Greetings all,
Happy New Year to all! I hope things are going well for everyone so far.
As some of you may know, I recently acquired a ’68 Crown 4dr hardtop (did they make the sedan in ’68?) from Kate Triplett. The car in pretty decent shape actually, needs some TLC, but nothing really major. I had driven the car previously for a sale to a gentleman who did not follow through. I was really impressed with it at the time and said so.
The car does have the Budd disk brakes and in all my experience with this car previously, they worked swell, stopped strait, and I did have the rotors, calipers checked soon after buying the car by my mechanic who is familiar with them. We planned on keeping a close eye on the pads and replacing them when needed. When I say needed, I mean very conservatively so, as to never jeopardize the integrity of the disks or rotors.
I had been driving the car about recently and all seemed well until about 2 weeks ago. I got in the car one day and fired her up. I put my foot on the brake to put the car in neutral as I always do with a Torqueflite. The pedal went almost to the floor, or so it seemed, but I just thought it was me, as it is not my daily driver. The car stopped at the gate to my condo garage, but the pedal was pretty much to the floor. I then became very cautious and pulled out onto an empty street and took her up to about 20 mph and put on the brakes. The pedal went strait to the floor. Thunk! The car did stop, but pumping did not help, and I turned her around and got her back into the garage right away, my left foot on the parking brake the whole way…just in case.
As I just had the brakes checked and all seemed well, could this be due to a wheel cylinder (or two) that suddenly started leaking? I am baffled and don’t have funds to fix it at present. I put this out to you all for your input as to what may be the cause. If anyone has had a similar experience, please let me know. The wheel cylinders are rebuild-able, are they not?
This is my first Imperial with the Budd disks and they make me nervous. Yeah, probably do work better than four drum brakes, but at least I knew what to expect with those! LOL! This will be a new learning experience for me. The car is otherwise very solid and smooth riding, quiet, except for the exhaust leak.
Thanks. Mikey Sutton and Dick B., please feel free to jump in at any time!
Bill
Wm. R. Ulman
Seattle, WA
'68 Imperial Crown 4 dr. Hardtop (Miss Lucille Ball) - WA State Vanity Plates: FIT4AQN
twolaneblacktop@xxxxxxxxxxx <image001.gif>
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network