OT 68 Monaco 500 runnin strong

[radioguy7]

Hi guys, Just thought I would check in and let everyone know the Monaco is running strong. I've been driving the heck out of it the past week and no major issues yet. I am finding parts a bit scarce for it tho, inlcuding door weatherstrip!! Guess I'll need to be inventive and modify something that's close. Hope everyone is doing well.

[P-12 Tommy]

Hi guys, Just thought I would check in and let everyone know the Monaco is running strong. I've been driving the heck out of it the past week and no major issues yet. I am finding parts a bit scarce for it tho, inlcuding door weatherstrip!! Guess I'll need to be inventive and modify something that's close. Hope everyone is doing well.

My father bought a brand new '68 Monaco with a 383. Blue/green in color. I loved the taillights on it. I used to love to sit in it and listen to ball games on the radio. Forgot I had a metal comb in my back pocket. You can all guess what happened. Boy was he ticked!

[1940plymouth]

Pictures please:) Sure would appreciate it:)

Thanks,

Bob

[Rollie���]

What's the MPG?

[radioguy7]

Here are some more pics guys, i've done some detailing since these pics were taken.

I'm getting about 13 mpg with it, maybe more on the highway. The A/C compressor is connected and working but I am thinking of removing it and or trying to bypass the pully to improve on the mpg. It has a single exhaust right now so I'm thinking maybe duels would help as well.

The guy that did the work on it stopped short of rebuilding the suspension and steering components so I've been hunting for parts. Never dealt with torsion bars before.

[radioguy7]

A few more

[1940plymouth]

Thanks for posting the photos, it is a great looking car

[Young Ed]

Dad and I rebuilt the entire suspension on his 69 sport fury last spring. If you're doing the ball joints you'll need a special socket. There is more then 1 size also your car should need the big one being a fullsize car. Check with the autoparts place in the area to see if you can rent/borrow one.

[jd52cranbrook]

Man thats a pretty car.

[P-12 Tommy]

A few more

Looks like a '66 Charger console right down to the brushed aluminum insert and armrest.

Tom

[radioguy7]

Yes she is sharp, thanks, and i'm finding parts are rarer than hens teeth!!

Ed, my recent trip to Autozone had the kid behind the counter staring at me like I had horns coming out my head, specially when I mentioned torsion bars!

LOLOL

I'm going to visit the local NAPA, there's a few old timers that work there, I'm sure they will be able to help me out. I plan on doing a complete rebuild on the front end. I did this years ago on a 64 Pontiac Catalina I owned, was worth every penny. I don't like creaks and pops when I'm cruising down the road, I get enough of them from my back!!

[Young Ed]

I think advance auto was where we rented the kit from. Dad liked it so much he bought one from them. Came in really handy when I had to do balljoints in my dakota. FYI it took Dad and I about 20 hours to rebuild his front end. We busted our a**es on it trying to get it ready for oconomowoc. We finished and got it aligned only to find on a test drive afterwards that the radiator was plugged up and shot. No WI trip for that thing.

[radioguy7]

Ed, was that the frist Dodge front end you rebuilt?? Just trying to get an idea of what I'm in for. If it were GM I would have no trouble, just never have messed with Dodge, let alone vintage Dodge. I found I can get inner and outter tie rods and upper and lower control arm bushings, just having a bit of trouble finding ball joints. I only found a RH torsion rod tho so far.

[Young Ed]

It was a 2nd or third for me and probably 20th for Dad. None of it was really that hard just 30 year old stuff that likes to fight ya. One of the harder things was actually getting the new shocks on. The new ones were gas and wouldnt stay compressed long enough to fit into their home.

Check with PST for a kit. Way cheaper then buying the parts individually. Everything but I believe inner(might have been outers) tie rods and shocks were in the kit. Those we got from napa.

[John Reddie]

I have two '67 Plymouth Furys. They are similar to your Dodge. This is the socket you'll need for the upper ball joints. Decent price too.

John R http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MOPAR-UPPER-BALL-JOINT-SOCKET-CU

[Normspeed]

What a great cruiser! Beautiful car, a good one to keep fairly original. I hope you continue to post here about this project.

[radioguy7]

It was a 2nd or third for me and probably 20th for Dad. None of it was really that hard just 30 year old stuff that likes to fight ya. One of the harder things was actually getting the new shocks on. The new ones were gas and wouldnt stay compressed long enough to fit into their home.

Check with PST for a kit. Way cheaper then buying the parts individually. Everything but I believe inner(might have been outers) tie rods and shocks were in the kit. Those we got from napa.

I will Ed, and thanks for the info, every bit helps. Right now I have a little bit of vibration above 65 mph, but that could also be tire balancing, I bought the car with new tires on it. I'll check with PST, I already looked at Kanter but it didn't seem like they offered much. So far it seems there isn't much for C body cars at all. NAPA has always seemed to be my saving grace, although a bit pricey.

[radioguy7]

I have two '67 Plymouth Furys. They are similar to your Dodge. This is the socket you'll need for the upper ball joints. Decent price too.

John R http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MOPAR-UPPER-BALL-JOINT-SOCKET-CU

John, the link didn't work, do you have a pic of the socket I'll need?

Thanks

[radioguy7]

What a great cruiser! Beautiful car, a good one to keep fairly original. I hope you continue to post here about this project.

Thank you Norm, my wife and I are really enjoying the car so far, even with it's quirks, but hey, that's what gives it character!! I will be posting updates for sure, can't seem to get this forum out of my blood. I'm still a lurker, love reading the posts.

[Young Ed]

I will Ed, and thanks for the info, every bit helps. Right now I have a little bit of vibration above 65 mph, but that could also be tire balancing, I bought the car with new tires on it. I'll check with PST, I already looked at Kanter but it didn't seem like they offered much. So far it seems there isn't much for C body cars at all. NAPA has always seemed to be my saving grace, although a bit pricey.

I was at Dads over the weekend and happened to see a PST catalog. I think the entire front end kit without inner tie rods was $259.

[radioguy7]

I was at Dads over the weekend and happened to see a PST catalog. I think the entire front end kit without inner tie rods was $259.

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.

[Young Ed]

Nope they were fine. Same with the other torsion bar front ends we've done.

[kevinanderson]

Very nice. My neighbor has one. 200k on the 383 2v. His even has cruise control. But the car isnt nearly as sharp as yours. Try Kanter for front end kit, if I've been reading the threads close enough

[james curl]

Speedway offers both large and small MoPar screw in ball joints in their race car catalogue. I bought the two different size sockets on line from a site that supplies automotive speciality tools, they were not cheap and are 3/4" drive. I was helping a friend rebuild a Volare front suspension installed on a 58 Chevy Pick up, you will have to have the sockets as the plate steel wrench will deform and ruin the shoulders on the ball joints.

[radioguy7]

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.