Newport reborn Options

[Bigswede]

Hi everybody.

My name is Mikael and im from Sweden. You know, the cold and dark country up in the north.
I just purcaste a Newport that im gonna try to restore in a better shape then today.

1968 Chrysler Newport, 300, New Yorker Convertible
C Line Chrysler Newport, 300, New Yorker

E Class Economy

27 Body Convertible

G Engine V8 383 CID 1-2BBL "B"

8 Year 1968

C Assembly Jefferson, Michigan

This is what i got so far.
It has an 383 recently rebuilt with an edelbrock 4v carb ontop.
The trans 727 is rebuilt too as i has been told.
It has a brand new convertibletop in black.


The plans for now is to get the taillights and parklights to work.
Also a light touch with some kint of rustproofepaint under the carpets etc etc.

After that we have to see what comes up in mind.

//Bigswede

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[Charger1967]

Nice Mopar!

Show us pictures from your resto.

[a100bee]

very nice. my dad had one, but hardtop. thats the car i took for my road test at 16. 3 point turn paralle parking. past it. loved it.

[67Mopar]

Your Newport looks to be in very nice condition. Definitely a cool car to have ....
I had a 69 Newport Custom when I was in high school, but that was an entirely different body style. Sure had a lot of good times with that car.

[flap]

i had one of those white with black interior, black drop top. 1978 galveston tx, just drive onto the west beach and somehow it would automatically fill with pretty girls in bikinis . may your luck be the same

[Bigswede]

Well here in Sweden its more likely to get som girls with big jackets and wintergloves etc....

Got a nice surprise last night when we removed all seats and the carpet. Didnt seem to be so much rust after all. Thats great. I really dont enjoy welding in old cars with alot of rust so now it feels good.

Just some surfacerust and that will be removed with a steelbrush on the powerdrill. Some bodypaint to protect it from new rust.

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[Bigswede]

Tonight i have been out in the workshop and fiddled around with the electrical system, mainly for the headlights.

The lowbeam is very yellow and not so bright at all, the highbeam doesnt work at all. When i push the floorswitch into highbeam the panel-light for highbeam ( a red lamp) and the light for leftturnsignal is glowing in the dash.
This isnt the way it should be so i started to seek for the reason and i have come to the conclusion that the big connector trough the firewall is the thief here. Now i have applied some elecronic cleaner on the connectors and i hope it will solve this. The connector wasnt in a good shape, it had alot of rust and i belive this doesnt give so much contact between the metalpins.

I have also taken out the switch for the lights from the dashboard and ofcourse i had to put it apart and cleaned every part of it inside just to be shure its fullcontact between all parts as it should be.

Sorry but i didnt had access to my camera but i will try to take some pics tomorrow instead.

[flap]

that item is called the bulkhead connector and it is usually the prime suspect in all mopar electrical problems. ive fixed them by dippin both sides into scale remover ( acid wash) and then using a pair of needle nose pliers to gently crimp the female side back tight. use di-electric grease to keep it from happening again
good luck my friend

if you have problems you need help with, post them in the forum labeled ''tech'' lot of good folks there that will be happy to help you with what they know including parts resources

[Charger1967]

@Bigswede
I am still restoring my engine and electric-wires.
Its better to replace the part.
I bought a new "bulkhead connector incl. 60 terminals (male/female)" from a seller at ebay.
If you want i send you the link.

[Bigswede]

Hi everybody.

Sorry for not update this thread so much but me and my family has been in fever and almost all time in bed.

Now i have spend some time in the workshop and sorted out some electrical things.
The headlight runs so sweet now. The bulkheadconnector was a big troublemaker but i guess it is good now.
I added some relays to low n highbeam so i dont have to put so much amp through the lightswitch.

I also sorted out the signallights in the dashboard and now thats left is the brakelight and turnsignal in fronbumper.

//Bigswede

[flap]

Bigswede you take care of the health first , then the car . a mopar understands that you nurse it back to health, it will return the favor

[Bigswede]

Today its Saturday and its raining. +2 degrees Celsius ( dont know what that is in farenheit but the water freezes around zero) so its a perfect day to work on my car.

I was devistated cause i got stuck yesterday with the electrical. Today i started to just tare everything apart... Well it feels like thats the way to go.
I pulled out the steeringwheel, loosen the connector under the dashboard that serves the turnsignal. Pull out the plastic plate and arghhh. Its not the kind of plate that you are supposed to take apart.
Well well no mercy.
I forced it apart and gosh it was alot of rust on every metalpart. Now we talk ALOT.

There is 2 springs that connects the different lights depending what way you pull the lever. Those two was gone so i manufactured a couple new ones.
I also changed the violet and the white cable to new ones cause there was a bad connection in the old ones.

Alot of electrical cleaner on the contactsurface and simply put everything back in place. It took a little time to put the plastic pieces together again but shame to give up.

The price for this mornings work is that now everything is working except the fenderlights.
Thats to sort out this evening.
I take my two pals with me out in the workshop, jack and johnny. Think the last name was daniels and walker but who cares...


I ll be back with the eveningreport.

[jim77070]

It's been awhile and no reply from the Big Swede. I suspect he may have been kicked in the head by that No. 7 mule and suffering from the spinning bed syndrome! Previous experience has shown that praying to the porcelian throne doesn't stop the Gods playing spin the room with your eyes.

[flap]

glad to hear you got the lights goin swede

fahrenheit converter - http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm +2 c= 34 degrees f roughly

the fender lights have a connection at the firewall if you mean the lights on top of the fender, if you mean the ones on the side close to the bumper, they are connected differently . both have one thing in common, they are bad about losing ground connection due to rust or corrosion
the ones on top the fender are called signal indicator lights, the ones down on the side are called side marker lights

[68Nwprt]

Nice Newport. I also am working on a 68 Newport,2dr,hard top. Here is a picture of a 68 Newport that I found on the internet. It was for sale. Not sure who the owner is , but I use it for inspiration. Good luck with that project.

 254423.jpg ( 128K ) Number of downloads: 15

[cbarge]

Nice car!
I own two 68 Chryslers..A Newport and a New Yorker.
Been around the slabsides all my life.
I have owned my NYer for ten years and there is nothing I had not experienced on it over that time,LOL!!

[Bigswede]

Hi everybody.

I am very sorry that i havent been here for a while.
The big winter strike my town and it has been the worst winter since 1840.
The snow come to us around december 16 and it still lies on the ground and that has never happend in my life before. Usually it stays for a month or so and then it usually been around 10 inches. Now this yeat it has been between 5 and 8 foot deep.
Its been an caothic winter. I really hate it. But now the spring slowley makes it entrance and thats great.
For an example the snowwall behind the beemer in the pic was four times that high as it is now and that was everywhere.

But now for some change the Newport has been out of its maidenjourney for this year.
I had to take her for a checkup before i can use her in the road. In England the call it an MIT but i dont know your word for it. Anyway they told me that the brakehose to the frontwheels are in no good shape cause to drycracks in the rubberhose.
Also a rubber hose connection to the airpipe from the petroltank did leak little petrol.

Thats all and the car is 42 years old. Damn My Volvo V70 II isnt so nice in shape. Im impressed.

[smlveight]

Nice car Big Swede!! Ther are a few of your contrymen on our professional hockey team here in Detroit. Do you follow the Red Wings??

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[flap]

welcome back Swede ! glad you defrosted the 'checkup' here is called an inspection in most states. those rubber brake lines are prone to weather crack and its good idea to replace them . there is another on on the rear you might want to look at whether it passed inspection or not. it goes between the car body and the rear axle. it will crack too and could leave you with no rear brakes. if you change it, be sure to put the compression washer back where it was so the grease doesnt leak out except thru the vent(snow like that kinda makes ya think al gore doesnt know his ass from a hole in the ground , doesnt it)

[Charger1967]

Welcome back.

[Bigswede]

Hello everybody.

Thanks for all the warm and nice comments i get from you all here. Its very nice indeed to see.

*smlveight - No i do not follow any kind of team overthere so much but i pick up some from eurosport on the TV-set whenever its broadcast.

* flap - I think u r on to something there about our buddy Al. lol

* Charger - Thnx man.


Last night i visited my friend and checked out his garage. He has his car ( 1961 Cadillac) in the paintbooth and now i really want to paint my ride as well but that has to wait to after the summer.

On my own ride ive started to mount some sound but i got stuck in the first corner. Im not shure what headunit to use, all i know is that im in love with Kenwood so thats what i want. I got me a pair of JL Audio 6" C2series and a 4 channel amplifier from JL as well and im thinking about a JL sub W3W6 for the lowrange but that isnt written in stone yet.

The headunit i wish to find a chromeplated lookalike but every single one is black in this country. I found a cromeplated/silverline Blaupunkt in Germany but it was too expensive to take it home.
I do not want a black panel cause as u all know the newport dash is cromed.
Well its heading up to eastern holiday here and my good mates in our cruiseclub and ofcourse Johnny n Jack will help me choose the right way... i guess.

Now its raining here but i dont care, its ridingtime and its so damn nice to turn the key and just feel her wake up all 383 cubic buddies under the hood.

So for now. you all have a really nice day mates and we keep in touch soon again. Pics will come from the day.

Bigswede

[Bigswede]

Yesterday i fiddle around with the soundsystem and i think i sorted it out and it feels quite right.
When i was finished i sat in the drivingseat and was disturbed by the steeringwheel wasnt centered. It was slightly turned to left when the fronttyres is in rightaheadposition.
I can not have it like this so i took the steeringwheel off the axle and tried to fit it like it supposed to be.
When i connected it back, in som way the axle is now 3 " too short and does not reach down to teh steeringhub (or whats it called). I still doesnt understand how the h**** it could be like this just by loosen a nut.

I search search and a beer and more searching. The only explanation i could get to is that the axle is in 2 peaces, one inside the other and they are supposed to pull/push inside eachother. Simple but my axle didnt move abit. Damn.
I took out the grinder atlast and cut the outsidepipe open and then i could pull it apart and inside it was rust. ALOT of rust. Hmmm. That cant be right.

Took sometime to grinded the axles and now they run smoothley. Weld the outsidetube back and now its so sweet.
All this work just causte the steeringwheel wasnt in the right position from the beginning.

This is little of the joy with this car. Nothing is simple and shes giving me some struggle but thats what i like.

Now i have to put the whole shit back in place but thats tonights work. Ran out of beer so the workshop is closed for now.

Seeya all.

[flap]

for future reference , adjusting the steering wheel position is most usually done by repositioning the tie rod ends, also some of the steering wheels are nothced to fit back on the column one way only. the idea behind the collapsable shaft is so in a front end collision it doesnt spear you thru the chest cuz so many folks died of traumatic chest injuries from solid shaft steering

[moparman1972]

for future reference , adjusting the steering wheel position is most usually done by repositioning the tie rod ends, also some of the steering wheels are nothced to fit back on the column one way only. the idea behind the collapsable shaft is so in a front end collision it doesnt spear you thru the chest cuz so many folks died of traumatic chest injuries from solid shaft steering

I put a steering column through the dash with my solar plexus once.. Good thing it was on a newer vehicle or I probably wouldn't be here. I didn't feel too good for a few weeks after

BigSwede, just a thought.. Looking at the pics of your ride, the paint looks nice. Is it the original factory paint? If so, have you thought about leaving it original? And make a beer run so you'll have cruisin tunes

[Bigswede]

BigSwede, just a thought.. Looking at the pics of your ride, the paint looks nice. Is it the original factory paint? If so, have you thought about leaving it original? And make a beer run so you'll have cruisin tunes

Hi there.

No the paint isnt the stock-one. Its supposed to be green from the beginning but somebody has repainted her in US before she was shipped over here. Well it doesnt bother me so much. Its nice this way too.

I ran on some probs today when i worked on her.
The fenderskirts (?!?) is hard to remove. I do not do it right ofcourse. I found the leaver and loosen it like the pic shows byt then its deadstuck. Doesnt move at all. Damn. What do i do wrong? Pull down or pull out towards me? Maybe get the big hammer??

I took the old rotten exhaustsystem off her today and now i will try to build a doublepipe instead for the singlepipe thats stock. i purcaste some 2½" pipes and two mufflers and som 45 - 30 and 90 degree bends so now im anches to get started.
Maybe somebody has a drawing for that?

Now im heading to a hot cup of coffee and back out to my beauty. Seeya all folks.

[moparman1972]

I never had a car with fender skirts, but I would wager a guess that they would be hinged on one end and swing out towards you. I don't think that you did anything wrong, most likely the hinge is rusted tight. Try spraying them with WD-40 or other penetrating oil overnight and see what happens. As for the exhaust, pics ought to be in the factory service manual for your car or aftermarket exhaust manufacturers catalogs ought to have pics of the factory setups. If you can't locate a pic of a factory setup for a C-body, look at pics for B-bodys, should be pretty close for the general layout and then just measure for the length to fit your car. Hope this helps, good luck and keep us posted

[ChargerSE383]

Nice car... good luck with it

[jim77070]

The my Dad's 66 300 had fender skirts. I recall they were a pain even when new to remove and re-install. Haven't see thet car since we traded it for a 69 Ford LTD, 390, yellow in color.

[flap]

dont use the big hammer. them lever corrode on the pivot point , squirt some wd 40 on it and let it set a day then wiggle it back and forth to loosen up. should pull straight down and then get loose from the car. good luck amigo

[cbarge]

You pull the rear portion down first,then pull the front part away from the body sliding it towards the rear.
Hope this helps.