'66 Newport 2 Door hardtop

Thanks! Great car! Great video! Your improvements are Tastefully done and maintain the "feel" of the car.
Work on these beautys is never "finished". That is the lure of the hobby- always plans for the future. Now, after over 30 years, I am re-doing what I did when I first bought the car. Still enjoy the"work", but it takes longer!
Enjoy the fruit of your labor, and keep us posted! Lindsay
 
All of the oddities that I was having after starting her up for the first time since November have cleared themselves out. The light was good this evening so I took some photos.

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I made a short video giving an overview of the Putco Headlight Relay installation for anyone that's looking for a little more detail on how it works.
 
I also made a short video talking about how I performed the Ammeter Bypass on my '66 Newport. Hope this helps someone out there who is considering doing this little upgrade.
 
Here's a short video describing how to upgrade your single circuit master cylinder to the '67 and later dual circuit style.
 
Here's a short video on installing Rick E.'s HiRev7500 Electronic Ignition Kit, for those who are considering getting rid of their original points system.
 
Summer break has arrived so the first thing I’m doing is installing new cat whiskers on the front door windows.

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Warning: Graphic Content.

While making some adjustments to the drivers side mirror so that the wing window would not hit the mirror when opening it, I discovered the underside of the drivers door looks like a scene from “when blackheads attack.” I’m not sure how the top of the door would get that much rot, or why smearing a thick layer of grey filler was the best solution, but it looks like that’s what I have.

You’re looking up from the bottom of the door towards where the mirror mounts. You can see the fresh black clips from the new cat whiskers that I just installed.

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Quarter windows now properly repaired and 100% functional!

Last year I attempted to repair the broken quarter windows on my '66 Newport. I was somewhat successful in as much as they would go down, but they wouldn't always come back up due to some incorrect replacement parts.

All of that has been corrected now, finally!

DETAILS:
In 2023 I bought the quarter window repair kit for B bodies because there wasn't anything available for C bodies. This means that the kit I bought didn't have the proper "square" slider for the very back corner of the window where the articulated "double" roller lives. The round roller worked, but it was very sloppy and didn't seem like it wanted to come back up. This year, 2024, the quarter window kit for C body kits is now available, which includes the correct "square" articulated slider (not actually a roller).

For the driver's side window, this was the only repair needed - replaced the round B body articulated roller with the square C body articulated slider.

On the passenger side there was quite a bit of carnage. First, I had to replace the round B body articulated roller with the square C body one. Second, last year I broke the top "roller guide" - the one that bolts to the regulator - I tried to repair with JB Weld, but that lasted about one trip down and back up before it popped. I procured a replacement from eBay (listed as fitting an A body but it was identical) so I installed that. That required completely removing the front guide track from the window cavity, cleaning/greasing, mounting the new top roller guide and the original lower guide (the one with the white roller). At the same time, I also put a proper white roller on the lower roller guide, since my original was broken and the one from the B body kit I installed last year wasn't the correct one [I ended up using a random nylon roller that fit over the shaft but didn't engage all of the way - this prevented me from using a spring clip to lock it in place, and this roller would pop out of it's channel.] So, with both roller guides properly equipped, the entire front channel assembly went back in the window cavity. This was quite a chore, as getting the upper roller to index properly into the mounting hole (without breaking it again) was extremely challenging, as the posture one is required to kneel in is NOT comfortable, and because of the configuration of the regulator assembly I had to use my left hand for a lot of the work, and being right handed, this proved very challenging.

All in all, about an hour to fix the drivers side (including adjustments) and 3 hours for the passenger side, due to the greater number of parts to remove/replace, plus the issues caused by things being mirrored and having to use my left hand while kneeling on the titanium rod placed through my tibial plateau. But, was it worth it? YES! I can now roll down my windows at will without worry. They do creak and pop a little, but I think that is the age of the assembly - no amount of fiddling with the different adjustments would get rid of the occasional "pop" - it just made the window hang up on the weatherstripping, so I finally gave up on trying to eliminate the sounds and I just got it to go up and down without hanging up on things.

[edited for clarity]

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Well, while working on my leaky rear window problem, I decided this is a perfect time to rejuvenate my package tray. I considered buying some hardboard or Masonite, and a jigsaw, and making a new one from scratch, but then I figured my original wasn’t so bad. It just had a few broken pieces, and if I could Tape them together securely enough, I wouldn’t have to worry about the cuts for the speaker holes or anything else like that. Here’s my progress so far, it’s not yet installed.

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I got the rear window trim removed today and found what appeared to be three or four small holes in what I think is the sheet metal. I’m gonna get it all cleaned up so I can tell what I’m looking at and then go from there.

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After some cleaning, I can see that it’s not the window seal that’s bad, but rather some pin holes on the metal trough directly under the glass. I know there’s a proper way to fix this, but I’m not gonna do that at this juncture. I’m thinking some sort of caulking; something that will buy me 5 years or so.

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After successfully repairing the leaky rear window channel, I got my newly refurbished package tray installed. I used a piece of marine canvas that was UV resistant, mildew resistant, everything resistant, and it matched the color of the interior perfectly.

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Well, after another HOT summer that made driving the Newport unbearable due to its non-functioning AC and Formal Black paint, I went ahead and got the “hard parts” for an AC upgrade. I’ll purchase and install the “soft parts” in the spring and get it charged up at that time. I went with a UAC 6664 “Sanden” style compressor paired with the 4710 bracket kit from Bouchillon. In the pictures below I have removed the RV2, and mocked up the compressor. I was trying to have the inlet/outlets facing 3 o’clock, but I discovered they are much too close to the valve cover that way, so I’ll clock them back to 12 o’clock. I’m planning to get all the bolts in place and the belts back on tomorrow so I can drive it again. I’m a little anxious about it all going back together OK because the PS bolt they provide is about 4” compared to the 3” factory one. Hopefully those AC belts will line up with the alternator OK.

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