radioguy7

The shocks look pretty recent since the hardware looks newer and not all rusted, rubber looks good on them too. Rollie, I think someone did crank up the ride height on it, this car should not be reacting this way to bumps in the road. I have stopped driving the car since I've developed shakes and rattles in the dash from taking hard hits. Kind of bummed right now, why can't people be honest in this world??? I have the guys number still I traded with. I'm almost ready to ask for my P-15 back and have him take his car back. His description of the car as "needs nothing" is far from it. Funny thing tho is that it seems like the ride has gotten worse in the past weeks of driving it. I'm all new to this stuff, always been a GM man myself in the past.

I do plan on going thru the front end and replacing steering components or whatever is worn out but I was planning on doing this in the spring. I was thinking something could be done for the short term to fix the problem. I'm thinking torsion bars. It really rides like there is no suspension at all in the front, very harsh when it hits any bumps, enough to make your teeth rattle. I know it can't be right. I'm going to look around for any old timers that have experience with these C bodoes and see what they can tell me it needs to fix it. Thanks Ed

Update, turns out the exhaust leak was coming from the heat riser. Dodge in all their wisdom made the heat riser assembly part of the exhaust manifold casting, lucky me. Well did some searching on ebay and found a pair of manifolds for $35 incl shipping. Ed, if your listening, what was the ride like on your dad's car before you rebuilt the front end?? My car doesn't handle bumps very well, not even small cracks very well either. Feels almost like the car is rolling down the road with no suspension at all by how harsh it handles imperfections in the road. It's weird, there is travel in the front end but just not the ride you would expect from a whale of a car. Any suggestions??

My P-15 had a really nice original but I let it go with the car when I traded it

Dropped the car of at the muffler shop last night, getting prices on either a new single or a dual system. I'm leaning towards staying with single and a quieter muffler. In my younger years i'm sure I would be putting a dual system on with glass packs or similar! With this kind of car I like the least amount of noise inside the car. Guess i'm turing into an old fart!!

Ed, any luck contacting this guy? I found another 68 Monaco in NY state but it's not a 500. The side trim on the 500 is next to impossible to find. I'm missing a few pieces on the drivers side rear quarter. Also, looked at what's involved in totally rebuilding the front suspension and it looks darn complicated. Still don't know how that whole torsion bar thing works. I just want to iron out all the creeks and pops when I go around a sharp corner.

well to be more subjective, why don't you contact him, might help me in the end to negotiate. I'd really love to pick this one up. Again, if it's a good distance away then don't worry about it

Sorry, meant to type MN, where the heck did MO come from? must be my dislexia kicking in again!! Yeah sure Ed, as long as it is very local, don't want you to put too much time into it. I'm very curious as to the overall condition. Maybe the guy would let you take it for a spin??

Just found another 68 Monaco 500 in MO, looks like an awesome car for the money. I would jump on it just for parts but shipping would put it up and over what I am willing to pay. These cars are pretty rare to come by http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/cto/1392780315.html

Ed, You could just fabricate them yourself?? they are mostly flat straight panels.

Ed, While I was out searchin for parts the other day I took a stab at finding what was out there for 69. I was amazed at how little there is out there! And I thought finding parts for the 68 was sparce. Really makes me appreceate cars more when I see one restored at a show that I know is very hard to find reproduction parts for.

The guy that did the body work on my car said he had to make all of his panels since none were available. I did see on Ebay that they do make full trunk pans for C body cars now. I am finding a lot of parts to be quiet scarce as well. The major problem I am having is finding all new weatherstrip for the door glass, what's there now is original and pretty dried out.

Wow, i'm getting more info on the Monaco than I did when I had my P-15 Thanks guys!!

I did check out Kanter, didn't seem to have much to offer. I'm going to check out PST and also there's a company in WA called Firmfeel that I plan on buying a steering box from. They also offer ball joints and HD tie rod ends.

Did you have to replace the torsion bars?? This is my first exposure to torsion bars too, kind of foreign to me after only wrenching GM all these years.