As I remember, the wheel opening on a 66 Coronet does not allow much tire, unless the outer body and outer wheel housing are opened up, or the rear end is lifted pretty high. I believe the 70 series tires I ran on my Coronet rubbed on both the inside and the outside wheel tub. The 66 & 67 Coronet bodies were not very tire friendly. The 65's were better, and the 68s were much improved, but the 66 & 67 not so much. Might want yo look into that if your thinking a lot of power. Gene

Looking at vintage drag race photos of the old days guys with 66-67 b-body cars appeared to run really tall rear tires so they got a decent contact patch only in the other direction.

I do have kids, but they are grown. It seems these days it's hard to get everyone together to take them for a ride. I agree the experience is the memory in waiting, but I have a car I can hop in and roll the windows down and cruise in. I am thinking this one should be more of a long distance cruiser, eventually. Maybe even a daily driver. Although that presents another problem driving 104 miles a day round trip. I think I'm going to put it together and enjoy it like I did my Bee. However, I will try not to break as much stuff to prompt me to upgrade like I did in my Super Bee.

I don't see a lot of power in the near future. It has a 275/60 on it now, I'm just not real pleased with the 7" wheel that it's on. Pretty much the only option for a real contact patch is moving the springs in and mini tubbing it. Which isn't ruled out just yet. But motor home 440 and rebuilt 727 looks like the way to go right now.

Back on topic....
Yes. I do have trouble making a plan and often have trouble sticking to one IF I made one.
Most of the project cars I get are non running and need body and paint. If it is going to be painted the same color, I often get the car running so it can be moved around easily. A running car is great for backing out of the shop to clean it in between block sanding sessions, to blow the body filler dust out of the shop, etc.

I really should develop a specific regimen for building cars.
Something like....
* Body and paint.
* Building all SUB-systems such as engine-trans-drive shaft-axle., Suspension, brake and steering, interior and stereo, etc.
* Final assembly.

It would be easier if I had all the needed parts when the project begins but so often, I need to go to swap meets, talk to friends or look online until stuff becomes available. Instead of sitting around, sometimes you have to do things out of order just to keep the project moving along.

I've done a few major projects. I always set up a plan. Some things need to be done before you can do the next part. if you get them out of order, you end up dissembling something to do what should have been done before. After you have to redo stuff a few times, you learn to follow the plan.

1) Determine what kind of a vehicle you want to end up with. A fast race car, and a great driving car are different vehicles, mixing the two usually results in disappointments on both ends. Picking one direction or the other often provides a less strenuous budget. A build may be limited by a financial budget, and/or by a time budget. Its important to pick one style and stick with it until the end. Changing direction in mid stream is costly in both time and money. If you still up in the air, pick the direction that will provide the most useable pleasure for you and your family. You can build the next project in the other direction. I see guys with 3 or 4 cars, all about the same, that are still not happy. Thsat is usually because they tried to mix the uses of the vehicle. If that is you, build the next project with one simple goal, and go in that direction to the extreme.

2) Determine what needs to be done to reach the goal for #1. Example, I'm looking for a great driver. I have a 44,000 mile drive train in great shape in my current build, other then replacing gaskets and seals, and replacing wear parts (water pumps/fuel pumps), it doesn't make a lot of sense to rebuild that drivetrain unless I expect to put over 100,000 miles on the completed ride. With the more then a dozen rides I've built, only 3 ever exceeded more the 60,000 miles after they were roadworthy.

With a single direction, and a list of what needs to be done, you can create a plan that will reduce the back tracking, but that process is a learned process.

Process: Always secure the parts you are going to need for the next step in the process. If you encounter a rare part, or get an astounding deal on something you will later need, pick it up, but generally, getting more then 2 steps ahead of where you are in the build causes issues. You don't need new tires or wheels until its almost driving time, old wore out tires and wheels of the correct size work well for the building and moving around process..
1) Build the chassis.
A) Clean up and repair (or modify) the frame (or under carriage if unibody).
B) Rebuild, replace, or upgrade, the suspension (everything in the front and rear), the brakes (everything involved with the brakes, master cylinder, booster, brake pedal assemble {and clutch pedal assembly if applicable} hard and soft lines, wheel cylinders, calipers and E brake). Make sure the system remains sealed, but don't add brake fluid yet. Buy new lug nuts for the wheels you will be using.
C) Prepare the rear axle Gears, seals, gaskets, bolt it and the rear suspension onto the frame. Make sure it travels freely and smoothly through the suspension travel without binding. Check the suspension travel without the shocks attached. Get the new shocks (all 4 if you haven't already). Old tires the size you intend to use that hold air (for at least an hour) on wheels with the correct off set work good to make the frame a roller. You can check to be sure the tires clear everything on the full suspension travel (again without the shocks attached). You also notice no paint has been applied anywhere yet.

If what you are building is an original car with minor modifications, most the the next few paragraphs will not apply. this is for the more complete custom route.

With a rolling chassis, if a separate cab/body is involved, you need to position the body in the place it will reside on the frame. You need to locate the firewall where it needs to be, you need to determine the height of the body in relation to the frame, and you need to determine how the body mounts attach to the body and the frame.

Once the body location has been determined, and the firewall location is known, installing a mostly complete outer shell of the motor & trans are needed. By that I mean you need a block with heads, valve covers, a water pump housing and water pump (the pullies, fan, alternator & brackets, are also helpful) and the oil pan you want to run (oil filter and oil pump if external as well). All this needs to be bolted to the trans case (manual or auto) you are using. Hang the motor/trans in location to determine the motor mounts/trans mounts & trans crossmember locations. Adjust the motor location for exhaust (headers or manifolds, and pipes).

If your building an existing car or truck that used factory stuff those steps are pretty straight forward.

Once everything fits and clears, pull it apart and paint everything, including the under the hood panels. After the paint has cured, carefully assemble the chassis & bleed the brakes. Install all 4 shocks. Then you build the motor & trans, be sure its build for best use with the intended finished outcome determined in Step # 1 and Step #2. Unless the intended outcome was an all out race car, do NOT build the motor as such. Slightly over stock production power level works well for a driver, too many over build a motor and end up with something that is not fun to drive on the street. Race motors have poor daily driving manors nearly all of the time.

With the motor & trans in the car, its time for the new tires and wheels. Gene

All I can say is that I would have spent the money on the Bee and not get tangled up with another project. Carry on!

Some people can run multiple projects at the same time and keep things organized and moving forward. I only know I am not one of those people.

it's always multiple projects here............
get started on one, then something else breaks !
and i get easily sidetracked by my "buddies". i think they do that on purpose so i don't get anything done................

Poorboy I must say I absolutely appreciate your feedback! You are a magician

I doubt the magician part, its more I have a one track mind. I don't multi-task at all, I plug away one thing at a time, that includes project cars or trucks.

I work in a two car garage, but by the time you get the welder and other stuff in there, it turns into a one work bay garage. I need to start on something and keep at it until its done, or it gets pushed out the door and something else replaces it. I'd be lost trying to work on two projects at the same time, nothing would get done on either of them. I believe more people are like me then want to admit to it.

I tell people all the time: Remember the old TV shows where they showed the phone operator that had to unplug a line and plug it in somewhere else before anything could happen? That big switch board is my mind. I can do a lot of stuff, but only one thing at a time. When the subject gets changed, I have to unplug, and plug into the new subject. If the subject returns to the previous thing, I need to unplug from where it was, and move the plug back to the original subject. I can't do conversations with 3 or more people unless the subject remains the same among everyone. If two people are talking to me at the same time about different subjects, I unplug and watch their lips move.

Working on cars is the same process. I have a 90 Dakota chassis under my 48 Plymouth business coupe. That Dakota donated its chassis somewhere around 115,000 miles. The rear leaf springs, shackles, and bushings were good when the car was assembled. Now that chassis has 187,000 miles on it, and I'm getting a squeak from the rear suspension. At the last oil change (about 2 months ago), while on the hoist, I carefully inspected the rear of the leaf springs for worn parts, and saw the rubber in the shackles coming apart. Its time to address that squeak (read that as its really bugging me now), so new shackles have been ordered. This morning I climbed under the car to see what condition everything else was in. I've determined I should probably also change the rubber bushings in the leaf spring, and I also noticed the insulator pads between the ends of the leafs were also not in the correct place. A local place handles that kind of stuff, so I dropped by his place. He was busy, but told me he thought he had the stuff in stock and I could pick it up in the morning. I could probably buy it online cheaper, but I'd rather support local business. If he had to order it, I would have done that myself.
The next stop was my buddies place (with the hoist) to check his schedule to change my oil and replace the shackles, leaf spring bushings, and the insulator pads. The shackles come with new bolts, so the process will be to be sure the parts are correct, then cut the bolts and install the new stuff. As soon as my parts come in, we will lock in the time with the hoist.
There is that process. Identify what it needs. order the parts so they are on hand, and when the parts are in hand and known correct, start the project, and get it finished. Every step, every time. Gene

Small update. I replaced the wheel bearings and seals on the 8.75 and put it back on the ground over the last week. I'll finish the transmission tonight. I picked up a motor home 440 for cheap yesterday. The parts list is getting shorter, but now I have to figure out what to do to the 440 other than change the pan, mounts and intake and install it.