Figured I would start a new thread since the vehicle is now running! the car has been in my garage for almost two years now, but before that it was on the farm for about 17 years. Long story short, my dad gave it to me and have had to do some work to get it running. 1. Coated inside gas tank and KBS coated outside and underside of trunk. 2. New fuel lines from tank to motor. Existing one was full of sediment for a solid foot or two in the line. 3. Installed new fuel pump (mech style), old pump would not pump enough gas to stay running and fill filter. it is amazing how well the motor runs when the carb doesn't have a vac leak. got the motor timed and fuel pressure regulated down and it idles really well. took the kids for a ride around the neighborhood. they were pretty excited too. BTW it has a 283 with close ratio 4 speed. Lots of fun to drive. A couple questions for you guys: - The fuel is draining out of the filter between pump and carb while sitting. So I have to crank it a while to get it to start. It has a 66 Qjet and am aware of the issues with plugs leaking. However, fuel not staying in the filter sounds like something with the check valve in the pump. With a new pump i wouldn't think it should do this. Any ideas? - Trying to get load adjusting shocks for back of car. Put new leaf springs on the car. (3" drop springs from St. Louis spring) With the shackles down, the ride height is about 16" between mounting points. With the shackles up the ride height drops to about 13". looking at load adjusting shocks to accomodate. Looking at Monroe sensatrac. Not sure which ones to get though. any suggestions for compressed/extended length range I should be in? 11" compressed, 18 or 19" extended is what I was thinking. Any other manufactures to look at? -One issue I had was the wiring from starter to ignition was against the exhaust manifold. Melted the tape around wiring and shorted a little. is there a wrap I can use to protect this? Might try to rig a bracket or something. Something functional to run wiring in? Don't need bling just function. Pictures to follow. thanks for your help.
So I have done the following: 1. Rebuilt the quadrajet carb. It was actually pretty simple. After rebuilt I couldn't get the car to idle right. Went through everything....vac leak, idle mixture screws, etc. Long story short....ended up being the throttle return spring was too weak. New spring and idles great. 2. got the spring over shocks on the back and seems to be doing very well. Rides good. 3. Have done a lot of the rust repair. I started with the most difficult part....the passenger rear fender. It was rusted all the way through. It took me about 8 different patches to match the curves, but got it done. also got the area around the tale lights tacked in place too. 4. installed new master cylinder from 68 chevelle and replumbed the brakes. stops really nice now. In general I am working on the back of the car with back seat out. Want to be able to drive it up to the point until I am ready to do front floor boards.
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