John:
Great story, glad you got home safely. Makes me wanna go RIGHT OUT and get
stainless brake lines though.... Young son should be commended on such calm
obedience. Driver is to be commended on calm thinking and what sounds like very
deft tranny manipulation (only in a push-button!).
MANY THANKS for bringing your "barbie-skin-pink" '61. Enjoyed seeing it
immensely. And THANKS also for taking photos.
Happy Imperialing.
--
On Sun, 14 Jul 2002 23:58:14
John Corey wrote:
>Well, fellow Imperialists, We did it!
>
>The IML had a great turnout of about 15 lovely cars. There was lots
>of foot traffic and interest. We had represented years from the
>early 50s through the 70's (hey, don't press for details, I'm just a
>61 guy). The weather was perfect and the Imperial tent was ideally
>situated to catch the breeze, so it was both shady and cool there.
>
>Young Son (Ethan, 11) and I took Pinkie (the Parts Car NOT) in for a
>full once over & State inspection mid week, filled it with a full
>travel kit (1 gallon each of all fluids, fire extinguisher, towels
>paper and terry, muffler patch, some coathangers, FSM, and a good
>tool set) and set out Thursday afternoon. We had a trunk lid in the
>trunk (yes it goes IN the trunk if turned sideways) to trade with
>Kerry P, some other bits to swap, some 1961 ads and literature, plus
>a cooler of drinks and several boxes of cookies.
>
>It's almost 300 miles from home to Carlisle, twice as far as we'd
>ever taken her before -so we expected a little adventure, and we got
>it! Any of you who have ever travelled central PA know that there
>are small towns, identified mostly by the signs (not actual sightings
>of human habitation), very occasional truckstops, lots of hills, and
>nothing else but trees, unless you count the perpetual highway
>construction projects around Scranton (going on twenty five years
>now, with no visible improvement and few changes!).
>
>Anyway, about 8 PM, almost 4 hours into the ride (at a pleasing if
>not entirely legal rate of progress) and just past said Scranton
>pylons and lane chicanes, the brakes failed. Completely. I thought
>maybe a cylinder had let go or that the master had gone under, as
>they seemed to get a little capacity if pumped. What to do? 5000+
>pounds of Imperial with no brakes. Nowhere in sight to do work (it's
>REALLY dark in Central PA). Well, what would you do? We just slowed
>down and motored the last 50 miles or so at 45 mph. Hey, traffic was
>real light and the low speed left us lots of front room. Our motel
>was known to be just off the exit ramp, so if we could reach and stop
>there, we could fill up the master in the morning, right?
>
>We did make it to the motel (an overpriced favorite of Class 8
>truckers, called the Appalachian Motor Inn). Using the lower gears
>and lots of advance planning to slow down as needed, with a final
>punch to reverse and a stomp to the parking brake for the two
>unavoidably required full stops (exit ramp and parking lot). Whew!
>Young son, ever faithful, sat quietly as requested throughout, so Dad
>could REALLLY concentrate on this task.
>
>In the AM, we checked the master cylinder. Yep, down to the sludge,
>and fluid OVER the rubber air boot, too. Hmmm... We topped it off
>and I got in to check the pedal for sponginess from air. The first
>press felt good. Great! Minimal air. But as I held it, it suddenly
>went down with a hiss audible under the car (door was open). Sure
>enough. A puddle of fluid there revealed the line to the rear had
>ruptured. Well, we DIDN'T bring brakelines with us (note to future:
>a little solvent cleaner, 5-minute epoxy, SS foil and tie-off wire,
>we could have patched this one - and DON'T forget the flashlight).
>Back to the room to call for help. Lucky us! Just two miles down
>the motel road (Harrisburg Pike, US route 11) was Eddies Auto Repair
>and they could do emergency surgery. SO...
>
>With the left turn signal on and my left foot tapping the otherwise
>useless brake pedal to simulate emergency flashers, one hand on the
>wheel and the other playing a tune on the tranny pushbuttons, we
>SLOWWWWLLLLLLLYYYY motored down the shoulder to Eddie's for a fix. I
>only had to punch the reverse button once, where the shoulder was
>crossed by the exit ramp for the Penn Turnpike, and a big truck (even
>larger than the Imperial) insisted on his rights. OK, It stalled the
>car, but it kept it straight.
>
>We spent about 2 1/2 hours at Eddie's, with a gas-station quick-mart
>breakfast from across the street, watching mind-sucking daytime TV
>(Eddie doesn't like a gallery when he works, so I didn't try detail
>suggestions or assistance beyond the front counter explanations). By
>noon, we had wheels on the ground again, with new line from splitter
>to rear axle, all bled and stopping true. We are duly warned that
>there's rust on those other lines, too. Less than $250 on our
>Plastic (brakes that work: priceless!) and we're off to the
>fairgrounds!
>
>Arriving for lunch we got the last slot of the lineup of
>Eagle-crested Chrysler's Finests. We met old new friends never known
>but by email. We toured the whole show. We found we had lost a
>hubcap center eagle on the way, but replaced it with a reasonably
>clean, matching hubcap for $20. We got a 'road sign' reading
>"IMPERIAL DRIVE" for the barn road at home. We got two good photo
>books for $30 total (Imperial Photo Archive 55-63 and 64-68). We
>ate the usual fair food. About 6 that night, young son, ever patient
>stated a strong desire to go to the drags so we motored on over,
>leaving most of our Imperial pals basking in the cooler evening air.
>That night we traded trunklids with Kerry P. in the motel lot. No
>one could have confused that handoff for a drug deal!
>
>Saturday was more fun. We arrived a few hours earlier than Friday.
>We met a couple more new friends, including a walk-in (and fellow
>Licensed Engineer) who owns a beautiful Coronado Cream 1961
>Convertible and lives just 10 miles from Carlisle! He'll be in the
>lineup WITH car next year! I proudly bought an IML T-shirt and Young
>Son found a vendor with a custom car model worthy of his allowance
>(and retreated to the back seat of Pinkie to plan his project). I
>found a vendor who will make us a whole set of new stainless brake
>lines in exchange for sending him the originals as patterns (61
>Imperials being not yet in his repertoire!). Toured the PT Cruiser
>field with Young Son, picking up ideas for GoodWife's Cranberry
>Flamed Chariot. Signed her up for that owners' club.
>
>We had to leave early, about 4 PM, to get young son home for scout
>camp departure on Sunday morn. Bye to those that could be found and
>off we went. At the filling station, top off the tank (we got 15 +
>mpg - not too bad for 75-80 mph in hilly country - though it did
>include that stretch of 45 mph, too). We also added a quart of ATF
>and a bit of 10W-40. Did that ATF go out with the R-punch stops, I
>wonder???
>
>About an hour down the road it got exciting again (what is it about
>the Scranton area? Is it my personal Bermuda Triangle?). We were
>just cresting one of those looong PA hills and I reached to adjust
>the compartment airflow. Suddenly, the power just silently fades
>away. I didn't lift right away, because the downgrade kept us
>rolling with only a mild loss-of-push sensation. Very weird. Gauges
>read OK, but (push, push on the throttle) no response. Shift to
>neutral. Turn key off, then on again. KAPOW! I thought the
>driveshaft had come free and whacked the floorboards, and I was sure
>I saw the hood jump! Key off and glide to shoulder to check for
>survivors. Quick visual under rockers showed no obvious parts
>hanging off. Electrical power still present (lights work). Brakes
>work. Hmmmm... Let's turn it back on, must've just been a backfire.
>She fires up on the key as always, but.... RUMPA RUMPA RUMPA. Did we
>forget to bring mufflers? It sounds like the MOPARS at the drags the
>night before! Another look under , from the rear, tells the story.
>The left muffler has had its entire rear plate blown wide open, and
>the right muffler has been inflated from a flat oval to a round in
>its middle (the ends held). That was SOME backfire! More like a
>pipe bomb!
>
>Well in retrospect, I see how I did it. When I reached for the air
>controls, I must have bumped the ingition (note for future, replace
>hgih-leverage rigid key ring with limp chain). That accidentally
>switched off the engine at speed, then left the key in the 'ON'
>position (so gauges still read normal at first). The torque
>convertor back-drove the engine while I, in my confusion, fed it gas
>that went through unburned. When the live stuff came through after
>the restart, there was already an explosive mixture in the mufflers
>(or maybe just the left one). That was the bang we heard.
>
>Young son likes the new sound, thinks it's more 'powerful'. Well.
>Maybe. At least at road speeds it isn't too annoying to the old man,
>just a little embarrassing. With the compartment fan on high to keep
>any nasty gasses out, we set off again, stopping only as needed for
>soda recycling and a refuel. Home by 9 PM with only about 6 pounds
>of new leading-edge protein scraps to clean from the grille (Ah, that
>special pleasure of Summer motoring).
>
>We'd do it all again in a minute! A wonderful time had by all and
>(more or less) none the worse for wear. Now, who sells mufflers for
>this old girl....?
>
>from safe at home, for now,
>
>j (&e) 'imperial adventurers' corey
>--
>John A. Corey
>CFIC, Inc.
>302 Tenth St.
>Troy, NY 12180 USA
>518-272-3565
>fax 272-3582
>jcorey@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
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