70_NPORT
Well-Known Member
Once again Stan you exhibit your fabulous talent for explaining things with such sublime delicacy and unshakable aplomb.
Driving a C-Body as a daily driver.
- Thread starter mopar_4life
- Start date
Landyacht
Active Member
I agree that sticking with the old 2 barrel carb over a fuel injection unit would be a better option. The only time I would recommend going with fuel injection is on an engine with a really big cam that would otherwise be a nightmare to tune if it had a carb.
TheFearlessFury
Active Member
I can confirm this. Everyone will pretty much know where you are all of the time. If you like the attention it's not bad, but be prepared to keep your nose clean.
I've been driving my 71 in colder weather since February and I'd also say that these older cars don't seem to like temperatures too far under 20 degrees. And even less so if they have a shoddy carburetor. It's doable but you should probably invest in a winter beater as others have suggested.
LocuMob
Fluid Technician with a hat
We are getting snow that will melt right away, teasing me, saying "you can't drive the Polara yet!" But I know time is on my side. In a week or two I'll have it out of the garage and taking a spin around the county. Maybe I should order up a turn signal switch so I have signals and brake lights. I do have a spare column I could pirate parts from...
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Every metaphor you see me write I first heard from the greatest mentor a kid could ever wish for. My boss at the gas station I worked in when I became 16. God Bless you Mike.Once again Stan you exhibit your fabulous talent for explaining things with such sublime delicacy and unshakable aplomb.
I wish that my most impressionable one was repeatable here...
lewis h.
New Member
lewis h.
New Member
I have always thought that the more often i drive my 68' nyer the better it drove..got any ideas for after market wheels?
70_NPORT
Well-Known Member
All I can say is that it's definitely a "personal" experience...at least for me it is. I love getting out on the interstates and opening the 383 up a little...say to about 90-95mph (oh, AND believe me there are people riding up my *** even at that speed so I'll dump out of the fast lane occasionally so they can go by). Insofar as the aftermarket wheels go I'm prob not the best source for advice for that. I'm not a "stock" nazi, but I do prefer Chrysler wheels (roadies, hubcaps or even ralley wheels).
stubs300
Senior Member
WTF is with the pansy *** rainbow $h!t on that sign?
42nd Infantry, NY National Guard Rainbow division. Named "Rainbow" by Mac Arthur in WW1.
And referring to them as "pansy ***" is very disrespectful.
rexus31
Senior Member
WWI?
Yep. They saw a lot of action in WW1. They liberated Dachau in WW2 and provided emergency response to 911 attacks.
Some history:
42d Infantry Division History and Bibliography
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
I have had many a c-body as daily drivers. Every year I get an itch to buy some unloved '60s-'70s C-sedan and roll it all through the winter. The problem is that all the unloved (cheap) sedans seem to disappear from Craigs right around when I want one, and by virtue of using broad search terms like "Chrysler" or "Dodge", some other super-cheap car presents itself and I buy it instead. That's how I ended up with my '88 5th Ave and this year, a '79 Magnum with t-tops. Oh and we do get snow here... this isnt my car, but I took the pic in 2015:
But my last winter C was this '74 Newport that was on eBay circa 2007 and only being bid by people name "DeRbYhOliC" or "Capt'n Crash". I figured no matter what happened to it with me, it would be far better off. So I bid, drove down to TN with a friend and came back. I think I was into it for less than $2000. Of course these pics are AFTER I put a buffing wheel to the paint and swapped the OE road wheels with some junky Cragers (I kept the road wheels when I sold it).
Can you believe I got this much cool for under $2k?
Now I also thought "Maybe I should throw on a TBI system" So I scored a used Holley Pro-Junktion system on eBay for maybe $200. Having used one of these in the past, I didn't have high expectations. Here's my install:
Hey, looks like the factory did it huh? Thank you junkyard '81 Imperial.
I mounted the controller in the designed-with-airbags-in-mind center-mount glove box.
That little box mounted on the left? Remote starter. Why not take advantage of the TBI, right?
Oh yeah, I upgraded the tunes quite a bit as well.
So having said all that, and being all-in on TBI, would I do it again? Meh, probably not.
The power and fuel economy were really no better than a carb. Fuel injection (and in my opinion even electronic ignition) really just mask out-of-tune parts... My cold weather starts were good, but I have well-tuned carb vehicles that run just as well. In fact, I keep my '73 Dodge truck 400/727 (E-brok 4bbl) around year round, outdoors and count on it to start at all times. You know the best cold start upgrade? Big-*** battery and the faster starter from a 90s V8 Mopar. (I do hate how it sounds. I wish I could make an external speaker play an Mpg of a old starter when I hit the key.) The remote start was kinda fun to spook people in parking lots, but the aftermarket kit's range was so crappy that by the time I got in, it had only been running 15 seconds.
I'm gonna make a second post to show how I handled salt/rust...
But my last winter C was this '74 Newport that was on eBay circa 2007 and only being bid by people name "DeRbYhOliC" or "Capt'n Crash". I figured no matter what happened to it with me, it would be far better off. So I bid, drove down to TN with a friend and came back. I think I was into it for less than $2000. Of course these pics are AFTER I put a buffing wheel to the paint and swapped the OE road wheels with some junky Cragers (I kept the road wheels when I sold it).
Can you believe I got this much cool for under $2k?
Now I also thought "Maybe I should throw on a TBI system" So I scored a used Holley Pro-Junktion system on eBay for maybe $200. Having used one of these in the past, I didn't have high expectations. Here's my install:
Hey, looks like the factory did it huh? Thank you junkyard '81 Imperial.
I mounted the controller in the designed-with-airbags-in-mind center-mount glove box.
That little box mounted on the left? Remote starter. Why not take advantage of the TBI, right?
Oh yeah, I upgraded the tunes quite a bit as well.
So having said all that, and being all-in on TBI, would I do it again? Meh, probably not.
The power and fuel economy were really no better than a carb. Fuel injection (and in my opinion even electronic ignition) really just mask out-of-tune parts... My cold weather starts were good, but I have well-tuned carb vehicles that run just as well. In fact, I keep my '73 Dodge truck 400/727 (E-brok 4bbl) around year round, outdoors and count on it to start at all times. You know the best cold start upgrade? Big-*** battery and the faster starter from a 90s V8 Mopar. (I do hate how it sounds. I wish I could make an external speaker play an Mpg of a old starter when I hit the key.) The remote start was kinda fun to spook people in parking lots, but the aftermarket kit's range was so crappy that by the time I got in, it had only been running 15 seconds.
I'm gonna make a second post to show how I handled salt/rust...
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Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
So here's the 40,000 mile 1988 5th Ave that I bought for a whopping $800 from a real-live-used-car-dealer! I love this pic because the whooptie-do AWD Subaroo next to it looks like it just came out of its wimpy garage. This pic was taken outside a restaurant during a MASSIVE plant-closing 2014 snow storm. In 22-years at Chrysler I'd never had a snow day. I showed (on time) as did most of my co-workers. The semis that supplied us, not so much! 
So I got 3/4 of a day off with pay, did doughnuts in the parking lot and then met my wife (who also made it to work) for lunch.
This car had some minor rust under the chrome trim when I bought it, so I pulled it all off, wire-wheeled it as clean as possible and then painted it twice with Rust-Bullet. I know a lot of you on here like POR-15, but I've been less than impressed with it's ability to stick. And if you contact something painted, it for sure won't stick. Conversely, Rust-Bullet sticks like a mutha'.
Also, see those dark spots all over the floor on the sheet of plywood? That's from me dousing the undercarriage and inside every panel with elcheap-o clean motor oil. I've got an idea for winter-car 2017 that involves motor oil, a moving dolly, broom handle and chocolate fountain. I sold the 5th at the first Detroit-area Mopar show of 2014 to ANOTHER USED CAR DEALER (at a nice profit... and I kept those nice rims again.)
I'm also thinking about building some kind of underbody washer, using small diameter steel pipe and connected to an electric powerwasher... For those wonderful 30-degree days when you just want to get the salt off. You'd drive over this thing slowly and not get wet.
On my Newport, I was not shy about dousing the trunk and underbody with the oil-based Rustoleum anti-rust primer they used to sell at the 'depot. I'm sure you can still get it someplace, like a specialty paint store.
Poop on the idea of not being able to use an old car everyday. People got to work in 1925, 35, 45, and so forth. That said, I still switch off to a newer car (as in 2000) for the same reason I don't eat pizza, steak and lobster everyday... Keeps it "special".
So I got 3/4 of a day off with pay, did doughnuts in the parking lot and then met my wife (who also made it to work) for lunch.
This car had some minor rust under the chrome trim when I bought it, so I pulled it all off, wire-wheeled it as clean as possible and then painted it twice with Rust-Bullet. I know a lot of you on here like POR-15, but I've been less than impressed with it's ability to stick. And if you contact something painted, it for sure won't stick. Conversely, Rust-Bullet sticks like a mutha'.
Also, see those dark spots all over the floor on the sheet of plywood? That's from me dousing the undercarriage and inside every panel with elcheap-o clean motor oil. I've got an idea for winter-car 2017 that involves motor oil, a moving dolly, broom handle and chocolate fountain. I sold the 5th at the first Detroit-area Mopar show of 2014 to ANOTHER USED CAR DEALER (at a nice profit... and I kept those nice rims again.)
I'm also thinking about building some kind of underbody washer, using small diameter steel pipe and connected to an electric powerwasher... For those wonderful 30-degree days when you just want to get the salt off. You'd drive over this thing slowly and not get wet.
On my Newport, I was not shy about dousing the trunk and underbody with the oil-based Rustoleum anti-rust primer they used to sell at the 'depot. I'm sure you can still get it someplace, like a specialty paint store.
Poop on the idea of not being able to use an old car everyday. People got to work in 1925, 35, 45, and so forth. That said, I still switch off to a newer car (as in 2000) for the same reason I don't eat pizza, steak and lobster everyday... Keeps it "special".
Mr C
Senior Member
So here's the 40,000 mile 1988 5th Ave that I bought for a whopping $800 from a real-live-used-car-dealer! I love this pic because the whooptie-do AWD Subaroo next to it looks like it just came out of its wimpy garage. This pic was taken outside a restaurant during a MASSIVE plant-closing 2014 snow storm. In 22-years at Chrysler I'd never had a snow day. I showed (on time) as did most of my co-workers. The semis that supplied us, not so much!
This car had some minor rust under the chrome trim when I bought it, so I pulled it all off, wire-wheeled it as clean as possible and then painted it twice with Rust-Bullet. I know a lot of you on here like POR-15, but I've been less than impressed with it's ability to stick. And if you contact something painted, it for sure won't stick. Conversely, Rust-Bullet sticks like a mutha'.
Also, see those dark spots all over the floor on the sheet of plywood? That's from me dousing the undercarriage and inside every panel with elcheap-o clean motor oil. I've got an idea for winter-car 2017 that involves motor oil, a moving dolly, broom handle and chocolate fountain. I sold the 5th at the first Detroit-area Mopar show of 2014 to ANOTHER USED CAR DEALER (at a nice profit... and I kept those nice rims again.)
I'm also thinking about building some kind of underbody washer, using small diameter steel pipe and connected to an electric powerwasher... For those wonderful 30-degree days when you just want to get the salt off. You'd drive over this thing slowly and not get wet.
On my Newport, I was not shy about dousing the trunk and underbody with the oil-based Rustoleum anti-rust primer they used to sell at the 'depot. I'm sure you can still get it someplace, like a specialty paint store.
Poop on the idea of not being able to use an old car everyday. People got to work in 1925, 35, 45, and so forth. That said, I still switch off to a newer car (as in 2000) for the same reason I don't eat pizza, steak and lobster everyday... Keeps it "special".
Carmine, your tastes and mine are very much in synch. Love it...except the Cragars...I despise Cragars.
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
The Newport came with road wheels. While I owned it, I bought a rusted-to-death, beat-to-crap 1975 NYB for $500. In addition to the 440/727, I saved the embroidered seat inserts (made into a living room pillow), period yellow headlights AND the rusty Cragers. Knowing the next owner might just use the road wheels as scrap metal once he installed his 26" rims, I sprayed the Cragers argent gray and kept the road wheels (to this day) in my shed. I hate Cragers too, but unfortunately didn't take many good pics until I was ready to sell it.
*I don't think the new owner put 26's on it. I sold it to a fairly normal guy in the Chicago area if anyone has seen it...?
I saw an under car power washer somewhere.... I think it was Carlisle.
I also spotted this on the web. It look like something you could make easily, but at under $20, I would be tempted to just buy one since it's probably only a few bucks more than material cost. The Underwasher :: Hose accessory that lets you clean under your car, RV, boat or ATV!
I also spotted this on the web. It look like something you could make easily, but at under $20, I would be tempted to just buy one since it's probably only a few bucks more than material cost. The Underwasher :: Hose accessory that lets you clean under your car, RV, boat or ATV!
70_NPORT
Well-Known Member
Wow...visceral response to a bunch of colors.
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