My 1965 Skylark convertible is in nice shape. From a few feet away it looks like new. It has great paint and really good grille and taillights. It has been reupholstered and runs great. It has a 1 1/4” front sway bar and a factory rear bar. But I have problems with squeaking and loud rattles on rough roads, Some of the rattles are probably the 1 1/4” front sway bar as it sits very close to the frame. It also clunks and I am suspicious it is A arm bushings. Or, do worn ball joints make noise? And, miscellaneous squeaks. I am suspicious it is loose fenders or inner fenders or body mounts. Anyone have squeaking that they solved and if so what was the solution? I know that if I put it up on a lift and inspect it I will probably find some of the problems, but not all. Kind of like trying to chase down a vibration in an old vehicle, very elusive.
When does it make noises? Hard bumps only? When the frame flexes? When the front hits or rear? Narrowing it down will help.
Could be anything, something you may not expect. On my 1965 Rambler Marlin every time I would go over a large bump (i.e. railroad tracks, etc...) I would hear a clump/thump/rattle that I could not find. I had the car up on jack stands several times and could not find an issue. Took it to a local auto repair shop and told them to put it up on their lift to check the suspension and other things to identify were this noise was coming and fix it. They heard the noise but said everything they checked was tight and didn't have an answer. Several years later I was looking at the front of my car and one of the headlights seemed just a little out of place. Put my hand on the headlight and it moved! A lot! 2 of the screws that held the assembly in were missing and the other was loose. Hitting a bump would cause the headlight to rattle but it would go back into place so not noticeable. Never drove the car at night much and never used the high beams so didn't notice the headlights were out of wack. Replaced/tighten the screws and no more rattle and clunk. Being your car is a convertible have you checked the pivot points on the convertible frame? Top loose to the windshield header?
Being a 50+ year old convertible, it will rattle. If you are serious about getting rid of them, you should plan on replacing every rubber and every wearing part in the body and chassis. It sucks, but that's pretty much the way it is - especially with a ragtop. Good luck.
I think I will convert it to front disc brakes this winter and redo the ball joints and bushings on the A arms. I suppose I could change the body bushings at the same time.
If you are going to replace the body mount bushings, I would recommend getting penetrating oil on any and all of the body bolts that you can get at ASAP. Breaking a body bolt sucks.
