Mopar Muscle Association UK

I am already a member, my first quasi-American car being an Aussie VE Valiant 273 which will be for sale soon as I have just acquired a similar shaped car but twice the size! Arrived in pouring rain at night, of course, unloaded in local car share car park then brown-trouser drive for last mile to my house with no seat belts, steamed up window, no dash lights, ultra-sensitive brakes, not so great headlamps then a dash up my quite narrow sloping driveway where you only have the one chance to get it right - no stopping for any reason else you won't make it. Almost fell off edge of drive one time but made it safely into garage where it just fits. It really is as big as a whale, it seems as wide as a whale for sure in the dark. One pic pasted below but more here:
https://sites.google.com/view/1965newyorker/home
It has a strange electrical adjustment system to operate the brakes on a trailer which in wiring terms looks quite dodgy. Also some campaign stickers for local county comissioner in the glovebox: Vote for John Barr Lipscomb.


I got me a car, it's as big as a whale, And we're headin' on down to the love shack, I got me a chrysler, it seats about twenty, So hurry up and bring your jukebox money.........

Congratulations on your purchase!

I know you mentioned poor headlights, but i think a lot will depend on whether you can find donor 5" lights as I assume the current ones are sealed beam units.

Cool car

You’ll get used to the size

Very nice, John

Similar to Geoff Mitchell's 66...

Here I am having another go at uploading the photo:

Love these cars....proper American cars!

I would suggest doing a headlight conversion to relays and modern H4 bulbs in Autopal headlamps. They have the same curve as our old lights but take halogen bulbs. The conversion takes all of the power out of the light switch and just uses a tiny amount of current to trigger the relays.

Bulkhead connector clean and bypass is a must too.

I cant view the pics unfortunately, would love to see it!

Cheers Steve

sorry, got the link to open, great looking car!!!

Couple of good forums for C body info....

http://cbodydrydock.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum.php

https://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/

There is a decent following for C bodies in the Birmingham area. Give me a shout if you need parts/ info etc as I have a couple of pals who can usually help,

Cheers Steve

Thanks, I probably will. Although I live in South Wales I am originally from Leicestershire, quite near Birmingham.

Job list so far:
1) Need a screen surround (screen on the way from US) for a start !

2) Have nearly finished the wiring woes / ammeter bypass. Bought the only available clear-lens rear light assembly I could find anywhere so rear lights look OK now. Working on a (reversible) yellow rear indicator system next.

3) Needs power steering pump removed to a) untwist the bracket (common fault) and b) replace the big O ring between the two halves which is leaking like crazy - apparently dries out in hot states and also common problem according to US forums.

4) Casually checked my brake flexi-hoses as you do; outer layer crispy and flaking off on both fronts - super dangerous.

5) Removed highly dodgy Kelsey Hayes electronic trailer brake actuating system wiring from front to rear under the car, then found that the control box wobbling about under the dash has a hydraulic brake line plumbed directly into the back of it from a T connector, so for now I have fixed it really solid under the dash to avoid stress fracturing the single-circuit brake plumbing!

6) Also the seller fitted a new Edelbrock 1406 600cfm carb, which was nice, the one with the electronic choke actuator that sticks up slightly. I would like to keep the original air cleaner but the centre hole of the cleaner is slightly too small and it does not fit properly. Have fitted an Edelbrock pancake filter just for now. The only way I can see to keep the stock air cleaner would be to merge the edelbrock filter baseplate with the baseplate of the stock filter somehow. It looks possible to do, it just seems to me that this is quite a common carb conversion so others must have come across the same problem maybe?

7) Tyres look unused, tons of tread. Need to look at them more closely, no doubt they will be >8 years old and I will feel really guilty driving around on them.

Compared to my previous A body though, this job list is not that bad.

You are getting on well!

My Polara has the same carb as yours. I had issues with the auto choke so I disconnected it. Not really needed and starts fine all year without it.

I had a similar issue with the air cleaner on my 66 Fury (again a 1406). I ended up using a chrome Edelbrock base and the original air cleaner top with a standard spec Fram air filter. It overlaps a bit but fits. My issue was that the original carb on the 383 Commando was a 2 bbl. The 1406 is 4bbl so original base wouldn't fit. No issues with the Polara as its a factory 4bbl spec car.

Cheers Steve

Thanks for the advice. Will leave that job for later. Brake flex hoses and power steering pump are next.