Hey list,
I have a 60 Imperial 4drht that I bought from Kenyon that was a complete basket case. I bought it for parts and decided the body was in better shape than my own. I set out to restore it instead. This was July of 2001. I did what I could on the little money I had over the summer and most of winter. Not much was accomplished at all. Then during the winter I worked as much overtime as possible and saved all I could. Then came the spring. Now I had the cash and the time. What a beautiful Combination. The only problem was I was running out of time. I had set a goal for myself that seemed extremely unreachable. I needed the car drivable and looking great to drive from Fairfield, CA. to Clarksburg, WV. and then onto Lexington Va For my wedding and then back across the U.S. Stopping along in New Orleans for a small Honeymoon. The car needed body work and the upholstery redone. The engine and transmission were still setting in my garage floor after having been rebuilt professionally; there wasn't anything on the car that appea
red to be in good enough shape to just leave alone, especially for a trip that long. Everything I paid someone to do took longer than what it was supposed to. The bodywork and paint guy said it would only take 3 weeks. A month and 1/2 later I got the car back. I had a flat bed pick up the car from the paint shop. I had had a problem with the drivers side door not staying closed in the past, but it seemed to be fine now. Well during the drive back to my house the wind caught the door and flung it open, past the limiter and into the front fender, leaving a nice deep crease in the fender and the paint. Talk about mad, but I was running short on time. I pulled the fender off, beat out the dent the best I could and left it alone. I finally had put the motor and transmission and fired the car up. It seem to run good, but I was not even close to putting it in gear yet. Its amazing all the little stuff that has to go on after the engine is back in. About 2 weeks before I was supposed to leave for West Virginia, I finally got my seats back,
but the car was still not ready for them. Now I was working on the car every second that I had. On June 15, 2002, About a week before I was supposed to leave for WVa, I flew my Father out here for the help and also to drive with me back to WV. WE both worked around the clock to get "her" on the road. When we finally got to the point of putter her in gear, we had a surprise. She would die instantly. The first and easiest fix was a new carburator. Worked like a charm! It was now 2 days before we needed to leave and we needed a bit of a reward. So my Fiance, my DAD, and myself drove "Calista" (I have gotten a lot of Flak for this name, but it means Beautiful, and she really is!) To a restaurant about 15 miles away. Not 1 problem. She drove like a dream. The next day we went at it again. Non-stop. every chance we got we would drive her around the block, to the gas station, a few miles down the freeway and back. never any problems. Everything was new or completely rebuilt except for only a few things. Well, we ended up running ov
er 3 days on our goal, but There didn't appear to be any problems, so we loaded her up, said our prayers, crossed about every finger, toe or anyother body parts and set out!
Now the fun part!
We made it about 20 miles and stopped off to get gas. Whats that smell! Why is there smoke coming from one the wheels? I pulled off in the Chevron Gas station, and jacked her up, pulled off the front drivers side wheel and what a sight! The rubber dust boot that goes over the top wheel cylinder was completely melted. I mean liquified. Gone! I called my fiance, and had her come get my DAD to go get parts from the house. when he returned, I had everything off. The backing plate and all. I rebuilt the whole brakes on that side again, and put it all back together. It was like new, but we could not figure out the cause. I figured maybe I had tightened the adjusting CAM too tight and made sure I didn't do it this time. It was too late to go any further that night and I decided that we would stay in a hotel, only 20 miles from home and get started early in the A.M. At daybreak we were up and gone. This is absolutely the best driving car I have ever driven. The $1500 in all new bushings and Ball joints make the car handle like a dream. The
new exhaust along with sound deadner under the carpet make it such a pleasure to talk inside and the seats are awsome. All this leg room and space, and... Theres that Smell again....Here we go again! I see smoke form the same wheel as Last night.... wait a minute... Its coming from the two rear wheels also!!!! Well we had made it a total of 51 miles from the house. The car driven a total of 85 miles from the first day we got to put her in gear and it would be the last untill we returned from our wedding. It cost me $300 to get her flat bedded back home and we ended up Taking the Toyota. All that hard work and time. Talk about defeat and depressed. But we had to face reality. Let me say this, that was the most cramped 6000 miles I have ever driven. The only benifit was we had A/C and the good gas milage.
But Boy, Did "Calista" look Beautiful when we pulled into the driveway last night when we got home!
Now my question. Is it possible that there is a hole in the Brake booster that would cause vacuum to pull the master cylinder and cause the brakes to engage? After driving for about 20 minutes the brake lights would start coming on and the brakes would start engaging and then the smoking wheels of the shoes contacting at speeds of 60+ MPH. Its the only thing we can figure. all the rest of the system is new or rebuild. After the car is off for a while, the wheels will free spin and everything is fine again.
At least she is this far along and will make a great daily driver once this bug is worked out. I will get pictures on the internet for everyone to see soon. She is not completely done, but she looked good enough to be driven from our wedding if she would made it!
If anyone has any suggestions or help please let me know! I really wanna drive her carefree!
Marc Lamp
60 Imp 4drht
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