Popular Post jackeo21 Posted September 20, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted September 20, 2021 recently purchased a car that I know I'll be keeping for many many years. it's been a long standing goal of mine to own a B body mopar, so to own this is beyond words this is the project log of my 1968 Dodge Coronet Deluxe, a true California survivor car. the car spent much of its life baking away in the San Diego heat, driven here and there by its elderly owners until it came over here, in 2006 ish. whilst never complied, it's a credit to the previous owner, who went through all of the essentials and gave everything a freshen up. Covid allowing, I am aiming to have it on the road this side of Christmas. as it stands, it's a base model '68, with the original 318 and 904 auto. Runs super nicely, and receipts show the motor was rebuilt (standard spec) in 2000. Photos are of how it looked upon purchase cheers! 30 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jackeo21 Posted September 20, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 20, 2021 This style of B body Mopar, was new for 1968. With the coronet of this shape, came the Charger, Road Runner, Super Bee, with the Charger cemented into history and Hollywood fame with "The Dukes Of Hazzard". Whilst often overlooked, or at least they always used to be, most Coronet's never quite enjoyed the fame of its higher-horsepower counterparts, instead often being relegated to police or taxi service, or being grandmas run around car. My car lacks options, it's the lowest spec model (Deluxe), with only a few options installed at the factory. With Mopars of this era, the VIN number, and "Fender Tag" are a great way to find out exactly what options your car came with. A lot of die-hard enthusiasts obsess over detail and options, and since Chrysler offered so many different options, there's a million different combinations, making for limited production numbers for certain cars that have select factory options. This car keeps it simple. It came with an AM radio, chrome side trim, and fender mounted turn signal lights. That's it. And I think that's what makes this car perfect, it's very much a bare bones car that gives off a nice "street car" vibe. You'll notice it's a Post car, which means it has pop-open quarter windows and a solid B-pillar, as opposed to the "hardtop" variant displayed in the advertisement above. Part of the reason that it's a post car, is because it's a very early build car. It has a build date of Jan 22, 1968, with the dates on the engine, and the rest of the parts ranging from September to December 1967. I don't think that the hardtops had been put into production until a few months later. First order of business, was to start on the inside and work my way out. After 53 years, the interior had seen better days. I was the first to remove the carpet, marking the beginning of the revamp. The headliner had been ripped to shreds, so that needed replacement, too. I took it to my upholsterer who made quick work of the headliner, and bolstered the drivers seat back up for me (I'm 5 foot 9, and could hardly see over the dash for the sunken seat). With that done, I threw in my new ACC nylon loop black carpet. I'm quite happy with how my interior is shaping up. I'm thinking I'll install the factory thumb wheel radio, and detail the dash up next. I'm loosing the tach in favor of the factory style one. photos say it all really, so I'll stop typing and let them speak. The interior, with original white door cards, original carpet, and its '70 Charger R/T bench seat. Installing my rockauto carpet, excellent quality and I'd buy this again in a heartbeat. Really taking shape with the fresh headliner installed. 17 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jackeo21 Posted September 20, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 20, 2021 With my interior in much better shape, I decided to turn my attention to the engine over the lockdown period. Lockdown gave me a chance to really spend time working away at getting things cleaned up under the hood. The coronet is still equipped with its original 318 (5.2L) LA series Small Block V8. These motors had never been intended for performance use, and had not been thought of as much more than a replaceable, run of the mill American V8. Over the years, your typical performance part companies have developed parts to turn the 318 into a great street/strip performer. Most guys will always start with bigger cubes, the likes of the 360 come to mind when building a small block Mopar engine, however due to limited availability here in NZ, and with the 318 being a production engine for many Aussie Valiants, it makes more sense for me to work with these smaller engines and see what I can do with one. I don't want crazy power for this anyway, my aim is to keep it as a bit of an all-rounder. For now, I decided to clean up the motor in the car, with the addition of a 4 barrel intake and carb setup. I decided that my daily driver Dodge truck would be better off with an economically minded 2 barrel, so for me, it made sense to simply order some gaskets and swap the intakes over, seeing how the linkages and all that are identical. While I haven't been for a test drive, the Carter AFB carb has this running really nicely. I replaced all my typical service items (fan clutch, water pump, belts etc) and gave it a fresh coat of the correct red paint, instead of the orange that it was. Pretty happy with how it turned out overall, it'll definitely look the part until I start looking at more serious upgrades in future. As far as the auto goes, it moves and shifts nicely, but I feel it could be a bit tighter on shifts. I might look into a way to improve this, but am not super familiar with the tricks of getting an auto hopped up. The 318 as I bought the car, in full standard form bar the TTI headers. After some resto-work. The most satisfying part was making new HT leads to replace the tired old grey ones. And a super quick vid of how it sounds. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jackeo21 Posted September 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 21, 2021 Spent the better part of my day today fabricating my own fan shroud. This car came from the factory with one of those meat cleaver spec 4 bladed fans of death, and at some point was changed to a Chrysler 18" clutch fan. It didn't draw much air, so I replaced the fan clutch with a brand new one, and had a bit of success but it wasn't to my liking. I decided it needed a fan shroud, and I sure as shit wasn't going to be forking out upwards of $500 for a new one. I just made it from panel steel, folded it up, and welded the corners to match the style of my truck one. Was a bit of mucking around involved, but I'm happy with how it came out. Now when holding my hand in front of the rad, you can feel it draw air through every inch of the core, instead of roughly just in the middle. Win. Spray painted it and mounted it this evening. It won't be hard finding some Auckland traffic to test out my revamped cooling system. The factory looking "22" sprayed on there is only there because I keep forgetting what size my radiator is The start, I made it 100mm too tall so I had to cut it down from this Welding it together the same way as a basic Chrysler one After some work on the sandbag with a mallet, the top had nice clearance and I was ready to make some mount brackets All painted, with the "22" as a half ass attempt at factory ink markings Installed and functional! Fingers crossed this keeps me cool at Beach Hop and cruise events. I haven't had years of metal fab experience but it's a satisfying result - I think the Valiant needs one now! Next time I'll have a go at putting some swages into one for a bit of detail. 27 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jackeo21 Posted October 8, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 8, 2021 Not a super thrilling update, but I turned into a bit of a barry and decided to get all fussy with the details. I figured that since I like factory spec engine bays, and since my car is pretty close to stock standard, I'd go full circle and make the battery all og looking too. You can actually buy this style battery new from Mopar, but since my lotto win hasn't come quite yet, I've settled for the next best thing. I'll quickly detail how I disguised my battery to look old fashioned for anyone wanting to do the same (place I used does all different battery brands, quite neat). Anyway, I needed to make a "topper" to hide the modern style batteries handle etc etc, and it so happened I had some 3mm perspex laying around the shed. Once cut to size, I used a step drill to make holes for the battery posts to stick through (step drill gave the holes a nice looking chamfer to boot). A DA sander made quick work of the prep, some semi gloss black gave it that plastic look, and urethane was applied to stick it to the battery (but not too much, incase the battery needs to be replaced). Finally, my kit arrived. On it goes, a very satisfying job indeed. For the decal on the side, I decided that I should made a perspex backing should the battery shit itself, I'd be able to pull it off and adhere to a new battery. Oh, and if anyone was concerned about battery ventilation, these newer batteries vent through the sides of the top lid, so my battery topper isn't blocking anything off/causes no damage etc Overall stoked. The car is booked in for its vin in a months time or so. If drag day is still a go this year, you bet I'll be there, vin going smoothly in all. I have heard so much about putting American cars through a vin, so it will be interesting to see how it all goes. Cheers for reading about how I put stickers on my battery I promise more exciting updates will come in due course 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jackeo21 Posted March 29, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 29, 2022 Slowly but surely inching towards a VIN and road legality. Few tidy-up jobs done around the car, with a few more to come soon. Auto has finally given up the ghost for good, so it's time to yank the A904 and go through it. I've never opened an auto up before, so what better time than to take this one entirely to pieces and fit a rebuild kit. All good fun. I will forever wish that American plates could be used on NZ roads, adds character. Hopefully the next update involves the car parked somewhere other than my house. Cheers! 17 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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