1977 New Yorker

[DITCHPICKLE]

I am looking into putting some "performance" parts onto my '77 New Yorker. It has a 440, with a thermoquad. Also has the lean burn(yuck) system. I am thinking about getting the Mopar electronic conversion kit, and maybe a different carb? Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Steve

[Marc]

Toss the leanburn FIRST.
You won't regret it!

[DITCHPICKLE]

And with the Mopar kit, it will get rid of that, right?
What type of performance icreases should I be looking to see?
Thanks
Steve

[DITCHPICKLE]

Anyone at all????

[DITCHPICKLE]

ANYONE??????
I really would aprecciate it!

[dave571]

The lean burn sucks. I'm not sure exacly what gains you will see by ditching it, but noone will suggest your doing the wrong thing.

As for a carb, I'd suggest an edlebrock (avs wannabe) carb as they are reasonably priced, but you'll want a square bore intake to go with it. Aluminum dual plane, or a cast iron from about a 70 vintage 440 should do it.

[DITCHPICKLE]

What model of an edelbrock would you recomend? And what cfm rating?
Thanks a Million
Steve

[71383bee]

The Thermoquad is a good carb when it is running and tuned right. Send it to Demonsizzler for a rebuild. It'll be cheaper than a new carb and it will run just as good or probably better than a new carb. Besides, you wont have to swap intakes or mess around with adaptor plates.

[dusterbd]

the ignition swap will not gain enough performance aqt the top end to really notice a drop in ET( as far as i know. could be wrong, though). where youll really notice an increase is in drivabilite and part throttle performance. itll be a night and day difference. as far as tghe carb debate, id go with getting the TQ rebuilt, and a good performer intake.
mike

[c318cuin]

I sort of did this swap on my 1978 Volare. The main reason was that the lean brun computers vaccuum advance had went sount and I had no advance at all. I bought all the cheapo wells parts( ballast resistor & ignition module) that i needed and then got the wiring harness and vacuum advance distributor. Now i thave a car that wont stumble off idle. But make sure you fatten up the mix or you might ping the motor to death with the "lean burn" settings on the carb.

That is my experience and for what it is worth (free) enjoy. Wish you the best with your car.

[71383bee]

The facts are that you are driving a 4,000+ pound car car with a real soft converter, probably higher gears than at the most a 3.23:1 non sure grip, and a low compression single exhaust 440.

Changing to electronic igniton is an excellent thing to do, but it is not going to give you a very noticeable leap in performance.

I would rebuild the TQ through demonsizzler, get the Edelbrock Performer intake, and at the very least get a set of the older high performance exhaust manifolds and a good 2 1/2" exhaust system. This will wake that 440 up and the performance will be noticeable.

If you got the dough rebuild the 440 to 71 specs and get a good sure grip unit for the rear end and switch to headers and then you will really be smiling.

It all depends on what you want to do with it...and it is all a factor of dollars.

[goose]

The service manuals I have for those years of Mopars indicate a 15-20 HP drop due to the adoption of lean burn, with no other changes. Putting in a "normal" electronic ignition should therefore gain you roughly that much power. Also adding a catalytic converter dropped another 15-20 HP off the ratings... so putting on dual exhaust (check your local emissions regs first) and tossing the lean burn should easily get you another 30 HP. Your mileage should go up noticeably too. The emissions controls of the mid 70's to mid 80's were the absolute worst thing to happen to American cars of those years... performance, mileage and reliability suffered major setbacks, to levels that hadn't been seen since the mid 50's. Dumping your emissions controls (which includes raising your compression ratio) will make you very, very happy because of MAJOR improvements in the aforementioned categories. If you are worried about emissions, realize that the overwhelming majority of tailpipe emissions are due to a car being out of tune. Electronic ignition goes a very long way towards keeping your car in tune because there are no points to burn out. Having your carb set up correctly is the other part of the equation. Your Thermoquad is a decent carb, having it rebuilt would be a good idea. It'll give good power without sacrificing mileage.