The tone of voice that came through the phone was absolutely incredulous. “You’re telling me you’ve never rebuilt a carb before?!” Chad couldn’t believe his ears, but it’s the truth. I’ve never rebuilt a carb. Or an engine, completely, from the ground up. In the twenty-five years or so that I’ve been turning wrenches on anything mechanical, I’ve never done either. I’ve changed engines, sure. I’ve replaced heads and intake manifolds, of course. I’ve done quite a bit of work, but there’s still plenty of firsts for me to accomplish, things that apparently are somewhat surprising for someone my age who has such experience elsewhere to not have done.
How did this happen? How did I make it to my mid-thirties without doing what many of you probably consider to be basic, elemental tasks in the world of the gearhead? Early on, it was component replacement, or if you want to use another phrase, “parts-bombing”: you took off what didn’t work and put on what did. There was also the spray-rebild that worked especially well for the carburetors on my motorcycles, where you hose everything in carb cleaner, blow it out with compressed air, and re-tune it once you had it back on the engine and plumbed up. Hack work? Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t call it anything else. But it worked for my needs at the time. And during my time in the Army, what meaningful wrenching I did do usually went for naught, either by bad luck or unforseen circumstances that required me to bail on a project or to farm it out. 
Well, this is the year that shit ceases to be. The Imperial’s 360 is stripped just about bare and is ready to be reassembled. And with one mulligan I’m calling out now, it’s going to go down in my garage with my hand tools and nothing else. I can hear the sighs now, so here’s my one excuse: I’m taking the engine to a machine shop in Bowling Green to have the cam bearings done because I’m not paying over two hundred dollars just to have the right tool on-hand and I’m not going to redneck install brand new cam bearings. Mahle was kind enough to send brand-new pieces for this build and I will be damned if I gak them up in the name of shadetree hackery, especially when I’ve never done something like that before. Once the cam bearings are in and the block is back in the garage, the remainder of the engine will be all me, from the main bearings to the first fire.
I’ll also be going through the Carter AFB 625CFM unit that has been in use on a number of vehicles from my past, including the Mirada, the Diplomat, and prior to that on several vehicles in my stepfather’s stable. I know the carb hasn’t been so much as opened up since 2005 and it’s been a great unit, so it makes sense to give it a once-over and some love. Regardless of what I’m working on, I won’t be breaking new ground…you can hunt down several how-to stories on the internet or in your back catalog of magazines if you want to know how it goes down. What you’re going to get is how to do it all from the view of the first timer in his garage. I won’t lie one bit…there is some trepidation about all of this because it’s new territory. But there was the same trepidation when I first started working on helicopters, and there’s a hell of a lot more at stake in aviation than there ever will be working on an engine in your own shop.
The plan is…well, fluid. Getting the engine assembled and ready is the priority as I wait for the weather to be a bit more stable (and warm). Once I can get a weekend of solid weather here at BangShift Mid-West, the Imperial is going to meet the business end of a pressure washer to get the cobwebs and mud dauber nests blown off, then will be rolled into the shop, put up on stands, and given the once-over. We will check the rolling stock and brakes to make sure they are still up to the task after sitting for over three years, we will clean and sort out the interior (it’s a mess right now) and we will try to make some repairs and fixes before we mount the powertrain in the car. I won’t feel good about any of this until the cam breaks in without wiping a lobe, that’s for sure, but if I take my time, don’t rush anything and prepare properly, the main goal is to be moving the Imperial around under it’s own power by the beginning of summer. That’s been a long time coming, and I’m looking forward to every maddening moment, every bleeding knuckle, and everything hour of work that is needed to make it happen.
And who knows, maybe there will be more taskings like this in the future. What haven’t I done…I need to do. There are years of wrenching experience I need to catch up on.
I hope it goes well for you. Remember, take your time.
Make sure you use a quality ring compressor.
Just remember the 7 P principle.
Take your time gapping the rings,and don’t roll the rings onto the pistons, use a expander.
I’m almost always willing to try something once. Sometimes I find it’s way easier than I had feared and other times I find, I’ll just pay someone who knows what they are doing or the occassional, I suck at this but I still enjoy doing it (most cases! lol).
To me its a hobby, and I get the most enjoyment out of having my hands on as many pieces as possible. Often at the detriment of horsepower or longevity, but its fun.
Things you learn in DIY mode can save you money when you get to the point where you decide to pay someone. If you tested a component and know it’s good, then the shop tells you it’s bad you know you have chosen the wrong shop.
A couple of tips:
1) PLASTIGAGE! While you can mic everything (and should) Plastigage is a cheap final check.
2) Use real engine assembly lube. When I was starting out (lo, those many years ago – and no, you weren’t born yet) the best you could get was Lubriplate but now there’s stuff made for that.
3) Pre-lube the engine before attempting to fire it. If you can’t borrow the right tool you can gin something up (I have a drawer full of them). I forget what drives a MOPAR oil put at the moment but it’s not magic. Lots of times a cut-off Allen wrench brazed into a length of brake line works fine – that sort of jury-rigging is fine.
4) As others have mentioned, take your time. You can pop on here or PM me or Jim or Loren or any number of folks and we’ll gladly help you figure your way thru it.
Good all over you for taking this on! None of us were born knowing this stuff. Now where’s the build thread?
Dan
God knows I love Imperials at least as much as anybody on this board, but…
1. Why did you choose an ’80s model? Cheesiest, ugliest and least technologically advanced compared to competitors of all Imperials
2. Two words — money pit. You better love it because you won’t be able to sell it for half what you’re putting in, not even to an Imperial lover
All that said, good luck with the rebuild and do make sure you play around with the AFB’s jets and metering rod springs. Those don’t always travel well from engine to engine.
1. Because I own it. Because it’s one of the few Mopar models out there that isn’t priced through the f***ing stratosphere. Because I’ve got two decades of experience with FMJ platforms. Because even Mopar guys don’t give a shit about it. (There are more reasons, but “it was free” trumps them all. And I like FMJs.)
2. See above. There’s no way I’ll make money back on this car. Not the point, never was. This is my car to screw around with and have fun with, and I appreciate seeing an atypical machine making noise.
I am one of those people who dives in without really knowing what I am diving into. In most cases, I make it through unscathed.
A Carter 625 just like that one was the first carb I ever rebuilt way back in 1995. It looked like it was buried in the dirt for 20 years. I didn’t even buy a kit. I bought the carb and two can’s of carb cleaner with my last $40. I got a job at that speed shop when the owner saw me doing burnouts with that carb on my car a couple hours later.
I would not suggest spending $50 on a rebuild kit unless gaskets rip upon taking it apart. Judging by its age, I would get a new accelerator pump diaphram. If yours is at least 10 years old, the rubber diaphram isn’t designed to stand up to today’s alcohol laden gasoline. Usually sold as a complete unit. Oreily’s, Pep Boys and Autozones usually stock them. I have rebuilt dozens doing this, blowing out every hole and orifice, and checking float levels only.
You got the rest of this…..
Hey you’re doing it and that’s what matters. I feel you on the Army making hobby time difficult. I recently rebuilt my first transmission over a 4 day weekend. Being willing to jump out there and just believing that you can takes serious personal courage, but it will be totally worth it when the engine fores up for the first time. Have fun!
Cool adventure. It’s a rite of passage for any car junkie, but one problem I didn’t see mentioned is that when you first crank that key and hear (hopefully) your engine fire up for the first time, you’ll be so thrilled, you’ll immediately start thinking about some of those fantasy engine builds you’ve tossed around in your head over the years.
The tuning part after the initial fire can be a challenge but fun too. Looking forward to reaiding more about this.