Category Archives: Restoration

Saturday August 9 2020 is one of the highlights of the build – the Mighty 413 engine started and ran! It wasn’t easy. The engine fought us every step of the way. But it finally ran! After installing the exhaust … Continue reading →

The new exhaust system has been frankly kicking my butt. It has taken me a full week of hard work to install it. The old exhaust system produced a horrible droning around 45-55 mph and was a bit of mix … Continue reading →

I’m a glutton for punishment. That’s the only possible explanation! My plan is to get the Imperial back on the road in the summer of 2020. This means having the car mechanically complete – body/paint and interior will be later … Continue reading →

Making a plastic heater box presentable. Continue reading →

Installing a heavier front swaybar. New mounting brackets had to be fabricated. Continue reading →

The previous post covered the installation of the new disk brake rotors and calipers. The next step is to hook everything up. As previously mentioned, I’m upgrading from the original single master cylinder to a dual master cylinder. This both … Continue reading →

5,000+ pounds of classic American steel requires substantial authority to both start and stop. The massive 13″ drum brakes that came from the factory were up to the task when the car was new. Today is a different story, unfortunately. … Continue reading →

Getting the frame and bottom of the car painted brings me to a breakthrough – I can actually start putting things back on the car! The first step is the front suspension. The starting point is to install the bushings … Continue reading →

When I last wrote, most of the preparation of the bottom of the car had been done. All that was left was to actually get some paint on it! The first challenge is that the car is on jack stands … Continue reading →

The plan was to wire brush the rust off of the front end frame, paint it, and start putting things back together. This plan immediately hit several snags… First, there were rust holes in the firewall behind the doubler plate … Continue reading →