I traded a 77 Newport for these two beauties yesterday. Yes, I fit them BOTH in the back of a Subaru Outback! Currently fighting a seized piston trying to get the top end off of the 78. Have to do the same for the 80, but the 78 is in better condition overall... so that's the one I'm starting with.
Once I get that mother$@#&!^& piston freed, I have to swap it out with a different one I just acquired cause somebody took a chisel or something to the thing and tore up the top. Ugh. The bottom end is beautiful on the engine and I dont wanna take it apart - and I dont have the right size puller so that ain't happening anyway. Will need to replace the seals. It was a wreck and literally fell into pieces. Also, I found a little spider living in the engine! It jumped ship pretty fast. I need to run a new front brake line, reattach the speedometer to the front wheel, put on a new belt, new plug, and somebody wired an aftermarket key in place of the kill switch- which I dont have a key for... using what looks like an old lamp or extension cord for the wire. Yeesh. The front fender was installed wrong, probably when the front wheel was swapped out. The tank interior is gorgeous and the petcock seems to be intact. I will need to swap out the fuel line and I havent looked at the guts of the carb yet but it's all there at least :-) Really the hardest part is the ruddy piston. Anybody have any advice on that? Its murderous lol. Anything I can use to break the crud free and move the top end all the way off? Thanks!
