Nice discussion and fix over on Chevy Talk. I always new the 65-66 were not quite right and often wondered about the 67 and up change. Food for thought for us 65-66 B-body people.
I've been following that thread too. I had it right in the 70's and I didn't even realize it when I put disc brakes on my 66 Grande Parisienne from a 68 donor car, ! I put on the whole steering linkage, everything, because if I recall right there was exactly that issue they mention with the 68 steering arm not working with the 66 linkage.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)
Thats good stuff. My barge has the same issues to the point that it is not much fun around town. Awesome road car though. I thought it was beacause I had put 7 inch ralleys and 60 series tire but it seems the problem is deeper. Good thing I have a couple of 67 parts cars!
67-70 Impala Center link. Not cheap, but Performance Online has a very nice part. Bought one myself. Recommend it. More options out there though.
67-70 Impala Steering arms. NA new. Drum or disc ok, find online, ask here or salvage. Should be someone with some drum assemblies sitting around. 65-66 arms will not work. Too short.
67-70 Impala PS Pitman arm. NA new. Pull from an old PS box or salvage car. Online or here. 67-68 PS PN 3900559.
67-70 Impala Idler arm. Centric 62062002 or equivalent, Rock Auto.
65-70 Tie rods and adjusters are the same.
Cut, tapped and welded on my own reinforcement plate. It was easy for me to mock everything up, position the plate and drill the frame, as everything was clean I had no engine or front end in place.
Installed the pitman arm on the box on the bench and torqued the nut, (the bend in the arm must face UP).
Simply position the center link parallel and level with the crossmember as close as you can to mock up the idler arm position. Idler and pitman knuckles just lightly tightened. Steering in the centered positon. Use stands and or blocks with shims to support the link it as you position it.
Recently I mentioned there was a 67 Impala convertible in the local Pick-n-Pull. A few weeks ago while walking by there was a guy salvaging some front end parts (he was beating the heck out of the drivers wheel trying to get it to separate from the drum). He said he had a 65 or 66, and was grabbing all the steering parts to move onto his car. I knew the idler arm was in a different spot of the 65-66's, but didn't know all the other parts were different too.
I've problably thrown out 2-3 sets of 69-70 steering arms, but should have a few pitman arms (both standard and power steering) kicking around. And it should surprise no one that I have a spare new center link here too.
If and when I do front discs on the 69 this year (there is hope, I hope), the 69 arms will be available.
You know, had the front end on the 65 been all good, I likely would not have done this upgrade. But everything was shot, so why not? It needed everything anyway. The only real challenge was adapting the sidemout idler arm, even that wasn't a big deal.
But of course you need to take some care with it all showing some attention to detail, it's your steering after all so it is kind of a big deal.
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65 Laurentian post, 67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT.
