Bad news for my '59

["Greg and Russell" <65luxuryliner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bill,

 

By all means shop around for a reputable machine shop in your area to do this work.  I looked at my bills for the rebuild of my 413 and 727 torqueflite in my '65 convertible and the total was around $3,300-3,400.

This did NOT include pulling the the engine and trans. or reinstalling them.  I did find the cam and dampened valve springs (slight modification to the 300L's specs.) for the machinist (he was having a hard time finding them and I located them faster) so add those to the cost.  Still, even adding those to the picture, I had no more than around 3,600-3,700 in the rebuild.  Kenyon's post mentioned the other items that will run up the cost too.  But the engine/trans. rebuild should run around 3K.  Check around first before agreeing to this guy's quote.  I'd ask at your local NAPA if they could recommend a reputable shop.  Network man!  It works!

 

Good luck and keep us informed of what you find!

 

Greg McDonnell

Mobile, AL

----- Original Message -----

From: Imperial59crown@xxxxxxx

To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 10:23 PM

Subject: IML: Bad news for my '59

Today I received the bad news from my mechanic that my '59 Imperial has very poor combustion from two cylinders now, and a leak in the brake booster, which would account for its lack of power lately, and poor braking. Now I am faced with the decision to either rebuild the engine, and brake booster, which will cost anywhere in the area of $5,000.00 for the engine alone, or store the car for a while until I have some time to shop around, and accumulate the funds for this undertaking. I am going towards storing the car, since it is becoming difficult to keep driving, having to put it in neutral at each stop light so the engine does not die out. My question is does 5 grand sound like a lot to rebuild an engine, and that is most likely the minimum with this mechanic?

 

Bill '59 Crown