumper, then it rained.

I got a bit done but not the bulk of it as the compressor shat check valve.

I wanna do the frame in hammerite but I’ll be patient and let the black zinc cure first.

whipped the overspray and sealant off the screen trims and straightened a few bits.

Mr.Mk1 · April 4

Wire wheeled the whole thing yesterday and got a coat on today.

Mr.Mk1 · April 7

I’ve been crook again so wasted a huge portion of the first long weekend I wasn’t working.

achieved wee bits before crawling back inside.

the bumpers all painted and assembled again.

and I got the fucking rear screen out intact!!

I held my breath for way longer than is healthy.

the rear ‘deck lid’ is a A+ rust trap for B-body’s (I’d dare say most American cars of the era) so I knew it was fucked up but I’m happy to see it’s not totally missing under the glass! Shoulda added one to the cart when I ordered panels but I’m a fucking Scrooge.

The rest of the frame is dope, stoked!

ive got some trans seals at work and cleaning that slug up and patching the leaks is close to next on the list. Got a dipstick oring, rear seal and selector seal. The input one is already brand new which is cool. The inside of bellhousing is dry so it’s not the source of the deluge

Mr.Mk1 · April 10

Sorry all my photos are rushed and shit looking. I’m going to try take more care and make them better

No before shots cause we’ve all seen used transmissions but I got lots of crud off the box without going too spaz and using all my products up.

inside was nice, filter and gasket was new but I’ll replace. Gutted the mrs didn’t have any in stock today..I was keen to have this job done and stashed away in the corner again this weekend.

replaced shifter seal which I dare say was a big factor in leaky ness.

fought this fucking ass output seal for ages, just didn’t want to square up and stay in!

Trans mount cleaned up and now zinc’d.

Mr.Mk1 · April 11

Well that was never coming out intact with the rubber.

theres 2 distinct sheets of laminate with a gap in between which crunches and cracks.

Also, there clips in the corners on both sides so you couldn’t get in to ‘flick’ the seal out.

bit the bullet and sliced the seal.

pretty happy! Hasn’t broken through anywhere, just scode and pitting. Even saved most of the trim clips.

lovely niece of original paint

Was good to access the top dash fasteners and swing the dash down for a look (cool design has whole dash pivot on two bolts in front of the doors) so I vacuumed more shit and dirt out. Allowed access to the wiper spindles too so I whipped them out as they are frozen. One came right, ones soaking.

My lovely mrs sat and cleaned up the stainless trims with wire wool for me too!

Mr.Mk1 · April 13

Tranny all sealed up again.

Fuel tank straps cleaned up, welded some soft bits, rust killed and painted silver.

Still working on the wiper pivot.

decided to grind off the rivet and drive the shaft out then clean up and reassemble, weld where the rivet was to the bracket.

walking back from the grinder the fucking alloy housing just crumbled and both wings fell off!

I have an idea for a fix but not today.

Mr.Mk1 · April 14

I freed the wiper!

fucking pot metal shit.

The shaft runs on brass bushes either end and the middle section was full of some now-solid shellac sorta shit which jammed it up good.

I have cleaned and lubed it, now trying to epoxy the housing back together. It doesn’t have to look good as it’s not seen, but it needs to be reliable when used. The ugly repair method should work in my favour, I just have to take my time and let it fully set each time

Mr.Mk1 · April 17

That’s better.

The epoxy glue kinda sucked so I whipped up a wee reinforcer plate. Once bolted back in against firewall she’ll be safe.

And I scaled back the front runners.

..just for sandblasting.

Mr.Mk1 · April 19

My girl came through with more rock auto goodies!

New fuel sender and radius rod bushes.

I opted for the sender that has a built in return line in case I go EFI down the line.

I stripped the loom out and and pulled the Dash after work too. Nothing broke

Mr.Mk1 · April 22

Minty!

Didn’t like how the generic Tridon ones went so rock auto came through again, for less coin!

I sent the old booster to a shop to assess its state and they came back at $700 in parts alone x USA in a month.

It is a bit of an oddball, but no thanks.

I figured it was fucked cause it had been full of brake fluid but a customer I didn’t know had the tech came in and saw it, said he can clean it up and reassemble it and that if the diaphragms we’re going to react badly to fluid contamination then it would happen pretty quickly, that mine was salvageable.

I mean it’s junk totally disassembled in a box so may as well sling it back together!

He’ll sleeve the master too.

Just prior to this, I brought new booster off a chap on Facebook for cheap, he didn’t end up using it. It’s not ideal but was going to make it work.. it’s a couple inches smaller than my original unit but I figured all it does is assist. I could deal with a slightly heavier pedal.

me preference is original..

Mr.Mk1 · April 24

Ideally we’ll be blasting the underside and enginebay next week!

stripped the heater A/C and junk out because it will never be more accessible/ save some weight baring down on my stupid little wheels and I can clean the mouse shit off.

Some time in the past the furry sound deadener has got moist and that’s why there’s crusty bits on the firewall. I had to remove it or it would catch fire anyway.

Back out with the face mask and wire wheeled this big kahuna after whipping off the fuzzy shit.

Quick black-zinc to seal and savour.

That shite I mentioned a few weeks back that I was blowing out of the plenum, there was more in the ducts. Glad that didn’t fire out first time I used the heater!

LOL at the gasket never being square since assembly.

Classic industries hadn’t provided an invoice or MAF declaration, just an address.. so the crate was just chilling at the depot in California. Took the mrs a couple of weeks to get that squared away.

Mr.Mk1 · May 9

This week turned in to week after next week so dropping to blaster tomorrow!

kinda been in limbo so not much progress (vinegar soaked and painted some clips + bolts) but today I said fuck it and knocked out the first 2 of MANY patches to come.

firewall

passengers footwell

..and figured since the blaster is passing over, I’d expose these bulges around the shock towers so it’s nice and clean behind.

also blasted the crusty bits on the front valence and made a few holes. I just zapped these up and rust killed.

Mr.Mk1 · May 10

Took some more shots since it was out of the shed. She’s now at the blasters.

Cancery upskirt

Mr.Mk1 · May 15

Nekkid!

more tomorrow

Mr.Mk1 · May 15

6 of these so far!

Mr.Mk1 · May 16

What a whore of a job.

A comedy of non-stop misgivings and survivalism has it etch primed where it was bare.

it looks just the same cause the epoxy is grey

Mr.Mk1 · May 16

another cool find VF - 12 -1 ?

these are probably the least thrilling bits to see in full. I’ll order some corners for the bottom of the rear window aperture because they are like $30 each and that will give me a good reference to start on. Will have to deconstruct the rear deck and have a tidy up.

at least the rear panel is fairly flat /basic?