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Member
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | Greetings! After weeks of searching for a Forward Look area vehicle, I finally brought this 1961 Chrysler Newport home yesterday. We drove close to 3 hours away to Lafayette, GA to pick it up.
The car is surprisingly complete and rust appears to be minimal (other than the trunk pan). its got a new carpet and reupholstered seats that look very nice. I was told the car was stored out of the elements in a pole barn. Unfortunately, 3 years ago a tornado knocked down the pole barn and caused some damage to numerous areas of the body.
The engine is a 361 which the previous owner wasn't able to get running before selling. As with all projects that I typically buy, there is probably a little more to the story of the engine than was communicated, but the motor did spin (albeit slowly) and is complete.
I've spent the day doing a bit of troubleshooting. I verified TDC, firing order, set the timing approximately and could not get it to fire. I checked compression in 4 cylinders and its low. Low low. 30-45 psi in every cylinder I measured. I popped valve covers to take a look and the heads are pretty sludged up. I've also got a bent intake pushrod on #1. All of the remaining pushrods are arrow straight and rotate with their lifters as the engine cranks.
I'm a bit disheartened but I'll have to pull the heads and get a better look at their condition. I hope the 361 can be resurrected! Any thoughts on the low compression across the board? Gummed up valves? Timing chain jumped a tooth?
Anyhow, I'm excited to join this community and look forward to contributing what I can. Thanks!
Edited by 361Newport 2021-05-02 6:57 PM
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Member
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| sweet ride |
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Expert
Posts: 1740
   
Location: Alaska | Before you take the engine apart, you didn't say if there was any spark to the plugs. First clean and set the points. They get oxidized from sitting and don't make good contact. The compression may improve after it has run a while. The bent pushrod may have been caused by a stuck valve so make sure it is working ok now.
Welcome to the forum, where do you live? |
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Member
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | Thanks 58coupe, I've got spark. New coil and verified resistances. rotor and cap have been replaced as well. The points were replaced by the previous owner, I filed them and set gap/verified operation.
I ordered some new pushrods. I have fuel and spark. I don't have a piston stop so I haven't been able to verify that my timing mark is accurate.
I'm in Northern Alabama.
Edited by 361Newport 2021-05-02 10:18 PM
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Veteran
Posts: 142
Location: Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC Canada | 361Newport - 2021-05-02 7:17 PM
Thanks 58coupe, I've got spark. New coil and verified resistances. rotor and cap have been replaced as well. The points were replaced by the previous owner, I filed them and set gap/verified operation.
I ordered some new pushrods. I have fuel and spark. I don't have a piston stop so I haven't been able to verify that my timing mark is accurate.
I'm in Northern Alabama.
Just wanted to tip my hat to you on your new acquisition.....I too have a '61 Chrysler with the 383, and many years of experience with Chrysler 'B' blocks.
You appear to know what you're doing and only need to deal with the timing. You have likely done this, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth if it would help.
Bring number one up to TDC on compression. Check to see where the rotor is pointing, it should be on or near number one plug wire on the cap. To ensure that you have it correct pull the passenger side valve cover off and see if number six is 'rocking'...you likely know this but the rockers will be loose if the timing is correct.
See where your timing marks are on the damper and mark the timing accordingly, (it may have spun) and see what happens.......good luck.... |
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | I appreciate your input! I've got the valve covers off, I didn't think of checking the valve positions on #6, thank you. I'll take a look tomorrow after work. |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 7807
 
Location: Williams California | Equally low compression on all cylinders often points to a worn, or skipped timing chain.
Easy to see if this is the problem is to turn the crankshaft, while watching the distributor rotor. Once the rotor moves, turn the crankshaft the opposite direction. If you are able to turn the crank a bit with no rotor movement, the chain is worn, and may have jumped timing.
---John |
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Veteran
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| Looks like you've got a great start to a beautiful car. Congrats! |
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | Thank you! I've owned a lot of projects over the years, this one is definitely in the best shape! |
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | Thanks for the tip. There appears to be a lot of slack in my timing chain, I turned the crank a fair amount in the opposite direction before the distributor began to turn. Timing set is ordered!
Edited by 361Newport 2021-05-03 10:55 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 705
Location: California | A bent pushrod can be because of old gasoline. |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 13049
Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | Congrats to a Nice Project Car. The damage fin will be the Most difficult to fix. There seems to be a pile of documents in the backseat, please post it here as there might be some interesting things for decoding. |
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Member
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | Thank you! The paperwork in the back seat is a pile of receipts for the interior work and an empty envelope. Not much of interest.
I do have a question for you folks - for originality sake, what color should the engine be in this car? I've found many combinations through google image searching. Entire engine black (gold air cleaner), entire engine silver (gold air cleaner), silver engine with gold valve covers and gold air cleaner. My block and heads appear to be silver underneath of the grime, however the valve covers don't have any paint left on them. |
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Expert
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Location: Northen Virginia | these are the 361 colors.
Remember that it should be cranking very fast to overcome the empty lifters.
I will recommend so use starting fluid, you should be getting some noises or something, no matter how worn out the engine is or definitely the problem is somewhere else. Also get yourself a fine injection of gasoline with a perforated cap in a plastic bottle or something. You carburetor may not be working either. Just give the carburetor opening a fine consistent jet of fuel while cranking...If it starts, you can keep the engine running with the jet.
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Extreme Veteran
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Location: Kalispell, MT USA | The 361 in my dodge had been sitting many years. I did a new timing chain, and got an oil pump priming shaft to pre prime the engine before starting. I'm glad I did, it took quite a while to get oil flowing.
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Member
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | Thanks for the tip and photo, hemidenis! That's super helpful. Any chance you've got a photo of the drivers side of the engine bay? That's beautiful.
You got that one running, Norm? Awesome! You've got more cottonwood in yours than me, but I definitely have more sludge. ?? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 303
Location: Kalispell, MT USA | Yep, runs great! It had jumped time in 1975. My dad and I (11 years old) did a chain replacement. But it wouldn't start. Then, while cranking it over the alternator fell down against the exhaust manifold and burned the wiring up to the cluster and back to the battery. The car sat apart until 3 years ago. I got it from the salvage yard owner who had saved it for me. Thanks to E-bay, I got replacement wiring. Here is a link to the album.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GH9yzqWR4Dw6cKCL8
Norm |
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Member
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | That's a great story Norm, glad you were able to recover your car. Thanks for the link, I'm going to check it out. |
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Member
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Location: Union Grove, Alabama | Update on the Newport! Timing chain was indeed stretched, I've got a new one installed. Checked the balancer TDC mark after I got my piston stop, and it's dead on still!
Once I got it all back together and replaced the bent pushrods, it cranks much better.
The issue is after a few crank revolutions, it really slows down as I think it's building compression in the chambers. I can hear pressure bleeding down into the crankcase, and with the valve covers off I'm getting a ton of smoke wafting out through the heads. I'm kind of wondering if I have a mouse nest in the exhaust pipe..
Edited by 361Newport 2021-05-14 8:28 AM
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New member, new project!
