engineboy
Member
This may be a little long winded.
I found this bucket that had been parked back in the late 90s due to the owners health issues. It was parked, covered and untouched until the husband passed last year. The lady that owned it was a sweetheart and we talked at length before I made the 5 hour trip to go see the car.
Once I saw it in person I knew I had to save it.
It hadnt seen the light of day in almost 2 decades, the chrome and aluminum has suffered but the rest of the car is in great shape, all powder coated underneath, very nice specimen.
This is what we found when we got there.....a couple bug eyes staring at us from the tomb.
This is the first time it has seen been out if that garage in 19 years.
I brought it home and started to bring it back to life. First was to rebuild the carb and drain/clean the fuel system, change the oil and see if it would light. Cranked it by hand, primed it and hit the key. Fired right up, sounds great, good vitals.
There was a lot of corrosion around the T stat housing that had been growing for many many years so I pulled the blower and housing to find this nice pile of voodoo.
Fear not, the corrosion was limited to right there, under the T stat and in the radiator were all good so I just cleaned up what was there and installed a new housing, stat and upper hose. Much better.
Brake cylinders, master were all corroded and frozen, the front calipers were leaking so a quick online shopping spree later and speedway set me up with caliper kits and pads. I rebuilt the calipers and installed new master and wheel cylinders and we were good in the brake dept.
I took it for its first drive, it shifts good, runs and stops good. Has a ton of blow by so Im guessing I have some stuck rings but thats no biggie....I plan on taking it out this winter and freshening it up, new cam/bearings/rings/etc and bringing the rest back up to snuff.
Should be a fun project, and Im glad I could save one. I plan on keeping it pretty much fresh 80s styling that it is, few things to make it my own but for the most part I like what I have it just needs some luvin' Lots of cleaning, plating and polishing this winter, thats for sure.
I found this bucket that had been parked back in the late 90s due to the owners health issues. It was parked, covered and untouched until the husband passed last year. The lady that owned it was a sweetheart and we talked at length before I made the 5 hour trip to go see the car.
Once I saw it in person I knew I had to save it.
It hadnt seen the light of day in almost 2 decades, the chrome and aluminum has suffered but the rest of the car is in great shape, all powder coated underneath, very nice specimen.
This is what we found when we got there.....a couple bug eyes staring at us from the tomb.
This is the first time it has seen been out if that garage in 19 years.
I brought it home and started to bring it back to life. First was to rebuild the carb and drain/clean the fuel system, change the oil and see if it would light. Cranked it by hand, primed it and hit the key. Fired right up, sounds great, good vitals.
There was a lot of corrosion around the T stat housing that had been growing for many many years so I pulled the blower and housing to find this nice pile of voodoo.
Fear not, the corrosion was limited to right there, under the T stat and in the radiator were all good so I just cleaned up what was there and installed a new housing, stat and upper hose. Much better.
Brake cylinders, master were all corroded and frozen, the front calipers were leaking so a quick online shopping spree later and speedway set me up with caliper kits and pads. I rebuilt the calipers and installed new master and wheel cylinders and we were good in the brake dept.
I took it for its first drive, it shifts good, runs and stops good. Has a ton of blow by so Im guessing I have some stuck rings but thats no biggie....I plan on taking it out this winter and freshening it up, new cam/bearings/rings/etc and bringing the rest back up to snuff.
Should be a fun project, and Im glad I could save one. I plan on keeping it pretty much fresh 80s styling that it is, few things to make it my own but for the most part I like what I have it just needs some luvin' Lots of cleaning, plating and polishing this winter, thats for sure.
