1978 New Yorker build thread

[1975.Imperial]

I've done it again, with the bulk of the work done on the Imperial, I've managed to pick up another C-body project, this one in the form of a black on black on blue 1978 New Yorker.
It's been sitting since 2005 but it fired right up with some new plug wires. The gas tank got a nice cleaning and it's now able to move all on its own.
The body's a bit rough with some obvious bubbling under the roof, only the rear brakes work and there's no rebound on the pedal, and it's been a mouse house for a while, but that's it for the bulk of the problems. Of course, there are some other minor issues too, but they don't seem that bad.
With only 42,000km, the lean burn still seems to work, but the '78 wiper failure has gotten to it, ATCii has also quit. Otherwise, it's a pretty basic car when it comes to options, so not much left to break.
I have a feeling that the majority of the time spent fixing this one will be spent with a welder. Regardless of it's problems, it looks pretty good next to the Imperial

 

[1975.Imperial]

This car will likely be up for sale sometime during the summer, so that presents its own considerations, mainly pertaining to what would make it most desirable to a new owner. I've been fortunate with the Imperial since I never plan on selling it, thus I can modify it solely based on my preferences.
The two big dilemmas that I'm having are whether to keep the 400 all original, thereby keeping the emissions equipment all intact, or deleting it. Also, I evidently need to remove the vinyl top to repair the roof, I'm leaning towards not replacing it, but rather just painting it black to match the rest of the car.
As I'm certainly not the typical demographic of owner, I'd love to get some opinions from the group

 

[CBODY67]

A NY with no tilt wheel seems a bit unusual, to me. BTAIM

Fix the under-vinyl issues and repaint the top a metallic black rather than a non-metallic black, with the stock top moldings in place. That way, it looks a bit different but not wildly so.

Over the past few years, there was a '58 NY 2dr ht that came to our club shows. A stunningly neat car, in black with shiny chrome. But from a distance, I could tell something was different about the top color. When I got closer, I could see metallic in it and it had just a tad of "satin" in it, too. Looked neat and different, but did not detract from the car's total look.

This way, you do two things. Get the metal painted for the first time in its life and also make it look a bit different with the metallic paint up there.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[mopar preferred]

Delete the vinyl.
The new owner can always put on a new top if they want, saves you some $.

 

[1975.Imperial]

A NY with no tilt wheel seems a bit unusual, to me. BTAIM

Fix the under-vinyl issues and repaint the top a metallic black rather than a non-metallic black, with the stock top moldings in place. That way, it looks a bit different but not wildly so.

Over the past few years, there was a '58 NY 2dr ht that came to our club shows. A stunningly neat car, in black with shiny chrome. But from a distance, I could tell something was different about the top color. When I got closer, I could see metallic in it and it had just a tad of "satin" in it, too. Looked neat and different, but did not detract from the car's total look.

This way, you do two things. Get the metal painted for the first time in its life and also make it look a bit different with the metallic paint up there.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

One of the things I find interesting about this car are the options it came with, it's the perfect example of the sort of car that would've been sitting on a dealership lot. So far the only options I've been able to find have been the fender skirts, door ding strips, vinyl top, high output alternator, block heater, 8-track radio, ATCii, and I forget whether cornering lights were an option for '78, but it has those. It also does have the base model hubcaps, I just prefer the black steelies on this one.

That's a great idea for the top, I was actually considering doing something similar with my Imperial. As I'm doing this with the tools at hand, getting a good finish with a sparkly black might be challenging, but I certainly like the idea of changing it up the top a bit

 

[1975.Imperial]

Delete the vinyl.
The new owner can always put on a new top if they want, saves you some $.

Good to hear that it's becoming a consensus. With '78 being a one year only top too, this'll save me a lot of headache

 

[1975.Imperial]

Does anyone know if the master cylinder from an Imperial (disc-disc) is functionally different from that of a New Yorker (disk-drum) in any other way than reservoir size?

As it turns out, both the master and booster of the New Yorker are bad, that leaves me with a choice on how to fix this problem. The most evident solution being to buy a new master and get the booster rebuilt. The consideration comes from the fact that I've previously converted the brakes on my '75 Imperial to '78 spec. I'm now debating removing the current ('78 spec) master/booster from my Imperial to put on the Yorker, then reinstalling the original master/booster on the Imperial. The Imperial's original parts seem to be in good shape, but I may end up getting the parts rebuilt anyways. Any thoughts and opinions on this subject would be very much appreciated

 

[1975.Imperial]

Well, looks like I'm going to be getting some more welding practice...

 

[75LandYacht]

OK, then, I gotta ask. With the floor being completely gone, why give this particular car all the attention and money that is going to take? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking your ride. I’ve got a 77 that has some issues as well. But that rest appears to be pretty extensive.

Is there some sentimental attachment? What’s the story?

 

[1975.Imperial]

I don't actually have any attachment to this car at all. The story, as it's been told to me, is that this was originally a funeral home car. After its retirement from the fleet, somebody bought it and used it as a daily driver until 2005, when a fuel line broke and it was subsequently parked. It got bounced between being stored inside and outside for 18 years. That man passed away and the car was going to be scrapped, thankfully somebody bought it and immediately posted it on Kijiji, which is where I found it. It was only about 40 minutes from my house and I got it for $1,000CAD (~$750USD). After installing the Imperial's old spark plug wires onto it, it fired right up. In my ownership so far I've only had to buy it some fuel line and some CLR to clean the tank with. That's the story so far. Also, It's amassed only 26,000 miles in its lifetime, which leads to some interesting scenarios. I like to summarize it by saying "where it's bad, it's terrible; but where it's good, it's great."

There are many reasons why I chose to go ahead with this project, but ultimately the real value in this for me will be both the enjoyment of wrenching, as well as the opportunity to learn more about cars. With my Imperial now being promoted to my 'nice car', it's nice to have a testbed of sorts so that I know I'll get stuff right on the Imperial.

As silly as it sounds in general (and especially about this car in specific), I'm very hopeful that I'll be able to keep a tight budget on it. With the experience I have working on my Imperial, I know a lot of the signs and symptoms of problems on this car, as well as how to fix them. I also have a lot of parts left over from the Imperial which I can refurbish and use on this car. I live on a farm, so I'm lucky enough to have tons of resources at my disposal, included in that is an abundance of sheet metal from various pieces of equipment that have came and gone throughout the years. This, along with my access to a welder, makes the rust (it's most major flaw) more so a problem of time, than a problem of money. The joke I like to say is that it'll be 90% Chrysler New Yorker, and 10% New Holland Baler.

OK, then, I gotta ask. With the floor being completely gone, why give this particular car all the attention and money that is going to take? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking your ride. I’ve got a 77 that has some issues as well. But that rest appears to be pretty extensive.

Is there some sentimental attachment? What’s the story?

 

[75LandYacht]

I don't actually have any attachment to this car at all. The story, as it's been told to me, is that this was originally a funeral home car. After its retirement from the fleet, somebody bought it and used it as a daily driver until 2005, when a fuel line broke and it was subsequently parked. It got bounced between being stored inside and outside for 18 years. That man passed away and the car was going to be scrapped, thankfully somebody bought it and immediately posted it on Kijiji, which is where I found it. It was only about 40 minutes from my house and I got it for $1,000CAD (~$750USD). After installing the Imperial's old spark plug wires onto it, it fired right up. In my ownership so far I've only had to buy it some fuel line and some CLR to clean the tank with. That's the story so far. Also, It's amassed only 26,000 miles in its lifetime, which leads to some interesting scenarios. I like to summarize it by saying "where it's bad, it's terrible; but where it's good, it's great."

There are many reasons why I chose to go ahead with this project, but ultimately the real value in this for me will be both the enjoyment of wrenching, as well as the opportunity to learn more about cars. With my Imperial now being promoted to my 'nice car', it's nice to have a testbed of sorts so that I know I'll get stuff right on the Imperial.

As silly as it sounds in general (and especially about this car in specific), I'm very hopeful that I'll be able to keep a tight budget on it. With the experience I have working on my Imperial, I know a lot of the signs and symptoms of problems on this car, as well as how to fix them. I also have a lot of parts left over from the Imperial which I can refurbish and use on this car. I live on a farm, so I'm lucky enough to have tons of resources at my disposal, included in that is an abundance of sheet metal from various pieces of equipment that have came and gone throughout the years. This, along with my access to a welder, makes the rust (it's most major flaw) more so a problem of time, than a problem of money. The joke I like to say is that it'll be 90% Chrysler New Yorker, and 10% New Holland Baler.

Great story, I certainly understand where you’re at with the car. When I drive my 77 New Yorker around, most people don’t even know what it is, they comment nice Cadillac or nice Lincoln, or even what kind of car is that? As to money, I’ve spent WAY more on this car than it would ever be worth. But like you, I enjoy wrenching and problem-solving, and these old cars give you plenty of both.

I even think the old saying, “A fool and his money are soon parted” was quoted specifically for me..

Keep us posted your progress, looking forward to your thread.

 

[1975.Imperial]

I was unfortunately unable to find a complete build sheet in this car, they seem to all have been previously removed or destroyed by rodents. I was, however, able to find an "Electrical Build Card", which I hadn't even known was a thing before finding it. I also got a picture of the fender tag for anyone interested (I'm personally not sure how to decode them).

1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham (Canadian), VIN: CS43N8C163284

 

[Mr C]

About the Imperial vs NY masters and boosters. Boosters are interchangeable. The 50-50 Imperial master is required for the 4 wheel discs if you still have them...you risk running out of fluid to the rear calipers otherwise.

 

[1975.Imperial]

Thank you! As I've converted my Imperial to rear drums, I wouldn't need the extra capacity. I was more so wondering if the functionality/valving within the two were different.
If I were to follow through with this idea, I'd have the original Imperial master+booster rebuilt, then reinstalled onto the Imperial, and transfer over the New Yorker spec master+booster, that's currently in the Imperial, over to the Yorker. Thus having a disc/disc master+booster on an otherwise disc/drum car.

Also, to be pedantic (and to clarify for future readers), the Imperial booster differs from that of other cars. As the Imperial master mounts on only 2 studs, instead of the conventional 4, the booster will not directly interchange with that of other cars. Otherwise they are the same.