Finally a 70’ Fury Owner

Gotta love Scorch Red....shameless plug
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Thanks John. You always seem to know the answer! I did see a compressor but it would of never crossed my mind.



Someday I’d love to do a restoration. Nothing concurs. The bondo is for sure going to be looked at. Sooner rather than later. Hopefully they killed the rust before putting more over it. As it is now - I’d like to drive it as much as I can and enjoy it!

first of all congratulations.

I think that there is a bunch of rust in the quarters unfortunately.
They lower part of the quarters would be an easy fix but the wheellips are rusted, too. Difficult to repair if you don't have a clean wheellip out of another car as there is no excellent repair sheetmetal available.

Carsten
 
Welcome to the 1970 Fury III convertible club. Looks better than Emmett's car in Richmond, plus more rare and convertible. Congrats!
 
first of all congratulations.

I think that there is a bunch of rust in the quarters unfortunately.
They lower part of the quarters would be an easy fix but the wheellips are rusted, too. Difficult to repair if you don't have a clean wheellip out of another car as there is no excellent repair sheetmetal available.

Carsten

Im sure it will be an expensiver fix. I'd like to do a majority of the work and prep myself when it gets to that point. Is the wheellip section able to be cut from other fuselage c-bodies? Or are the dimensions strictly to the Fury?

Welcome to the 1970 Fury III convertible club. Looks better than Emmett's car in Richmond, plus more rare and convertible. Congrats!

I’m glad I ended up going out to see this one. This one actually has a trunk!

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I guess a few hours before my arrival. The owner took the car for a drive to ensure it ran and it lost a hubcap on the drive. Detracts alittle from its beauty but oh well - it had the wrong Chrysler 15” Caps on it anyways. Gives me an excuse to find a set of road wheels for the car.

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I started up the car to take it back to base from my girlfriends house and slipping it into reverse I heard and felt and audible grind. It was like torture to my ears. I put it into neutral and checked the fluid and it was below half. I checked under the car and it had no fluid leaks. I’m assuming maybe the old owner just never filled it up. Will be keeping my eyes on it and change all the fluids and Gaskets. I immediate headed to an Autozone and picked up some ATF and it was once again smooth and shifts seamlessly.

Finally got the car back to base and the carb/fuel issue again seems to have just vanished. Maybe some old gas cleaned out or there was a clogging that got pushed out? Will have to check but at least now it’s under shaded cover and next to the other barge.

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Im sure it will be an expensiver fix. I'd like to do a majority of the work and prep myself when it gets to that point. Is the wheellip section able to be cut from other fuselage c-bodies? Or are the dimensions strictly to the Fury?



I’m glad I ended up going out to see this one. This one actually has a trunk!

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I think only the wheellips of 69-71 Furys will be the same.
Metal form Dodges &Chrysler/Imperial won't fit
 
The wheel lips, the marker light and the belt line crease are all tricky. This is how we did my Fury.
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So I guess misfortune tends to favor the fortunate in many ways. I took the car out to go give it a wash as I still hadn’t been able to give it a proper cleaning since I bought it and it was still filthy inside. Very shortly after I took off driving, I can smell a strong sense of paint enamel. Like as if someone was spraying aerosol cans at me. Coincidentally I was driving directly through a construction site, so I chalked it up to outside air as my foot vents were both open. The smell goes away for a little and it goes away from my mind.

I decide to park, and put the convertible top down since it was a sunny bright day out. I then start driving. Immediately within 30 seconds, the cabin starts filling with the strong sense of the paint smell. I immediately think “is this air coming from my engine bay?” I close the vents and I could still smell it. Immediately after the smell becomes unbearable, burning to the lungs and smoke engulfed around me. I quickly pullover to the side of the road into an empty parking lot and try to locate the source of the smoke. It’s coming from under the rear seat. I immediately think it’s the convertible top motor burning up or the wiring leading to the rear tail light cluster. As I had just put the top down.

I run to the front, pop the hood and cut the negative battery cable. I then pop the trunk to see if it’s the rear cluster. It’s not and the trunk is seemingly empty with smoke. I wait for a second to see if it dissipates but instead it intensifies. I immediately call 911 and luckily - I was literally within 500 yards of a fire station precinct.

Mind you - normally I keep an extinguisher in my New Yorker but I had not had enough time to buy one for this car as I just got it 3 days ago. Thankfully I had just added the fury to my insurance policy, effective last night so had it been unfortunately worse, they are some peace of mind.

The fire department and units come and are forced to pry the seat out of the mounts. As soon as the seat hits the open air it sets ablaze. Thankfully they put it out but not without alittle damage to the seat.

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The cool the car down and upon our inspection - it was no wires or electrical. Seeing that the muffler is directly under the seat, Their idea is that the muffler gave off enough heat to transfer through the floorboard, then melt the bubble wrap padding, burn the carpeting and starting burning away at the seat fibers.

I checked under the exhaust and there are no obvious or glaring cracks, holes, dents or bulges in the muffler or exhaust system. I inspected the welds around the pipping and they look professional.

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I’m upset about the incident but like I told the responders - I’d rather lose a seat then the whole car. One of them told me that “Hey - at least we helped you take the first step to restoring the car”. Not a single wire was burned and upon turning the car on again - there isn’t much heat transferring - at least in the small amount of time I checked.

I checked both rear floor boards and the left is very thick. The passenger side rear is noticeably weaker and thinner, and has some give but no holes. That obviously will need to be patched.

I’m not sure even if I had an extinguisher or gallon of water if I could’ve done anything better to save it. Unless I had a long pry bar and was willing to tear the seat out expeditiously - which knowing me I wouldn’t have the heart to do.

Prior to me driving the car - I was working on it and charging another cars battery. I let it sit there charging and the engine was idling pretty high due to the gas pedal being slightly stuck in a throttle position. I fixed it as soon as I noticed and I am confident - the constant increased exhaust flow in a somewhat confined area added to the catalyst, but still - that kind of heat shouldn't possibly be able to transfer through a floorboard should it?

My first question is - did these old cars come with heat shields around the mufflers that dissipate heat? That the car is missing?

Secondly - tips for the future. What should I be looking for that I may have missed? What can I do better next time?

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So I guess misfortune tends to favor the fortunate in many ways. I took the car out to go give it a wash as I still hadn’t been able to give it a proper cleaning since I bought it and it was still filthy inside. Very shortly after I took off driving, I can smell a strong sense of paint enamel. Like as if someone was spraying aerosol cans at me. Coincidentally I was driving directly through a construction site, so I chalked it up to outside air as my foot vents were both open. The smell goes away for a little and it goes away from my mind.

I decide to park, and put the convertible top down since it was a sunny bright day out. I then start driving. Immediately within 30 seconds, the cabin starts filling with the strong sense of the paint smell. I immediately think “is this air coming from my engine bay?” I close the vents and I could still smell it. Immediately after the smell becomes unbearable, burning to the lungs and smoke engulfed around me. I quickly pullover to the side of the road into an empty parking lot and try to locate the source of the smoke. It’s coming from under the rear seat. I immediately think it’s the convertible top motor burning up or the wiring leading to the rear tail light cluster. As I had just put the top down.

I run to the front, pop the hood and cut the negative battery cable. I then pop the trunk to see if it’s the rear cluster. It’s not and the trunk is seemingly empty with smoke. I wait for a second to see if it dissipates but instead it intensifies. I immediately call 911 and luckily - I was literally within 500 yards of a fire station precinct.

Mind you - normally I keep an extinguisher in my New Yorker but I had not had enough time to buy one for this car as I just got it 3 days ago. Thankfully I had just added the fury to my insurance policy, effective last night so had it been unfortunately worse, they are some peace of mind.

The fire department and units come and are forced to pry the seat out of the mounts. As soon as the seat hits the open air it sets ablaze. Thankfully they put it out but not without alittle damage to the seat.

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The cool the car down and upon our inspection - it was no wires or electrical. Seeing that the muffler is directly under the seat, Their idea is that the muffler gave off enough heat to transfer through the floorboard, then melt the bubble wrap padding, burn the carpeting and starting burning away at the seat fibers.

I checked under the exhaust and there are no obvious or glaring cracks, holes, dents or bulges in the muffler or exhaust system. I inspected the welds around the pipping and they look professional.

I’m upset about the incident but like I told the responders - I’d rather lose a seat then the whole car. One of them told me that “Hey - at least we helped you take the first step to restoring the car”. Not a single wire was burned and upon turning the car on again - there isn’t much heat transferring - at least in the small amount of time I checked.

I checked both rear floor boards and the left is very thick. The passenger side rear is noticeably weaker and thinner, and has some give but no holes. That obviously will need to be patched.

I’m not sure even if I had an extinguisher or gallon of water if I could’ve done anything better to save it. Unless I had a long pry bar and was willing to tear the seat out expeditiously - which knowing me I wouldn’t have the heart to do.

My first question is - did these old cars come with heat shields that dissipate heat?

Secondly - tips for the future. What should I be looking for that I may have missed? What can I do better next time?
Wow, sorry to hear about that, but glad you are ok and didn't lose a whole lot on your ride. I hope things get better as you continue to check things over on it. Good luck. Dale
 
First thing that I notice is the surplus of foam that someone has stuffed under the seat. The bubble wrap is concerning to me too. There was no heat shields and I've also never seen it get that hot in that area. If it did get hot though, the bubble wrap and the foam being directly in contact with the floor would cause a problem.

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First thing I would do is pull the back of the seat out. I would take a long look at the pump for the top and the wiring going to it. I'm wondering if there was a problem with that wiring or pump and it set the bubble wrap on fire.

Looks like the firemen bent the brackets on the floor... Easy fix.
 
Big John is right, that bubble wrap shouldn't be there and nor should all that extra foam padding in the bottom of the seat. Under normal circumstances that area under the seat is open and airy. MY thought is from seeing the pics is to check the top of the muffler for a hole as to me it looks like the floor area above the muffler has had the paint cooked off. since it is the only rusty area. I do think the muffler is the source of your problems, it also looks to not be in great condition from its outline too.
 
Wait, just looked at the muffler pic again, has it been hit and pushed up against the floor?
 
Inspecting more around the rear of the car - even the seatback has more bubble wrap an extreme amount of padding. Even the right side panels are filled with bubble wrap. Poor mans sound deadener? There wasn’t any on the passenger side - I wonder why.

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Pulling out the seat back I suprisgingly found the build sheet. I was confident whoever did the half assed back insulation would have trashed the sheet.

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And Ta-daaa.

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Lots and lots of acorns. Somehow none of the wires are chewed through and the seat isn’t eaten through. I suppose whoever made this their house had enough respect not to trash the place...

Wait, just looked at the muffler pic again, has it been hit and pushed up against the floor?

The muffler has an awkward cant and tilt. Not normal. I can’t feel any holes. It feels like the muffler is physically making contact with the floor. Enough that I can’t even slide my phone in between the gap.

I think you’ve got these the smoking gun.

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Inspecting more around the rear of the car - even the seatback has more bubble wrap an extreme amount of padding. Even the right side panels are filled with bubble wrap. Poor mans sound deadener? There wasn’t any on the passenger side - I wonder why.

Pulling out the seat back I suprisgingly found the build sheet. I was confident whoever did the half assed back insulation would have trashed the sheet.

And Ta-daaa.

Lots and lots of acorns. Somehow none of the wires are chewed through and the seat isn’t eaten through. I suppose whoever made this their house had enough respect not to trash the place...



The muffler has an awkward cant and tilt. Not normal. I can’t feel any holes. It feels like the muffler is physically making contact with the floor. Enough that I can’t even slide my phone in between the gap.

I think you’ve got these the smoking gun.

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Yeah there should be at about a minimum of 3/4in gap between muffler and floor.
 
If the muffler is that close, that would be your source.

I'd lose all that bubble wrap and extra foam. It's doing nothing to quiet the car.
 
Hi Greer. Glad you got lucky and only the seat burned! Whew! I agree on the bubble wrap. It should not be there. Also agree that the seat has too much padding, possibly poor compensating for wear in the metal spring structure. Also agree muffler too close to floor. Recipe for plastic bubble wrap & foam padding catching on fire.
IMPORTANT: your convertible rear is more narrow side to side than a coupe or sedan rear seat. This accommodates the hinges for the convertible top. You have to recover yours. I had the same problem.
Pics normal 1970 rear seat
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You still have a great Fury. One of 1952 produced. Good purchase, even if somebody rigged the back seat with stupidity.:thumbsup:
 
I’ve messed with the car since the small fire incident and I have not any issues with heating. I’ve took temperatures at the floorpan above the muffler and it hasn’t even came close enough to a temperature that would straight melt the paint.. it’ll be something I pay attention too in the future - but I think it was just a perfect set of events between it being a scolding hot day, the engine being throttled and not moving to be able to cool off under the car - and bubble wrap under the seat. I’ll try and recover the seat but the springs and frame of the seat might be a little too chard. I’ll have to check that out.

The car has a pretty wicked oil leak directly from the oil filter that drips slowly over night and pours when running. Seems to have appeared over night. The transmission pan has a small leak as well.

Replaced all the fuses today and trying to work on some of the lighting. The left side park lights didn’t work but the turn signals did. Looks like there was some kind of attempted splice that didn’t hold up. Will try and solder it up and make it better. Rear left marker light is the same way. There are a lot of home made and backyard fixes throughout this car it seems through the years to keep it on the road.

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The license lamp is pretty heavily corroded but still has voltage coming through the wires. Will be cleaning up the mounting bracket but will probably just junk it and buy a new repop. This and a lot of small things under the car look like they have been rusting from years. The underside of the car is coated - as I assume the owners in Ohio did but everything else is suspect to rust. It’s obvious this thing was driven hard, through the rain, snow, and put away wet.

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On a side note. Is it normal sometimes to find multiple build sheets in one car? I’ve found a second one behind the seat. I know Chrysler did a lot of weird things back then and no 2 cars are the same.

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