looks great with the road wheels and wider white walls ( which became available as an option in 78)
1975 Imperial build thread
- Thread starter 1975.Imperial
- Start date
looks great with the road wheels and wider white walls ( which became available as an option in 78)
1975.Imperial
Member
Thank you! That's what I was going for (plus these tires were slightly more affordable than my thinner white wall option). '78's actually my favourite year style-wise for the waterfall grill cars (with the exception of the non-halo vinyl top)
1975.Imperial
Member
In the past couple of days, I've made even more progress. All the power windows work as well as the wipers. I've also given the engine a basic tune up and cleaned the spark plugs, it's running better now but still has the lean pops when immediately pressing the pedal more than halfway (right before the secondaries kick in), if anyone could provide some insight into fixing this that'd be great.
Next up is getting the car on jack stands to fix all the underside problems. Subframe, quarter panel, exhaust clearance, and readjusting the parking brake cable. It's also decided to start dripping coolant so I've got to figure out what that's about.
As for the voltage regulator problem, it's become intermittent, so I'm just going to leave it for a couple days and hope it fixes itself.
Next up is getting the car on jack stands to fix all the underside problems. Subframe, quarter panel, exhaust clearance, and readjusting the parking brake cable. It's also decided to start dripping coolant so I've got to figure out what that's about.
As for the voltage regulator problem, it's become intermittent, so I'm just going to leave it for a couple days and hope it fixes itself.
thethee
Senior Member
Does it have the stock thermoquad? I've had the same issues on my 75 Imperial. Raising the metering rods a bunch fixed that for me. Small flat blade screwdriver in the center of the TQ, clockwise for richer if I'm not mistaken. Adjust half a turn at a time.
Hope this helps.
1975.Imperial
Member
Yes, it is a stock Thermoquad, which I have to deal with until I get the funding for an Edelbrock. Thank you, I'll give this a try
thethee
Senior Member
This is what you're looking for. On mine I think I gave it an additional 2 or 3 full turns and that fixed my off idle hesitation. YMMV
1975.Imperial
Member
So a bit has happened since the last update, most substantial being that the frame is now fixed. I figured out that the coolant leak was the freeze/frost/core/expansion/welch plug behind the motor mount, that was a fun fix. After that, it was still leaking from an intake manifold bolt, I put some teflon tape on that but I guess the system didn't like all the pressure because it blew 2 more plugs, this time in the heads. Thought I was going to have to take off the heads to get to them but looks like I've got clearance just taking off the rubber mudguard. Now I'm concerned that while I'm driving another plug might blow, I don't really want to pull the engine to replace them all but that consideration's gotten into my head. I got the quarter panel patch all welded in and now just have to sand/paint the body filler for that to be done. I also figured out why I had such terrible performance at anything but high RPMs, the ignition timing must've been 20° AFTER TDC. Now I've advanced it to where it just about kicks back against the starter upon startup, it feels like a rocket ship now. I, unfortunately, made that realization a bit too late, the terrible timing, along with me forgetting to reconnect a spark plug wire, led to another muffler casualty upon startup.
As it sits now, I've got the front of the car jacked up, new plugs ordered for tomorrow morning, the muffler half on (not enough space to fully install it with the front jacked up), and the rest of the bondo to sand down (which I might not bother painting for the safety inspection). I'll probably give the carb a tuneup considering the engine now actually has the potential to run decent.
Also, got some more film photos developed, enjoy!
As it sits now, I've got the front of the car jacked up, new plugs ordered for tomorrow morning, the muffler half on (not enough space to fully install it with the front jacked up), and the rest of the bondo to sand down (which I might not bother painting for the safety inspection). I'll probably give the carb a tuneup considering the engine now actually has the potential to run decent.
Also, got some more film photos developed, enjoy!
1975.Imperial
Member
I'm not as big of a fan of how this roll turned out, I tried out a lens with a longer focal length and it seems to have done something funky with the colouring. Anyways, like the car itself, it's all a learning experience
75LandYacht
Yank Tank
Keep plugging away at her issues, looking good, I have a 77 with a sunroof and Love it. Keep us posted as you go.
1975.Imperial
Member
I'm in the process of replacing most of the freeze/frost/core/expansion/welch plugs on the engine, and have gotten through 9 of the 12 that I want to replace (I'm not going to bother with the one on the rear of the block as it's sealing oil, so it shouldn't rust out, or the two on the rear of the head, as the head plugs don't look terrible so far and I don't want to pull the engine. So far the process has been going rather smoothly, I've run into one problem though: a plug on the side of the passenger side head is slightly bigger than the others. I will, of course, track down a bigger plug, but can anyone offer some sort of reasoning as to why this could be? I don't think that this engine's been rebuilt so I'm not sure why someone would bore just that hole out by ~1/8", or is that just how it's supposed to be?
Also, one time when I was turning the steering wheel (engine off) some power steering fluid puked out of the reservoir, would that be normal as the pump wasn't spinning, or is it cause for concern?
Also, one time when I was turning the steering wheel (engine off) some power steering fluid puked out of the reservoir, would that be normal as the pump wasn't spinning, or is it cause for concern?
As the cyl heads are the same, side to side, no real reason for that particular plug to not be the same as the other side. Unless something happened at the foundry and a different plug was used to account for that mishap. A plug size which would not be listed in the parts book, usually.
For example, in one brand of engine, I noticed a .008" US main bearing listed. That seemed odd. I asked my late machine shop operative about that. He smiled and said that if they had a crank which was not ground correctly at the plant, they would then grind it to .008"US and put matching bearings with it, bearings which only existed at the engine plant, not in the parts books. Reason .008"US? When the engine would be overhauled at about 100K miles, then there would be enough wear on the crank for that crank to then be .010"US and would just need matching bearings to rebuild the motor. Back then, they might polish the crank and not cut it if everything looked good.
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
For example, in one brand of engine, I noticed a .008" US main bearing listed. That seemed odd. I asked my late machine shop operative about that. He smiled and said that if they had a crank which was not ground correctly at the plant, they would then grind it to .008"US and put matching bearings with it, bearings which only existed at the engine plant, not in the parts books. Reason .008"US? When the engine would be overhauled at about 100K miles, then there would be enough wear on the crank for that crank to then be .010"US and would just need matching bearings to rebuild the motor. Back then, they might polish the crank and not cut it if everything looked good.
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
rags
Senior Member
yes. and frost plugs rot from the inside. hope you're replacing them with brass plugs. like everything else now, the galvanized steelies aren't worth the box they come in.
1975.Imperial
Member
Great, thank you. I am using the steel ones, I know brass is better but I'm planning on rebuilding the engine within the next 10 years. My thinking is that if the old steel ones lasted 50, these ones ought to be able to last at least 10
1975.Imperial
Member
That makes sense, so I've just got sort of a factory screw up. If the size wouldn't be listed anywhere this is going to be a joy to find a replacement for, getting the 2 normal sizes has been a chore already.
rags
Senior Member
old steel ones lasted 50 years. i replaced the plugs in my '65 and they lasted 2 years. had to re-replace them but with brass. with that odd size, if you can't find an sae size that will fit, there are metric sizes as well.
1975.Imperial
Member
So I tried out a 1-3/8" plug today, too big. They seemed to be about the same amount oversize as the 1-1/4" were undersized, so now I'm on my journey to find a 1-5/16" plug to try. I was hoping to get the passenger side reassembled today but that's not happening. All this dead time has been somewhat useful though, I was able to paint my exhaust manifolds, so now they don't look quite as ugly. I've got to put some hose clamps on a few vacuum lines too so maybe I'll get around to doing that today
70bigblockdodge
Old Man with a Hat
Good job on the car. Most likely a void in the casting when machined. The head probably passed all other quality checks so a simple resize on one core plug is not a big deal. It will never be a issue on a 15 year lifespan of the car.
I was going to say timing as you problem with carburetor, but you beat me to it. 90% of all carburetor problems are electrical.
I was going to say timing as you problem with carburetor, but you beat me to it. 90% of all carburetor problems are electrical.
1975.Imperial
Member
Quick question, does anyone have any experience with P-S-T idler arms? I took the Imperial to get safetied not too long ago and one of their only concerns was how much play the Duralast/Moog one had. I’m in Canada so it seems like the P-S-T Idler arm might be the only one that I can get on time (well, that or a used one, but I’d prefer new steering components).
On the other hand, if anyone’s had experience with the Moog/Duralast/whatever rebrand they’re on now, please tell me what I’m doing wrong. I’ve put the bushings on both ends, washers too, I’ve even found an extra bushing which I’ve tried adding, it still has about an inch of play pivoting up and down around the mounting bracket.
On the other hand, if anyone’s had experience with the Moog/Duralast/whatever rebrand they’re on now, please tell me what I’m doing wrong. I’ve put the bushings on both ends, washers too, I’ve even found an extra bushing which I’ve tried adding, it still has about an inch of play pivoting up and down around the mounting bracket.
Get a real Moog in a Moog box. That way, you know what you are getting. AZone might get Moog to supply them, but if the price is very much less for the AZone part, everything is not completely the same, usually. OR get another brand to get you past this inspection point and THEN go about getting something better (without any time-crunch in the mix).
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
Similar threads
