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Henry,
I was waiting to see the other responses before I threw my $.02 in. Before getting technical, I have to ask how did a guy named Henry Ford decide to work on an Imperial?
Ok, now for an Imperial question, is your car on the road now, or will it need brake/ignition/carb work to get it roadworthy?
Reading your original note, it looks like you want to make your car a little friendlier to modern roads (and drivers) more so than a hot rod. When making changes (other than what may have been optional when the car was new), it requires a plan and research. I’ll write down everything I plan to do, then keep going back to figure out what I missed, or what else needs to change to make that one part work. And then I still find surprises.
Fuel mileage can be brought up with fuel injection, but as others mentioned, you won’t recover the cost of the conversion at the pump, unless you put a whole lot of miles on it. Edelbrock has a multi port kit available now that would run in the $3500 range or so. Most of the aftermarket kits (including the Edelbrock ones) are based on OEM GM fuel injection systems. There are inexpensive fuel injection controllers available (MegaSquirt), but they require you to put them together, and then you still need the manifold, injectors, sensors, etc. Yes, a fully functional fuel injection system can be made from junkyard parts, but I don’t think that’s what you are going for.
As an example of filling in the “what else” gaps, to run the fuel injection on your ’59, you will need to upgrade your electrical and fuel systems to support it. As Bill mentioned, that Edelbrock carb is a reasonable price (I have one on my ’67 LeBaron and my ’68 Barracuda). They can be setup to start at the flick of a key and idle all day long. Probably a whole lot faster (to set up) than the fuel injection too. You still need to haul the same weight down the road, so you can only squeeze so much MPG out of it. The carb would get you in the same territory. The fuel injection would probably do a little better when the motor is cold.
As for disk brakes, I’m all in favor of them. It seems to be a touchy topic here from time to time, and I do respect the stopping power of the original systems. However, I do not trust the majority of drivers in my area. I think most are insane, and don’t understand the basic laws of physics. A tractor trailer will not have the same stopping distance as an Altima with 4-wheel disks, but yet that Altima will cut off that truck even though the road just ahead is nothing but brake lights. I see it every day (and I seem to get cut off by more Altimas than anything else. Weird.). Keeping a safe distance isn’t always an option, at least not in South-Eastern PA.
Going to disks will mean redoing the entire brake system. Master cylinder, booster, proportioning valve, rear brakes, etc. If going disks up front, I’d consider going to a more modern drum rear setup at the same time. Unless you wanted to go 4-wheel disks.
If it were my car, I’d look into the front disks, electronic ignition and seat belts. Keep it carbureted, maybe go with a modern Edelbrock just to make getting tuning parts easier, and go enjoy driving the car.
Now the hot rodder in me says to encourage a stroked and fuel injected 496 CID RB motor backed by a 727 with a Gear Vendor’s overdrive, 4-wheel disk and a 3.73 Sure Grip Dana 60 rear. Dual throttle bodies with factory dual 4bbl style air filter assemblies on them. Big dual exhaust with the quietest high flow mufflers and resonators on it. Of course the suspension would have to be beefed up so when the turns came up you could make them. I could keep going on, but I’d probably get banned from the list or declared insane (or both). Probably rightly so.
Rob McCall ’67 LeBaron
-----Original Message-----
I just wana ask is there a brake upgrade or conversion avalible for 59's > I wana drive my car, not just let it sit around the shop. but im not real fond of drum brakes. would like disk on the front . I do like to keep the car most orignal but as far as a safety . I plan on a few mods to the car. like all wiring and electrical. seat belts , and brakes. to name a few. after all ,my kids will be rideing with me. I know a 59 imperial is far more safer than a hond@ but wont stop as good . ALSO im thinking about installing univers fuel injection on the 413 .and electronic ignition . not decided just yet. but im thinking that fuel injection would improve fuel milage...............any thoughts would be aprecieated. thanks. Do you Yahoo!? |
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