Greetings from Estonia - 74 Newport

UMNewPort74

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May 26, 2022
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Estonia
Hi, been without a US made car for a while now (20years or so) I have kept my eyes on the market for a long time as you can imagine.
The market in our region is not the best when it comes to US made metal - nowadays it's even worse when it comes to transporting something from US.
My car history with US metal has been Buick Century'81 and a Caprice '84 then life happened - intensive work schedule, having three kids took the time, energy and money out of the formula. But the X always stayed there in the formula.

After these first two cars I always have heart for the big engines and bodies - Lincoln, Cadillac, Buick, Olds, shortly said - I wanted to have full size and BB hearted "thing" - sort of sleeper.
Now my oldest son has the age and he also shows interest in cars so it was time to open up eyes a little more.

And then 2 weeks ago this came to my life.

Now to learn everything about Mopar and this model I found this great website.
Been reading now for few weeks and this has settled my plans for the build.

This summer we try to enjoy the car as much as possible and plan out the build - deal with first needed body works.
The body and frame are in ok condition, sure it needs a rust removal and some welding but nothing serious.
Engine is running and tranny is changing - breaks not working, so new lines, cylinders go in as a first step.

And then for the next winter engine rebuild and rest of the body work.

So I'll be asking some advice ...

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Welcome from Virginia!
Do you plan to keep the rear end jacked up so high? It's mostly a stylistic question, but it might affect wheel caster in your alignment. Again, welcome!
 
Welcome from Virginia!
Do you plan to keep the rear end jacked up so high? It's mostly a stylistic question, but it might affect wheel caster in your alignment. Again, welcome!
Sounds like a great project.

I agree with the statement above. Driving down the highway will be like steering a pig with two sticks you will be all over the road . I did this on my ‘68 Polara in high school. I thought it looked cool, but there is not enough adjustment in the castor to align it properly to steer straight. It lasted about two months that way and after a couple of “white Knuckle “ events. I brought the back end down a little. Way more drivable.
 
Been working on the electrical part 10 years of Finland DIY is getting stripped away. Next thing is to rebuild the axel to fit in the right position above the springs. Not to make things too easy i did broke the yoke, as the crappy axel mounts did fail and driveshaft left the gear box on the very slow speed but it managed to break some things on the way. It won't start at the moment, spark is very bad, so new coil is under supply. In the process of checking the spark plugs one of them broke luckily in the ceramics part. So shortly said, I have lot of going on. New door glass rubber trims would be great to find? Any ideas?

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Congratulations on finding a classic big block car!

Looks like a bit of a project but seems like your heading in the right direction. Well that sucks that the driveshaft dropped out and you damaged the slip yoke...but I hope it didn't damage the transmission. Car will ride and look much better with the axle in the correct location...and that is quite the mess of wiring, maybe pick up a factory service manual to help sort out the wiring harnesses, clean and repair what you have and re-wrap it.

Maybe start another thread dedicated to your build so people know you are not just saying hello again.. ;)
 
Welcome. You are at a good site - FCBO. Many people here are happy to help you with knowledge and parts.
 
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