Category Archives: Restoration

Paint Update

Posted on March 5, 2023 by RussD

The title of the previous post Light at the End of the Tunnel? was prescient. Yup, the light was an oncoming train. Polishing the paint left a lot of pig tails – small loops gouged in the paint. I kept … Continue reading →

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Electrical 15: Factory Wiring Diagrams

Posted on January 31, 2023 by RussD

Previous Electrical article: Electrical 14: MeterMatch While looking over the electrical posts I realized that I haven’t mentioned one of the most important resources for working on wiring – the wiring diagrams contained in the factory service manual. These are … Continue reading →

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Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Posted on January 16, 2023 by imperialjourney_3lrfwv

After admiring the newly chromed trim in I’ll Be Chrome For Christmas it was time to get back to the paint job mentioned in Back in Black! As the old observation notes, the light at the end of the tunnel … Continue reading →

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I’ll Be Chrome For Christmas

Posted on January 1, 2023 by RussD

To the tune of I’ll be Home for Christmas. Yes, I went there! While I was at the paint shop picking up the Imperial – documented in Back in Black! – I got a call from Librandi’s Plating that the … Continue reading →

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Back in Black!

Posted on December 18, 2022 by imperialjourney_3lrfwv

Major development – the Imperial is back from paint! And it looks great! After all the body work I had done the car was sprayed with a sealer, three coats of black basecoat, and three coats of clear coat. Normally … Continue reading →

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Handle This!

Posted on August 31, 2022 by RussD

With the boat running right after the previous article on Flat Mercury we can move back to getting the Imperial ready for paint. The doorcards – the covering on the doors inside the car – needed to be removed to … Continue reading →

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Block Party Blues

Posted on August 2, 2022 by RussD

With the body work “finished” (more on that later…) in Wrangling Rust it was time to perfect the surface. In other words, spray on several heavy coats of high build primer and sand down the whole car with sanding blocks … Continue reading →

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Electrical 14: MeterMatch

Posted on July 5, 2022 by RussD

Previous Electrical: Electrical 13: Relay That Window! Let’s take a break from Wrangling Rust and look at the dashboard. A common problem with older cars is inaccurate gauges. Perhaps the worst offender is the gas gauge, with many (most?) 1960’s … Continue reading →

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Wrangling Rust

Posted on July 3, 2022 by RussD

After several weeks of travel it was back to the Imperial. First job: remove that nasty “patch” mentioned in the previous article I’m a Stripper… The pop rivets drilled out easily, but for some reason the flange on the bottom … Continue reading →

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I’m a Stripper…

Posted on June 12, 2022 by RussD

In the last article, Hoodie 2, we finished working on the hood. Which meant it was time to move on to the rest of the car. Paint serves many functions. It is the most visible part of a car, driving … Continue reading →

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