1966 Imperial - Cruiser after 30 years in barn

rockwater

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Hi all, first want to say thank you for all the wonderful information on this forum and your contributions. Have already found a good amount of information that will help me bring an Imperial back. Read through the bajajoaquin thread and really liked the story progress and all the information.

So the backstory, my dad is a bit of a car collector, though not a huge Mopar guy. He came across a 1966 Imperial for sale in 1989, mostly rust free and seemingly most things were working. This was in the midst of the demolition derby period where they were sending many an Imperial to the fair to smash poor unsuspecting Fords and GMs, so he didn't want that future for it. He drove it for about 200 miles before parking it in the back of the barn with some other cars he didn't care to work on at the time.

A few years ago my dad mentioned there were a few car shows he'd like to attend that he'd never attempted before. So we've been working our way through some of them, but we now need a cruiser that the 3 of us can comfortably ride in. That brings me to current, where we pulled the Imperial out after sitting for just around 30 years.

I'll see if can add some pictures at some point. It was very very dirty, but is cleaning up fairly well. Was a bit of pitting on some chrome, probably from 30 years of humid Kansas weather, but seems to be polishing out fairly well. Passenger side is pretty solid, couple surface rust spots that will need to be addressed. Driver side has some cancer behind rear wheel and around arch, so that will be a bodywork project for winter. Goal isn't for a perfect restoration, just something for the family and I to take in some cruise nights and have a bit unique cruiser, so my novice bodywork skills may suffice for now.

After replacing the points, condenser, rotor, coil, checking fluids, and putting a camera in the tank, the 440 fired with a bit of gas down the carb. Seemed to fire up pretty decent after its 30 year hibernation. Camera in the gas tank showed it dry and fairly debris free, was put away pre-ethanol I'm thinking, so hoping wasn't too much damage done. Put a few gallons of non-ethanol gas in the tank, but so far am unable to get it to pull fuel. New fuel pump is on order and will get it installed next weekend.

So just wanted to say hi and introduce my little project here, hopefully will have another Imperial out cruising around here in the somewhat relative future. Thank you again for the great information on this board, will try to support some site sponsors as progress through this project.
 
Hi all( ...) Camera in the gas tank showed it dry and fairly debris free, was put away pre-ethanol I'm thinking, so hoping wasn't too much damage done. Put a few gallons of non-ethanol gas in the tank, but so far am unable to get it to pull fuel. New fuel pump is on order and will get it installed next weekend.

I would rebuild (or, if impossible, change the sending unit) and replace the fuel line as well. I got those, as well as a sending unit ground strap and a fuel tank filler neck grommet, from Van's Auto for Ming, my 1973 New Yorker Brougham.
 
Welcome ! I have a '66 Coupe and a '66 Conv.
 
Cool story. I fell into mine when a friend needed a place to park it. Eventually he offered it to me. My "go through it" is going a bit further but the goal is the same: something clean and pretty that can do parades and cruising. Good luck with it, and hope to see the pics...
 
Please get your project done!!! I'm tired of being the only Imperial at the car shows. Hope to see you at the Weston Mo. Moonshiners cruise nights. Great place for maiden voyage!!
 
Hey all! Kind of disappeared, work has been hectic with covid changes and role changes, but have made some Imperial progress.

Replaced all the ignition components, though needing to get vacuum advance diaphragm squared away. Fires up and idles great now, having to run off boat tank as discovered the 30+ year old gas tank repair had failed. Putting on a new tank this weekend and running new fuel lines, to get things ready for a Holley Sniper efi.

Also going to try to replace drum brake parts this weekend, left front was a mess and figure be good to get new Springs and give wheel cylinders attention all around. Any tips or links would be wonderful if had any handy. Will have to see what state the master cylinder is in, was sitting dry so has some rust in it.

Started giving the exterior a scrubbing and was getting the black paint flaking off, ran paint code and sure enough my car was originally cream with black interior. So suppose that helps open some options if want to have a fun color change.

Thanks for the comments all! Was fun to see interest in project, once get a bit more prettied up I’ll get some better pictures.
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Please get your project done!!! I'm tired of being the only Imperial at the car shows. Hope to see you at the Weston Mo. Moonshiners cruise nights. Great place for maiden voyage!!
That sounds like a perfect use for this! Hope to check out your ride some day :thumbsup:

Fun seeing my dad show a bit of a renewed interest in the car scene, is getting one of his convertibles going to cruise some.
 
I would rebuild (or, if impossible, change the sending unit) and replace the fuel line as well. I got those, as well as a sending unit ground strap and a fuel tank filler neck grommet, from Van's Auto for Ming, my 1973 New Yorker Brougham.
Thank you for info, replacing most all fuel related now, wanting efi eventually, and figure be good to have a clean start.
 
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