IML: Imperial exhaust, and sorted other topics from my experience over the years

["Wm. R. Ulman" <twolaneblacktop@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ok, so all my knowledge is through osmosis, but I thought the resonators on
Imperials, at least on the '60 vert I had, were in the front, just behind
the engine, then pipes running back and through a small oval thing then
spread out to the back of each side of the car to the mufflers, then the
outer pipes.  I had dual exhaust put on my '63 Custom when I bought it.
Great shop, Bob's Custom Exhaust Specialists.  They explained the process,
and the difficulty with getting two pipes through the oval thing in the
center of the car, I think it was actually either part of the frame, or was
there for the single line when new.  They were able to do a bit of magic,
and get two pipes through, I think they were 2 inch pipes, but that was 11
years ago, so I'm not sure.  The '63 Custom was a Southampton too, and they
had to put a slight crimp in to get it through the oval, so it was different
than the '60 vert I took to them years later for an entire exhaust system
from manifolds back.  I remember I had to buy I think the right, or maybe
left exhaust manifold, because the one on the car was cracked.  Jeff Carter
had one, and said I was lucky, as the side I bought was harder to get than
the other, anyway, I bought it, and had the dual system put on, which came
standard (?) on the '60, at least mine had it from the factory, it may have
been an option, I just don't know.  Point is Bob's shop asked me if I wanted
the front resonators, and said they could get the original ones, either NOS,
or reproductions from some place in Minnesota, and at quite a chunk of
change.  As the car had no exhaust at all on it, when Bob showed me the
muffler they would be using, he said it was much smaller than the original
equipment ones, and that the original style was not even produced anymore,
so these were the best I could do.  When I asked what the difference would
be with, or without the resonators, he said the resonators would quiet down
the car to near silent, like from the factory, and the mufflers he sold me
would be just fine in their functionality.  I asked what I would get without
the resonators, and he just smiled and said I would get a nice quiet "bum,
bum, bum" tone at rest, and a nice low tone faster sounding "bum, bum, bum"
as I took off.  He assured me it would be less restrictive, and if I liked
my '63's sound, I would like this just as well, even though it was a vert,
so more prone to audible elements as opposed to a hardtop.  

As I had already dumped $8K into the car already, and not even gotten to
drive it yet, well, except from the interior shop to my mechanics in
traffic, with no brakes, seriously, no brakes, nothing, no brake parts at
all.  I drove the car the 5 plus miles going about 5-10 miles an hour, and
using the well worn parking brake as my stopping tool, pretty scary, and I
would not recommend it to anyone, I barely missed rear ending several cars,
but I had already had he car towed from the barn I bought it at to the
transmission shop for the most expensive Cast Iron Torqueflite rebuild in
history at $2,500.00!  I was outraged, as the same shop rebuilt my '63's
Aluminum TF for under $750, and all that was wrong with it was the reverse
had "Popped" one day, and I drove it that way for over a month.  You learn
how to park so you can just pull forward quick, but there were a couple
times I had to push that car backward, and at 5'9 and 160 lb (ahh, the good
old days of youth) it was not easy.  Most times someone helped.  So when the
24K gold Cast Iron TF came in at $2.5K I flipped!  I was like a Muppet - on
Speed - jumping, yelling, arguing, and finally getting old Dean himself to
discount the work to $2K, which I was still appalled at.  Then the car was
towed to the interior shop for the top motor, hydraulics, new weather
stripping, as well as the retaining bars that hold the stripping to the top,
all from Gary Goers, and that took 3 months, and AAA was not excited about a
3rd tow to my mechanic for the electrical, and Electroluminescent work,
brakes, and every other item, the only one they never could get to work
properly was the dash mounted turn signal indicator.  Got it to work, but
not without holding it in place, so you could not turn it on, let go, and
have it cancel after your turn was completed, and finally down to Bob's for
the exhaust, oh and the bumpers were re-chromed.  That cost about as much as
a new Hyundai, but looked great.  Car still had pimpled "Kim Novak
Technicolor Lipstick Red, sort of a pink/red, and a vinyl interior.  After
all was said and done, with purchase price, I had over $20+K in that car,
and never trusted it to go further than my AAA Plus would cover a tow back
from, but drove it daily until after many setbacks, I traded it back for the
'66 I have now.  By the way, for those even remotely interested, the '60 was
named Zsa, Zsa.  All Glitz, temperamental, constant facelifts, err, work,
and would just completely Bitch slap you out of nowhere, like that cop Zsa,
Zsa did.  If she had been more reliable, and I knew of the IML, I might have
kept her, but when she finally blew out the second carrier bearing, and I
went to Jeff for a convertible one, he quoted me $800 - $1,200 for one, IF
he could find one.  He had the gorgeous '66 I now own in his driveway, and
since that is what I really remember from my youth, and it was Midnight
Blue, white interior, and top, and everything worked, I just fell for Doris,
and I got a few $K and Doris in the trade.  

Doris has been a much more polite car, real honest to goodness all American
sweetheart.  Never seen a flatbed, and always fires right up...Hemi mufflers
sound so nice...bum, bum bum, or Potato, potato, whichever you prefer.  A
real man magnet, but always the car, never even hear my name...well most
times.  Hope springs eternal.

Someday, I'll add a first series Toronado and add from there.  Imperial is
still the finest.

Bill Ulman
Seattle, WA





-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm