Imperial Journey

The first article Electrical 1: Shocking Developments introduced our strategy for upgrading the electrical system. Time to get to work implementing that strategy!

As Captain Obvious has observed, electrical systems consist of two parts: power and ground. While power is obvious (pun intended), ground is often an afterthought. This makes the ground system a logical place to start for building a reliable electrical system.

The challenge with ground is that it uses the body and frame to provide an electrical path, often with poor connections. These connections are barely adequate when new and degrade over time. The battery ground is connected to the engine block, providing high current power to the starter. The engine block is then connected to the firewall with a single ground wire and a small screw. Various electrical components around the car are then grounded to the body.

Several months ago, as part of general preparation, I welded two bolts to the frame – one near the firewall ground point and one near the battery. This provides solid electrical connections to the frame with no chance of corrosion, making a high quality ground available to the entire car.

I then had two heavy duty ground wires custom made by GenuinedealZ. These ground wires were made from 4 gauge (4ga) tin-plated solid copper wire with heavy duty terminals and adhesive lined heat shrink tubing. What does all this mean?

Solid copper wire is a better conductor and stronger than aluminum or copper coated aluminum (CCA) wire. Low cost wiring is often CCA, which doesn’t hold up under severe service. Since copper wire by itself can corrode, a tin coating is used where it is likely to get wet. Tin coated wire is often called marine grade as it holds up to the harsh conditions encountered in marine use. Areas of a car that are exposed to moisture, such as under hood use, are good places to use marine grade wire.

Factory ground wires are often 12ga or perhaps 10ga if you are lucky, which was adequate in the 1960’s. As a point of comparison, 4ga wire was often used for the high current starter. When ordering these custom cables the cost difference between 8ga and 4ga is less than $1.00 per foot, so it makes sense to upgrade.

Heavy duty terminals, also made of tin coated copper, are sized for their application. In this case I have 1/4″ bolts for the frame ground and firewall ground and 3/8″ bolts for connecting to the engine block. One cable goes from the frame ground to the firewall bolt and the other goes from the firewall bolt to the engine block.

Sealing electrical components from moisture is a key to long life. Heat shrink tubing provides mechanical and electrical connection. Adhesive lined heat shrink tubing has a heat sensitive glue on the inside. When heated this adhesive melts and forms a waterproof bond. Adhesive lined heat shrink tubing is the standard for marine applications and is great for automotive applications.

The screw connecting the original ground wire to the firewall has been replaced by a 1/4″ bolt through the firewall. The firewall was sanded clean around the bolt hole for a good electrical connection, then the bolt was run through the two new grounding wires. After this the area around the bolt was sealed. Inside the car a 10ga grounding wire was attached to the bolt – this wire will be attached to a grounding block under the dash.

A dedicated ground line was run from the negative terminal of the battery to the other grounding bolt on the frame. This is currently a 10ga wire – it will be upgraded to a 4ga wire the next time I order custom cables. This grounding point will also be used by the power distribution box planned for high current loads like headlights.

The net result of all of this is a very solid ground system to support the rest of the electrical system. The existing body ground has been improved, which will help in general. Solid electrical connections of the body to the frame, engine block, and battery negative terminal will eliminate many potential problems. Using grounding blocks and dedicated ground wires for high current use cases will further improve electrical performance.

While not as exciting as other work, starting with the grounding system is key to electrical success.

Next: Electrical 3: Bulkheading

One of the biggest weaknesses in older cars is the electrical system. These were typically marginal from the factory and don’t age well. Marginal size of wire, corrosion in connectors, switches, and wire, and 50 year old insulation all combine into a lurking dragon waiting to pounce at the worst possible time.

It is easy to find horror stories about melted connectors, burnt wiring, dash fires, and engine fires in old cars. Plus the reliability problems of things simply not working or not working well.

In addition to the steady weakening of the electrical system as it ages, demand for power increases. Traditional headlights have been replaced with high power quartz headlights. Radios have been replaced with infotainment systems – a modern infotainment system with a big amp can require more power than the entire car did in 1963! In addition there are more electrical devices in use today than 50 years ago.

I’ve really gotten used to the headlights in modern cars. I’m reaching the point of “enhanced maturity” where I don’t see as well at night as I used to, and powerful headlights are more a necessity than a luxury. The original headlights in the Imperial look like they are using actual candles!

The Imperial came with a 35 amp alternator; air conditioned cars like mine were upgraded at the factory to a “high capacity” 40 amp alternator. In comparison, modern cars have 100+ amp alternators with many exceeding 200 amps.

Fortunately something can be done about this!

I’m using two main references: first is a set of tutorials on the Bodenzord website going into great detail on how to build a modern wiring system. These tutorials are superb and have cost me a lot of money in parts and tools.

The second is Daniel Stern Lighting which provides a lot of insight into upgrading lighting systems. This site is complementary to the Bodenzord site and makes clear the importance of wire size, relays, grounding, and headlight and bulb selection.

These two sites educated and inspired me to plan significant upgrades to the Imperial wiring, including:

• Think about and design a set of modifications and improvements to the electrical system.
• Upgrade the factory under-dash fuseblock to a modern fuseblock. The original fuseblock contained six glass fuses. The new fuseblock has 20 ATC Mini fuses on two separate buses – 10 switched/accessory and 10 unswitched/always on. Each bus is driven with 40 amps of power through new wiring.
• Bypass the ammeter. This is perhaps the greatest weakness of old Mopars – the entire electrical load is routed through a gauge in the instrument cluster. I’m bypassing the ammeter and routing most loads through new wiring. The only downside is that the ammeter no longer shows charging status. I will be adding a voltage meter as part of the upgrades – voltage meters are actually more useful in determining what is going on with the electrics.
• Changing how power is delivered from the alternator and battery to the rest of the electrical system.
• Upgrading the firewall bulkhead connector to a modern waterproof design.
• Adding a new under-hood fuse and relay block.
• Moving heavy loads like headlights from the factory wiring to new wiring.
• Moving all heavy loads from switches to switch/relay configurations.
• Installing new upgraded wiring for major circuits – typically one to two sizes heavier wire for each circuit.
• Redesigning the alternator circuit with larger 60 amp alternator, heavier wiring (go from 12ga to 6ga), and a solid state voltage regulator.
• Upgrading the grounding system. Many electrical problems, especially in older cars, are due to poor grounds. The grounds are just as important as power!
• Labeling everything to simplify troubleshooting and to help me when I have to work on something in a couple of years.

Next: Electrical 2: Grounded

With the engine running and the transmission adjusted it was time to drive the car!

The first step, of course, was to back it out of the workshop – for the first time in 3 years! And then back and fill several times to make sure things were working – engine, transmission, steering, brakes, suspension.

The results were a bit mixed. The engine was running rough, the brakes needed further bleeding and adjustment, and the ride height needed adjustment. The steering felt fine, and the front end was much tighter with all new parts.

After bleeding and adjusting the brakes I had a high, firm pedal – but no power boost. The brakes seem to be working, but require excessive pedal pressure. This is obviously not acceptable for any real driving. Need to check the vacuum to the power brake booster and see if there are any other problems.

I decided that it was running well enough to drive it around the block. I made it around the block, but the engine wasn’t running right.

Over the next few days I made a series of adjustments and several more trips around the block. It is better, but still not good. The frustrating thing is that the engine starts instantly when you turn the key, but is running rough. Need to do more tuning of both carburetor and ignition.

The front suspension needs work. I set the front ride height using the torsion bar adjusters. After driving around the block the front end had settled significantly and was now resting on the bump stops. I did several more cycles of adjust and drive, getting the adjustments better but still not where they need to be.

Hopefully this is just the torsion bars settling. If not, it could be the threads in the torsion bar adjuster stripping out. Hopefully this isn’t the case, as these adjusters are no longer available! I had cleaned and checked the threads when I had the front end apart and they seemed fine. More work is needed here.

It is a huge step forward to have the Imperial running and driving, but more work is needed before it is roadworthy.

Next: Electrical 1: Shocking Developments

At the end of the last article, the engine was running but the car was starting with the transmission in gear. At first this was noticeable but not a major problem. However, after the transmission was filled with fluid so that the torque converter could properly work it rapidly became a safety issue.

This shouldn’t have been a problem – one of the improvements of the 1963 Imperial is a parking lock that locks the transmission so that it can’t move when placed into Park. Unfortunately the locking mechanism wasn’t engaging. So, there were two problems:

1. The transmission linkage was not properly adjusted – the transmission was actually in Drive with Neutral was selected.
2. The transmission parking lock was not engaging.

In 1963 Chrysler used pushbuttons to actuate a cable to control the transmission. The tip of the cable engages a locking mechanism inside the transmission and then is adjusted by a threaded nut on the cable sleeve.

Of course this adjustment is located in the middle of the two transmission cooler lines, exhaust headpipe, torsion bar, and nestles in the transmission hump in the floor which barely clears the transmission. In other words, almost impossible to get to!

I had done the initial adjustment before installing the exhaust and transmission cooler lines. It was difficult but not that bad. Unfortunately, even though I followed the manual, the initial adjustment was incorrect.

I hadn’t mentioned in in the previous post, but an additional problem was that the Neutral Safety Switch wasn’t engaging, so I had to jumper around this safety feature to get the starter to work.

Some Internet research detailed an approach of putting a multimeter on the Neutral Safety Switch, setting the adjustment wheel to the point where the switch just turned on, and then continue to adjust it while counting turns until the switch just turned off. At this point you back the adjuster off half the number of turns you counted, placing it right in the middle of the switch range.

This was a nightmare to do, between the lack of access to the cable fitting, working under the car, and the joy of transmission fluid dripping down your arms as you work. And, of course, the dripping transmission fluid making everything slippery and hard to adjust!

It was finally done. Surprisingly with no bloodshed, damaged parts, or flying tools!

The parking lock is a separate cable. This should be easy – slide the cable into the transmission and the tip automatically locks into place. Put the transmission lever into park, adjust the cable so that the pawl engages, and tighten the bolt to lock it into place.

Except that no matter what I tried the cable tip would not lock into place! I spent hours trying everything I could think of with absolutely no success. This included following the instructions in the manual as well as suggestions from various Imperial and Mopar forums. It got to the point where I had to put the tools down and walk away before bad things happened.

I had a couple of rounds of email asking for help from Don Verity who had rebuilt the transmission. He finally suggested partially disassembling the transmission so that I could see the locking mechanism and make sure that the cable tip was properly engaging with it.

This proved to be the magic answer. Once I could see the locking mechanism I was able to guide the cable tip into it and lock it into place. With a little fiddling I managed to get the rest of the pieces back into place and bolt everything back together. I still don’t know what the problem was – it should have “just worked”!

OK, now to follow the parking lock adjustment instructions again. Hmm, so THAT is what it feels like when the locking pawl engages. Try to turn the drive shaft – nope, locked solid! Move the parking lever to drive and the driveshaft turns. Looking good! Cross fingers, move the parking lever back to park, and try to turn the drive shaft. Locked again. Success!

Now for the real test. The car is up on jack stands, so the rear wheels can turn freely. Put the transmission in neutral with the lever in park. The engine starts up – a “good start”! The rear wheels are locked and don’t move.

Next step is to put the parking lever in the off position while leaving the selector button in neutral. If the transmission linkage is properly adjusted the rear wheels will not move. And they don’t move! Rev the engine a little, and the rear wheels still don’t move. Looking good…

Cross fingers and punch the Reverse button. A bit of a clunk from the transmission, and the rear wheels begin to rotate. Looking even better!

Step on the brakes to stop the rear wheels and then punch the Drive button. The wheels begin to rotate the other way.

Now to try various combinations of Park, Neutral, Drive, and Reverse. The transmission continues to function properly.

And there was much rejoicing!

With the engine running and the transmission properly adjusted it is getting close to time for a maiden voyage.

Next: Around the Block!

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 (documented in I’m Exhausted!) it was time to install the battery and starter relay, fill with fluids, and call a friend to help.

The starter relay, voltage regulator, and battery box are all bolted to the inner fenderwell.So, the left and right inner fenderwells were installed, the brackets for the battery box were finally figured out (I continue to be thankful I’ve taken so many pictures), and the rest of the electrical wiring was roughly routed.

It was now time to add fluids. Barely visible in the picture above is a fluids checklist taped to the windshield. I recorded each fluid as I added it: oil, water, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, gasoline, and rear end lube.

You might think this is overkill. I disagree. It is way too easy to skip a step in the excitement of starting the engine for the first time. And it is very expensive to start an engine without oil!

It is also easy to overlook partial fills. For example, the transmission holds 9 quarts of ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid), but you can only add about 6 quarts initially before it overflows the transmission. ATF must be pumped into the torque converter by a running engine before you can add the rest. A checklist helps you keep track of this.

After double checking everything it was time to turn the key.

The engine spun over nicely, thanks to the largest battery I could find. This battery is rated at 1050 amps of cranking power, where most batteries are 400-700 amps.

An initial “burp” from the carburetor got our hopes up. Then… Nothing.

We couldn’t get the engine to start. When this happens the problem can be compression, spark, or fuel.

Compression is good – this is a brand new engine.

Fuel is good. The clear plastic fuel filter quickly filled with gas, showing that the fuel pump was good. Pressing the gas pedal produced a strong stream of gas from the accelerator pump in the carburetor. And we were spraying starting fluid, which would run the engine for a few seconds even if the carburetor was completely broken.

Spark was good. We verified spark with the timing light, even checking several different plug wires. We pulled a spark plug and grounded it against the block, where we could directly observe a strong spark. The timing light showed that it was firing within 5 degrees of Top Dead Center, which is more than close enough to start. The engine might run a little rough, but it would start.

We tried everything we could think of. Then we tried some more things!

We thought the distributor might have been installed 180 degrees out of phase, so we reversed it. The distributor can be installed at Top Dead Center (TDC) on the compression stroke or the exhaust stroke; it has to be at TDC on the compression stroke to run. No change, so we put it back in the original configuration. As a side note, when installing the distributor I had turned the engine over with a big ratchet and socket to align the timing marks on TDC. I held my thumb over the #1 spark plug hole to detect compression, but might have gotten it wrong – the odds were 50%/50%.

I had originally installed a set of Bosch Platinum spark plugs which were listed for this car in a current parts catalog. I had read somewhere on the Internet that old ignition systems don’t work well with the new style plugs, so we made a parts store run for the original factory specified Champion J-9Y spark plugs and installed them. Still nothing.

We had earlier noticed the point gap was somewhat tight. Within specs, but still tight. So we re-adjusted the points to a gap of 0.018″, which is towards the high end of the spec. Still nothing.

We pulled a spark plug again and discovered that it was wet with gas. Our repeated efforts to start the engine had flooded it! The cure for this is to let the engine sit for a few hours and give the gas in the cylinders a chance to evaporate.

As my friend prepared to leave and arranged to come back in 3-4 hours to try again we slapped a battery charger on the battery. To our surprise even after 4 hours of repeatedly cranking a big block engine for extended periods of time the battery still had a 70% charge. This battery is indeed a monster!

We decided to crank the engine one last time before he left.

BANG! went a loud explosion from the exhaust! Not only had the gasoline been exhausted from the cylinders, it had also been ignited. We looked at each other, saying “just a minute – isn’t a backfire like that a sign that that the distributor is 180 degrees out?” In other words, a sign that the distributor is installed backwards.

Once again we eased the distributor slightly out the block, rotated the distributor shaft 180 degrees, and re-seated it.

Once again we turned the key and engaged the starter. This time, to our delight, the engine caught and ran for a few seconds!

We restarted it a few more times, tweaking the distributor and working the throttle. It started and died several times and then caught and continued to run!

We let it run for a few minutes and then shut it off and did a fluids check. As expected, all of the fluids needed to be topped off.

We started it again, and it easily started. We discovered that it wanted to roll forward – even though the transmission selector was in neutral the car was starting with the transmission in gear. Clearly the transmission selector needs to be adjusted before we can run the engine longer.

It was time to shut things down for the day, high-five each other in celebration, and leave the workshop on a high note. Much more work remains to be done, but this was a HUGE step forward!

Our analysis is that we were dealing with a combination of things: the distributor being installed backwards was the main problem, exacerbated by tight point gap, inappropriate spark plugs, and a flooded engine. We basically had to work through all of these before achieving success.

The next step is to get the transmission adjusted, dial in the ignition and carburetor, and then move on to the remaining assembly tasks.

Next: Shifty Buttons.

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 and match of pieces. It was also welded together and had to be cut apart when I removed it – cut apart into 8 pieces! So it went into the scrap pile.

I ordered a new dual exhaust from Waldron’s Exhaust. They have a reputation for building high quality exhaust systems for classic cars. I ordered a dual exhaust with quiet mufflers – Waldrons has a choice of quiet (factory), “imposter”, and hot rod. For an Imperial quiet is the way to go. The system includes a large muffler and a small muffler for a total of 4 mufflers. Technically the 1963 Imperial was only available from the factory with a single exhaust, but I’m a believer in dual exhaust for big block engines.

Expecting a four week lead time, I placed the order a month before I expected to need it. And discovered that the Covid19 pandemic has pushed their lead time out to 8 weeks! OK, the exhaust would arrive in mid-July. I called in early July to check on the status and learned that the small company that builds their mufflers had been hit really hard and that there would be another 8-10 week lead time for the mufflers!

A few days later they contacted me again. They had the main mufflers, but it would be several more weeks before they could get the small mufflers. They could provide short pieces of straight pipe the same size as the small mufflers, which would let me install the exhaust and drive the car now and then add the small mufflers later. I replied “good plan, let’s do it”, and two large heavy boxes arrived a week later.

Waldron’s does a nice job. The exhaust is heavy – 14 gauge aluminized steel, nicely bent and well finished. The kit includes the pipes, mufflers, gaskets, clamps, and universal hangers. Unfortunately you have to make the actual brackets for hanging the mufflers as part of installation. My only complaint is that the individual parts were not labeled. I would like to have each part identified as left or right and order from front to back.

The first step was to slip fit all the parts together under the car as a test fit. The head pipes bolted up to the exhaust manifolds with no problems – but nothing else fit at all! After an extended period of wrestling heavy parts on my back it was time for a break and some Internet research.

I’m used to seeing dual muffler systems configured with the large muffler to the front of the car and the small muffler or resonator at the back. Internet research turned up another picture of 1963 Imperial exhaust:

Ah-ha! Small mufflers front and large mufflers rear! With this new order things made a lot more sense. I was now able to (very) roughly fit the exhaust.

At this point it turned into a four dimensional wrestling match. As mentioned other places, for such a large car many things are fit into tight spaces. For example, the exhaust goes between the transmission cross member and the floor – a convoluted 2″ pipe fitting into a 2-1/4″ space. And it can’t touch anything or the result will be obnoxious exhaust noise.

Each pipe needs to be rotated to fit. And, since everything is loose at this point, it rotates and flops around as soon as you move to the next piece! Not only do you have the 3D challenge, but things change over time – thus the 4D routing problem!

I spent close to two days fighting this and trying every variation of rotation and position I could think of. Finally I had something that looked more or less right. Or perhaps I should say more or less plausible…

Time to make a commitment. Starting at the front, tighten every thing down and fit it piece by piece. The first step was to tighten the bolts from the exhaust manifold to the head pipe.

Then route the next pipe over the transmission cross member and clamp it to the headpipe. A custom bracket is needed, in this case a hanger rod turned upside down and welded to an exhaust clamp. The clamp is loosely positioned on the exhaust pipe, the rod placed so that it touches and is marked to be cut to length, and the location of the hanger marked on the cross member.Two holes are then drilled in the cross member and threaded for bolts. The hanger is bolted into position, the pipe carefully positioned so that it doesn’t touch anything, and the hanger rod tack welded to the exhaust clamp. The whole clamp assembly is removed, taken to the bench, and securely welded and ground. The finished clamp is then firmly bolted to the cross member and exhaust pipe and checked for interference.

The small mufflers are installed next. Since I don’t have them yet the filler pipe is slipped into place, followed by the next section of pipe. A location is identified for the next hanger. A bracket is designed and partially built. The holes for the bracket are marked on the frame and then drilled and tapped and the partially completed bracket bolted into position. A rubber hanger is loosely clamped onto the pipe, the pipe moved into its desired position, and the location of the hanger marked on the bracket.

The bracket and hanger are removed, taken to the bench, trimmed to size, and welded. The bracket is bolted to the frame and to the exhaust pipe and the clamps on the filler pipe are tightened – this secures everything in place.

Next the main mufflers are installed. This is now much easier as everything is staying in place! The tailpipe is threaded over the rear axle, between the control struts, the shock absorber, and the gas tank and slipped onto the muffler. I’m now able to locate the tailpipe in its final position and design and fabricate the brackets to hold it.

Of course everything has to be taken apart so that I can paint the brackets. With the brackets painted everything is re-assembled, tightened, clamped, and final checked for interference. Good to go!

After the learning experience on the right side, the left side was straightforward. Start at the front, work to the back building brackets and hangers as you go. Time consuming and fairly strenuous, but only took me a day to finish.

I still have the small forward mufflers to install when they finally show up – this will be a project over the winter. In any case, the car is now driveable. Well, driveable once I finish all the other projects…

The final result is quite good. The process to get there was frustrating, taking me an entire week from start to finish, but this was the first time I’ve installed a complete custom exhaust and there were a number of lessons learned. Perhaps the greatest lesson is to take it to a muffler shop next time!

Next: The Mighty 413 Roars to Life!