I would buy a new quality heater valve. When they fail it is a mess. I have never rebuilt one myself, but I had one rebuilt and it works very well. Some of the replacement valves are not rebuildable due to their cheap construction.
It is common for Imperial Four Door cars from that period to have saturated rear door panels, especially towards the back of the car. This is usually due to where the top of the door meets the base of the roof. Water enters there, runs down the inside of the door jamb on the door, and soaks the back half of the door panel from behind. Often you will find perfect cars with totally destroyed rear door panels for this reason.
You may be able to correct this be replacing the door weather strips, making sure that the ends are identical to the factory part. There is suppose to be a seal between the lower corner of the roof and the top of the back door, which I believe is attahced to the roof, not the door, but I could be mistaken. There is a stainless "corner" that fits on the top of the back of the door panel where it meets the door. There may be a seal under that stainless part. I am sorry for not remembering exactly, and the cars are not close by for me to outside and look.
I've been watching for water leakage in my '60 all summer - had to fix the roof
spear attachments right off. However I've suspected further leaking somewhere
in the back door areas (4-door). We've been having solid rain here for over a
week and now I've confirmed it.....definite water coming in someplace because
the bottoms of both door panels are soaking wet. I only see a few drips on top
of the arm rest on one side, certainly not enough to explain the amount of water
on the door panel, so you'd think the window rubber wouldn't be the culprit.
The headliner is still out so I can easily watch the roof spear areas, no
problems there except for a very small wet spot running along down the
bottom/back edge of the rear side window channels.....again not enough water and
there's no path for that to get to the doors.
I remember having a similar but less severe problem with my '62. Is this a
common issue? Could it be the water running down the outside of the window and
into the doors? All of my weatherstripping, channels, and such are original.
The car hasn't moved since the fire last week so it can't be from road spray.
On another issue, somewhere in the car's past the heater control valve was
bypassed. I assume it quit working. I have heat all the time even with the fan
off - lovely on a hot summer day. My question is how easy is it to repair one
of these valves? I haven't had the courage yet (or a dry space) to pull the one
I have out. I have seen a few rebuilt valves on ebay over the past few months,
but if they are realatively simple to repair I'll do it myself.....or is the
money well spent?
This car has been such an anomoly - I'm repairing things that I've NEVER had
issues with on other cars. *sigh*
Thanks,
Donn Reese
1960 Custom 4dr HDTP
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