The pursuit special rides again

[PursuitSpecial]

I finally got the Gran Fury roadworthy and legal, it surprisingly didn't take that much work considering it sat in the woods since 1999. I put a new brake master cylinder on it and new rear hoses, put new wiper bushings and blades in it, some new bulbs and a flasher, new carburetor, new muffler, spark plugs, distributor, gas tank, tires, torsion bars, and rebuilt the steering coupler. I cleaned up the wheels but the paint needs some serious scrubbing to get all the gunk off of it. It's so fun to drive, I drove it to work today and it drives and rides extremely well, the cop motor may be worn out but it still pulls like a champ. There are a few minor issues I need to resolve, though.

I put new valve cover gaskets on it to stop the oil leaking onto the manifolds and burning, the orange fiberglass ones from Real Gaskets Tennessee, but it still leaked, so I got some different original valve covers off a 440 and used a cork gasket and it still leaks. I flattened the surface with a hammer and a bar and torqued them to the proper 40-50 in-lb but it doesn't help. Once the engine gets up to operating temperature it smokes and smells bad. The steering feels ok, barely any slop, but I don't like the loose feeling of it and it looks like the pitman arm and tie rods are worn so I ordered new ones and will install them eventually. Of course there's also the rust issue, I examined the car thoroughly on a lift and the underside is solid, the frame is mint (and huge, no wonder it weighs so much), the only bad rust is in the quarters and driver side doors where they filled up with pine straw and dirt. I bought a nos door skin to put on it and there's a nos quarter on eBay but I think I can fix what's here with sheet metal and patience, or maybe I'll just let it ride and enjoy it.

 

[CBODY67]

How bad is the valve cover oil issue? RH side only?

Just curious,
CBODY67

 

[saforwardlook]

Make sure your valve covers are straight and only glue the gaskets to the underside of the valve cover and no gasket adhesive to the cylinder head. Then screw them down to spec. It you glue the underside of the gasket to the head, they will surely leak badly.

 

[Just Carbs]

My recipe is a "liberal" amount of Permatex Ultra Black RTV on the valve cover to gasket contact side of the gasket and "immediately" set it softly on the "clean dry" head (that may or may not have a straight sealing surface) with the RTV that is between the valve cove and gasket still wet. Use just enough pressure to get the dry gasket to make contact all the way around the maybe not so straight head surface. Install the bolts only to position the cover. Don't tighten them, at all. Leave it.
Snug it down the next day.
If that don't work, it's Black RTV and no gasket.

 

[PursuitSpecial]

How bad is the valve cover oil issue? RH side only?

Just curious,
CBODY67

Yeah, it is pretty much just the right side. I used 3m weatherstrip and gasket adhesive to glue the gaskets to the cover but left the heads bare metal, hit the rails with a brass brush to get them nice and shiny clean. The main leak is occuring between the two middle bolts on the bottom of the right cover. With the new cork gasket the leak seems to be lessening, they aren't smoking quite as much but the edge of the valve cover is visibly wet with oil.

 

[PursuitSpecial]

I checked the bolts and they worked loose a bit, snugged them up and took it out and drove it around town and the smoking and smelling has completely stopped, yay. The oil film that was on the valve cover rail has been charred and burned and no new oil is there. Now there's a new project I need to work on though, the radiator is old and green and probably not cooling the best and the fan clutch doesn't appear to be engaging. The car didn't seem to overheat, no puking coolant and you can touch the metal briefly without being burned, but it only has a warning light so I can't tell for sure. I want to put a new radiator and fan and maybe a water pump and a temp and oil pressure gauge on it just to be sure, any recommendations for a new radiator that fits a c body and still will accept a fan shroud? And what's the best gauge to get, mechanical or electric, and where to install the sending unit?

 

[Justin Plant]

my 400 only leaks from the right side as well. I took all the precautions and still weeps, seems to be coming out around the bolts. It's not bad enough for me to care. So I just check it periodically.

 

[mrfury68]

but it only has a warning light so I can't tell for sure.

It seems odd to me that you have no temp gauge, especially on a Fury Pursuit. Mopars always had fuel, temp & alternator gauges and the police cars had oil pressure as well. Very cool Fury you have there. Those years were one of my favorite in the law enforcement line of Plymouth & Dodge. Except if they were in my rear view mirror with lights on.

 

[PursuitSpecial]

It seems odd to me that you have no temp gauge, especially on a Fury Pursuit. Mopars always had fuel, temp & alternator gauges and the police cars had oil pressure as well. Very cool Fury you have there. Those years were one of my favorite in the law enforcement line of Plymouth & Dodge. Except if they were in my rear view mirror with lights on.

Thanks, it seemed strange to me too, apparently the department wanted to skimp on their unmarked cars, they didn't order it with gauges or a positraction rear end and only a 400 instead of the 440, but it is a brougham and has a rear defroster and AC and other stuff. It was probably a detective's car or something. Anyway I grounded the temp idiot light and it's not working, so I definitely need gauges. The best place to put the temperature gauge will be in the hole where the ELB temperature sensor is, not using ELB anymore so I'm gonna put some mechanical Auto Meter gauges in it I think.

 

[Just Carbs]

Radiator Express has a copper brass job.

 

[PursuitSpecial]

Well, I installed the Auto Meter gauges and fired the car up and once it got up to temperature the radiator sprung a leak at the top of the flues. It looks like there's pretty much only one type of aluminum radiator that's supposed to fit the later C bodies, the one I ordered is a Champion CC503 which looks identical to the one on radiator express. Hopefully the fan shroud holes line up and the dimensions clear the fan. I'm putting a new water pump, thermostat, and fan clutch on it while everything is out. Anyway, while I had the car running with the new gauges the oil pressure read 70 pounds on startup and fell to about 20 idling at operating temperature with 40 weight oil. It needs to be driven to see if it falls any lower.

 

[live4theking]

If I remember correctly I order the radiator for my 68 from Autozone. It's been fine for probably 8 years and 10k miles. The shroud fit like a glove.

 

[Chryslerdon]

I finally got the Gran Fury roadworthy and legal, it surprisingly didn't take that much work considering it sat in the woods since 1999. I put a new brake master cylinder on it and new rear hoses, put new wiper bushings and blades in it, some new bulbs and a flasher, new carburetor, new muffler, spark plugs, distributor, gas tank, tires, torsion bars, and rebuilt the steering coupler. I cleaned up the wheels but the paint needs some serious scrubbing to get all the gunk off of it. It's so fun to drive, I drove it to work today and it drives and rides extremely well, the cop motor may be worn out but it still pulls like a champ. There are a few minor issues I need to resolve, though.

I put new valve cover gaskets on it to stop the oil leaking onto the manifolds and burning, the orange fiberglass ones from Real Gaskets Tennessee, but it still leaked, so I got some different original valve covers off a 440 and used a cork gasket and it still leaks. I flattened the surface with a hammer and a bar and torqued them to the proper 40-50 in-lb but it doesn't help. Once the engine gets up to operating temperature it smokes and smells bad. The steering feels ok, barely any slop, but I don't like the loose feeling of it and it looks like the pitman arm and tie rods are worn so I ordered new ones and will install them eventually. Of course there's also the rust issue, I examined the car thoroughly on a lift and the underside is solid, the frame is mint (and huge, no wonder it weighs so much), the only bad rust is in the quarters and driver side doors where they filled up with pine straw and dirt. I bought a nos door skin to put on it and there's a nos quarter on eBay but I think I can fix what's here with sheet metal and patience, or maybe I'll just let it ride and enjoy it.

View attachment 662787

I had a 77 Gran Fury with the 440. I replaced the valve covers with aluminum ones to stop the leaking. The exhaust manifolds bake the gaskets.

 

[PursuitSpecial]

Well, I got the water pump and thermostat changed, this engine is incredibly clean inside. It's actually less rusty inside the cooling system than it is in the trunk, the old water pump looks perfect, I'm saving it in case this crappy chinese pump craps out. I got the radiator in too, as I suspected it doesn't even come close to fitting. The mounting holes don't line up, neither do the shroud holes or the trans cooler lines. I got it mounted and the hoses at least fit but I cannot physically mount the shroud without it hitting the fan and having a giant gap. I'm going to finish it tomorrow, use a fan spacer instead and just run all the trans fluid through the auxiliary cooler, drive it and see if it tries to overheat.

 

[PursuitSpecial]

Went and drove the car around town with the new radiator, no leaks, and in the early evening with temps around 80 it never went over 190. Interestingly it actually idles cooler in traffic than it runs at high speed, would that seem to indicate I'm not getting enough water flow at high speed? Anyway, for how I drive it should be more than adequate even when it gets hotter, my commute to work is only about 3 miles in moderate traffic, if I decide to take it out on the road I'll see how it fares. Oil pressure is a tad low idling in gear, the gauge reads about 10 psi with SAE 40 Valvoline VR1, then again this engine has 135k miles and was made with loose bearing clearances to begin with for HP use. Even though the performance is adequate for me I wouldn't recommend the champion radiator for C bodies since the bracket and cooler lines just don't fit and I had to fabricate a mount and rely on the auxiliary cooler.

 

[PursuitSpecial]

Took the car on an 80 mile road trip today, temps were in the low 90s and it ran fine at 70 mph on the highway. The gauge stayed about 180 on the road and never went over 190 in traffic. The shroud is apparently not necessary on a big enough aluminum radiator with the stock 7 blade clutch fan.

 

[polara71]

Took the car on an 80 mile road trip today, temps were in the low 90s and it ran fine at 70 mph on the highway. The gauge stayed about 180 on the road and never went over 190 in traffic. The shroud is apparently not necessary on a big enough aluminum radiator with the stock 7 blade clutch fan.

If you were towing OR sitting in bumper to bumper for an hour you'd probably need it.