Jfleming

You are correct. The problem I have is that there’s not enough clearance to slip the manifold off the studs and get it out of the bay. I’m hoping to leave the studs put.

Hello, looking for advice and ideally experience with how to remove (and replace) the exhaust manifold from a 49-54 Chrysler with a 331 Hemi. It’s within about an inch of the upper control arm so I can tell it won’t just un-bolt and slide off. Will I be able to unbolt the motor mounts and lift it a few inches? Will I need to unbolt the trans mount too? Hopefully the engine doesn’t need to come OUT.

You’ve got me beat heartily!! I only drive old cars too, or at least I thought I did! My grand wagoneer is a 1990, although to be fair there’s not a part on it designed later than 1975.

I have another update! I believe I have solved my problems to my satisfaction! I was able to get my car on my father in law’s lift yesterday and grease everything as well as adjust the steering gearbox. It was significantly over-tight and I won’t lie that was my fault from adjusting it without knowing properly how. I now believe a significant portion of my issue was binding and releasing causing an oscillating over correction. I adjusted to the factory no play plus 3/4 turn setting. I may go up one more 1/8 or 1/4 turn because I fear I likely caused extra wear driving it over tightened and should slightly compensate for that. I will lift it again after driving a bit and perform the check in the MTSC: wheel should bind for about 4-4.5 inches in the center of travel. However, hedging aside, the car drives so much better! I was able to go 65 yesterday for the first time, and more importantly, I can now comfortably cruise at 50-55 which is all I wanted. Yes road irregularities still grab the tires but that was never my issue, it was the seemingly uncontrolled wandering. I will be keeping bias plies on it for the foreseeable future, they have 90% tread and are very pliable, no rot, there’s nothing “wrong” with them and they look great so I can’t really bring myself to take them off. I wanted the car to drive as well as it did 60 years ago and I feel I’ve achieved that. I know it would be better with radials but I’m happy with it now.

I agree. The problems are beyond just tires. Or, were. I’m about to post an update. It’s actually in pretty good shape overall. The suspension parts are mostly new, in part because of me, in part because it was maintained. It had some rust in the floor I addressed already, but I’m the “third” owner. The car was driven by the original owner until their passing in the 90s. Then her son drove it sparingly until 2004 or 2005. The guy I bought it from had it on the road 2006-2008 and then stopped driving it because he has a bel air he spent years restoring. My point is, the car was well cared for, and then used sparingly. It starts right up, runs great and cool, all the options still work (except the radio, the tubes warm up and glow and I think I hear light static but it can’t find a station). I believe the only reason I was able to get it for $2000 was the poor quality of his listing. He was asking 3500 and the “cover photo” on marketplace was of the rusty floors. It was up for a year nearly before I was able to go for it.

Well to be clear for everyone I am using stock rims and stock size bias ply tires. So, pretty much bone stock. Dealer and factory specs and tips very much apply.

Well that may be but it has improved my ride quality and handling. I’m running factory size bias ply tires, I see no reason not I follow factory pressure specs. I’m not particularly concerned with tread wear. The book does state what the warm pressures should be as well. To be clear I did mea 24 cold

I wanted to check back in with some updates! I’ve been combining advice from this thread, especially after learning I did in fact have the coaxial unit, as well as other threads on the topic, and advice in the MTSC books on the topic. So far I have replaced about half of the power steering fluid with new and thicker oil, this has helped with the moaning. I also employed a trick I read both here and the MTSC: I set the left tire dead straight, but the right one to toe in about 1/16” to help overcome the tendency to pull right on crowned roads. I also set the tires on the passenger side about 1/2-1 PSI higher than the drivers to further that effect. I’m running the factory recommend 24 PSI. I was running 27 before. This has all made a marked difference so far! I’m still getting what feels like binding as everything gets truly hot so my next steps are to redo the steering gear adjustment (I think it’s too tight) and grease my king pins a lot (with the wheels off the ground, I hear that’s critical) There is definitely improvement though. 40-45 used to be the fastest that felt reasonable, I can go a bit over 50 confidently now.

Interesting! Having examined mine, I was very much wrong about it. It IS the coaxial unit. I’m not sure why I was so confident it wasn’t. That changes my research and troubleshooting significantly

I’m a little confused about my steering box too. It most resembles the ones in the 1952 MTSC. I think maybe the Imperials kept the older units until their big 55 redesign?

It’s cool to hear how much you drive yours! And it’s significantly older than mine. If I put radials on mine 235-75-15 would fit the stock wheel. I hope the LTD didn’t meet a similar fate as its namesake!

Well now sir I’ll have you know this is a highfalluting Imperial. I have power windows, power seats, power brakes, electric wipers, automatic transmission, and terribly ponderous power steering ? In all seriousness I have replaced the tie rod ends, aligned it and greased it. And adjusted the spur gears. I’m concerned I perhaps overtightened them and maybe I’m getting binding? I may try greasing the kingpins more as well to chase any binding. I’m really not looking for a lot it just seems like it’s driving significantly worse than just “old”

A bit off topic but interesting to me. I do currently have a decent set of all season tires on the wagoneer, with about 30% tread life left. Going back to last winter they were probably 50% and I was just dissatisfied with the grip. It was fine overall but not great and I frequently have to drive to work in unplowed or under-plowed conditions. I am NOT getting studded snow tires, just regular snows. A bit more “knobby” for the deep snow, and a much softer rubber compound to achieve the flexing and gripping you mention, even when it’s 0 degrees all week. If I do go with radials on the imperial I was considering portawalls.

Rich, May I start by saying that is a beautiful Desoto! I understand what you’re saying about the road crown, here in upstate NY we still have a mix of highly crowned older roads and newer flatter ones. (The car handles poorly on both types.) And I would prefer to keep the bias tires on if I can find any other culprit, I suspect there must be because this is not possibly how it handled when anywhere near new. I enjoy slow cruising comfortable luxury cars of yesteryear. I have never owned or sought out any kind of sports car and I don’t care a bit for hot rods (no offense to the hot rodders, I just don’t want to drive one). All original is my liking. I am not looking to carve corners or race between red lights or go 80mph. I like my am tube radio, and my tall tires and just cruising about. I absolutely get what you’re saying and I agree 100%. I am not coming at this as a young guy expecting it to drive like a Camry. Young as I may be I drive exclusively classic, or at least vintage cars. This is my oldest yet but having put thousands of hours behind the wheel of a 1967 Chrysler I cannot believe this is how my Imperial is supposed to drive. I was in outside sales and my 67 Newport was my daily car. I have had Dodge Dodge Darts, and Ford Galaxies, Lincoln’s, and Jaguars. Often at the same time even. I have spent many enough hours at the wheel to know what to expect and from my experience limited in years as it may be, there is something wrong. I am only looking to go 50-55 but those country drives are just not relaxing or enjoyable when it takes such intense focus to keep the car on the road.

OK so an update on this lead since it’s the common theme. I’m not committing blindly to $1000 worth of tires. HOWEVER I looked it up and my L78-15 tires translate to a 235-75-15. Conveniently enough that is exactly what’s on my Grand Wagoneer! I’m getting snow tires this month for it, which means I will have a spare set of radials to put on my imperial and experiment with. They do NOT look the part, they’re a 3/4 inch white stripe and my bias plies are 3 or 4 inch. But they'll give me an opportunity to see if radials make a lot of improvement for my car before I commit to the $1000 set!