1968 Newport 4dr Hardtop restore (NL)

[Metalmarty]

Great to see this one find a good home in the NL. You have the right approach, get it street/roadworthy to enjoy, and go from there. Power steering/brakes, and AC; all the options you REALLY need anyway. When it comes time to paint, consider giving the roof a contrasting color, it really enhances the roofline, which is in '68 was quite nice.

Good to hear . And I figured the same on the options. Paint is a long way from now. But I was thinking of the same color gold on the car with a black roof. Like cbarge did with turbine red and black.

I agreed that the hardtop roof can really stand out with a different color. Especially with the chrome trim around the roof as a divider. As I have now.

This is the one I got recently. It sits on the back of the instrument panel and reduces the voltage to the fuel gauge.

Voltage Limiter Solid State IVR3

new one next to the old one:

View attachment 393453
I still need to get something figured out as my gauge is still not working right, but I think this was a step in the right direction.

Getting a solid state voltage regulator for under the hood is also highly recommended. I found one on eBay before I realized there is a person on this site that sells them too. I don’t recall the member, but I am betting someone will chime in.

I look forward to following your progress.

Thanks for the info. I will look into that! Do you know the resistance values of the float perhaps?

I already ordered a solid state voltage regulator from @FURYGT But thanks for the tip!

Let me know if you get the gauge working. I'm pretty curious what the problem might be.

 

[Metalmarty]

Update time!

I'm going big on mechanical repairs like I've said in the first post in this topic.
My plans to get it back on the road in short:

- Drain all fluids, remove petrol tank, remove driveshaft, loosen brakes (so it rolls around easy), remove exhaust and brake loose most nuts and bolts underneath.
- Remove front clip
- Remove engine, transmission and steering gear
- Rebuild front suspension with all new ball joints, bushings etc
- Rebuild steering gear and steering components
- Rebuild the original 383, probably with a hotter cam
- Refresh the TF727, new seals and bearings
- Upgrade front power drum brakes to power disc brakes
- Install steering gear, engine and transmission
- Install front clip
- Rewire engine harness, replace bulkhead connector and rewire parts of the dash
- Rebuild rear axle and bushings
- Refresh rear brakes
- Build H-pipe 2.5" dual exhaust instead of stock single

This should take care of most mechanical parts...
It will be probably more as days go by.

Biggest issues are parts availability in the netherlands. Parts might have a long lead time and are pretty expensive by the time they arrive in the netherlands when tax, import duties, shipping etc are added on the part prices. I can give some examples if people are interested in overseas stuff.

Anyhow, stop the rambling, start working...

I've drained all off the fluids a couple of weeks ago.
And I did some research on identifying the car, engine, options etc.
Cars in the netherlands need an import inspection if they come from another country. Import inspection is pretty strict and I need to have proof that my car is (mostly) original, including original engine etc. I got some help finding everything I need from forum members over here.

(The car is also on jackstands, not just the jack)

Rolled the car outside to clean out the garage first.
And I've taken some pictures with dates for inspection next year to show them that this is what I've started out with.

Build sheet was still there underneath the back couch. Although it's partially eaten by mice...
The shipping number is clearly readable, the VIN isn't anymore unfortunately.

Fender tag is there and has the same shipping order number. Great! One step in the right direction. Datecode A06 is 06 October 1967.

Found the shipping order number underneath the trunk weathering seal after some digging. Again, same shipping order number. Good news! Car looks more and more to be fully original.

Found the engine code next to the distributor.
D383 (D= '68 model year, 383ci)
9 28 2 (Build date 28 September 1967, 2nd shift)
R (Regular fuel, 9.2:1 compression 2bbl engine)
Engine datecode is 8 days before the car was finished and the other info is spot on.

For people who don't know this. You can verify the code next to the distributor with the code stamped on the bottom of the engine.
PT (Powertrain)
383 (engine capacity)
R (Regular fuel, 9.2:1 compression 2bbl engine in this case)
2253 (Day 2253 is Thursday, September 28, 1967 on the 10,000 day calendar)
199x (number of the engine made that day?)
As you can see, the info stamped on the bottom is the same as on top.

Two more pictures because it's possible

 

[Metalmarty]

Update time!

After cleaning out the garage for a bit and exploring the car for a bit work continued.
The Newport was put on out lift. It was well supported with hardwooden blocks when it was up in the air. Safety above all with these heavy cars.

The complete (original) single exhaust was removed without breaking any bolts front to back.

All the old petrol was drained for the tank. Fortunately it has a drain plug. But holy hell, it stinks! Apparently it was petrol with ethanol which has been sitting for 4-5 years. It was really brown and I smelled like rotting petrol for two days.

My fears were coming true. The tank rotted inside because of the old ethanol petrol.
This is what the float looks like. Needless to say, it doesn't work anymore.
Does anyone know the min and max resistance values of these floats?

Rust in the tank... I'll have to see if it's still salvageable. Probably need a new tank and float.

A positive thing.
Underside of the car where the tank was located is like new!

Everything underneath the front was broken loose. All nuts and bolts, most balljoints etc to prepare moving the car to the back of the garage. Everthing is disconnected from the 727. Removed the shift/kickdown linkage, what a spaghetti. (Hope the shift linkage is the right one, it was a 2bbl from factory but it already had a edelbrock DP4B intake with 1406 when I've bought the car).

 

[Metalmarty]

Update time!

After breaking loose and unbolting most of the nuts/bolts on the underside the car was moved to the back of the garage. It's put on jackstands and sits really solid. It's moved to the back of the garage because we need the space in the front and the lift for other cars.

It's a small room for a car this big, but it'll do. (It's 11ft wide and 36ft long)

I started with removing the front clip. The goal is to remove the engine and transmission and to be able to reach all suspension components. Engine and front suspension will be rebuild. Transmission gets new seals all around and a Part Throttle Kickdown module.

Got the bumper off and the grill was next in line.
I did not expect the bumper to be this heavy!

Got the other part of the grill off, exposing the condensor which is in bad shape.
I have to find another condensor. Anyone have any ideas?...

My dad is partially in the picture. He was working on his car and lends me a hand when I need it. He is a big help and I've learned a ton from him the past few years
(Yes we work on two cars at the same time in this small garage. But it's still better than no garage at all. We will just make it work.)

Lower windshield trim and wiper cowl have been removed to access all the fender bolts.
Rockerpanel trim is also removed. Rockerpanels are in prestine condition fortunately, no rust! Forgot to make pictures, will do that next time.

Got the left hand outer fender off after searching for all the bolts holding it on. I didn't know that it had shims to set panel gap etc. Couple shims fell on the ground. That's going to be a challenge when I have to reassemble it in a couple of months

My front emblem has seen better days... Any change I can find another one of these?

Next job will be removing the right hand fender, inner fenders, condensor, radiator support and radiator. This will give me great access to the engine. Will to that this weekend.

Till next time!

 

[live4theking]

Got the bumper off and the grill was next in line.
I did not expect the bumper to be this heavy!
View attachment 395133

Got the other part of the grill off, exposing the condensor which is in bad shape.
I have to find another condensor. Anyone have any ideas?...

My front emblem has seen better days... Any change I can find another one of these?
View attachment 395136

Till next time!

The bumpers sure are a beast.

There's a company making reproduction evaporators and heater cores. They might make one. Check the threads in the AC section of the forum.

Those grill emblems are very hard to find a nice one of. Be patient in your searching.

 

[Metalmarty]

The bumpers sure are a beast.

There's a company making reproduction evaporators and heater cores. They might make one. Check the threads in the AC section of the forum.

Those grill emblems are very hard to find a nice one of. Be patient in your searching.

I took a quick look around in the AC section. I saw links to an ebay seller that sold the condensor, evaporator, expansion valve etc. But that was for 69-73. Will look search a bit more coming week. Thanks for the tip.
The emblem is pretty low on my priority list, I'll see when one comes around.


Also, Update time!
Lot of progress in one week!

Continued with the front clip disassembly.
Got both fenders off, removed the AC condensor and Radiator.
(It's a hot week this week, 35C/95F all week with 80% humidity, horrible. Hence the fan in a lot of pictures)

Removed the core support, engine wiring harness, AC compressor (that thing is heavy) and some other misc parts.

The engine wiring harness is in decent condition but needs some work.
I have new bulkhead connectors and terminals which I'm going to install for less electrical gremlins in the future
There are also a couple of wires that could be better, they will be replaced.
This will be a nice relaxing winterjob, layout the harness in the living room and refresh it.
The ammeter was bypassed when I got the car, but as you can see, too late.

Wiring harness doesn't need a lot of work. New bulkhead connectors. Some new wires and a lot of new terminals. Might as well since I'm working on it anyway.

Engine and trans ready to come out!
Loosend the torsion bars, put a jack underneath the transmission, removed the transmission crossmember.

Engine and trans out of the car!
Got it out together and split them on the ground.

An empty front end like this looks unreal. Almost no european car have the option to just unbolt everything.
Lots of parts packed together in a small space and fenders/radiator support etc are all welded together.
The fact that you can do this on a C-Body is really cool.

And then the good news came to a stop
Started to disassemble the engine.
Pulled the oil pan from the engine, it had a lot of thick sludge, metal powder and metal flake on the bottom of the pan.
And I mean, A LOT...
I hope that the crankshaft is okay...

Took the heads off, they look pretty good at first sight.
Cylinders condition, not so much.
It seems to have the standard 4.25" bore, but it has a pretty big ring ridge.
I hoped to get away with getting the cilinders honed and pistons reringed, but I might need an overbore.

All in all a pretty productive week.
The car was on jackstands all in one piece last monday (10 Aug).
Engine out and partially disassembled was yesterday (15 Aug).
I only worked on it in the evenings and a full saturday (Dayjob during weekdays).
We'll see what next week will bring.

I'm going back to the garage tomorrow evening with measuring tools to spec and inspect the engine.
Todo for tomorrow/tuesday:
- Cleanup the engine block of oil residue
- Measure head cc's
- Measure how far the piston is in the hole
- Check cylinders for ovality and measure cylinder bore and ring ridge bore
- Remove camshaft and lifters
- Remove pistons
- Remove crankshaft

Anything else I need to check measure when disassembling?
I want to get all the information I need before I start putting together all parts to rebuild the engine.
All the parts I'm going to order have to fit together perfectly.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Hi Marty

Here are a couple of links To some of the things I did including the new dash voltage regulator, Don’t wanna, but need to pull IP to modify regulator


And some inter connecting links about the fuel sender and testing. Unless you are anal like I am you may not need or want the meter match, but the thread has some test values of the low sending unit. Fuel Sender calibration using Meter Match
The first post in the Meter Match thread also has a link to a fuel sender rebuild thread.
Happy fixing

Marty (as well)

 

[HWYCRZR]

Sludge in these old engines are pretty common specifically if they have just been idling around the last 20 years. Even if the oil is changed frequently sludge keeps adding to the pan over the years. The metal particles unless they are large chunks are normal for an engine of that age.
Good time for a refresh. A relationship with a good reputable machine shop will go along ways.

 

[1970cat]

if the crankshaft needs to be turned you will need measure that too.

 

[SGVert]

Update time!

After breaking loose and unbolting most of the nuts/bolts on the underside the car was moved to the back of the garage. It's put on jackstands and sits really solid. It's moved to the back of the garage because we need the space in the front and the lift for other cars.

It's a small room for a car this big, but it'll do. (It's 11ft wide and 36ft long)

View attachment 395131

I started with removing the front clip. The goal is to remove the engine and transmission and to be able to reach all suspension components. Engine and front suspension will be rebuild. Transmission gets new seals all around and a Part Throttle Kickdown module.
View attachment 395132

Got the bumper off and the grill was next in line.
I did not expect the bumper to be this heavy!
View attachment 395133

Got the other part of the grill off, exposing the condensor which is in bad shape.
I have to find another condensor. Anyone have any ideas?...

My dad is partially in the picture. He was working on his car and lends me a hand when I need it. He is a big help and I've learned a ton from him the past few years
(Yes we work on two cars at the same time in this small garage. But it's still better than no garage at all. We will just make it work.)
View attachment 395134

Lower windshield trim and wiper cowl have been removed to access all the fender bolts.
Rockerpanel trim is also removed. Rockerpanels are in prestine condition fortunately, no rust! Forgot to make pictures, will do that next time.

Got the left hand outer fender off after searching for all the bolts holding it on. I didn't know that it had shims to set panel gap etc. Couple shims fell on the ground. That's going to be a challenge when I have to reassemble it in a couple of months
View attachment 395135

My front emblem has seen better days... Any change I can find another one of these?
View attachment 395136


Next job will be removing the right hand fender, inner fenders, condensor, radiator support and radiator. This will give me great access to the engine. Will to that this weekend.

Till next time!

Hi Marty, the grill emblems for the 68’s are really tough to find. Mine for my 68 was in really good condition so I got lucky.
In my searching for them I ran into one for a 69 Newport that I believe is the same except it’s gold instead of red. With your car color, it may look pretty good. Here’s a link to an NOS one that someone is selling on eBay right now. Really pricy, but wanted to pass it along for your information.
1969 Chrysler New Yorker NOS MoPar GRILLE EMBLEM Medallion #2898187 | eBay

Mark
68 Newport Sportsgrain Convertible

 

[Metalmarty]

Hi Marty

Here are a couple of links To some of the things I did including the new dash voltage regulator, Don’t wanna, but need to pull IP to modify regulator


And some inter connecting links about the fuel sender and testing. Unless you are anal like I am you may not need or want the meter match, but the thread has some test values of the low sending unit. Fuel Sender calibration using Meter Match
The first post in the Meter Match thread also has a link to a fuel sender rebuild thread.
Happy fixing

Marty (as well)

Sludge in these old engines are pretty common specifically if they have just been idling around the last 20 years. Even if the oil is changed frequently sludge keeps adding to the pan over the years. The metal particles unless they are large chunks are normal for an engine of that age.
Good time for a refresh. A relationship with a good reputable machine shop will go along ways.

Hi Marty,

Thanks for the tips and links.
I will look into it, haven't thought of rebuilding my fuel sender.
Have to see if that's possible with mine, since it gathered a lot of rust.

Unfortunately the engine also had some metal chuncks in the sludge.
I hope to gather some more information tonight.

if the crankshaft needs to be turned you will need measure that too.

Didn't put that on the list but I was planning to.
Thanks for the tip though

Hi Marty, the grill emblems for the 68’s are really tough to find. Mine for my 68 was in really good condition so I got lucky.
In my searching for them I ran into one for a 69 Newport that I believe is the same except it’s gold instead of red. With your car color, it may look pretty good. Here’s a link to an NOS one that someone is selling on eBay right now. Really pricy, but wanted to pass it along for your information.
1969 Chrysler New Yorker NOS MoPar GRILLE EMBLEM Medallion #2898187 | eBay

Mark
68 Newport Sportsgrain Convertible

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the tip!
At the moment my money goes to mechanically fixing the car first.
But it might be an interesting option to look for in the future!
Might fit great with the gold from the car like you've said.

 

[Metalmarty]

Update time!

Continued teardown of the engine.
It's in worse shape than I've hoped unfortunately.

I cc'd the heads first.
All 8 holes are either 86 or 87cc, not bad, but hoped for less.

I've set cylinder 1 to TDC and cleaned it.
I wanted to see how deep the piston was down the hole.
I didn't expect the dish piston to be ~zero deck...

I put a caliper across the deck and it's almost perfectly.
Haven't checked the other pistons.

Got the dial bore gauge out to check cylinder wear.
Checked cylinder 1 and 6.
Measured on the ridge first. Still has it's original bore of = 4.251".
Measured just underneath the ridge and measured 4.258".
It has a 7 thou taper/ridge...
This is on both cylinder 1 and 6. They are not out of round.

Took the lifters out and number them.

Took a main cap from the crank off.
Crankshaft is not happy, looks like it ran without oil at some point in it's life.
Which explains the metal in the pan...

The bearing is all warped. It sits so loose in the cap that you can look through it.

I'm continuing the teardown tonight.
Crank will be measured when it's out.

Any other measurements that are recommended which I can use when I start rebuilding the car?

 

[1970cat]

end play on the crank?

 

[HWYCRZR]

If you really wanted to check the bearing main wear you could plastigauge a few journals. If it was run without oil it would likely have some galling or metal transfer on the bearings or journals. Based on the pictures I am thinking that is about normal for a high mileage engine of the time.
My ‘68 383 lived all its life on gravel roads and sat a few years. The journals didn’t look much different at 104000 miles. They ground the crank and I ordered oversized bearings. It was less than $100 (2007 dollars)

 

[Metalmarty]

end play on the crank?

It's pretty hard to measure since the bearings are bad. Even the thurst bearing.
The crankshaft does have some wear on the thrust bearing face, but not as bad as the other bearing faces. Looks to be fine after being polished. Will have this double checked by the machine shop.

If you really wanted to check the bearing main wear you could plastigauge a few journals. If it was run without oil it would likely have some galling or metal transfer on the bearings or journals. Based on the pictures I am thinking that is about normal for a high mileage engine of the time.
My ‘68 383 lived all its life on gravel roads and sat a few years. The journals didn’t look much different at 104000 miles. They ground the crank and I ordered oversized bearings. It was less than $100 (2007 dollars)

I took the crank out and checked it with a micrometer.
It did run without oil for a bit, even the oil pump is really bad...
I got some quotes from machine shops, cheapest quote I got is 400USD for crank grinding and polishing (excluding bearings). Are machine shops that much more expensive than in the states?



Update time!
A bit overdue, but I was busy with some other stuff unfortunately.

Got all of the front hardware removed.
Timing chain was really loose.
Looks like the shortblock has never been disassembled in it's life?

Crank almost ready to come out

Got the crank, camshaft and pistons out of the block.

Crank main bearings 1,2,3 and 5 were decent. 66.665mm = 2.6246"
Mainly scored, not really worn. This could've done with just polishing.

Crank main bearing #4 however is in less shape.
It is worn bad and can't be fixed with just a polish.
66.58mm = 2.6213" which is way undersided.
Crank needs 0.010" undersize bearing.

Oilpump disassembled, looks bad, feels bad.

This came out of the pickup, just before the mesh filter.

The block was covered in 50 years of schmutz. So I'm cleaning it so it's a little nicer to handle instead of making everything really dirty again and again.

I've talked to some machine shops and I've found one I like. Prices are pretty decent for Dutch standards. I will make a seperate engine building topic for this, discussing piston, cam, compression choices. I will also try to take pictures before and after it got to the machine shop and include you every step in the way.

It might take a while before the engine will be going to the machine shop because of financial reasons. Didn't expect the engine to be this bad, so it just got way more expensive than I've hoped. (more than a couple of grand for machine work, pistons, camshaft, lifters, oilpump, pickup etc. This is just shortblock, not even heads, intake, exhaust etc)

In the meantime I will be addressing the front suspension and brakes. I already have a full PST front suspension kit with all bushings, ball joints, bolts, etc. I'm getting a disc brake kit to swap my front power drums with power brakes. I'll be keeping the stock 11" drums in the back.

Now, where to find the money to rebuild the shortblock...
To be continued!...

 

[Metalmarty]

Update time!

The project isn't progressing as fast as I hoped unfortunately.
But we'll keep on chugging.

Engine block is ready for machineshop.
I still have to dissassemble the heads.
Engine will have to wait a couple of months, have to build some finances again...

My shop, small and 5 miles from home, but really happy that I have a place to work on the car.

Removed the steering column. Pretty hard to get out since the brake pedal was in the way.
What is the normal procedure to get the column out?
Got it out since I have to do some rewiring under the dash, this gives me a lot more room to work.

I'm also missing the gearshift indicator operating lever alltogether on my column. Does anyone know how this was attached and where to get one?

Talk about wiring, This is how the turn signal switch was connected to the dash wiring loom . Sparky sparky

Does anybody know the complementary connector for the turn signal switch?

 

[cbarge]

Let me check my pile for spare shift indicator rod. It has rubber grommet that sldes onto the cluster and bolts onto the shifter on the column just under the cluster.

 

[Metalmarty]

Let me check my pile for spare shift indicator rod. It has rubber grommet that sldes onto the cluster and bolts onto the shifter on the column just under the cluster.

Thanks.
How is the operating lever attached to the column? Looks like it is riveted in the picture?
I'm missing both the operating lever and the rod with the slotted link...

 

[HWYCRZR]

Posted some pictures in the other thread.
Tabs in then snaps into place.
68 Newport steering column questions...

 

[Metalmarty]

Posted some pictures in the other thread.
Tabs in then snaps into place.
68 Newport steering column questions...

Thanks!


Also, update time again.

More disassembling.
Removing the drums, hubs, spindles, control arms etc.

My driver side strut rod is a bit crooked, is that normal after 50 years?
How could this have happened?

Still have to disassemble the passenger side and I have to clean everything.
But the new parts are already waiting to get on!
Full @PST front end kit!

One more question.
My brake booster doesn't seem to be the original one but I'm not sure (Factory power drum car).
Can anyone identify this brake booster?

Oh and this is a federal pump right? (7" pully)
If I understand correctly this should be the stock pump?