Mr.Mk1’s ‘70 Dodge Coronet 440

[Mr.Mk1]

It went to its inspection, haven’t heard back though.

My garage situation means I needed to hustle and get this vulnerable metal sealed and protected.

Fucking marathon of shitty jobs and many hours spend rolling around under the thing over a week but I’m starting to feel like I’m progressing the way I want to! My eyes still crunch when I blink but it’s worth it?

 

Rear end needs another coat then I can sling it back in.

I used a can of cavity wax in all the orifices but I’ll need to grab another tomorrow to finish, then a second coat. Don’t get it in your beard.

and one shed down! Contractors have pushed a week so I’m chilling on the green shed demo for a little longer.. I’ve got a crooked spine so I get wrecked after doing physical shit and I’m ok with a wee breather.

 

[Mr.Mk1]

Sheds happening at a good pace..

And a nicely lowered internet bee

 

To make it symmetrical, I got the only cheap chrome remote-control valiant door mirror on trademe..$40 delivered. Been watching them for a year and they hover around $150  Probably scruffy but it will match the other side, hasn’t arrived yet but I’ll give it a spruce up when it does.

[Mr.Mk1]

We’re still alive. 

Nothing really to report unfortunately.

But the garage is almost done!

[Mr.Mk1]

Garage now done and in use!

I had to spot sandblast and etch prime a couple of places that turned orange after its 2 months on the lawn in the rain. 
cleaned up the floor and gave it a coat of hammerite and more seam sealer around the wheel and front panel. 

Todays job was to continue with the bog.. rear pillars where lead was removed and meld the tops of the quarter’s where they were welded.

I’d been dreading this but All went well and made decent progress. I’m calling the pillars finished.

Will crack on tomorrow and get some primer on the repairs because it’s off for its 3D measure on Monday.

I’d filled the zephyr with all the dodge parts while shed was being built and between bog drys I emptied it and loaded onto shelves all safe and dry again

[Mr.Mk1]

 

Sweet!

It’s not finished but it’s roughed out pretty close.

There’s actually not much car left to straighten out which is pretty exciting, I hate bodywork. 

[Mr.Mk1]

Good couple of days..

-Passed 3D measure

-Seam sealing complete

-underbody deadner sprayed in all wheel arches, inside rear 1/4s and floor/tunnel (I masked off the chassis rails for a cleaner look)

-engine bay and trunk painted

-more suspension bits and K member re-sprayed 

-started putting things back in engine bay 

-lots of bits re-painted as the old shed leaked and filled my finished parts boxes with water

[Mr.Mk1]

A while back I had a dig around at silvester v8 where wifey works and found heaps of old stock..stickers, assortment packs, window winders, trim clips.. you name it.

I snagged a few coronet-bound parts like a chrome ciggy lighter, a wee knob that goes on the seat adjuster, polished bumper coach bolts and a p/s res cap etc.

 
 

made a rookie mistake with the brake lines.. made all the lines and went to finish with the front-2-back line and came up 2M short!

luckily they sold it per M so that’s sorted.

The deadener was literally coarse pink batts with cardboard backing and piss soaked so I glued some newschool stuff in.

 

Went to have my proud moment of installing heater box and almost filling all the firewall holes.. off to grab some tape then heard a big crunch.. fell over and blew the plastic control panel to bits.

Had a whisky and carried on.

It’s the sort of thing I could make from panel steel but I’ll glue it up and soldier on for now. Thing weighs as much as a dog so that old plastic erupted
 

being A/C deleted there’s lots of random pipes and shit unused but it doesn’t bother me. Down the line I might re-instate it but car came without most of it attached and it’s not a priority at all.

 

[Mr.Mk1]

Hours spent flittering between jobs but lots of headway made! Suspension, steering and brakes all tightened and greased.

Started running the looms again which unfortunately make it look a bit shit but I need to make sure everything works.. then I’ll re-wrap it and tidy it up.

Exhaust hangers re-attached too, they were very basic but I’ll find out how well they work..

More paint touch-ups, some repairs to broken heater and headlight surround plastics are finished.

 

[Mr.Mk1]

My photo host is having a moment so I’ll add individually 

[Mr.Mk1]

I’m a bit crook so decided on some light duty’s - replace rear shoes. One side at a time cause I’m retarded and it’s nice to have a reference.

Wire wheeled everything and painted, went to compare shoes and hit a wall.

They are for 11x2.5. Inch too big! C you nt.

Hope I can sell them on to recover costs

Sump off, new pistons and pins confirmed, cam looks happy. New gaskets and new engine mounts then it’s going back in the bay!

[Mr.Mk1]

M’lady brought home some goodies tonight, now they are installed.

 

..But not without first flicking another coat on the sump, removing the (new,yay) Melling oil pump to clean out and re-mesh the pickup, new gaskets because the old me would have sent it and had to do it again in 6 months.
 I thought it was quite clever that there was a large and small hole in the sump and the end rubbers have wee nubs that pull through and locate.. but when you go to tighten up those corner bolts the nubs interfere with the socket  

The rubber in the mounts was starting to come away but once I pulled them off found them to be pretty decent..no stress, new ones were cheap as chippies.

[Mr.Mk1]

[Mr.Mk1]

Progress has slowed but it’s purely because it’s fiddly boring shit.. putting column back in, tracing wires and cleaning terminals, hooking up fuel tank and breathers, figuring out and making a loom for reverse safety switch which was missing, aligning doors, shifter linkages, making a battery clamp, drilling holes in boot floor for running the plate light and fuel sender wiring, making a rear parcel tray board, etc etc etc..also swapping the spindles from side to side.. turns out you can switch them.. now the brake hoses reach!

The underside is done and only the driveshaft to go back in!

didn’t achieve over the long weekend as we had visitors, and it was hot as shit in the shed last Sunday so feel a bit lame for not cranking along but it’s happening.
The vin plate guy came and checked it out, was all positive really. Said he’s passed worse seatbelts in the past so I’ve cleaned mine up and we’ll see how it goes…he liked that the Chrysler tags were still intact. I mentioned I’d rather no rears and change to lap fronts.

Im now to truck on and then get in touch for another pre-check before the real deal incase there’s some bits to re-jig.

My car was missing these roof gutter trims when It arrived, I wasn’t overly keen to try ship them from the states and have them arrive tied in a bow.. was checking out Muscle Car Parts (Nelson) website and saw they had a set in stock! A bit spendy, but couldn’t say no, they arrived a day after and are brand new. He was ace to deal with and got tracking emails at all stops.

little furry friend inside my filter 

Underside as I was manoeuvring exhausts back in.. haven’t bothered flashing them up much..I hit them with some shitty old silver paint I needed to use up so they wouldn’t deteriorate too much while outside since removing them.. I plan to run headers when it’s finished and the exhaust might be too loud and need work later anyway.. we’ll find out.

i-spy crusty manifolds

When pressed, vin man said I would get away with taping up the worst parts of the seats and then running seat covers.. that will buy me some time and several grand!

I’ll absolutely reupholster, but it’s was an obstacle in getting it on the road.

id approached a well known upholster with a focus on the vinyl roof and headlining so I can get screens installed.

Hes not likely to get to it before muscle car madness end of January. 
Vin man mentioned id need to hide the sharp bits in the roof or I would fail.. so hood lining moved up the list. He and Mia mates use a young guy very local to me so I paid him a visit and he recons we could get it done in time but suggested buying premade kits from USA and he install. 
Queue frantic pricing and seeing what was actually in stock. Haven’t confirmed anything yet.

I did fill the cracks and drop off the dash pad for him to vinyl wrap in the mean time..that will dial in the dash assembly when it comes back.

 

[Mr.Mk1]

I have a headliner, sail (C pillar) panels, vinyl roof and door handle + lock gasket set (tiny and cheap so why not) coming from the land of the free, along with a glovebox insert. Holy date rape, shipping was more than the goods and I’ll still probably get peeled out with some sort of import duty but it’s a time-crunch thing I can’t really bitch about (just cry myself to sleep over)
 

Lame update but all forward progress.

 

the trunk lid is really really good, just buzzed back some scabs and rust killed them. Love that Fertan rust fucker.

Hour upon hour upon hour spent filling and sanding, the rear is good to go, the end-caps now match the quarters.. which had a few bruises between there and the door. The black paint is an etch primer over the bare steel rub-throughs.

The door gaps were a bit average and got a slice on both sides, queue the plastic-coated tent peg that was a nice concourse-sized interference fit, and they are looking good now. Haven’t fully finished because it was like working in a hothouse.

Shout out to this bog, it makes a fucking dull job much more bareable. I’ll never use that hard pink shit again

[Mr.Mk1]

Shape has been finalised.. although very close, I still have to finish the tops of the rear quarters. I think I’ll spritz/spray bog the area and then do the whole car in black primer so I have a clean fresh base to start blocking, rubbing back and finishing! 
There’s some really complex shapes behind the door as it pumps out from flat and a couple of style lines thrown in but I’m happy with it now. 
The rest of the car, pinholes and all the hidden bits were then sanded smooth ready for a nice prime when time and good weather align.

 

[Mr.Mk1]

Well I did spray bog the top of the quarters Tuesday , didn’t have much left so practically one decent coat. 
Then Friday evening I found the expensive 2k spritz I forgot I brought last year when I was doing the doors! So I sprayed a few coats on the tops of the quarters and Down the Swage that runs half the length.

Saturday was a nice hot one so I was all geared up to prime, but the spritz was too soft.. spanner in the cogs but ok, I’ll do other stuff and prime Sunday.

Sunday comes and it’s pissing, there’s too much moisture in the air to safely spray, but that fucking spritz is still soft. Could scratch it with a fingernail like fresh house paint.

Monday is warm, that should cook it off.

It didn’t.

here I am laying into my putty-covered finished bog with 18 150grit pads on the sander, clogging up faster than the shitter at a cheap restaurant.

dogs cock, fucking defeating.

I’ll prime it tomorrow after work cause it’s supposed to be hot. Wet weekend forecast so it will be perfect for me to start blocking it by then.
This spritz thing will bite me in the ass ~ not sure where or when but soft paints don’t tend to lead to 100% success rates.

While I wasn’t able to spray, I cleaned and vinyl dyed my door cards and sun visors, drilled holes in floor and half installed gas pedal, oil changed for some Penrite diesel oil with zinc I got in a deal that will help clean the engine initially.

Also found some engine bay ‘inspection flaps’ I’d forgotten about so cleaned up and refurbished the clips. 
Re-painted some other clips and the marker light housings that got a bit wet and a bit crusty while stored.

Spread some bog on the front spoiler and got that ready for primer too.

No pics sorry, the door cards look all wrinkly and shitty by themselves but will never notice when installed

[Mr.Mk1]

Blackened

[Mr.Mk1]

Over half way now! 

[Mr.Mk1]

Sorry it seems to look the same each update but it’s certainly changing! It’s been brutal hot in the shed so that’s impacted progress a bit.

Everything is blocked and rubbed back ready for a final prime, door shuts and doors in top-coat satin black, along with the rear interior hip panels.

[Mr.Mk1]

The fake chrome flaked off the door panel strips yonks ago so I masked them and flicked some bro chrome and clear on to break them up a bit. 

This-morning I spread everything out and cleaned up, hammered some final primer coats on everything!

 

Then closed it up and left it to bake, it’s hot as balls in there so will be awesome for it.

I’ll try my best to leave it cure for as long as I can before wet sanding, there’s no shortage of stuff to do in the mean time right? 
 

Bad news this week, I emailed YearOne for tracking details on my vinyl roof and bits seeing as the headliner arrived separately a few weeks ago..

..he said it was accidentally shipped direct to me from their supplier and not back to them for collation, the rest of the order isn’t ready yet despite no ‘back order’ prompts..

Fucker.

Ill sand the roof back a bit and spray it black in the mean time, only a month until I’m aiming to have it back together with glass in and not holding any hope the vinyl will appear in that time.