Rebuilding the engine is definitely a good thing to do. Based on your post it
sounds like it has needed that all along. Bad rings are bad rings, there is no
getting around that.
I am still stumped though on why it would run perfectly smooth in neutral and
really rough in gear. Burned valves effect the smoothness of the motor in both
scenarios, although when pulling, the roughness would be more noticeable. The
engine would run poorly all the time, well at least not good ever.
It is true that when in neutral, the engine RPM would be higher, and could
cover up some symptoms of rough running, but I have not heard of a case where
the difference was as drastic as you describe, unless the idle speed is set way
too high. That would bring about other issues, though such as transmission
damage when going into gear, using both feet on the brake to hold the car at
stop lights, etc.
Although I would not dispute the fact that your engine should be overhauled, I
think a few more ideas about what could be causing this problem might be in
order. I have driven cars that had new motors and cars that were worn out, but
short of having burned valves, broken pistons, blown head gaskets, cracked
blocks, or some other catastrophe, I have always been able to make an engine
run smoothly with fairly minor repairs.
If it were to turn out that your car had a burned valve, it would not be the
end of the world to fix it and move on. True enough, it is always advisable to
rebuild the entire engine if it needs to be rebuilt, but if you don't have or
want to spend the money, there are alternatives. Do you plan on driving this
car everyday, or occasionally? I have heard of people having their cylinder
heads reconditioned without doing the bottom end, and their cars ran fine.
To get your car to run smoothly, I think more diagnosis my be in order. Taking
your car to mechanic after mechanic is going to result in them telling you what
they want to do, not necessarily what should be done. It still sounds like
there are vacuum issues to me. Did you replace the hose to the booster? Did you
check to see if the gasket at the base of the carburator is leaking? Are you
sure that the intake manifold gaskets are not leaking? Have you done a
compression test?
I would be willing to bet that many of us have cars that need engine overhauls,
but that doesn't mean that the cars can't run smoothly. Of course your car
could have one of those "catastrophic illnesses" mentioned earlier, but I think
that would be obvious.
Good luck!
Paul
In a message dated 5/6/2004 1:15:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Imperial59crown
writes:
> After taking my '59 Imperial to a couple of mechanics who deal with antique
>cars, the consensus was that it needs an engine rebuild, or I will only be
>able to use the car to go to the corner grocery store. My other alternative is
>to drive the car with two feet, one on the gas and the other on the brake, or
>putting it in neutral every time I stop. The engine is fine in neutral, but as
>soon as it is pulling it starts running very rough. Even when I pulled into
>the parking lot of the mechanic the car started stalling out all of the time.
>I decided to give the car to the mechanic who explained everything clear cut,
>and most of what he had to say was exactly the same responses I have gotten
>from members on this list. He could give the car a valve job, but that wasn't
>going to cure bad rings, and would only make the bottom of the engine blow out
>that much faster. I had to think for a while since this was my new super
>computer I've been wanting for so long, going on hold. By the time I finish
>this one I will have a fourteen thousand dollar Imperial which still looks
>like crap in the interior. Anyway I love it, so I will keep it going, and the
>most important part of a restoration is to get the car running
> perfectly, the rest is all cosmetic!
>
> Bill '59 Crown
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