Today I went back to the toy st...err...parts store and bought the last
(crossing fingers) remaining parts for my 1990 Imperial. I bought new rear
brake rotors and rear shocks. I also bought a couple seals for where the
drive axle goes through the steering knuckle. This afternoon, I installed
the shocks.
I opted to buy the air shocks. I really like the idea of having load
leveling in a car like that...any car really. I comes in handy in my 78
when I have a back seat full of people and/or a trunk full of cargo.
Anyway, the installation of these shocks is very straight forward. The
hardest part was the fact that to remove the lower shock mounting bolt, you
need a 15mm combination wrench. I don't have one. I used a crescent wrench
on one side and then remembered I had a new, never been used, set of metric
crow's foot wrenches. I was able to make use of that for the other side.
For the top bolt, you need a 15mm and a 5/8 socket. I imagine two 15mm
sockets would work if you had two but I don't and you HAVE TO use a sochet
in there because a wrench won't work. I used a swing bar on one end due to
the tight confines. Nothing else to that, just wrench the thing off and
push out the bolt...same on the bottom. The bottoms were quite tight.
I noticed that the air fitting on the new shocks was slightly different than
the old ones. I opted to not buy the air line kit when I bought the shocks
because I thought it would just hook up. I guess I'll go buy that kit to
make things easy.
After I had all that installed, I decided to check out the air compressor
system. I was horrified to see where Chrysler had mounted that compressor.
It is behind the right rear wheel, in the mud, salt and dirt. It was in
terrible shape. I'll be surprised if it works at all. I removed it from
that location and will mount it, or a replacement should it not work, in the
trunk area somewhere, along with a small air resevoir. You see, they
apparently didn't use a resevoir on these systems and they didn't use a
conventional leveling valve either. There was some sort of electric right
heigh sensor mounted on the right rear shock. That told the compressor when
to run to boost the ride height and when to release air to lower the ride.
I plan to install a regular right height leveling valve such as those found
in semi tractor trailer units. I did so on my 78 and it works great. There
will be a little mounting and plumbing to do but it certainly isn't rocket
science! I'll probably do that after I get the car to pass inspection.
I'll just install the manual filler valve until then.
Brad Hogg
Winnipeg, Manitoba
http://www.nybclub.org/bradhogg/index.htm
1990 Chrysler Imperial 4-door Sedan (the KImperial)
1978 Chrysler Newport 4-door Hard Top (the Newporker)
1976 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham 4-door Hard Top (the Black Beast)
1968 Chrysler Newport Custom 4-door Sedan (Grand-Dad's car)
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