1968 New Yorker resto thread

[WissaMan]

I figured I'd start a thread to document my progress of restoring the family New Yorker. I say "family" because this car has been in our family since my Dad bought it in 71. My brother drove it through High School and a bit of college, then I inherited it and drove it through high school and 2 years of college. At a certain point in 1991 it needed some costly repairs to the suspension and I didn't have the money to do it, so Dad bought me used car (an '80 Cordoba LS, which I failed to appreciate the rarity of at the time). I had the desire to fix up the NYer when I was younger, but not the money, tools, time, knowledge, or a place to do it. I started doing some work on it out under a shade tree but gave up. My Dad had recently put up a big metal building on his property so I drove it in their and it has sat there for nearly 20 years now.

Fast forward to now. I do have some of those things I lacked long ago (money, a place to do it, and some time) The rest I plan to gradually obtain. Some picture to follow...

 

[WissaMan]

The New Yorker has some fairly uncommon options: AM/FM stereo and leather bucket seats. I don't see those options too often. The old-time leather seats are more thick and durable than the supple leather in newer cars and they've held up surprising well. It's funny though how the plastic on the steering wheels seem to continue to shrink. Those three cracks were there as long as I can remember but in the 70's they were just cracks. Now they are about 1/2" gaps.

the trunk isn't too bad

even though it was inside, this building had water problems which caused condensation, mold, and rust. Underneath the rear seat is the worst I've found so far. It actually caused one of the seat frame bars to rust away and there's some soft spots in that badly rusted area

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

This will be a fun thread to follow. Good luck with your long-awaited restoration!

 

[WissaMan]

the last time she was inspected...

the lower parts of the fenders and some of the doors rusted through, helped along by the trim that covered these areas which trap in dirt and moisture

the interior looks worse than it is. it's covered with mold and dirt, but as I've been wiping it off in areas it seems mostly ok. the one disappointing spot is the radio bezel. I guess condensation must've collected there because it got corroded and the wood grain is ruined.

We started the engine a few weeks ago and once we got the cobwebs out of it, it sounded pretty good. This isn't the original 440, it's a rebuilt '74 that I had installed in '87. The story behind that is too long for here :|

 

[Xenon]

The story behind that is too long for here :|
View attachment 316962

No story is ever tooo long...

 

[65sporty]

I love following resto builds. Always interesting things going on with projects

 

[live4theking]

This will surely become an interesting read.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Certainly an ambitious project, but well worth doing when you factor in the history of the car.

My father made an offer on an almost identical '68 NY'er back in 1984. The dealer didn't accept it, but ended up selling the car for less money than we offered a week or two later while we were away on vacation. I'd likely still have it if we had made the deal.

The corrosion on your radio bezel is most likely from mouse pee. I've had the same issue on multiple '67 & '68 Chryslers. That spot up in the dash must be a good place to hang out.

Jeff

 

[GOLDMYN]

 

[GOLDMYN]

could it be from the AC?

 

[bigmoparjeff]

could it be from the AC?

I'm pretty sure it's mice. They do the same thing to the fusey Chryslers, but right over the spedo instead of the radio.

Jeff

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

I hate mouse pee.

 

[WissaMan]

ugh, yes I wouldn't doubt about the mice. There is evidence of them living in different areas, including above the roof liner, which *was* in perfect condition but now has two small holes in it on either side were mousy chewed though, probably to make a little air hole for its nest

Thanks GOLDMYN for posting a pic of your NYer interior, I remember when mine was nice and clean like that. It gives me a target to aim for

I had to get up the nerve to start this thread, so I hope I don't disappoint. The odds of me getting in over my head are not insignificant. Hopefully your words of encouragement will help me stay motivated to keep plugging away on this over the long haul and to do good work. The thing that is kind of overwhelming is I don't know what to work on in what order. So for now I'm just doing the easy stuff -- disassembling, cleaning, surveying, etc. Also, the only power at the building right now is from a 150' extension cord so I'm kind of limited on what kind of tools I can run right now. No welding yet, that's for sure. I have a quote to run power there but it could be weeks before they get to it.

Aaannyway....

 

[WissaMan]

No story is ever tooo long...

Okay, you asked for it

So one day, I think it was about 1981, my parents were out of town on a business trip in the New Yorker when then engine just died suddenly. Dad had it towed to a nearby garage that I think really put one over on them. Basically they told him the engine was ruined. In retrospect, from what I've learned on this forum, my guess is that the timing gear broke, so whether or not that would've caused extensive damage I don't know.

But anyway, my Dad has been known for wanting to do things on the cheap, and the garage obliged by dropping in a "good" used 400 they had sitting around. It had a Thermoquad with the dual snorkel air cleaner so I guess it was an HP (if there ever was such a thing) but the dang thing just never did run right and of course didn't have near the power it used to.

When my Brother started driving the car one of the garages he took it to ditched the 4bbl and stuck a puny 2bbl on it. That did make it run better overall but of course it had even less power

By the time I inherited it after about 2 weeks of driving it, the oil pump broke (or clogged) and it ruined the bearings (I had just turned 16 and didn't know enough to shut it off immediately when the oil light came on. I though if I just idled along nice and easy for a few blocks to get to my friend's house it'd be ok....lol)

Next engine was a 383 2bbl. That ran ok and I drove it for about a year with it. But I forever pined for a 440. Of course I had virtually no money to my name and had no idea where to get one. Then one day while I was having a conversation with a kid up the road from me, he said he knew of a guy that had a 440 in his garage that had a purple cam in it. The story was it used to be in a road running or something. I didn't know if I could trust this kid because he told a lot of stories, but he took me to the guy's house and sure enough, there it was sitting in a shed in his backyard. $100 bucks and it was mine!

A lot of begging and my grandmother agreed to help me pay to have it rebuilt and installed as an early Christmas gift.

Turns out it really did have a purple cam in it. It was definitely not a tire burner in the New Yorker -- would've needed steeper gears and maybe a higher stall converter. But once it hit 3000 RPM it really pulled. It was kind of like having a laggy turbo lol. I'd usually wind that thing out in first all the way to about 55~60mph which was pretty fun.

So that's what's in it now. But, I'd rather go back to a more mild, torquey 440 so I'm keeping my eyes open for a one that I can have rebuilt to stockish specs.

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

Okay, you asked for it

Good story!

 

[WissaMan]

There's so much to do on this car, I don't know what to do in what order. But I figure I'll just chip away at it, bit by bit, doing the easier stuff first to gain experience before I get into the really challenging stuff.

We pulled out the front seats and the rest of the carpet. The front floor pans are in bad shape. We cleaned up the front seats to put into the 300 so we get them reupholstered. They cleaned up nicely

I cleaned up the armrests too
before...

after

 

[Zymurgy]

Great work everything is cleaning up really nice.

 

[WissaMan]

new purchase...

I've always admired and envied people that can repair rusted sheetmetal. At my age, I have no illusions that I'll become great at it, but I hope to get good enough to get the job done.

I figured I'd start with something easy that wouldn't require perfection: The driver-side fender well...(I know I could probably find/buy good ones but I want the experience)

It has some pretty rusty areas. Along the bottom of the picture you can see some embarrassingly poor work I did when I was young with my Dad's no-name flux welder. I plan to cut that out and do it right. But for now I took on the rusty part along the top because I figured it'd be easier.

Here's my nearly finished work. I think it turned out pretty decent. I think I may've put the mounting hole a tad too far from the edge. Hopefully there'll be enough play that it'll mount up ok w/o having to enlarge the hole.

 

[live4theking]

Keep at it. Looking good on the clean up.

 

[WissaMan]

Been making some slow progress. I can only work on it a day or two a week for a few hours. Got the hood off, front fenders (driver side was still on for this pic)

Got the carpet out. Driver-side floor is in bad shape. There must've been a spot-light installed and then removed before Dad bought the car in 71 because there is a hole in the A-pillar in about the right place for it. There was an aluminum plug in the hole but it wasn't sealed so water was seeping in their for years