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Expert
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Location: New Castle PA | Excellent! Thanks for posting and congrats on getting some more info on your car! |
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Veteran
Posts: 166
Location: Nebraska | Main Street, Minot
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | Right on, thank you for posting that pic Paul. |
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Location: Parts Unknown | Marv,
I see you're sick, sick man ....
57 Fireflite AND a 66 Coronet. That's pretty bad.
My shop is plugged up with a 58 Fireflite and a 66 Coronet and it is pretty ugly. As far as I know,
there is no cure or even hope. We can only wish for as little pain as possible. 
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | I was afraid that it was terminal, now I have confirmation from Dr. Desoto himself. I guess I'll just enjoy the ride as long as I can!
The Coronet was actually my first car. I bought it when I was 15, I made a lot of pizzas at minimum wage for that car. I rode my bike past it all the time eventually I knocked on the door and talked the guy into selling it. It is an original 361 car but had /has a 440 in it out of a 68 C body, torque monster. Let me tell you, that was a lot of car for a high school kid. I was in high school in the late 90s when everyone had a "fast" civic, I never lost a race. Ahh, good times. :-)
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Location: Parts Unknown | You Coronet sounds like mine. I bought it after my Desoto was wrecked (crashed into by a whacked-out driver)
and was looking for any 66-67 B-body just as reliable long distance transportation. A sedan would have been fine,
and I never expected to stumble into a ragtop, but that's exactly how it happened and I landed a no-rust black car
with black top and white interior car as a straight-across trade for a 74 Power Wagon I had. It was a 273/auto, which
was a gas guzzling, no punch pig. In my search for a 383 drivetrain, I stumbled into a 67 R/T that was later badly
wrecked, and the conversion was made, so now it is a 440 magnum, A-833 4-speed, 3.23 posi car with disc brakes
and sway bars. Way too much power for that car. If I ever get back to it, I may build a 383 for it to get better fuel
economy and tone down the stupid go-fast.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 530
Location: Wake Forest, NC | Awesome car thanks for sharing
Edited by Fins/413 2014-11-10 4:41 AM
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | Wow, that was a great find Doc and a hell of a deal with that trade. Out of curiosity, what kind of fuel economy do you get with the 440 4 speed combo? What gears are you running?
Thanks Fins, I hope to make it into an awesome car one day at least. |
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Location: Parts Unknown | I have only taken it on one long excursion, and averaged 14 mpg.  Around town, it is awful.
More like 14gpm ! Gears are 3.23 posi.
Funny, but the guy I got it from bought it for his wife. She didn't like it because it messed her hair up. 
It had been sitting in an unused horse pasture with a for sale sign on it long enough for the sign to completely
fade to yellow. Perhaps a bad selling location ???  All four tires and wheels were mis-
matches, and I wore the treads down to steel belts on the 200 mile drive home ! Also managed to
suck down TWO tanks of gas with that 273 on the same trip !!! It really was in the wrong hands with that crew. |
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | 14, nice. That's better than most 4 wheel drive trucks if we're honest with ourselves. It's pretty cool that you were even able to drive it home that far, but those 66s have a big fuel tank so that's some pretty god awful mileage! I never did figure out my fuel economy, but gas was $1/gal. Mine was an auto but I loved my 3.23 gears, with a stock cam it made so much torque down low that it would still burn the hides off into 2nd gear and it was nice on the highway. I think they're the perfect street ratio. I started the restoration on it years ago, it's still not done, you know how life gets in the way. Anyway, I had an older guy who had an r/t and used to race them in the 70s helping me out. So I ended up with an "old school" build; .509 cam, mild head work, single plane intake, ridiculous converter, manual valve body, 3.91 gears. I haven't even driven it yet and I'm already thinking about going back to a much milder setup. I'll see how I like it first though, Brainerd raceway isn't too terribly far away. ;-)
Edited by 57Groucho 2014-11-10 8:24 PM
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | I scored a big piece of the puzzle last weekend! I got a killer deal on it too. It's in really nice shape, just a couple of small dents. The bumper guard is dented and there's a little bit of rust on it, but may be fixable? What you see on it is dirt and ice, I didn't have time to clean it up and it was too cold and windy anyway but a little polishing and I think it'll do until I get everything else done. I'm lucky that my girlfriend is in to cars and wants to learn more as we restore the Flite, and that she's willing to walk the junkyards with me when is 8° and windy as hell. I couldn't resist having her hold the bumper in place for a pic... Anyway, I'm psyched!
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Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!
Posts: 19146
Location: bishop, ca | IIRC, one of the Desoto front bumper guards rusted out a lot worse than its opposite side piece....right????
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | You got me there Neil |
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Veteran
Posts: 149
Location: Iowa | I am really interested in how this is progressing. Any new updates Groucho? Very cool car. |
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | Well right now I'm just collecting parts a little bit at a time. Odds and ends on ebay and I got everything to redo the brakes from B&E the other day. There's a bunch more that I need yet though. The big issue I have is that the car is in Bismarck ND and I'm just north of Minneapolis MN. The car is going to be coming here as early in spring as I can manage, then the progress will begin (hopefully). My plan is to go through it mechanically first. I'm going to try to get it running and driving and see where I'm at. Hopefully I can accomplish that without having to pull the driveline out. The engine turns freely but I'm not sure if the extra set of pistons in the trunk is a good or bad omen. Lol I'm hoping to get it to the Back to the 50s car show at the MN state fairgrounds in 2016, not restored mind you just driving more or less as is. I hope to meet some forward look folks in MN that will help me out and give me some direction. Then I'll likely take it all the way apart after that, but we will see what life throws at me between now and then. Lol
Thanks for the interest / complement.
-Dan |
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Veteran
Posts: 149
Location: Iowa | Thanks for the update. Four door hardtops are pretty rare so I am glad to see this one get some love. |
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | It's time for a long overdue update... She's alive! I finally got it running. It started right up and runs really well, quiet valvetrain and bottom end and good oil pressure. In the video it sounds like there is a lifter tick but that must be from the microphone on my phone. I put it in gear and the trans works as well, so do all the gauges. Now it's time to get the brakes done and go for a spin. I'm going to need to get my fenders figured out too, I really need a left fender with a dual headlight bucket that isn't rusty, it can be trash everywhere else, help with this would be appreciated... Here's a link to the video on YouTube, I'm the one with the starter trigger in my hand and the smile on my face... Enjoy! 
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3mzAHS5KLEc |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 500
Location: Upper East Tennessee | Ah, that's a great feeling! Nice carb and intake too! |
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | Definitely a good feeling. I went with the Eddy carb to eliminate as many variables as possible, it'll be my first carb rebuild when I do mine. The intake is actually a stock one that I had sandblasted to make sure there weren't any cracks and to get the orange paint off, I painted it to keep it from rusting. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9666
Location: So. Cal | Sweet. Always nice when it still runs decent. The 331 hemi motor that I put into my '56 Savoy was pulled directly out of a wrecking yard. I have put about 15K miles on it so far after just replacing the carb, electronic ignition upgrade, fuel pump and water pump. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  |
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Expert
Posts: 2905
Location: little rock, AR | I know that feeling of, Will It Run??? My '59 D-500 gave me the same feeling of joy when it fired up and the lifters calmed down. Congrats on a sweet 4dr HT. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1159
Location: D-70199 Heslach | Marv, its good to see another car back in live. I have done almost the same - first start of motor - after I assemble the motor into the car.
(BTW, what have you done with the WCFB Carb) |
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: Minneapolis | Powerflite- Those are wise words. Hopefully mine will hold up as well as yours has. It's not pretty but I want to drive and enjoy it for a while before I start worrying about cosmetics.
Oldwood- it is a great feeling, I'm betting the first drive edges it out though, I'll find out soon enough. I've always liked the 4DHTs, you don't see many around, I'm glad that I found a decent one.
Tom - You'll have to post up a video when you get your car running. I still have the WCFB, complete with ID tag, I just don't trust my carb rebuild skills so I wanted to start it using a known good carb. I'm probably going to use the Edelbrock for a while though.
My brake parts just showed up this morning, hopefully I'll have time to get some work done on the car this coming week (I work weekends, nights to boot). |
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Veteran
Posts: 149
Location: Iowa | Very cool! I remember how it felt to get my 57 Belvedere started the first time. |
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57 Fireflite Sportsman 4DHT
