Wishing for you the greatest success! From the sound of it, that might be finishing the race rather than actually winning it. Having an Imperial in the event is fantastic! Unless you have hardened valves and valve seats, running 70 with a vacuum leak isn't going to help the 413, and could quickly result in burned valves. Unless the A/C has been retrofitted with a cycling switch, the compressor will come on and stay on whether there is refrigerent in the system or not. With no cooling, I would guess there isn't. Running it dry is not a good idea and will quickly result in non-repairable destruction of the compressor. The lack of ventilation door operation can be related to your vacuum leak, or even could be the cause of it. Fuses blow when there is a short circuit, so bypassing the safety could result in other damage.
I understand that these observations don't really help very much at this point, but if there is an on site mechanic, the vacuum lines for the ventilation doors should be checked, the lead to the compressor clutch on the A/C should be disconnected, and the jumper wire should be disconnected except when the back up lights are necessary.
Paul W.
Well, we're through two days of running (not counting the 5-hour run from home
to Philly for the start). This is my first access to email. So far, so good.
We were up til midnight Tuesday, fixing the backup lights to pass inspection so
we'd be legal to drive to the race, much less IN it. They had blown a 20A fuse
in that circuit! The switch and bulbs are fine, and we could get light at low
current when we fed the switch separately, so in the end, we just made a jumper
that bypasses the in-harness lead from fuse to switch - and all is beter.
There's juice oozing from the rear axle near the left hub, but I'm 99% sure
after three days running that it's not brake fluid, even though those pads do
scream from time to time. The motor seems to be doing well. The idle is rough,
mostly because of the vacuum leak from the booster, I think, but otherwise, it
seems to be taking the load. WE set the timing back 2 degrees because it was
knocking on the hot run down. It's been fine ever since in that regard. About
14 MPG at 70 MPH. It burned a quart on the way down to Philly, but no more in
the next two days.
Handling was awful at first, running on orginal-spec bias ply tires (goodrich
Silvertown 8.20 x 15, from Coker Tire-and by the way, Corky Coker and his wife
Teresa are running the Race, too, in their 1930's INDY racer!). Lowering tire
pressure from 30-33 to the spec 24-26 made a BIG difference in that (but there's
still no cornering ability!).
Our exhaust pipes are knocking about under there, especially in hard going, due
to some interferences at extreme suspension positions, but I suppose they'll
survive.
Overall, I'm VERY pleased with the car so far. I begin to think we MIGHT make
it all the way.
We did get our first battle scar - the left front hubcap went loose on a
railroad crossing and I think it clippd the left rear fender on the way by.
There's a little slash behind that wheel well. I guess when we get back, we'll
have to ask for some touch-up. From now on, we're running sans caps - the gold
wheels and stickers make it look like an early Richard Petty Plymouth racer!
I'd like to post some pix, but not to the whole list? - (does anyone have an
ftp site I can access from out here? Kenyon?).
Our team number is 61, not by coincidence! We've done two park-and-shows during
meal breaks and the Imp draws a good crowd even in this amazing field of cars!
we're racing against everything from brass-era cars (1913 Velie, a 1920's
Rolls-Royce) through Model A's and 40's vintage sports club racers, to every
kind of sedan you can imagine, and some unique sports cars. None is newer than
our '61 and we are the only Imperial!
We even had our first IML'er visit on the starting grid in Philly. Thanks, Jeff
- well met! For those wondering what license plates we ended with: NO XQS
Today, we got some interesting road grime: It was raining and we were dodging
buggies in Amish country. Those horses have their own kind of emissions
problems, y'know! The tops been up and down. We stuffed shoprags in the
A-pillar tops to minimize the leaks there today and it worked fine, even in hard
rain. No A/C at all, alas. The compressor kicks in, but we get no cooling.
Even ventilation is severely limited and we think maybe one or more damper doors
are not opening, as even with the fan on high, we can barely feel any airflow.
Unlike the car, our performance is only so-so. We're in 5th, I think, of 25
rookies, and about 55th overall (midfield of 103). We're getting better,
though! It's LOTS of fun. Although our total score wasn't much better today,
our better segments were better, indeed - we just just made a couple of bad
mistakes on other segments. We're off tomorrrow from York, PA to Washington, PA
- then on into Ohio Monday. More as events warrant! Stay tuned and we welcome
any IML'ers who stop by to say 'HI'
I'll try to post more as practical! jc
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