1965 Plymouth Fury III

I've been looking at thsi '65 Plymouth Fury III convertible for a while, it looks like it's in pretty good shape, but I haven't gotten inspected yet. I'm wondering what kind of things I should be paying special attention to when looking the car over. Do they rust in a certain areas? Are there certain parts that tend to wear out quicker? How hard is it to find parts for this car? It's got a 383, but I'm not sure if it's a 2 or 4 barrel engine. Don't think the engine has had a rebuild and it's got about 120,000 ticks on the odometer. The only two modifications I would like to make are changing out the seatbelts to 3 point seat belts and doing a disc brake conversion. Anyone ever done this? Any idea what that might cost? Anyone reccomend a good Plymouth car guy in the LA are? I live in Sothern California, so want it just to spin around on nice days, not as a daily driver. Thanks.

Reply to
leonspinks
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Not really, no. It'll be rusty or not.

Not really, no. They're very sturdily engineered and built.

Mechanical parts are a cinch; trim parts only somewhat harder.

If it's had proper care, it's got a great deal of life left.

Doable, but more difficult than you might think to do *properly*.

Easy, not very expensive, and results are very satisfactory, but the standard-equipment drums, if kept in good condition, work well, too.

Hemi's Independent Chrysler in Ventura(?), snipped-for-privacy@aol.com . He is one of the best. Was an award-winning Chrysler-Plymouth dealer tech in the '60s-'80s.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

They tend to rust just like other cars from that period. Check the trunk and floor pans for rust along with the fender wells. If the top has leaked at any time, that can create it's own set of rust problems, under and behind the rear seat.

If the car spent has spent most of it's life in So. Cal. then you probably don't have much to worry about. This Fury is a *C body.* It shared many parts with the full-sized Dodge and Chryslers of the time. Disc brakes became an option in either 1966 or 1967, so parts from a later vehicle may fit yours.

Upgrading the brakes is a good idea. My brother had a 1966 Chrysler 300 Convertible. Great car, but the drum brakes were undersized from a car of that size and weight.

-Kirk Matheson

Reply to
kmatheson

That's a Chrysler C-body. Remember that for reference- it shares many many components with the other C-bodies made between '65 and about 1978. Other Cs include the Dodge Polara and Monaco, and the Chrysler Newport, New Yorker, and 300.

for a

Being a convertible, you need to examine the rear quarter panels, trunk floor, and lower rocker panels (the part between the bottom of the doors and the front of the rear wheel openings) extra carefully. 'Verts drain water down into the body there and it exits through drain holes, but if those holes aren't kept open water and leaves and dirt can back up into the rockers and even into the trunk. Its a unibody car, so also inspect the boxed areas where the front hangers for the rear leaf springs attach for solidity.

Not mechanical parts. 'Vertibles tend to get more sun/weather damage on interior trim parts.

Mechanical parts are EASY. Plenty of support for big-block Mopars exists. If the engine's really never been opened or you can't document that it has, it is very worthwhile to go ahead and replace the timing chain ASAP. Use a name-brand timing set with either a *steel* cam gear, or a dual-roller chain (Edelbrock makes a nice true-roller set for these engines that is reasonably priced).

Seat belts- well, you'll probably be on your own for that since I doubt most shops would want to take on the liability. I'm considering something like that for my '66 Polara (also a C-body), but I think my approach will be to see if I can retrofit seats from a late-model quad-cab pickup or convertible that have 3-point belts integral to the seat. It may require reinforcing the floor pan.

Disk brakes are easy, easy, easy. In fact there are several approaches. You can go with any one of several conversion kits that are on the market from companies like Stainless Steel Brakes, Wilwood, and Scarebird. Or you can do what I did on my Polara and install the steering knuckles, rotors, calipers, front brake lines, brake combination valve, and master cylinder from a later model C-body that came with factory disk brakes. I used a 1972 Newport, and it was a complete bolt-in job. The brake lines even snapped into the same retainer clips. I did use a new master cylinder (the modern aluminum type with a 4-bolt to 2-bolt adaptor) and new rotors and calipers. The rest (knuckles, lines, combo valve) were junkyard parts. I used the combo valve from an 85 Diplomat because the one on the 72 Newport was too corroded to re-use. Total cost for my method was under $200.

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Reply to
Steve

thanks for all the information. really appreciate it, especially the name of the hemi guy in ventura.

Reply to
leonspinks

I'll make sure to have the guy that looks the car over to check those problem spots for rust. Really appreciate the advice.

lloyd stein

Reply to
leonspinks

I, unfortunately, come from a long line of men whose only way to fix a car is to take it to a shop. I wish I knew how to to the brake conversion myself, but I have a feeling that i would more than likely end up doing more damage than good. Knowing your way around a car is a powerful thing. I really appreciate all the advice. I wonder if I can find a body guy to install the belts. Is it possible that there aren't any belts in the rear seat at all? I also wonder if it's possible to find an '66 fury III convertible and see how they did the belts on that model. You're right though, in the end, the easiest solution might be to just buy new seats that have the belt integrated into the seat. I wonder if there are certain types of newer seats that will bolt right in. Thanks,

lloyd Stein

Reply to
leonspinks

Highly unlikely, but even if that's the case, the anchor points are built into the body.

It's not hard to adapt seat mountings.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

I can't really remember when the phase-in of mandatory lap belts was, but I *think* they were mandatory by '65. it may have been '66 though. Shoulder belts were mandatory by '69, but convertibles were exempt because there's noplace to mount the shoulder belt (they were typically roof mounted back then).

At any rate, the mount points for rear seat belts are underneath the back seat. Its entirely likely that the belts themselves have fallen down between the seat bottom cushion and the seat back cushion. It happens routinely on older cars before they figured out to put a rigid plastic belt guide around the belt to keep it up above the seat cushion. And if they aren't there, you can buy lap belts from Year One and bolt them in.

You're

"Bolt right in" is a relative term :-) I doubt that there are any

*direct* bolt-ins, but there are probably some that are an easy retrofit for an interior shop.
Reply to
Steve

Anchorages were as close to mandatory for '62 as anything got prior to

1968. The belts themselves were likewise "voluntarily mandatory"(!) for '66.

'68

...which didn't stop Chrysler Corp. from offering optional shoulder belts in ALL their convertibles beginning in '66, so in this case "noplace to mount the shoulder belt" translates as "GM and Ford made up their usual stupid BS excuses".

Or avoid Year One's markup and buy from Ssnake-oyl:

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Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

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