My new (to me) 1978 New Yorker Brougham

[proftourist]

Many of you may remember a few weeks back I posted in the Welcome Wagon about the 1978 NYB I recently bought, link follows:

http://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/showthread.php?20004-New-member-from-Edmonton-Alberta

I finally picked it up a couple of weeks ago and have been keeping myself entertained ever since, getting this "number 1 condition" car safe and running. As a reminder, the car doesn't even have 26000 kms on it, and has been stored inside since 1980, except for a brief appearance in 1984 for a wedding.

Lean Burn is still intact, and I was amazed when I picked it up how well it ran. Loaded on a flatbed tow truck and brought it to the garage I rented to work on it/store it for the winter. Dug in right away. I had already bought calipers, pads, shoes and spring kit for the rear as the PO had told me the brakes were dragging. Did the rear brakes, although they were pretty new - but I saw right away the bleeder screw was broken off the left wheel cylinder. Drums were really good, hardly worn. Do, shoes on, springs, new wheel cylinders. Front brakes looked good, didn't come apart too badly, so I just took them apart, cleaned them up, inspected the hoses, and put them back together with high temp brake grease. Cleaned and repacked bearings. Changed the engine oil and filter, transmission oil and filter, differential oil and flushed the brake fluid out. Coolant was quite bad, very dark. Flushed that out too. Front wheels ran hot on the first trip, so rechecked the bearing setting as best I could and then did the calipers and new pads for the front. All better. Topped up the gas in the tank, threw some seafoam in the tank, and went driving.

Worked great for a few short trips around town, steering felt loose but I hadn't found anything loose when I greased the chassis and pushed and pulled on the steering and suspension parts. At times the idle would be a bit uneven, wrote off to dirty carb and older (not ancient gas). PO did run it enough to keep adding fresh gas each year, and dropped oil down the carb to keep the engine from tightening up during the winters. Then I took it to the bank one day, and it started acting up. Rough idle, stalling, backfiring through the carb, etc. Got it home through two-footed driving, keeping the revs up while stopped, and parked it and left it for another day.

So, this week I tried it again. The elves did not come and fix it while I was gone over the weekend, so I guess it was up to me. I started with the fuel, taking some out of the tank (from the bottom) and didn't see any real crud in it. Seemed to be reasonable quality too. Changed the fuel filter, no difference. Tried the fuel in a jerry can direct to the pump, no difference. Replaced the fuel pump, only slight difference. Seemed slightly more even running, but still acting up. Stalled as soon as I put it in gear. So, tune-up time. Rotor, cap, wires, spark plugs. The plugs were quite dirty, but then just running stationary and dumping oil in the cylinders regularly would foul them up some too. No difference. New PCV valve and breather, no difference. Hmmmm

So, with the car I got two extra lean burn computers. I tried the one the other day, and the car cranked but no start. In the garbage with it. Today I tried the other one, it was attached to another breather still, and bam - problem solved. Hooked back up to the original, running rough. Changed the computer out, and it runs like a charm. I know the long term answer is to do the lean burn delete, but for now I have a running car. Discovered today that the tires are crapped out for sure. Not the originals, he stole them in 1980 to put on another car. He bought new tires then for this one. Sears brand tires, marked Made in Canada! New Cooper Trendsetter WW go on tomorrow. Only other issue right now is that the exhaust is rotten out behind the muffler, will get a quote on fixing just that tomorrow as well. I am not certain if I am going to do a complete stock replacement or do a set of "stock" duals in the long run, but if it's not too expensive I'll get the quick fix done now to make it more pleasant to drive (although it isn't really loud at all, I just don't like the exhaust coming out around the right rear wheel well).

So there we have it, so far. Wheel alignment is great, I adjusted the steering box some today and the driveability is much better. I may try another quarter turn, but it seems not so bad the way it is. And now I get to go to work for a month and park it again. Oh well.

Oh, so far everything works. Cruise, A/C, AM/FM/8 Track, Power Antenna, all windows and locks, all lights (one backup light is out), wipers, Heat (lots of that), power driver seat. Right mirror adjuster a bit wonky, only works in a small portion of the available motion.

Sorry for the long post. I'll pay you back with pictures:



And a video, showing how well it is running with the lean burn still active, and the thermoquad hasn't even been cleaned (edited to provide link to video on youtube)

https://youtu.be/gpLvid16njw

Eric

 

[1978 NYB]

Very nice car.

Where are the wheel covers and skirts?

Do the wipers work? If they do....never ever try to operate them if the wipers are frozen or has snow on the windshield. The wiper cam WILL FAIL and you won't find anything (that I've seen so far) that will work and you'll have to fabricate a 74-77 small cam replacement like I had to do with mine.

I would recommend getting both factory service manuals and the parts manual if you are going to keep the car. Originals can be found on EBay all the time. You can get reprints and CD's from this place...

http://www.autobooksbishko.com/

 

[1978 NYB]

I would like to see a close up picture of your fender tag on the radiator core support. I can decode it for you. Also a picture of the production tag on the driver door. We are looking for the last C-Body ever built. My NYB was Feb 78 and my Newport was May 78. There are a few guys here that have been built in July 78. I found the build sheet in the driver seat back of NYB and haven't looked for it in my Newport yet.

 

[proftourist]

Here is a pic of the door sticker, the fender tag and also of the original shipping order. The car was ordered by the dealer and driven by the dealer's wife for a month or two, and then sold to the guy I bought it from. He stored it when he bought a smaller car for his wife and daughter to drive.

Wheel covers and skirts are in the garage waiting for the new tires to go on today, then they will be back on.

Also, the car came with the original battery cover, two spare Lean Burn computers, a spare rear door panel because there is apparently a factory fault in one of the ones on there, two 1978 vintage snow tires on rims, and the factory service manual. Original operator manual is in the glove box, along with the factory 8-track tape.

 

[Mr C]

Nice Car! My experience with LB: It either worked great (like yours) and lasted for years or it didn't and was swapped out. My brother's 78 NYB had original LB until 2007. The beauty of it is that the swap is easy when the old computers eventually let go.

A hint on preserving the wiper link- pull the driver side cowl leaf shield, drill a small hole in the top of the plastic link (just big enough to insert the red WD 40 nozzle) and lube up the inside of the link. A friend of mine put a zerk fitting on his to seal the hole (your choice). Repeat periodically.

 

[saylor]

id go looking for build sheets. if this car is really that untouched, they are probably still there.

- saylor

 

[1978 NYB]

Another preventative maintenance for Formal's....

Get your shop vac and vacuum out the leaves and stuff out of the cowl. It's about two feet deep and is suppose to drain out the water. Leaves and stuff will collect down in there and water will collect and not drain and rust out the cowl.

 

[stilbo]

THAT is a sweet C! Please post some photos when you get the wheel covers and skirts on!

 

[LocuMob]

Nice ride!

 

[Duncan]

I had a new 78 LeBaron with the Lean Burn system. It had a lot of the same symptoms you describe - rough idling, by 10,000 miles the plugs were badly fouled, etc. My father-in-law, who was a great shade tree mechanic, a brother-in-law who was a computer tech/repairman for the local air force field, and I got under the hood one day and tried to figure out what was wrong. It was so simple it was almost ludicrous! It was the choke control! It was set so heavy that the choke never totally 'opened up'even when fully hot, so it always ran way too rich - which explained the fouled plugs for sure, and the rough idling as well. The problem we found in fixing it, however, was that it was a pretty unsophisticated system. A roughly 'S' shaped rod from the butterfly valve in the carb was attached to a spring in a simple housing that was then 'pressed' into a square hole in a simple housing that mounted to a manifold. If you read the instructions from Chrysler, to adjust the choke you had to do the very 'sophisticated' adjustment of either lengthening the rod - by straightening the 'S' in the rod to adjust one way, or by bending the 'S' to shorten it to adjust the choke the other way. This particular choke was set so heavy than rather than messing with the rod. We just straightened out the crimps fastening the spring to the housing/manifold and turning the whole thing a quarter turn so the crimps would fit back into the opening and then crimped them open again. Sorry, hope this makes sense, it is rather hard to describe- especially after so many years. Once we did that - oh and had the dealer replace the computer because it had simply thrown up its hands and given up after trying for so long to adjust for the choke - the car ran like a champ! I got 25 miles to the gallon, it ran smooth, with more power and I ended up loving to drive that car. So, given my experience, I would check the choke setup on yours, as well as other perhaps not so obvious possibilities before writing off the LeanBurn system. I think you may have a good chance of making it a great running machine if you think outside the box.

 

[detmatt]

It's great to see I time capsule like this beauty.

 

[Fratzog]

Welcome aboard. What he said about posting more pics with the covers and skirts in place. Nice ride. You will get lots of support on this board.