Do you think this car will make a 400 mile trip?

[Big_John]

That's cause people don't trouble shoot any more.

Yep, just load new stuff in the parts cannon and fire it at the car.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

A failed truck tire that caught on fire today burned a truck to the ground in Baltimore and caused I-95 to be F'd up all day long today.

Tractor-trailer fire blocks southbound traffic on I-95 in Howard County

View attachment 144393

View attachment 144392

I'm calling B.S.. Hot brake and failed wheel seal is what makes a wheel fire then the tire catches fire which is what the brain dead mouth breathers being interviewed by the ditsy blonde reporter saw, so it must be true. I have drug dead tires till there was only two sidewalls on the rim and no fire. I have had a brake on fire with both tires still aired up.

 

[65 500]

It is reletively flat between Indianapolis, Indiana and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Between those two points "relatively flat" means if it wasn't for the curvature of the earth you would be able to see Pittsburgh from Indianapolis.
Don't forget the cruise control.

 

[Carmine]

I'm calling B.S.. Hot brake and failed wheel seal is what makes a wheel fire then the tire catches fire which is what the brain dead mouth breathers being interviewed by the ditsy blonde reporter saw, so it must be true. I have drug dead tires till there was only two sidewalls on the rim and no fire. I have had a brake on fire with both tires still aired up.

Basically.

 

[polara71]

I just bought a 1972 Newport. It has been stored in a garage for its whole life. There is no rust on the body, or underneath. No tears in the upholstery either. It was never driven during the winter, and has 71,000 miles. If this car has a new oil change, and new tires, do you think it could make the 400 mile trip home? It has no mechanical issues.
Also, this is my first car that is more than 25 years old. How do I baby this car and make it last as long as it possibly can? My grandma used to own a 72 Newport "The Tank" as we called it, and she did explain to me that i'm going to be pouring gas into it all day. What kind of things should I bring in case of emergency on such a long trip?
I'm really looking forward to this car getting home. I remember when I was a little kid my grandma had a blue one, and in the back during a road trip, my sister could lay across the floor, my other sister lay across the seat, and I could lay across the window! They haven't made cars of that size in a long time.View attachment 144353

YES

 

[65sporty]

I say drive it, do all you can to prepare and then enjoy the drive. Best of luck on your trip

 

[mrfury68]

I thought that Chrysler looked familiar, I've seen it on CL. I can't add anymore to what others have already advised so have a safe trip, enjoy the time with your dad & good luck with your Chrysler.

 

[Jon O.]

I thought that Chrysler looked familiar, I've seen it on CL. I can't add anymore to what others have already advised so have a safe trip, enjoy the time with your dad & good luck with your Chrysler.

You have a keen memory. It took a long time for me to find a Newport that wasn't a rustbucket.

 

[bluefury361]

[QUOTE="Big_John, . A cell phone and a AAA card are your friends.[/QUOTE]


So true.
Sounds like your in for a great road trip. Take a camera and shoot pictures at every stop.

 

[Jon O.]

[QUOTE="Big_John, . A cell phone and a AAA card are your friends.

So true.
Sounds like your in for a great road trip. Take a camera and shoot pictures at every stop.[/QUOTE]
Yes, thank you! I was worrying about the car so much I almost forgot about the fun. Camera! I know in the future I will want to see those pictures and look back.

 

[bluefury361]

It will be a great way to bond with the car. The trip will do you both good.

 

[62dodge]

For 400 miles you will need a gallon of ice tea, 4 bags of beef jerky, and 200 dollars for fuel.

 

[cantflip]

I just bought a 1972 Newport. It has been stored in a garage for its whole life. There is no rust on the body, or underneath. No tears in the upholstery either. It was never driven during the winter, and has 71,000 miles. If this car has a new oil change, and new tires, do you think it could make the 400 mile trip home? It has no mechanical issues.
Also, this is my first car that is more than 25 years old. How do I baby this car and make it last as long as it possibly can? My grandma used to own a 72 Newport "The Tank" as we called it, and she did explain to me that i'm going to be pouring gas into it all day. What kind of things should I bring in case of emergency on such a long trip?
I'm really looking forward to this car getting home. I remember when I was a little kid my grandma had a blue one, and in the back during a road trip, my sister could lay across the floor, my other sister lay across the seat, and I could lay across the window! They haven't made cars of that size in a long time.View attachment 144353

That has potential to be one of mine in the past. I sold the one I had to a guy named Nevin who I think worked for the bureau of mines... I know he was an engineer of some sort. He was a customer of one of the gas stations I wrenched at back then and loved low mileage old cars that nobody loved at the time. When I sold the car it had about 40K miles on her and was in great body condition.

Some clues that might help identify the car... Nevin never drove them very much, but was a stickler for maintaining them. He was a very good customer to have. My car had a black painted stone guard on the rockers that he hated so much, he had the entire car repainted. I had a history with the body shop that did the work, they were kind of famous for their quick and dirty lacquer jobs to have checked paint... Nevin was a premium customer though, when I saw the car after the paint job, it was very nicely done and likely held up well.

I replaced the transmission with a junkyard one, so it wouldn't be numbers matching. The carb was broken by someone over tightening the wing nut on the air cleaner. I did a fabulous JBweld repair, but a year or two later, Nevin had it replaced with a NAPA reman. (NOTE: do not over tighten the air cleaner wing nut). I also broke the windshield, and paid $500 towards the replacement from the selling price... I knew the glass man who replaced it, I don't know for sure but would guess it to be a PPG piece as that was his day job. He did a lot of glass for us on the side, but at 5 times what I usually paid for a windshield at the time, this one may have been scarce already in 1990/91 when we did it.

I also replaced the A/C control head, the vacuum switch was leaking, but at the time the dealer had one on the shelf. IIRC there was a nipple brazed onto the air cleaner exterior that someone added before my ownership... IDK if Nevin would have ever replaced that part, but it was still there last time I saw the car in the early 90's. I moved on to running the shop at a different location, so I seldom saw Nevin or the car.... and I can't remember his last name to save my life. He was old back then, but I was 21... so that could have been a rough 40 or a good 70 for all I know.

As to the road trip... you need:

#1 a nice empty credit card, that way you can deal with whatever you have to do. If you have a big problem, don't be afraid to stop for the night or put the car into safe storage until you can figure out what to do.

#2 AAA phone number, even if you don't have an account... you can use the credit card to buy an account on the phone and they will give you the same service as if you had the account for years. Some policies have different towing amounts for free... so if far from home, buy the best they have.

#3 a good transmission funnel... very useful tool that seems to have disappeared from more parts stores inventory than I can believe. A few bucks well spent if you need to refuel from any gas can you can still buy , the new "safety" cans seem to have nozzles nobody can use. Also the funnel is useful for transmission refills, which are common (check in neutral, not park)... dont let the car roll away while doing so. For ATF purchases on the road, the cheapest Dextron you can find is closer to right than the most expensive, and add in small increments of the quart bottle... you should never need a full quart.

As @bluefury361 said, stop often, take pictures and enjoy the journey... he's an expert and many of us are still learning how to fully enjoy our road trips from him.

 

[cantflip]

Would you mind explaining to me what a ballast resistor is, how to tell if it is bad, and why they are needed? I know it has something to do with ignition. Are they a problemed part?

It's a white ceramic high wattage resistor mounted on the firewall that drops battery 12v down to about 8v to preserve your ignition coil (which is a relic from the days of 6v systems and points). In my many years of Mopars I've never actually had one fail, but the GM propaganda ministry has promoted this failure so often that even my grandmother would tell me to "keep a spare in your glovebox". IF it fails, you can bypass it for a while (keeping in mind you're stressing the coil) Because they are relatively cheap and probably the easiest part on a car to change short of putting the key in the ignition, everyone tries that if the car doesn't start.

Keep one if you want, but the hype is exaggerated.

I have had a few fail over the years. Always on daily drivers and never on limited use cars though.

It's a cheap piece to buy and toss in the glove box. I don't expect the local AutoZone has them on the shelf anymore and they do fail without warning, so keeping one in the car kinda makes sense. I was never one for keeping spare anything in the car, but I've started keeping a few spares to get me home, especially on a trip.

That said.... The ballast resistor gets blamed for a lot of problems and the first words out of someone's mouth is "ballast resistor" when the car is really just out of gas. Lot's of them get replaced "just 'cause" with no thought about what the real diagnosis is. The starter relay is next on that list....

That's cause people don't trouble shoot any more.

FWIW, I do recall a number of failed Dual ballast resistors, I don't recall the single ballasts having the same failure rate though...

I couldn't count the number of times I opened a hood and saw one ballast bolted to the bulkhead and one hanging from the wires... even saw where a few folks bolted a second ballast as a spare (next to the original). Sorry to say, that was in the early days of my career, and I was too green to check all of them with my ohmmeter. Once I had mastered that test, I do recall several "bad" ones that were still good.

The classic symptom I recall was the car wanting to start, but dying as soon as you switched the ignition to run... or am I confusing that with GM ignition module failure in the 80's? Both I think.

 

[Carmine]

FWIW, I do recall a number of failed Dual ballast resistors, I don't recall the single ballasts having the same failure rate though...

I couldn't count the number of times I opened a hood and saw one ballast bolted to the bulkhead and one hanging from the wires... even saw where a few folks bolted a second ballast as a spare (next to the original). Sorry to say, that was in the early days of my career, and I was too green to check all of them with my ohmmeter. Once I had mastered that test, I do recall several "bad" ones that were still good.

The classic symptom I recall was the car wanting to start, but dying as soon as you switched the ignition to run... or am I confusing that with GM ignition module failure in the 80's? Both I think.

The dual ballasts have start and run positions (less resistance during cranking). If the start side fails (opens), it fires for just a second as soon as you give up and release the key. If the run side fails, it dies as soon as you release the key.

It stands to reason the duals would have more failures, since that have twice as many parts.

But it's the shade-tree, throw-parts aspect that gives them the rep. I don't know why someone would make the effort when any old piece of wire jammed in there is a go/no-go test by substitution.

 

[cantflip]

The dual ballasts have start and run positions (less resistance during cranking). If the start side fails (opens), it fires for just a second as soon as you give up and release the key. If the run side fails, it dies as soon as you release the key.

It stands to reason the duals would have more failures, since that have twice as many parts.

But it's the shade-tree, throw-parts aspect that gives them the rep. I don't know why someone would make the effort when any old piece of wire jammed in there is a go/no-go test by substitution.

Few shade tree folks used or even now use an ohmmeter, your test with a piece of wire would indicate a basic electrical understanding that parts changer's try to avoid...

A new ballast in the 80's was a buck or two, and every parts store had them on hand... I get why so many got replaced.

 

[65 500]

#2 AAA phone number, even if you don't have an account... you can use the credit card to buy an account on the phone and they will give you the same service as if you had the account for years. Some policies have different towing amounts for free... so if far from home, buy the best they have.

Unless you get AAA Classic(basic) plan(pretty useless) a lot of the good benefits have a 7 day waiting period before they go into effect.

 

[polara71]

Few shade tree folks used or even now use an ohmmeter, your test with a piece of wire would indicate a basic electrical understanding that parts changer's try to avoid...

A new ballast in the 80's was a buck or two, and every parts store had them on hand... I get why so many got replaced.

Never had one go bad till Carlisle, thank my lucky stars for you guys

 

[live4theking]

Forget all of the advice given before - 400 miles isn't long enough to really check out the car. You need to go more like 2,000 miles. Somewhere in Northern California would be perfect. And I could volunteer to be your safe haven at this end. Of course, driving 2,000 miles one way means it wouldn't be a good idea to drive it back another 2,000 miles - What kind of glutton for punishment are you? So you would surely have to fly back home and leave the car with me for something like the next 10 years. That would give me the opportunity to test drive it under every condition imaginable. It would be a tough job but I am willing to make the sacrifice. Besides, after the 10 year test is over, I will be an old man who probably shouldn't be driving anymore and you will be in your prime. Which means you will finally have reached the point where you are ready to take on the incredible responsibility of a C car. You can come get it, say, sometime around the end of 2028 and - You're welcome.

Do you expect him to pay for the gas too?

 

[70bigblockdodge]

My first experience with a failed ballast resistor was my parents 77 Gran Fury wagon. I remember my mother calling the local garage they used explaining the start up, die symptoms. Later that day he swung by in one of the Studebaker tow trucks they had, got the keys to the car opened the hood assuming he put ballast resistor on in 2 seconds car started right up and ran.
He then put it on permanent.