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1965 Dodge polara


Guest 89BMWkid

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Guest 89BMWkid

Iv done an engine flush, changed a power steering hose, replaced a taillights housing sourced from eBay as well as a turn signal mechanism. My father has passed it down to me and in wondering if anyone can point mIn the right direction as far as finding info on this rare vehicle.

Also if anyome has a recommendation for a deep sounding exhaust that will do this car justice.

Edited by 89BMWkid
typo (see edit history)
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Here is as good a place as any, and there are numerous Mopar forums and clubs for resources too. Also look into getting the factory service books for it as well as sales catalogs and vintage magazine ads. Lots of information in those.

Polaras were pretty common back in the day but the B & E body Mopar cars have overshadowed the C-bodies to where you just don't see them much now. And, like big GM and Ford cars, they often became donor cars for some punk who wanted its big-block for his original 318 Coronet or Barracuda.

Walker Dynomax mufflers should fit and sound nice on your car. You may have to get a good muffler shop to custom bend pipes for you. Get them to do it in aluminized pipe as it looks better and lasts longer. Does car already have dual exhaust and which engine does it have? I'm guessing a 383?

Edit* Woody, I've had Flows on a couple of my Oldsmobiles and anymore don't like them- too much drone.

Waldron may be able to source a complete exhaust for the 65 C-body; they have it for many cars. Kid- go on Waldron's website and search Mustang Arvinode exhaust. You'll hear what a factory performance exhaust sounds like on a Mustang. Waldron did a super job reproducing that system.

Edited by rocketraider (see edit history)
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Guest myold88

Dodge Polara. You just don't see them in the hobby. I had a '71 Polara 2 door HT new. It was one of the best looking

cars I ever owned. Good luck with your search.

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Guest 89BMWkid

Thanks for the great advice guys. it's a real head turner when I drive it around. I take lots of pictures of classics in my town but I never see any polaras, my brother said he saw one.

Great advice on the exhaust I'll look into those brands.

If anyone has a 67 polara or 69 manaco they are sitting on gold lol. Love the 65 though it's sitting on cragger SS rims with light blue paint. It's really an honor being able to drive a car that came out way before I was born.

I have a lot of respect for these old cars too they last forever.

Currently I have it parked at my friends house next to his Chevy nova SS a 74 Buick lesabre and my brothers 70 ford maverick so it's defiantly stylin and profilin :P

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I believe it's a 318 but I'm not sure how to spot a 383

The 318 has the distributor at the rear of the engine. The 383, 413, 440 and Hemi have the distributor on the front of the engine.

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Guest 89BMWkid

Any suggestions for low sounding mufflers my dad said the muffler has a rust hole and I might replace just that instead of a whole exhaust for the time being.

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If it was mine I would take it to a muffler shop and have a stock type muffler installed. If you want a throatier sound, you could get a turbo muffler, cherry bomb or straight through muffler. The muffler shop can help with this. Ask around for the best independent muffler shop, avoid the chain stores if you can.

If the exhaust system is very old and rusty it may be impossible to just change the muffler, you may need the whole system. This is not very expensive, under $300 complete for most cars with single exhaust.

If you mean to drive the car you should start by changing all fluids, like coolant, oil, trans fluid, differential oil, power steering fluid etc.

Also inspect all the rubber hoses under the hood. Old rad hoses get bulgy and burst, other hoses get hard, dried out and crack or break. Also the fan belts. It is good policy to replace them if they are very old, and prevent breakdowns on the road. This only needs to be done every 20 or 25 years.

Then a good tuneup. With this work done you should be able to drive that car to your heart's content. Maintain it by the book and it will go 200,000 miles, 300,000 miles or more without major work. When I say by the book I mean follow the recommendations of the owner's manual when it comes to maintenance.

Happy motoring!

Edited by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)
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I'll echo the Walker Dynomax suggestion. I've put these on just about all my cars and have been very happy with the sound and performance. Flowmasters are geared for adolecents who want to PI$$ off the neighbors. They also have an annoying drone at highway speeds. Despite this, they are also consistently among the most restrictive performance mufflers in published flow tests. If the Walkers are too quiet, consider Magnaflows. I've got one on my 62 Olds F-85 and while louder than the Walkers, it's not objectionable and there is no drone.

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My Brother had two 65 Polaras back in the 70's. One really drove him nuts with a problem and he dinged the hood with about 80 to 100 hits with the peen end of a ball peen hammer. It did not take much to get him ticked off back then. The image still burns in my memory of all the peen dents all over the hood when I use to ride in it with him. The Polaras he had were painted white and he used them for winter cars. Thanks for the memories. Dandy Dave!

Edited by Dandy Dave (see edit history)
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Guest 89BMWkid

Wow what a story. That polara had a tough life. Mine is in really good shape no real problems I can find yet.

One thing I did find is when I redid the valve cover gaskets. The driver side cylinder head is clean and normal looking like my bmw and the passenger side is caked with black hardened crap like someone had poured in something they shouldent have. Also when I first changed the oil after my dad owning it for years the filter was ancient.

The engine still fires up great and runs good. Don't know what the black stuff is....

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Don't know what the black stuff is....

Coked up oil sludge. Not unusual on an engine from that time esp considering oils that were available back then. Even the 60s-70s premium oils didn't compare to modern formulations.

If you still have the v/c off, take a screwdriver or scraper and dislodge as much of that mess as you can. Either pick it out with your hands or get a shop vac you don't care much about and get it out.

Then get a wire coat hanger and rod out the oil drainback holes in the lower corners of the valvetrain area, so oil will drain back into the oil pan and not pool in the valve stem areas, where it could get sucked past bad valve stem seals or worn valve guides and burned in the cylinder.

There are many thoughts on engine flushes and the right oil for older engines. Once you get all the gunk out, change the oil again with a high quality oil (Valvoline or Rotella have worked well for me) and add a quart of Rislone, Marvel Mystery Oil, or even transmission fluid in place of a quart of oil. Those are fine light lubricants with good detergent action and will help clean things up without dislodging more gunk that might plug internal oil passages or oil pump pickup screen. There are motor flushes available but they tend to be aggressive and usually require dropping and cleaning the oil pan after using them.

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Guest 89BMWkid

Really great responses from everyone thank you all.

I did get as much off as I could when I was in there and I haven't checked that side after I did the engine flush so I'll have to look.

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Heavy sludge buildup normal for an old car, running on dino oil, with a carburetor, that has a lot of miles and not enough oil changes.

The clean side puzzles me, maybe the head was off for repairs not too many miles ago?

I'm leery of cleaning off such a buildup unless I have the pan off. I lost an engine that way years ago. I thought I was doing something good but a lot of sludge got into the oil pump screen and plugged it up, goodby engine.

The engine flush compound may dissolve the loosened sludge before it kills your engine. But I would do a couple of oil changes in rapid succession, like 1000 miles, to get rid of it. Also use a quality oil filter like NAPA Gold. Under no circumstances use a FRAM filter, they are notorious engine killers.

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Guest 89BMWkid

Thanks for the tip on the fram filter. I went with a K&N filter for my bmw and the polara not because Im a fan of k&N (not at all) but because they were the more expensive ones that were available at the auto parts store.

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Thanks for the tip on the fram filter. I went with a K&N filter for my bmw and the polara not because Im a fan of k&N (not at all) but because they were the more expensive ones that were available at the auto parts store.

Rule of thumb- most expensive does not always correlate to being the best. K&N are better than average filters but you're paying for their advertising and hype as much as anything.

Rusty's recommendation on NAPA Gold filters is good; also consider Purolator Ones. Baldwin, Casite and WIX are also great filters. Amazingly I have heard bad things about MoPar OE filters. Wouldn't surprise me if they're made by Fram, since Fram supplied OE filters to MoPar under the Fram name up thru the late 50s.

My Pontiac bud has started using NAPA engine oil lately since it's made for NAPA by Ashland- who also makes Valvoline- and priced at slightly over half of Wally World's Valvoline price per case. He seems to be well satisfied with results he's getting with it.

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Guest 89BMWkid

My brother works for Napa. I'll look into those other filters. Iv used Napa brand brake rotors and Napa hosing no complaints here. Napa is the only place that carries the 20w-50 my bmw uses.

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This will probably make some of you CRINGE. But several years ago when I bought my current car, a 62 Chrysler New Yorker, it had been sitting for 16 years in a garage with a dirt floor. Needless to say the exhaust was GONE. It had a single exhaust, but the body had cutout's for dual exhausts. (optional?) Having the 413 in it I wanted it to sound like a BIG BLOCK, but nothing excessive. Had the shop install dual exhausts, with 2 GLASS PACKS. Not overly loud, but has a low rumble at idle.

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If they were oily slick, you're getting oil past rings (which means wear), or valve guides (which goes back to suggestion about cleaning out the valvetrain area and rodding out the cylinder head drainback holes).

If they're dry sooty black, that's typical of an older carbureted engine that's running just a shade rich or is subjected to a lot of slow speed driving. A few high-speed blasts on open road will do wonders for this condition. Add a can of SeaFoam or what's called "top engine cleaner" to the gas tank when it's less than about 1/3 full and do a few 35-75 mph full throttle runs with it. You'll probably see the soot and carbon rolling out the tailpipe. There are also directions on the can how to use it when engine is shut off.

If they're wet and smell like gasoline, you have a carb or ignition issue. Possibly if you pulled them shortly after engine had been started cold and not run up to operating temperature, could be residue from the choke staying on a bit too long. Do you notice a rough idle or stumble when engine is cold and choke on? Most carbs have either a vacuum diaphram or a linkage that opens the choke a little after the engine starts to allow enough air to smooth out rpm. Most engines call for about 1/8" opening, though you can tailor it to get best and smoothest idle if you're not afraid of messing with a carb. There are good carb books for almost all modern carb brands, and I think your Mopar used a Carter 2-barrel.

You're learning, young'un, and you're asking good questions.:cool:

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Changed the spark plugs and they were dry / wet fouled dark black. What could cause this .

Probably nothing wrong but cold weather and too many cold starts without going anyplace.

Dry or wet? Dry black sooty deposit means running rich. May not be anything wrong if you have been starting and stopping the engine a lot without driving anywhere. Or, could mean the choke is stuck, float stuck or something else wrong with the carb.

Wet black means pumping oil or possibly flooded.

I would clean and gap the plugs by sandblasting, check if the choke is working properly and let it go at that. Avoid starting the engine unless you are going someplace. If you must start it to move the car, let it warm up at a fast idle for 10 or 15 minutes to dry out the engine and exhaust and charge the battery.

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Guest 89BMWkid

Mostly dry looking. my friend held a lighter to one looking for fuel on them but found nothing. Also the plugs weren't in very tight when I took them out.

Car runs smoother with the new plugs might need a new distributer and carb tune up. It can get up to 50 mph fast for a land yacht..

Will try seafoam though I have used that stuff before.

Thanks again for all the great responses guys.

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my friend held a lighter to one looking for fuel on them

Why did Beavis and Butthead come to mind when I read that?!?:eek:

Also the plugs weren't in very tight when I took them out.

That could cause weak spark due to the plug isn't grounded well. Hand tight plus a quarter turn is a good rule of thumb for tapered seat plugs, which I'm pretty sure Chrysler was using then.

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Guest 89BMWkid

The maruader is so nice. The interior is all black leather show car material. It's a sick ride. Pulled it out of the driveway the other day and while turning there was a knocking noise so Im thinking something is needing replacement soon.

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"It's a sick ride. Pulled it out of the driveway the other day and while turning there was a knocking noise so Im thinking something is needing replacement soon."

I'm sorry your ride is sick :(

Rusty, you need to hang with a younger crowd.

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