Hey all,

I posted previously around the age of 21 and Im back here at age 25 looking for some advice on where to start again here with my father’s car. He died 3 months prior to my birth and my mother has kept his car for me. We had no one helping to keep it in running condition and unfortunately it has sat since 2000. It ran last in 06-07 for a brief time one day but it hasn’t moved under its own since.

we unfortunately had to sell our house and I took the car with me and luckily a great guy is letting me rent out a spot in his shop parking lot. Where it’s been under a car cover since winter of 2023. The car still had working brakes coming off the trailer and e brake holds.

I had started some body work on the car before I found out we had to move. I had taken out the spark plugs and shot penetrating lubricant in all 8 cyl. I have drained the coolant and stripped the interior. I was about to begin going under and tackling these issues but I ran out of time.

The floors are beginning open up under the seat position areas, it’s in New England so getting it’s fair share of moisture and temp fluctuation, sad but expected.

hooked my Silverado’s battery to the car last summer and got the lights on and radio going and it felt really nice, everything worked as it should.

my focus here is figuring out what I need to do to see this car running. I work full time and can’t bear to see it keep deteriorating. It’s not perfect by any means and I would like some advice on what to tackle first. I know I should see if the engine will turn over by hand, try to drain the tank with the pump pushing the old gas into a external bucket of some sort, Im hoping some of you great guys can lead me in the right direction here.

thank you and all the best- Steve

 

sorry you've had a rough go, it's definitely not easy losing a parent, let alone never having the opportunity to meet them. I recently just got my Mom's 91 going after sitting about 22 years.

The list I have for you is this:
Check all the fluids. All of them. I'd plan on replacing all of them honestly.
Pull the oil cap, use a light and make sure the top end isn't full of rust. Pull the dipstick make sure it's not all rusty too, check oil level while you're at it & that it looks normal-ish.
Pull the distributor, prime the engine with oil. I'd use an old distributor or get one of the tools off amazon but make sure that center collar (the part couple inches above the crank gear) lines up with your distributor. space it with washers, but don't let them interfere with the gear. otherwise the passenger side gallery won't prime. run the drill on it for a couple mins. this will feed the engine with oil.
Roll the engine over with a 1/2" breaker bar or ratchet, I think the crank bolt was 3/4 or 7/8? Make sure nothing is stuck.
Drain any and all fuel from the system. Change the filter. You'll likely need to pull the tank to check condition. My fuel pump and sender were bad.
Flush the system with fresh fuel as best you can. I did this by putting good fuel in (empty) tank, unhooking the return line at the tank & jump the fuel pump out at the relay (driver side firewall), its the one with 5 wires instead of 4. I think it's orange and gray but verify with your year's wiring diagram.
My fuel injectors were also shot, bought a new set off southbay fuel injectors (they work great!)
The brakes are very likely toast, my fluid had moisture and it rotted out the pistons from the inside the calipers.
If it doesn't start, spray a little carb cleaner in the intake & try again. if it pops off, then you got a fuel issue.
My swaybar links were also so rotten they fell apart. My shocks & struts were also bad. check for anything else rotten. hoses, bushings, steering linkage (it uses a type of rubber or "rag" joints that deteriorate).
inspect completely for rodent nests & any chewing. be on the lookout for ate wires and hoses.
My starter was bad and had a wire that broke off due to rot, so definitely check all those power wires coming off it.

Good luck! it's gonna take some time. austinthirdgen.org has all the service manual info & such posted, so check them out. And rock auto has just about all you'll need. it adds up quick at the auto parts stores!

 

Replace all of the engine fluids, prime until you have oil pressure, see if the fuel pump will pump fuel, try to fire it up. Let us know what happens at that point.

 

thank you so much for your reply.
I just popped the hood. Boy was i in for a surprise.

 

Lol....holy crap!

 

Hopefully you have been collecting rent from whoever was living in there for the past years. That could offset the cost of the replacement MAF you will need, and a few other items of interest.

It would be good if your tenants did not chew up any wiring, and the photos don't show anything obvious. Still, keep an eye open for damage to harnesses and wires. At least it appears that most everything is there, minus the MAF and duct, and battery.

 

I do have most of the missing parts minus the battery. They are in storage along with all of the entire interior.

this weekend i will go remove the nest and clean the area as best as I can safely. Then I will inspect everything I can see.

Thanks.

 

Do you have a power washer? If you do....I'd hit it good with that, before working on that thing.

 

I wouldn’t power wash it. I’d get a wet/dry vacuum and suck all those leaves and debris off it. Then, use some compressed air to blow all the remaining dirt and residue off the engine. You don’t want to get water inside the connectors because that may cause electrical issues down the road if the weather pack seals are old and brittle or missing.

 

Conversely, if you don't get it clean enough, when you open it up, debris could get into the engine and cause extensive damage! Maybe even total engine failure!!

Worryin' about **** that ain't worth worryin' about. Fear mongering.

Use some brain, don't shoot the wand directly at sensitive electronic parts from 2" away. We power wash engines daily at work w/o zero issues. It works awesome, makes things look brand new and it's fast...easy button.

 

Bad advice. You don’t want to be pressure washing an engine that has leaves and debris all over it. Take some time and vacuum all that stuff up and clean it up the manual way. The connectors and wiring on these cars are almost 35 years old so just take your time and do it like I mentioned. In fact, even if it was brand new, I would never recommend pressure washing an engine. Lightly spraying it off with a hose, okay, but not pressure washing it. Bad advise. These are not tractors.

 

Curious: How many engines have you cleaned up?

As a wise tech instructor once said:
"I don't know everything....but I know more than YOU!" I think that applies here as in other threads.

 

Id vacuum it first and then pressure wash it. You don't need to be on the blast the paint off setting but the pressure washer should be fine and its the only way you're gonna clean all that gnarly rodent excrement off. If you just vacuum it its gonna smoke like a ***** when you do get it started. Like really bad. Back in the day we used to steam clean stuff like this. Usually we would bring the car to a place for steam cleaning though. You have a project ahead of you but it's a cool car. Let us know how it goes.

good luck!