was planning on building a 73 imperial clone until

lbone

lbone

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Hi all, i have a super nice 73 new yorker 2 door that i wanted to use as a base to clone a 73 imperial with a nice donor four door that i have.
So over the last few days i have been doing some ground work on getting the front end parts together as i would like to completely rebuild the front end while the stub is out.
Are absolutely no front end parts available for this stub anymore? I cant find rotors ball joints tie rods idler or pitman arm! this is terrible not just for me but all the others that still have these on the road.
I know that not all would agree with this plan but i have been trying to find a 2 door imperial for years with no luck and have had the 4 door for about 5 years.
 
I'm one that usually doesn't shy away from a challenge, but your plan sounds like a bad idea to me.

It's not that hard to find a '72 or '73 Imperial coupe.

Sell the New Yorker so that you have cash on hand and be ready to pounce when an Imperial coupe comes up for sale.

And yes, you are correct. They don't sell much in parts for the '70-'73 Imperial front end, other than ball joints. You can have the idler and pitman arms rebuilt for $300-$400 each.

Jeff
 
You want to put a imperial sub frame into a New Yorker?
Or you want to put imperial front clip onto New Yorker sub
Either way it won't work out right.
 
sorry yes i want to put the imperial stub and front clip as well as the imperial taillights on the new yorker. but if i cant get any new wear parts i think i will have to scrap the plan.
I have measured the sub mounts to the body and templated the front door to the fender on both cars to make sure it would work. in 72-73 the same body from newport to imperial was mounted to different stubs.
The 4 door car is repairable but needs a lot, the automatic climate control is not working and i really dont want to get into that.
Maybe 2 door imperials are available around where you are bigmoparjeff but i have been on the lookout here for about 6 years and no dice as the road salt or demo derby guys ate em all up.
 
This the New Yorker not the profile pic one

021C5ECE-B566-4C21-8F4C-4FFDB19D1FAC.jpeg
 
SGT FURY said:
You want to put a imperial sub frame into a New Yorker?
Or you want to put imperial front clip onto New Yorker sub
Either way it won't work out right.
Click to expand...

It can be done, but requires welding the Imperial subframe supports onto the New Yorker body.

It's just not practical.

Other issues would be that now the VIN is wrong and you have an Imperial with a New Yorker interior. Finding nice coupe interior panels will be a challenge.
 
lbone said:
sorry yes i want to put the imperial stub and front clip as well as the imperial taillights on the new yorker. but if i cant get any new wear parts i think i will have to scrap the plan.
I have measured the sub mounts to the body and templated the front door to the fender on both cars to make sure it would work. in 72-73 the same body from newport to imperial was mounted to different stubs.
The 4 door car is repairable but needs a lot, the automatic climate control is not working and i really dont want to get into that.
Maybe 2 door imperials are available around where you are bigmoparjeff but i have been on the lookout here for about 6 years and no dice as the road salt or demo derby guys ate em all up.
Click to expand...

There have been plenty of '72-'73 Imperial coupes up for sale over the last few years that people have posted to this site. They do tend to come in waves, and we may be in a lull right now.

You need to keep an eye on this section of the site: For Sale Ads From Other Sites New threads posted in this section don't show up in the new postings on the site home page.

Jeff
 
i will keep an eye out. i know its a lot of work and i kind of shift back and forth between doing it and not doing it. i do have a line on a green interior but yea its green tho lol
 
hey common guys i was going to do it right or not at all. I have been doing autobody professionally for 30 years and guys have been cloning lower less desirable models of every car and building them too what they want since the beginning of time.
Its a New yorker with my least favorite front end on it and the car needs complete paint anyway.
They always look better in pictures guys
 
actually i think i like the back end of the 72 & 73 new yorkers better than the 72 & 73 imps......
 
Are most of the Imperial parts for the suspension the same part numbers as the ones for other C bodies? I have a list of all the parts and part numbers for my Polara that I am using for its rebuild on my recent thread. I know for a fact LBJs are made by only one or two companies unless you come across an NOS gold mine (like myself).
 
bigmoparjeff said:
It can be done, but requires welding the Imperial subframe supports onto the New Yorker body.

It's just not practical.

Other issues would be that now the VIN is wrong and you have an Imperial with a New Yorker interior. Finding nice coupe interior panels will be a challenge.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it can't be done. It just does not work out right in the end.
I once put a used 67 imperial sub frame into a 68 Newport for demo derby
I moved the front frame to body mounts back a few inches.
The front wheel did not center up in center of fender.
That maybe different if you use imperial sub and front clip on a New Yorker
Just a couple things to (double check) on are your steering box location dosent change.
Steering colum length dosent change. Also your firewall to motor clearance location dosent change.
All these I was able to modify for demo derby. So yes it can be done. It's just not easy for the street.
 
That's a nice New Yorker! The only thing I never liked about the '73 NYer is the "Caprice Like" grill!
 
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