New Member - 71 Newport "barn find" clean car

[65sporty]

Whats up guys!

Well finally wrapped up my other project and 2 weekends ago i found myself at home on a saturday morning with nothing to work on. SHOCK! - Unwrapped the old newport and dragged it out of the lean to.

I'm going through a bunch of stuff and getting it ready for driver status. ordering up some parts and im stuck - with one thing. Can anybody recommend me a master cylinder part number? i keep landiung on B body master cylinders and dont want to order if they wont fit. The car has a booster on it. Could someone please provide me a master cylinder part number form Dorman or someone?

Things done this week.

Rebuild Holley 2 barrel.
Purchased a mopar electronic ignition conversion kit.
drained gas tank and removed blocked sending unit.
orderd a new mechanical fuel pump.
Oil/Filter standing by once i crank it over and get the old oil warmed enough to drop out.
ordered new timing set
new wheels and tires are in my cart but havent ordered yet till im happy with how it runs up and down the driveway.

Thanks! Exciting to get this yacht out of the harbor!

Great to see you back, did you get the T-37 finished? You haven't posted any Youtube videos for about a year.

 

[swilling]

Just went and read through this whole thread because its the 1st time I've seen it, very nice! Then I started watching your video and it didn't take long to realize I've watched you haul a gold Charger across country too! Two great road trips with a hot woman by your side, couldn't ask for much more! Thanks for sharing

Ha very cool - yeah the Charger is patiently waiting. Gotta get this Newp up and running as a nice cruiser and then will really dive into a full resto on the Charger. Thanks for following along man! Unfortunately i hit a pretty big bump with the Newport this weekend. I'll post up my problems in a seperate message below. Eeek

 

[swilling]

Great to see you back, did you get the T-37 finished? You haven't posted any Youtube videos for about a year.

The T37 is been going solid - im really in love with this car. Its just oddball enough that it stands out among the usual cars too. I'm so pleased i painted it the original Quezal Gold and really happy personally with my own efforts since it was my first time doing full body and paint. Its not perfect but im very proud of it. Lots of extra subtle work went into it, including chopping and sectioning the bumper just to get things that little bit sweeter. Paid off i think

As for the videos its been really hard to make any and then even want to sit down and edit them, since thats what i do for a dayjob ive been trying to be away from any kind of computer whenever i don't have to be. Thanks for checking in!!

 

[swilling]

Well Guys - been chipping away at hte Newport dropped the tank cleaned it out as well as i could got a lot of loose debris out but it feels very solid, new fuel pump, new master cylinder, new tminig set (yet to install)

So i had the front right wheel off replacing the brake lines and wow - this seems like a show stopper.

I truly thought this car was clean but , the frame is damn near cracked in two, Just after the front toirsion bar mount. i Couldnt believe it. It looks rusted, but it also looks bent. But then looking at the car, it does not look its been messed with.

It was late yesterday afternoon and i just kinda walked away, I'll tear into ie more this weekend and see whats up, but from what i can tell it does not appear to be just rusted. Its either a complete stress crack right htrough or the frame has been hit/straightened and its finally failed -

You guys know these cars well, is this common? - i will say the rail seemed really thin. At this point i dont even think welding, then cutting and shaping some plate steel to and through bolting then welding it would do me any good.

CRAZY - im also a bit ashamed to say that i never noticed this before. That said, i havent spent much time around this area of hte car but wow... its really freakin bad.

What do you guys htink? lol this thing is Roached!

Its just so strange that every other part of the car is so solid and this looks SO rused/scaled something mustve happened here. Any ideas? Pulling the frame to properly patch and reweld it makes me think i should just find a new subframe.

 

[hankchinaski]

Wow!!! Read your hole story the very first time today - really fascinating! 10 minutes ago I was filled with wonder about the pictures when you saw the car the first time. But now I see the pics you posted today...

 

[savoy64]

is it possible that car was in a hurricane along the coast and sat in water?------it happens to alot of cars down there and if the water doesnt get into the passenger compartment it looks ok and they just drive it thinking it is ok.....

 

[thrashingcows]

That is not a common problem....that look like old damage and booger welds trying to patch it up. Or as savory64 suggested maybe the car got salt inside the frame rail and it just rotten and cracked, then patched up?

 

[James Richardson]

Would definitely replace....and I will try to fix just about anything. Has that part of frame had the fr section replaced? What's the other side like?

 

[swilling]

its so strange - the other side is perfect and the rest of the crossmember and everything is is in great shape. It looked like it may have been hit but the way all the sheet metal is, its hard to believe. unless the entire car had a respray. I'll try digging into it this weekend and see what i can figure out. The one thing i think thats not made it come right off. is the only thing that has pressure on it is the sway bar moutn. I'm pretty sure the fenders and core support are holding the frame oppose to the other way.

I thought it looked like some booger weld but also the more i look at it the more it looks like rusting from the inside out.

One option could be to bolt and box it, then run a gussett from the swaybar mount to the cross member. I have no doubt that would hold it strength wise, as i just want this thing as a daily. But i do want to eliminate the rust from continuing.

Just never seen anything like this - savoy64 could be onto something, but the rest of the car is so solid - its like just that piece of the frame was submerged - so odd! Once i can get the inner fender out and take a really good look this weekend i might learn some more. Will get more pics.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[1970cat]

a/c drain plugged or misdirected?

 

[thrashingcows]

a/c drain plugged or misdirected?

I don't think so since the damage is more towards the front of the car, not the back side of the subframe area where the AC drain drops out, but even then the AC drain is more towards the center of the firewall IIRC?

If the damage had been on the LH side I'd have said it was caused due to a leaky battery adn the acid eating the metal.

 

[Unix]

from the pics, it looks like it's been welded at some point, the crack goes along those weird looking rust holes (unusual looking) - which remind me of rust holes which occur around poorly laid welds. I think this might be true, especially since you say the other side looks perfect, and the rest of the car is in good shape. I doubt it would crack like this just from rust, in my opinion it cracked along the welds.

edit/ as said above, battery acid very possible - which makes sense why the discoloration of the metal

 

[Fratzog]

Might be easier to just replace the frame. I'm mechanically challenged and pulled the frame for blasting and painting on my 70 Polara while the motor was being rebuilt. There should be enough yards with dry cars in your neck of the woods. I think the only difference between 70 and 71 is the use of isolator pads on the 71's. I'm sure someone here will confirm.

 

[saforwardlook]

Might be easier to just replace the frame. I'm mechanically challenged and pulled the frame for blasting and painting on my 70 Polara while the motor was being rebuilt. There should be enough yards with dry cars in your neck of the woods. I think the only difference between 70 and 71 is the use of isolator pads on the 71's. I'm sure someone here will confirm.

I agree with Fred that replacing the stub frame is the only reasonable way to proceed. A 1970 or 71 Chrysler stub frame would be interchangeable since Chrysler (and Dodge models too) all got torsion quiet ride starting in 1970. It isn't really all that bad to do the changeover.