The Imperial Cruiser project

DRAG-ULA

DRAG-ULA

Club Member
The Imperial leaked and smoked something fierce, so I pulled the engine. I was hoping to do a poor man's rebuild (rings & bearings) but after I tore it down I realized it's F*CKED!! Gotta do the whole nine yards. I'm also gonna clean up the engine bay, and rewire the car. It's an electrical fire waiting to happen.

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Here's why the choke never worked.
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Just a little dish on the lifters
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Sloppy ass original timing chain
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Chrysler and their infinite wisdom used nylon coated cam gears, they said it made them "quieter"
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Seats are a little wide.....
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So, the engine is at work for a rebuild, just gotta start gathering parts.
 
You were on borrowed time and got lucky with that cam gear. Was there something wrong with the motor? Or was it just old and tired?
 
cjmatt said:
swap the motor from the coronet!
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I'm thinking about it. I put like 200 miles (maybe) on my Coronet this year, and close to 3000 on the Imperial. I'm gonna set up the Imperial's engine for boost and maybe put this on it.

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We'll see.
 
98 Camaro said:
I love this car......thanks for keeping us posted on refreshing her, Captain!
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Thanks!! I dig it too. It's not worth it to rebuild the engine, but I like the car so much I have to. She's in dry dock for the winter, but she'll be sailing again next spring.
 
Gotta start de-skanking the engine bay and get it prepped for paint. All I've done in there so far is pull the A/C lines off.

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DRAG-ULA said:
I'm thinking about it. I put like 200 miles (maybe) on my Coronet this year, and close to 3000 on the Imperial. I'm gonna set up the Imperial's engine for boost and maybe put this on it.

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We'll see.
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That would be awesome!!! That engine bay has so much room you could put 4 on it lol
 
I wound up rebuilding the trans because it's out,

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Bent up all new hard lines, had the calipers rebuilt, and I replaced the rubber lines as well.

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The short block is together, but I don't have any pics yet. Hoping to have it mostly back together by the end of March.
 
Krazybones said:
sweet

Hey Mike, Mike Storey says hi! (small world)
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LOL I sitting here think who's Mike Storey and then it hit me lol. I really don't know him, he is a friend of my 1st wife's. last time I saw him he was helping her move out of the house lol
 
Long block is done, got it together the other day

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Did a quick rebuild on the heads, nothing fancy at all, just put in some bronze guides, did a quick valve job and mill.

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My 383 blew up when the nylon came off the timing gear and got sucked into the oil pickup. Then it was real quiet.
Good luck with the car, can't wait to see how it turns out.
 
That was pretty quick actually. At Christmas you only had it tore down. What can you gonna use?
 
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