Meet Ming, my 1973 New Yorker Brougham

[71Polara383]

I took the engine to a local machine shop named DC automotive machine here in Rockford. He has a large customer base of various racers from Byron dragway and Rockford speedway, in addition to many hobbyists and mechanics. When I dropped it off I told them to take their time because we had many other irons in the fire at the time.

Soon after they got started on the 440. They found one of the cylinder heads was cracked in the valve seat and a replacement was needed.

I contacted my old pal Larry at Mopar City, and pulled a 213 casting# off his shelf and brought it to DC.

The heads were done first, followed by the block and rotating assembly. Its now .30 over with Speed Pro pistons. The crankshaft did not need to be cut, and it was polished up. The heads got a 3 angle valve job. New springs and seals from the lunati kit we chose.

I got everything back to the shop and oiled/bagged everything until it was time to start assembly.

 

[71Polara383]

After a while of being on the back burner. I decided it was time to start assembly.

First thing I had to do was check the main and rod bearing clearances using plasti gauge. Starting with the mains, I came up with .002 consistently throughout all 5 mains. This is right in the middle of the specs in the FSM and I was satisfied with it. I wiped a coat of oil on the mains and torqued the crankshaft down.

Next up were the rod bearings. I measured all 8, and again came up with a consistent .002 across the board.

Next up I had to check my ring gap to make sure it also consistent and within spec. These are the results...

 

[71Polara383]

Satisfied with all of the measurements. It was time to go together.

Since I already had the crankshaft in. I installed the new cam, and timing set. Then I started popping in the pistons.

I put all 16 lifters in some brad penn to soak prior to installation.

I then took some time to clean up the head bolts and check the threads for any damage or obvious stretching.

 

[71Polara383]

Now it was time for the heads to go on. We opted for steel shim gaskets vs the blue fel pros.

Next I disassembled/cleaned the new oil pump before packing it with grease and dropping in the intermediate shaft. When doing this make sure the engine is at TDC and the groove in the gear is in line with the crankshaft.

Next up the valve train. I installed the new lifters, new push rods, and freshly cleaned rocker shafts.

Now its starting to look like something!!!

 

[71Polara383]

All of the tins were filthy and instead of spending hours and hours scrubbing, I dropped everything of at DCs to be tanked.

I coated some of the parts in what we had left of the Bill Hirsch from Medina to keep them from flash rusting before starting to finish assembling the engine. Also, some spots are impossible to get paint on once assembled so I took the time to get those areas...

Then I did a couple coats of primer...

Then I did 2 solid coats of color and let it bake in the sun.

 

[71Polara383]

Before it got too cold to work last fall/winter, I got the freshly rebuilt 440 reinstalled in Ming.

Then came the fun part, dressing it all back up and getting everything reconnected!

I had to fabricate an EGR block off plate from scratch.

Everything hooked back up and ready to fire!

 

[71Polara383]

I removed the dizzy and drove the oil pump in reverse with my drill, and turned the motor by hand. Peaking thru the oil fill cap to verify oil was flowing up through the rockers and into the heads. I rolled the motor over, and primed and repeated the process a few times. I then filled the float bowls to ensure it would start instantly and hopefully have enough fuel to run long enough to pick up fuel from the tank. It fired up quickly. I adjusted the timing quickly by ear, and brought the RPMs up to around 2k for 15-20 min and broke in the camshaft. Occasionally blipping the throttle. I immediately changed the oil and filter and replaced the VR1 10w30 used for break in with our normal Brad Penn 15w40 and a new wix filter. 50-60PSI cold oil pressure. 25-35 Hot idle. Verified with mechanical gauge. Runs smooth and sounds strong. I am a happy camper!!!

The next day I came in to the shop and found a few small leaks. One from where my mechanical gauge was screwed in. Easy fix, I removed the gauge and installed the sender for the light. The other leak was from the heater hoses at the firewall. Of course! Considering I already replaced the easy half of the hoses, I might as well do the difficult ones and fuel vapor line as well. I dropped out the inner wheel well and knocked it out.

After that it was time to hit the road! Or so I thought...turns out Ming wasn't charging at all and I had been running her off the battery. I got a replacement Alt from Napa and I swapped it out.

 

[71Polara383]

Now that it was charging and there were no major leaks. We went for our maiden voyage down the street and back. Someone needs a bath!!!

I took this opportunity to install an NOS cornering lamp to replace the one the car was missing.

Then I started racking up the miles. I've got about 500 miles on the rebuild so far and no issues with the engine so far...

 

[71Polara383]

A few issues have been discovered after the shake down voyages. Keep in mind... We never got to drive Ming before the engine rebuild, so everything else was unknown at this point and she went 500ish miles without a single problem.

I discovered a large puddle of ATF one day after returning from a weekend away. I got the car on the lift and determined it was likely the selector shaft seal.

I needed to do a trans filter/gasket anyways so I knocked it all out in one shot.

I dont have a fancy seal puller so I went one step further and dropped down the valve body to pop out the seal.

I cleaned the case up a little more and popped in the new seal...

Happy with that. I reinstalled the valvebody and prepared the new filter/gasket and cleaned the pan thoroughly.

 

[71Polara383]

Here's the new seal again, with the selector popped through....

I also took this opportunity to replace the worn out trans mount with a good poly mount.

All the shift levers cleaned/reinstalled. Pan installed and snugged up. Cooler lines double checked. Looks like its time to fill it and hope the issue is resolved.

 

[71Polara383]

So thats where I am at with Ming currently. I am waiting on rubber brake hoses that should be here this week. I will install those, bleed the brakes and hopefully with that, the brake pedal feels better. After that more road testing and a nice detailing is in store for Ming. I plan to have 1500-2000 succesful miles on the rebuild before the end of the season.

Thanks everyone for your patience, especially @ayilar This has been a major project for us and I am really happy to be enjoying the fun part now!

To be continued....

 

[Ripinator]

So thats where I am at with Ming currently. I am waiting on rubber brake hoses that should be here this week. I will install those, bleed the brakes and hopefully with that, the brake pedal feels better. After that more road testing and a nice detailing is in store for Ming. I plan to have 1500-2000 succesful miles on the rebuild before the end of the season.

Thanks everyone for your patience, especially @ayilar This has been a major project for us and I am really happy to be enjoying the fun part now!

To be continued....

View attachment 612057

Excellent and careful work! Very impressed! Mighty fine!

 

[Samplingman]

Excellent write up! Question, you changed the break-in oil after the initial 15-20 minute cam break-in run? Shouldn't it stay in for the first 500 miles?

 

[71Polara383]

Excellent write up! Question, you changed the break-in oil after the initial 15-20 minute cam break-in run? Shouldn't it stay in for the first 500 miles?

With lifter failures these days, I wasn't taking chances. Will change it again after 1500/2k.

 

[ImperialLeBaron1969]

I acquired this JA5 Silver Frost Metallic NYB a couple of weeks back. She has now safely reached my place, and @71Polara383 will get her back in tip-top shape. Super thanks to him for staying up late to ensure the car's reception in the wee hours this morning!

I saw this car advertised on FB in Greenfield, Ohio over a month ago. I alerted a few members who had been looking for a fusie 4-door, but none of them was interested. I am generally not a fan of the 1973's front end, but in this color, in this body style, it just works IMHO. This car is in fact the very picture of a "big Chrysler" that I've had in my head since reading a cool adventurers' book in 5th or 6th grade, and the price was too good to pass up, so I decided to jump in. The fact that the car is the same (save for the lack of passenger-side mirror and power antenna) as the one pictured in the 1972 Chrysler Corp. Annual Financial Report sealed the deal (thanks to @ceebuddy for that picture!).

The seller (who owns a towing-company and started a used-car business a couple of years ago) had recently gotten it from the widow of a local collectionner. The latter had kept the car in proper storage for the past 9 years, and the photos and video that the seller sent to me prior to my agreeing to buy the car seem to back up the claim. Unfortunately, the widow had just replaced her Kentucky title in early March without making any copy of the old title, so tracking the car's history will be harder than I had hoped for.

It took me a while to get the car transported, as the initial dispatcher (who had been pretty reliable before) got sick then went MIA. Thanks to @amazinblue82, @detmatt and @71Polara383 for suggesting Ray at A&A Auto Transport -- he made it happen.

Wyatt tells me that the car needs a passenger-side cornering light (in the process of being ordered from Arizona Motor Parts), a battery and tires (no surprise there), and of course the car will get a full tune-up and brake check. The rimblow steering wheel has one crack, but let's hope the rest is good. I have no idea if the A/C works (@Ripinator will note with dismay that it is H53), but the seller affirmed that the heater works well -- so I hope to be able to fix it if I am lucky enough to benefit from the guidance of experts such as @saforwardlook .

Here are a few pictures of the car right after her arrival!

C: Chrysler
S: Special (New Yorker Brougham)
43: 4 Door Hardtop

T: 440 cid 4 barrel V8
3: 1973
C: Jefferson Avenue, MI, USA

331: Build Date: March 31

E85: 440 cid 4 barrel V8 350hp
D34: Automatic Transmission

JA5: Silver Frost Poly Exterior Color
H7X9: Trim - High, Black Carlisle-cloth & Cologne-grain-vinyl Divided Bench Seats
(with Individual Adjustments, Passenger Recliner and Armrest in front & Armrest in rear)
TX9: Black Diamond Int. Door Frames
V1X: Full Vinyl Top, Black
V7X: Accent Stripes, Black

H53: AutoTemp A/C
G25: Add Vent Windows

R35: AM/FM Stereo Radio (10 Watts)

L31: Hood/Fender Mounted Turn Signals
L35: Cornering Lamps
L42: Headlamp Time Delay

M45: Fender Skirts

P31: Power Windows
P41: Power Door Locks

N88: Auto Speed Control

View attachment 362698

View attachment 362697

Beautiful car! I love 4 dr ht

 

[tbm3fan]

Cracked head, ugh. I just went through that and it took sometime to find the right head. While FE heads are interchangeable their head volume does vary and when you are already at 10.5:1 you need to get it right. Found one and it had a crack also. Turns out the shop owner used one as a mock up and it turned out to be a perfect match so he swapped me the cracked one for his.

By the way have you seen this hint when painted engines. I tried it out on my heads and sure enough the propane torch did burn off a fair amount of water. Drops actually formed as I used the torch. Once done I painted with two coats of Rustoleum Rusty Metal Prime before my Ford blue on both heads and intake so far.

 

[tbm3fan]

A few issues have been discovered after the shake down voyages. Keep in mind... We never got to drive Ming before the engine rebuild, so everything else was unknown at this point and she went 500ish miles without a single problem.

I discovered a large puddle of ATF one day after returning from a weekend away. I got the car on the lift and determined it was likely the selector shaft seal.

View attachment 612042View attachment 612043View attachment 612044

I needed to do a trans filter/gasket anyways so I knocked it all out in one shot.

View attachment 612045

I dont have a fancy seal puller so I went one step further and dropped down the valve body to pop out the seal.

View attachment 612046View attachment 612047View attachment 612048

I cleaned the case up a little more and popped in the new seal...

View attachment 612049

Happy with that. I reinstalled the valvebody and prepared the new filter/gasket and cleaned the pan thoroughly.

View attachment 612050View attachment 612051

Do those blue gaskets really work and if so is there a secret. I tried out one and I still had drips forming quite fast.

 

[71Polara383]

Do those blue gaskets really work and if so is there a secret. I tried out one and I still had drips forming quite fast.

We have ran them with success. 727s just leak when they are not in regular use from my experience. The fluid drains back from the converter and eventually over fills the pan and it starts looking for a way out. Usually a shift shaft seal and pan gasket does the trick. We will see. I put 5qts in last night, will top off and check for leaks this week after brake hoses are in. I'm itching for more miles behind the wheel of this 73...

 

[fury fan]

Are those thin steel head gaskets the Mr Gasket ones?
Did the machine shop do any decking of the block, and how far down are the pistons at TDC? (although that might not have been of interest for this engine)

 

[71Polara383]

Are those thin steel head gaskets the Mr Gasket ones?
Did the machine shop do any decking of the block, and how far down are the pistons at TDC? (although that might not have been of interest for this engine)

I believe they were gotten from Mancini racing. I dont recall them decking the block or cutting the heads, just cleaned up/surfaced the heads/block.