Picked this project up about a month ago and wanted to make a post here. It is a 1966 coronet 500 Hemi 4 speed car originally. Its GG1 green metallic, black interior, bucket seat, console 4 speed car. I purchased the car out of Hatfield, Pa, and it has license plate and inspection sticker on the car from 1979.
Car at some point was owned by Georgian and Michael Karnis, I would assume the last time it was tagged in 79 in PA.
The car sold new at Pioneer Dodge in San Jose, California, got that information from Chrysler Historical and our very own Dan Pausch. I don't know what time frame that it left California and made its way to Pa, but I can say that the original Hemi engine, trans, and rear axle were changed out while still in San Jose. It had a drivetrain change out to a 1964 383 HP with 4 speed and rear axle from the 1964 B body. The reason that I was able to know that is the special driveshaft and adapter that they used to make it work with the ball and trunnion was made at Cox and Sprauge driveline in San Jose. SO with that being said if anyone might know any history on the car please PM me here. I would love to find out all that I could on the car.
Thank you, Matt

COOL car!

Be a nice car done.

If your interested . a friend of mine has a boatload of nos parts for one of these.
pretty much anything you can imagine.

I will be talking to him next week and make sure he is ok if I give out his number,,,if your interested

Great Car, I love that year and combo. Good luck with it, great specimen for a full resto or really nice day 2 high end driver.

Buffed up the drivers quarter panel to see what the original paint looks like. Not to bad, may try to match the front fender and hood to it and see how that does. Also was able to pull the engine and transmission out. Interesting that the original motor and trans was replaced with the 64 383 and 4 speed while it was in San Jose. A company called Cox and Sprague made an adapter and driveshaft to mate up with the 64 4 speed.
Matt

Out with the 64 383 and trans, had my son helping me with it.
Matt

There is something about that body style and that original green hue that I just love. Tom Hoovers Hemi coronet was that color too. I looks great in the sun light.

[i][/i]I agree with you! Always liked the Tom Hoover car, believe it’s a coronet 440 body style. I think for now I’m going to try to redo the drive train and brakes along with suspension and try to enjoy it for a while. We shall see.
Matt

Great car, love it!

Leave it original paint!

Agreed, leave the paint, patina is cool and that car has plenty!

Nice job on the 1/4 paint. If the rest of the car cleans up well what would one do about the hood?
Primer gray?
Black?
Paint it green..that would never match?

He could spray the top surface, back tape near the top of the sides where it rolls over. Paint it front to back. That paint looks too nice to remove.

My goal is to leave the original paint and to make it look as good as I can, some PDR work and buffing. That being said the previous owner repaired a small air cleaner stud dent in the hood years ago and primered it and the RT fender was replaced at some point and is black. So at minimum I’m going to have to paint two panels. So I’d like to get something close as possible to paint on it with. I may pull the original hood and find another hood and install a W0 style scoop to it when I paint it, We shall see. Now I need to concentrate on getting the suspension all apart and rebuilt. I would like to do it close to like it should be without going to crazy. Also have to rebuild the rear springs and a Dana then but all that back in. Already have all the fuel and brake lines.
Matt

hit the classifieds, maybe you could find another green hood and fender?

Got a chance to work on the K frame a little tonight. Removed the homemade 383 mounts that were welded to it and cleaned it up some. Going to post a few interesting things I noticed.
Matt

Keep up the great work!

Some pictures of the lower control arm. I do believe it has had a RT lower control arm replaced in the past, as it appears to have taken a little bump on the side. Funny thing is the LT lower control arm is basically covered in black paint.
Matt

Very cool car !!!!

Production line parts often had a different coating than replacement parts. Many parts delivered to the line were cosmoline while replacement parts were painted black, presumably because the paint would keep the part looking good while on the shelf for longer periods.

My super low mileage '66 Hemi Coronet also had black painted lower control arms. I always thought they were original.

Cass, the drivers side control arm on this car, the one that is black painted, I would also assume to be original to the car. The passenger side however is the side that has had the fender replaced and looks like a bump to the wheel. I am going to try to locate the dates on the control arms as I get it on apart.
Matt

Just to be clear, there have been some 66 cars documented to have black painted lower control arms from the factory, I have seen them both ways but the black is less common in my observation. That said, I have not seen any from later year cars that were black. Also, 66-67 LCA rivets don't have date codes like later years did, again, in my own observation. .02

Thanks Scott for your help. I can use all I can get.
Matt

Got the suspension apart tonight, the drivers side is original the passenger has been replaced like we suspected. It has the dated rivets, and surprising seems to have a lot of the gold coloring still on it. I will have to be on the look out for a nice passenger side 66/67 lower control arm with sway bar tabs.
Matt

The replacement passenger side. With the dated rivets. Also note the difference in the plate the lower control arm bump stop attaches to.
Matt

The original also shows that it was dipped in black paint (as opposed to sprayed) which is correct.

yes that is what I thought too Scott. That's one reason I wanted to show the runs and how it appears to go away from the end like it was dipped. By the way you don't have an extra passenger side lower control arm do you?
Matt

I don't have any 66 stuff at the moment but I'll see if I can hook you up

Got some more work done tonight. Also some other details I took pictures of like the dates and part number on the torsion bars, leaf spring part number, some of the under bottom paint, and the 66 only leaf spring clamps.
I’ll post some pictures.
Matt

Did a little K frame repair and got the old 383 mount locations off and cleaned up. Now to have the K frame cleaned up and powder coated.

The leaf springs and clamps.
Matt

Some undercarriage pictures, one under the gas tank and a couple of the passenger floor pan showing the original primer and green overspray.
Matt

A few more pictures the rear exhaust hangers and the original fuel line clamps.
Matt

The original fuel sending unit. Unsure if the numbers stamped into it are the date, if so maybe 07 week of 1966, not completely sure.
Wish the portion inside the tank wasn’t rough.
Matt

Got the leaf springs out of the car, not for sure but it looks like to me they may have been black originally too. They are dated 75 6, so I’m going to say 75th day of 1966. If anyone knows for sure on the spring color let me know.
Matt

The entire leaf spring assembly was dipped in black. They came in natural unpainted as well. You've got plenty of evidence there to show yours were black.

Thanks Scott. In your opinion what is the best way to clean them to get them ready to repaint?

Disassemble them, use paint stripper to get the remaining paint off. Get a piece of PVC tubing (4" dia or so) cap and glue one end, add spring leaves, soak completely submerged in Evaporust overnight. Remove, rinse with solvent (not water). Buy real zink interleaves and new clamps (Frank Badelson sells them). After assembly clean them well with solvent to remove any oil or grease then make a trough to dip coat them in the paint. A wood box lined with heavy plastic or sprayed in a heavy coat of Flexseal works well, use a gallon or so of cheap gloss enamel paint (tractor supply store) thin with recommended solvent to water like consistency, use wire to hold spring eyes, dip in paint, let them drip dry over a catch cloth or paper.

Great project, I'll definitely be watching this one. Evaporust can clean prusty parts and will not disturb the paint. It also leaves te metal appearing original and untouched Vs glass beading with leaves and etched look on stamped steel parts.

Been a while since I have been able to do a lot on the 66. I have been collecting some parts and trying to get everything I need at least lined up. I do have my engine back, was into building it actually before the car purchase but with that it will go into this car. I did manage to get the new engine painted over the weekend. Still need to do the engine brackets and bellhousing, but at least some forward progress. Used the enamel paint from Roger Gibson, it’s a PPG shop line product.
Matt

Engine looks really nice. A few pointers should you care. The heater hose tubes were installed after paint, the fuel pump was not painted, the engine mounts complete with rubber insulators, were painted with the engine. The dip stick tube and clamp were also installed and painted with the engine.

Great looking car. Looking at your pics I noticed one similarity with my 66 Belvedere, the paint marks of the pass side engine mount. Engine gone on mine too. The engine was either painted in the car or the mount was still wet when installed. Maybe some on here can explain. Love to see how your battery + cables are routed, also the the connector for the alt-coil-water wires (my 4 way connector was cut off and I need one) keep the pics coming!

Thanks Scott I will try to pull the fuel pump back off and get the paint off of it at least. Will hopefully get me brackets, and bellhousing painted soon. Been dialing in my bell housing, what a pain.
Matt

Wish I could be of more help on the wiring, but mine cars engine was replaced with a 383 at some point fairly early on and the wiring has all be hacked around, so none of mine will be original. As for the mount leaving a paint mark on the K frame I think it was set onto the K frame while the rubber isolator was somewhat wet anyway.
Matt

Correct, Hemis were usually installed very shortly after being completed and painted, paint transfer to the K-member from the engine mounts was common. Bell housing was also installed on the engine when it was painted, usually a moderate amount of over spray covered the bell housing, complete coverage happened as well but was less common in my observations.

Couple items out of the evap-o-rust shock plates, u bolts, and front spring hangers.

Also got the bellhousing, inspection cover, and engine mounts painted today.

Looking good.
Im still working on the items we talked about btw ,,,but nothing new to report yet

A few things I noticed today while working on a few parts. I removed the transmission mount from the crossmember to get it cleaned up. The mount has a 6 in a circle which I would assume to be for the year, and the 3 dots inside the first quarter around the year, so I would assume March of 1966 for the mount? It is nice shape.
I also cleaned up the sway bar a little and noticed some black paint on it.
Matt

Blasted the transmission cross member. Found this date on it, unsure if it’s 3 month or what. I will paint this piece as it’s damaged and has been beat on and off at times.

K frame back from being cleaned up and blasted. Waiting on a few other items then we can start to reassemble the suspension.
Matt

A couple other items done. Sway bar redone and lower control arms rebuilt. Slowly but surely.
Matt

Cleaned the manual steering box up along with the drag link. The box appears to be maybe dated 3 month 66 as a casting date. Also an interesting thing the pitman arm and idler arm appear to have been painted black. The center link is just natural finish as best I can tell.
Or that’s how it appears when I got it cleaned up.
Matt

That idler arm looks replaced. No grease fittings. Any Ideas?

How is the tail finish panel? sure wish someone would repop...

no good, unfortunately I missed an NOS one on Facebook before I owned the car. Your correct most of these are not good. I'm also missing some of the trim around the tail panel on the trunk.
Matt

I have passed on a few cars over the last few years because on a 500 the tail panel stick out like a sore thumb the last NOS one that I bought was in 1986.

this is a beautiful car. my very first resto was a 500 383 conv. Your car is sweet and a four speed

I personally don’t think it’s been replaced, unless the idler and pitman were replaced together. Both have painted black, and both stamped the same type of casting numbers on them.
Maybe that will help to tell but I’m not sure.
Matt

Impressive car. Well done with the progress.

Well cleaning some things up tonight as I’m finally able to put a few things back together. Also noticed while cleaning up the boot for one of the tie rod ends has a part number visible so I took a picture of that too.
Was able to loosely bolt the lower control arms and the strut rods into place.
Matt

A few parts added.

A few more of the suspension and brakes coming together. Going with some disc brakes, figure since we added so more go might want to add some more Whoa.
Matt

Well some more progress, for the first time in probably over 40 years the K frame has a hemi setting back on top of it.
Matt

Nice, Matt! Them ole nasty Hemi's.....

One TTI header polished and installed.
Matt

oh my

Cleaning up my leaf springs, have had them in evaporust for a day or so and pulled them out tonight.
Pretty easy to see the original black paint that was on the springs now.
Matt

Passenger side header polished and installed so little by little progress.
Matt

Working on my leaf springs now. Have most of them stripped off. Let each leaf soak a couple days in evaporust and then went over them with a paint stripping wheel. Also noticed that this spring pack has a R cast into a couple of the separate leafs.
Matt

Painting the springs before assembling them. As was mentioned earlier it does appear they were painted as an assembly so I will probably scuff and paint them again once the are all assembled.
Also posting a few other parts of the rear suspension that were powder coated a Casper clear after being cleaned up.
Matt

I have not heard of Casper clear, but it sure produces a natural, uncoated-looking finish.

That’s what the guy at the powder coat place called it. So I assume that is the color. I could ask him and it and the manufacture when I go back.
Matt

So while working on my leaf springs it’s interesting as the different things 66 springs have vs 67- up springs. I had already learned the clamps on a 66 were one year only, but the zinc liners are also one year only. The kits that are available for the most part are 67-71 style, I think that Frank B makes a 66 kit. So I’m going to share a few of those details in the thread.
Matt

A comparison to some 67-69 hemi springs I also have out here in the shop. Notice the liners and the clamps.
Matt

More leaf spring information. The factory paint marking on the ends, and more black paint on the sides of the zinc plates.
Matt

great job you are doing on your coat i am to seeing completion of it, may i ask where did you buy that eng stand from i need one of those. thanks

The engine stand is a US car tool stand. I'm looking forward to getting it at least to the driving point.
Matt

So a few other pictures and ideas to maybe pass along. I had to remove the drivers side header again, do not listen to what TTI says on the website about using a milodon flexible dipstick. If you get it bent like it should be to come out the front, the dipstick will not push down inside the dipstick tube. The dipstick hits on the inside edge of the tube, I believe that might be able to be fixed if the dipstick has or had a ball on the end to keep it from hitting on the inner ledge of the tube. So I went with a reproduction hemi dipstick assembly sense I had to pull the header again. I was able to do some minor bending and it works great and looks a 1000 times better than the milodon.
Another note the 1966 zinc liners are available in the correct length from Frank Badelson so I got those and almost have one spring assembled. Once I get the front bushing installed I’m going to scuff it all back down and paint it as an assembly. A lot of time to paint each leaf separate before assembly, but I didn’t like the idea of raw metal between them. A few pictures of along the way.
Matt

A couple more of the springs.
Matt

One spring done, front bushing installed and repainted as a whole unit. Now only one to go! Lol
Matt

Well after getting both rear springs rebuilt and painted I moved on to the drive shaft and finally got the trans bolted up to the bell housing. A few interesting pictures while cleaning on the drive shaft. This is not the original for the car as I had a friend help me find it at this years past mopar Nats. So by the ink stamp part number on the drive shaft matches what is on the build sheet.

Buildsheet showing the prop shaft.
Matt

Soaked the driveshaft in evaporust, and had it powder coated a flat clear. Also put the part number stencil back on the drive shaft.
Matt

Working on my DANA 60 for the car. Had to replace the spring perches on the housing as they were all out of shape from previous replacement. Next will be clean it up and new bearings after getting it back from the powder coating the housing. I really don’t think I needed the alignment bar while doing the repair but since I had it I thought I’d use it and it also tells me the tubes are straight.
Matt

Been cleaning up the engine bay to get ready for the engine. Not going to paint it, just cleaning the original paint as best I can and replacing the fuel and brake lines. I’m also going to upgrade the brakes to dual reservoir system. I also noticed the master cylinder appears to be the original and looks to be dated 07-6 so I’m assuming the 7th week of 66.
Matt

Basically finished with the Dana 60 rebuild. All new bearings, seals, and suregrip unit rebuilt. Powder coated the housing and hopefully using a 4 wheel disc brake setup to help slow things down.
Matt

Lookin good, Matt!

Really looking great Matt, and you are moving right along. I can't wait to see more come together. I hope you are not using the chrome cover on the rearend, the purists will not be happy with you. In my opinion, I think it looks awesome, and I think you should keep it unless you are going for a concours resto.

LOL, Yes I am using the chrome cover! Not much looks better than a dana 60 with a chrome cover on it, it was between the chrome cover and a cast aluminum one I have. The cast aluminum one was taller and I worried it might interfere with fuel tank. Nothing that can not easily be changed back to stock if need be. Same thing for the brakes, I have kept all the original parts, but for safety and drivability purposes I am going with a dual reservoir master cylinder and 4 wheel disc brakes to slow the car hopefully better than the 4 wheel drums. Again nothing that can not be easily changed back to stock if need be. I enjoy driving my cars vs looking at them!
Matt

Nice work Matt!

Fuel tank is in finally, like everything today the AMD tank was not bent around the seem like the original tank and the strap was hitting that area so I had to bend those area to let the tank clear the strap. Also had to get a reproduction J bolt as the original was now to short to reuse. Had the tank clear powder coated while it was out, and the original sending unit rebuilt by John Wolf and company, so hopefully all works as it should.
Matt

Some progress this weekend. I was able to get the Dana 60 under the car and assemble the majority of the rear suspension. From what I can tell this is the first time the car has had a Dana under it since the late 60’s or early 70’s, before it left California. Pretty neat to see a lot of the parts come together on the rear. I also had to set the rear tires on it, I will have to change the backspacing on the rear wheels, but that is down the line.
Matt

A couple pictures of the rear discs installed with calipers. This is a Right Stuff kit, but they use brackets that have to be used with green bearings and I wanted to keep the adjustable taper bearings so I had to get another set of brackets and rotors from Cass at Dr.Diff to make all that work out. Now I’m to the point of installing the rear lines and E brake cables but the stuff with the kit is universal E brake cable so now I will need to order another set. At any rate still making slow progress, and this should give me a little more stopping power.
Not sure that I’d venture down this road again though with the rear brakes.
Matt

A few interesting things I noticed while removing the steering column and the wiper motor. One neat item is the stamp on the underside of the cowl panel, that must have been from the steel supplier who supplied Chrysler with the flat steel to be stamped. Wiper motor looks like a 15 week of 1966 part.
Matt

I ran a set of slicks like that on my Challenger back in the day. They seemed really tall compared to my 14" wheels. It actually felt as if it changed the gear ratio a bit, and slowed the car down.

Sharing a couple factory markings I noticed while working on the car this past Friday. The drivers side torsion bar has a couple dark red paint marks while the passenger bar has a single mustard yellow colored mark.
Matt

Well some progress this weekend. Was able to get the engine and front suspension in the car. Probably the first time a hemi has set between the rails of this car in about 45 years. Crazy when you think about it. I will say installing a hemi from under the bottom is no easy task mine was very tight to say the least, but we got it so on to other items.
Matt

From under the K frame.

That picture is awsome!! I live 20 minutes from Weirton Steel (or what's left of it). Never seen anything like that. I'll be looking under my car tomorrow for sure.

I have to say it is pretty cool. I had to google the steel plant pictures. That is a pretty cool story to go with it.
Matt

Got the front brakes installed on the car this weekend, had to quickly bolt the front tire on for a quick visual aid.
Matt

Latest under hood picture with some progress, new M&H underhood harness. MSD box mounted under battery tray for a cleaner install, and battery cables on. Slowly but surely we will get it.
Matt

Nice choice on the rims.

Matt, are you still looking for a photo of the pass side inner fender relay bracket on a hemi car .

Im pretty sure mine is original .I had it off today and snapped off a picture and can post it if you need it

Sure thing, that would be great just so I have an idea how the wires are routed.
Matt

ck your pms please

Finally able to do a little work on my 66 this weekend. Installed the radiator, and fan shroud. Have to give huge shout out to Bob Schirmer at Glen Ray Radiator for doing the awesome work on the radiator. Also a friend of mine Craig Owen sent me the 66 fan shroud.
I also had a 1965 A990 style fan and fan clutch that I decide to go with over the 66 4 blade fixed fan.
Matt

I will also be replacing the under dash wiring harness as it has been cut and spliced in several places around the column plug. So I wanted to add a few pictures of some interesting things I noticed while taking the dash apart.
Matt

Wiper motor restored by Topher McGinnis.

A few dates from the switches in the dash.

Some additional pictures as I went through the heater box and replaced the heater core, gaskets, and cleaned the years of mice droppings out of everything.
Matt

The finished product ready to go back into the car.

Finally able to get the dash sprayed to satisfy me tonight. Dave Watt had mentioned rust oleum black textured paint worked good for a decent match so that is what I went with. Originally my dash paint was bad shape, and I had to sand a lot of the original paint off. That made it had to use the textured paint and get a good even application so I got it sprayed with a semi gloss black first and then dusted a a few coats of the texture paint over the top to give it a more factory look. I think it did well not to take it out of the car, but I really didn’t want to chance pulling the original windshield. You can compare to the picture of the dash frame where I removed the pad in the above pictures.
Matt