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In early July, 2003, my brother gave me a tip that there was "a big Mopar" sitting outside a salvage yard near Selkirk, Manitoba. Shortly after that, a friend and I were out driving around in his 1975 Imperial and we decided to stop by the yard for a look. We got to the yard and discovered that the car was a white on white 1977 NYB with green leather interior and a ELB 440 engine. We saw that the driver's side window had been busted out and a number of other issues with the car brought it into the realm of "affordability" for me. It was a Sunday afternoon so the place was closed but I did get a few pictures of the car. They had $950 written on the windshield.
The next day, I called the yard from my workplace and talked to one of the owners. She gave me some background and I told her that I would come out the following Saturday (July 12th) to see the car and hear it run etc. Once again, my friend and I went out there, we took his VW Jetta this time so as not to drive up the price of the NYB due to us appearing to be "too" interested. We got there and the helper guy in the yard had the car out and was about to start it up. It ran nice, although the muffler had a hole in it. The car needed some cleaning up and a little work but appeared to be at least driver quality. I negotiated with the man and we arrived upon an equitable deal, which I promised I would not disclose. He was kind enough to deliver the car to my home later that day.
I now have another extra-large Mopar in my yard...just what I needed! The only thing I've done so far is to vacuum up all the glass left over from the driver's window being busted out.
The interior is green...mint green I think. It matches my 78 Newport perfectly. The car was actually built on St. Patrick's Day!!
N92 ELB non-catalyst
K5X body side molding, black vinyl insert
31 [??? radiator size?]
K7F tape stripes, green
P51 automatic p-brake release
M45 fender skirts
P31 power windows
P41 power door locks
N86 ??? (cannot find this anywhere!)
G62 manual RH mirror (even though the car actually has a remote RH mirror which should be G63)
V1W full vinyl top, white
H53 auto temp II
L81 door ajar indicator lamp (this was standard)
L31 fender-mounted turn signals (also standard)
EW1 Spinnaker White
PLF6 Green leather 50/50 seat w/recliner
317 build date March 17 (a Thursday, but St Patrick's Day, so the workers were buzzed at least)
X48655 vehicle order number
E85 440 4bbl
D34 auto trans (standard-duty)
CS43 Chrysler/Special (NYB)/4door hardtop
T7C T=440, 7=1977, C=Jefferson assembly plant
163789 sequence number (63,789th car out of Jefferson for model year 1977)
Here is the Broadcast Sheet.
I'll post pictures and text about the work I do to the car as time goes on.
Since the 77 is probably nearly good enough to safety, I might try to get it on the road in August, after I return from vacation. If it needs too much, I'll have to place it in queue behind the black 76 since I don't want to loose interest in that project. My original plan was to get the 76 on the road and then work on my 68 Newport. I've had that car over three years and haven't touched it. It was my Grandfather's car so I'd really like to bring it back to life. So, all this is planned before I drive the new 77, if it needs much.
Yesterday, a friend and I went out to look at some parts cars and one of them had the driver's window I needed for my 77. I got it for $10 CDN (hehehe) and the guy even took it off the car for me!
Today I installed the window in the car and it works great!
I then turned my attention to the left rear window as it was not travelling properly. I noticed that the little wheel up front that ride in the vertical rail was all broken and allowed the window to flop around. I had a replacement wheel in a window from my 77 NYB parts car so I got that one out and swapped over the whole window assembly.
the car must have been in a collision at some point in the past as it seems that both the front and rear left side doors have been replaced with those from a red car. I noticed this as I removed the door panels and found red paint under the panels. Plus, the driver's door seems to be one from a vent window equipped car rather than a vent window delete car. This means there is a front track for the window that seems to be missing and the remote mirror cable seems to be a bit too short to totally clear the window when it is completely lowered into the door. These two differences don't seem to be causing any huge issues at this point.
I then turned my attention to the lights. I found that all the lights worked except the right fender mounted turn signal indicator and both rear side markers. I simply replaced the little bulbs in those and they work great now.
I had recently picked up a rear trunk liner from a 74 Imperial as the Imperials had a nice formed plastic cover rather than the cardboard cover that was put in the Newport and New Yorker. I installed that cover and it fit perfectly.
I cleaned the car up and washed the outside thoroughly. I hope it looks good enough to give it a good chance of passing safety inspection. I'll have the car towed to the shop tomorrow morning and then I'll cross my fingers.
For those of you curious about what is involved in the safetly inspection my cars have to pass to get plates, here is a copy of the one for my 1977 NYB.
Today I retrieved my 1977 New Yorker from the mechanic's shop after having gotten the safety inspection. There isn't all that much to do, just a few fiddly little things. There's a brake cylinder, a brake line, a PS hose, a ball joint etc etc. I had the car towed to the muffler shop after the mechanic was done with it and I had the exhaust system repaired. They were able to use one of the pipes I removed from my 76 T&C parts car. That saved me some $$. Once the exhaust was fixed, I decided to drive the car home. The car has always been a hard starter. We had a terrible time getting it going at the mechanic's and at the muffler shop. We finally decided that the starter was toast. I hate replacing starters because of the small area to work in and my extra large hands. I paid the nice man to replace the starter at the muffler shop and then I drove the car home. I would say that the ELB has to go. There definitely was something screwy with that engine on the way home. On acceleration, it would go in fits and starts, it would knock and ping some and then not. Maybe I'll swap out one of my other ELB computers just for a laugh before I buy the Electronic Ignition conversion kit.
I now have 30 days to repair the items detailed on the safety inspection and get the car back for re-inspection. I don't anticipate this being a problem.
This is the breakdown of the items that need repairing to meet safety regulations.
Things I'll repair...
Things I'll have the shop repair...
Today I went to my friendly NAPA store and came home with a set of wipers, a brake cylinder and a power steering pressure hose. I replaced the wipers and PS hose, then I replaced an AC hose that someone had put hose clams on, it looked so stupid I had to change it. I had one from a parts car. I then set to repairing the rust on the rear right quarter. I welded all afternoon but I think I did a decent job. The worst part is I warped the panel some. Not sure if I can do anything about that. I tried getting the brake cylinder out but one of the bolts is stubborn. It was getting dark and I was tired so I came in. I also replaced the right rear brake cable (the little one inside that adjusts the brake clearance) with a cable I had from my 76 T&C parts car. I also replaced the rear seat belt buckle with one from the T&C.
I've been out price shopping for the front end components needed to finish the safety requirements on my 77 NYB. I was shocked at the range of prices I found. I always thought that one outlet is about the same as the next...not so!
This is what I found:
Part |
My Mechanic |
NAPA |
Piston Ring |
||||||||||||||||||||
Pitman Arm |
168.00 |
122.46 |
139.00 |
||||||||||||||||||||
Idler Arm |
95.00 |
70.28 |
80.00 |
||||||||||||||||||||
Lower Ball Joint |
50.00 |
31.99 |
38.00 |
One would assume that the mechanic would be the most expensive and normally that would be the case. I never assumed that because it is my cousin's shop and I know for a fact that he would not mark up parts on ME. I am certain this is just the price he is getting from his supplier.
I'll hold off on the pitman arm and idler arm until I go the the USA this weekend, maybe I can find them there for a good price.
I've often just gone to NAPA because it is closest to me and it looks like I haven't been going far wrong. I'll definitly check Parts Source before buying from now on though. I use Piston Ring when NAPA can't get the part I need, they often can. The rear brake hose for the NYB was NLA at NAPA but was through Piston Ring. It cost $52.73! It has the proportioning valve built in to one end so I guess that drives the price up.
Today I finished changing the right rear brake cylinder.
Anyone who has ever worked with the brake lines on these 30 year old cars will know that the fitting on the end of the steel lines that is supposed to spin on the line for installation and removal is most often so corroded that it is next to impossible to make the thing turn on the line. This being the case on this car, I just used my trusty hack-saw to cut the lines off and then I bought pre-made lines at NAPA and bent them to shape and reinstalled them. So I got the brake cylinder installed along with the right brake line. I also installed the little brake cable that pulls on the auto-adjuster. I put that wheel all back together and moved to the other side. The rear brake hose comes complete with the rear proportioning valve so I unbolted that from the axle, after I hack-sawed off the brake lines. I got the right brake line all bent and hooked up then I installed the left one. I had a situation then. I had to remove the old brake hose from the steel brake line without twisting off the fitting. I used my good friend the propane torch. I heated the fitting very very hot and it twisted around on the line perfectly. I then had the ability to install it in the new brake hose and affix it to the bracket.
The last part of repairs that I need to do before taking the car in for inspection is to weld up two small rust holes in the floor near the driver's door.
I jacked the car up nice and high and supported the left side with two, 2 ton jack stands (aka axle stands).
I lifted the carpet and found this...
After cleaning out the wound and cutting away some of the bad material, it looked like this...
I then cut some metal to fit and welded it in place. This was a fairly easy repair.
I covered the welds with seam sealer and let it set up for a while before laying the carpet down.
All done with that. All I have left is the ball joint, pitman arm, idler arm. I'll let the mechanic do those while they do the re-inspection.
Since I bought my 77 NYB with 440 ELB, I knew it'd be nearly inevedable that I replace the ELB with EI. I did just that this week. My mistake was taking the plug wires off the distributor. I had to then wire it back up and time it from scratch. I know this doesn't sound like rocket science (and I HAVE done it before) but it seems this week I am suffering from cranial-rectal inversion. My latest performance was to wire the distributor CW rather than CCW. I cranked the engine over a few times and BOOM!!!!! The pictures say the rest.
I'm fine. The shock wave blew the Brougham emblem off one of the hub caps! sigh. Tomorrow is another day.
Discouraged. The car ran better a week ago. Here's what I did.
I had a friend help, he slowly adjusted the dist as I tried to start the engine. It will about run on its own now but really rough, like it is missing on one to three cyls. I changed the plugs and wires with new. I subed the coil with one from another running car. We did a compression test on the cyls that aren't so hard to reach. 1-120, 3-90, 5-130, 2-130, 4-140. Other than three, that looks pretty good. I checked three times for vacuum leaks and found none. I set the reluctor clearance to a tight 0.010" (I only have a 0.010" brass guage but it should run at that)
It runs! I must say, it runs about the same as it did before I removed the ELB system but I am happy with that right now. I fear I've removed a perfectly fine functioning ELB system but hey, it was destined to fail and probably in the middle lane of a busy rush hour bridge at about -40C the one day I forget my cell phone at home.
I had another electrical problem. I don't fully understand it right now but that's ok. It had to do with where I got the power for the start cct. What I noticed was it was almost acting like it was before when it would die when I released the key to the run position. This time, it didn't die but rather it would just start running much more poorly after I released the key until finally it stalled. I did some re-wiring, including a relay in the Start cct to isolate the ballast resistor from the starter cct to avoid the starter running all the time the engine was running. (that's hard on starters) I installed the relay and it ran ok.
Part of the problem too was the engine was just loaded with fuel. It took a while running to dry out the cyls. As it ran two more cyls cut in. I think at least 7 are firing now and maybe 8. Tomorrow after work I intend to buy a timing light and get the engine timed just right. Then I'll replace the muffler so I can more easily hear how the engine sounds. I am sure the carb is trash. The black smoke is a giveaway for a flooding engine. I'm not sure what I'll do about it at this point. I don't want to spend any more money on this car. I have two spare TQs here, one doesn't have a good choke mechanism so I don't want to use that one. I think I'll at least try the other spare though.
Bought a timing light yesterday. Just did a fast test on the 77. It looks to be timed at about 23 degrees. I looked at my 78 Newport also just for reference (that one runs fine) and it is running at exactly the same place. I guess the 77 is timed fairly close to correct.
On the bright side, when I started up the 77, it started right off. It doesn't crank as much as my 78 even! Since I think I am out of the danger zone of blowing up any more mufflers, I'll install the new muffler next so I can run the car without driving my neighbours out of their homes.
Jacked up the car and replaced the busted muffler tonight. It was a little tough getting the rear muffler connection off but with a little help from my angle grinder and a cutting wheel (I don't have tanks for my cutting torch) and my air hammer, I managed ok. The front connection was easy because it was new. I simply took the clamp off and slipped the muffler off the pipe. The new muffler slipped in there like it was made for that car hehehe. I put new clamps on front and rear and that was it!
I ran the car just a little to hear what level of noise this muffler makes and it is VERY quiet! Just the way I like it!
Recently, Matt Wappler, of the NYB ML, contacted me and said he'd be traveling from his home in North Bay, Ontario to Winnipeg in early September for a job related course. I was glad to hear that we would get to meet because I had known Matt from the mailing list for a couple of years. When I heard this, I replied to Matt telling him I would be here and that I wanted to offer him my newly acquired white 1977 NYB to drive while he was in town. He accepted and I turned the car over to him when he arrived on Sunday, September 7th.
On Monday, September 8th, Matt dropped over to the house after his course, bringing the NYB along. Since I had only recently rescued the car from a salvage yard, the poor thing still needed a five gallon pail full of TLC (tender loving care). Monday evening Matt brought a fresh drum of TLC with him and he set to showing me how to bring the poor beast back to it's former glory. Matt tied into the car with everything from laundry soap to steel wool. He painted some scars and glued on some trim and after it all, the car really started looking like a champ! The following pictures were taken while Matt worked his magic. Thanks Matt!
As it turned out, the brand new distributor that was included with the Mopar Performance electronic ignition conversion kit was faulty. The problem was that the plate that holds the magnetic pickup is loose inside the distributor. I replaced that brand new distributor with the one that was in my 76 T&C parts car and the NYB started up and ran like a champ right away.
I decided to give this car a paint job. My friend Al advised me on the project and helped me do some of the body work. I worked for about six weeks on the body and then Al took over and painted the car over about three weeks. The body repairs were considerable. We decided to remove the white vinyl top and paint the top a black with a satin clear coat. The body of the car was painted the original Spinnaker White single stage.
Today I took the NYB to the exhaust shop and had dual exhaust installed. The car sounds great and seems to have good power too.
I thought the rear end ratio in my 76 T&C was 3.23:1 so I decided to replace the 2.73:1 ratio in the NYB to make towing a 7000 lb load to Dallas, TX and back easier on the car. It turns out that the T&C had the same 2.73:1 ratio that the NYB had. This project really accomplised nothing other than giving me the experience of doing it.
I'd always suspected that the timing chain in the car was rather worn. I removed the accessories and the timing chain cover. The chain was indeed very worn. While I had the engine apart that far, I decided to install the Edelbrock Performer Plus cam and lifters at the same time. I also had on hand an Edelbrock Performer 440 aluminum intake manifold that I installed. These improvements didn't exactly make this thing a 5500 lb dragster but the trip to Dallas and back proved this car to be a stout towing machine that is ready for whatever you want to tie behind it.
