My new `67 Imperial Crown Coupe!

Saw this for sale the other day and thought of you Matt....

I know it belongs in another thread but I don't speak enough French and it doesn't have the Argent interior but....

Chrysler Impérial Crown coupé 2 portes | voitures d'époque | St-Georges-de-Beauce | Kijiji

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That's a beautiful car but I'm not a big enough fan of this body style to actually lust after it. I would sooner buy a '66 300 over one of these and it wouldn't even matter how many doors it had.
 
detmatt said:
That's a beautiful car but I'm not a big enough fan of this body style to actually lust after it. I would sooner buy a '66 300 over one of these and it wouldn't even matter how many doors it had.
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Or a 65 300....
 
Finally time to start chipping away at replacing all of the worn out joints and bushings.
This car has been creaking and cluncking its way through the 15,000 miles that I've put on it and I can no longer ignore the worsening issues. A new clunk started which really lit the fire under my butt because I really want to continue driving the rest of the season. In fact it's taking us up north for the Labor Day weekend so I concentrated my efforts where I thought the new noise was coming from.
I figured it was either upper control arm bushings, the lower control arm bushing or the front strut Rod bushings so I started with the uca bushings and upper ball joints while I was at it. The ball joints were fine but the boots were shot and the new joints are probably only a few dollars more than just the boots so I replaced them. The bushings came out of the arms very easily and the new ones went in just as easy, I didn't even need a press!
I learned that the strut Rod bushings are the same for the B-bodies and were in stock at one of my parts stores so I replaced those at the same time. I actually think these were the cause of the new clunk but I can't be sure. So here are some before pics.

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These are the old strut Rod bushings and they were, well let's just they that they were long expired...

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Here's one side all new and the new strut Rod bushings. The front end is considerably less noisy and I'm very pleased with the outcome. Next time around will be the lca bushings and lower ball joints.

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Dobalovr said:
Very nice Matt! So you were able to source everything at a parts store?
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Auto Zone has the control arm bushings and all the ball joints in the Duralast brand and it is my understanding that they are made by Moog but still from overseas which I'm not happy about. Several other stores that I source things from didn't even have the bushings in thier Moog catalogs. I was about to cal PST when a friend told me to call Auto Zone and even gave me part numbers (thanks Bob). I had to wait 2 days for the bushings and the ball joints were on the shelf. The strut Rod bushings were available in a couple of hours from an Auto Value store and as I said were same as B-body. Us Imperial guys are lucky in that the lower ball joints are readily available.
 
Zymurgy said:
I believe you are going to notice a difference in the handling. :)
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At least as much as I hoped Mike!
Still a lot of work under there though and it would have been nice to just do the lca bushings at the same time but I knew there wouldn't be time and I don't think my aging body could have handled anymore work like this without a lift...
 
Looks really good, Matt! Nice to hear most of the parts are available! Would you share the part numbers with us? Your '67 setup looks mostly the same as the '69! Maybe I can use some of them as well.
 
Uca bushings are Duralast #FB615 for pair.
Upper ball joints are Duralast #FA397 each.
Strut Rod bushings are Moog #K7016A for both front.
 
Thanks friend. Do you have pictures of the Uca bushings removal? I'm scratching my head on how to do it with the bar in the middle?!
 
Yep I scratched my head for a while on that one too. I thought maybe I was going to have to carefully cut them out as a last resort but I was able to support the arm with a bunch of clamps and scrap steel in my press frame for starters. Then soak with penetrant. Once supported and braced I was able to take a pickle fork and place it on the inside of the outer sleeve of the bushing with the shaft going in between the forks, you follow? Then proceed to beat squarely on the fork with a bfh until it's out. You will want to have the end of the handle of the fork supported on something so that the tool is square with the bushing. I didn't take any pics of this embarrassment as I did have my hands full and also keep in mind that this car comes apart as if it were assembled 3 weeks ago, your results may differ. The shaft is a GM style assembly though and I'm sure you could find a machine shop that can r & r the bushings more efficiently.
 
Jep, got it! I will give it a try, but I thing this will not work with my crusty old parts :/ Thanks anyway!
 
I have to replace a bunch of suspension parts too. I was lucky to have Graham find me the last NOS idler arm in North America for a Formal that wasn't held hostage for a King's ransom. My OEM idler arm was totally trashed and made the car unsafe. I recommend regular under car inspections several times a year if you drive your C-Body on a regular basis.
 
I couldn't agree more Bob. Especially if you set out further than your insurance company will pay to tow you home.
 
Damn, I spent almost $1k today for hub bearings, rotors, pads, calipers, hoses, and tie rod ends for my truck. I just finished putting all those parts on and still need to get an alignment.
 
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