yamahondarider

Bit of an update but not much. Got a coil and new battery terminals from Autozone, tomorrow I'm snagging a battery out of my dad's dodge van, putting the coil in, and hoping that I have spark. If I get spark, well then I guess we'll just have to see if it'll start!

spate51

You will have a great time, grasshopper!! Good luck.

yamahondarider

Well a bit of an update. New coil, no spark. I'm guessing points. I think what I'm gonna do is just pull the motor out and go thru it. It only has 62K miles on it so I'm hoping the internals are still clean (IE no rust in the cylinder walls) so I can put a set of flat tops and a mild cam in it, repaint the block and heads and reassemble with new gaskets and a Performer intake manifold and headers. Until then though (please don't shoot me) I'm putting a low mile chevy crate engine in it that a friend of mine has for cheap using chevelle mounts. He also has a Saginaw 4 speed transmission although I'm seriously considering using a TH350 auto for simplicity and I don't have to hack a hole in the floor. I found a wrecked 1970 Chevelle local that I may be able to get for $1500 that I could strip for parts. Its a beautiful car (or was) but the frame is bent and the quarter panel is bashed in from the door to the tail light, bottom to top. Still has a good posi rear, good seats, brake parts, suspension parts, motor, trans, mounts, wiring, ect and I can sell off the other parts.

oldcutlass

Tim out, before you pull he engine, check your gap on your points and set it to .016. Run a jumper wire to the coil+ terminal from the battery and se if you have spark.

yamahondarider

Ignition problems aren't why I wanna pull the motor, I wanna go thru it anyway. Tomorrow I plan on cleaning/gapping the points and trying to get spark, and then see if it runs. I'm just thinking back up plan. I highly doubt that motor is ready to be put back in service after sitting for 25 years in upstate NY

yamahondarider

Also I get 12v positive to the coil right now when the key is on (haven't checked for while cranking, though) but a jumper wire can't hurt. Its such a pain in the *** to get to the distributer (I'm only 5 foot 4 inches tall) I'm considering pulling the hood off until I have it running but I don't have a garage to keep it dry in the case of rain (yet, rental house, moving sucks). Maybe I'll buy a tarp.

oldcutlass

Why not crank the engine and get it pointed to number 1, mark the distributor and rotor so it can be put back in easily. Pull it out and work on it out of the car.

yamahondarider

Not a bad idea. Could I also kinda just leave it where it is, mark the rotor and distributer and put it back in there? Wouldn't be hard to bump it around to #1 cyl but I'm just curious. I may invest in an HEI distributer.... even if the motor is toast I'd use it on the motor anyway after its been rebuilt so its not a bad idea

Charlie Jones

Try this; Build a wooden box 12 in X 9 in X 36 inches to stand on while you work on the hard to reach stuff.

yamahondarider

not a bad idea, I actually think theres a step ladder in the kitchen. I'm still considering pulling the hood off and sitting on the inner fender

z11375ss

Come on man! I'm reading this like a cliff hanger mystery novel! Get that sucker running for all our sakes. I would trade places with you in a heartbeat. Looks like I need another project! That stuff is just plain fun.

yamahondarider

Yeah to be honest I'm having a blast with this car. Plus, I got dad's bitchin 1988 Camry for the weekend, so unlimited trips to the parts house! Which also means spending money, bleh. For once though, I saved up a good amount of cash BEFORE starting a project, so other than waiting on shipping this car will be atleast running pretty quickly. Tomorrow the game plan is run a jumper to the coil, sand the points, regap the points, and hope I get spark. If I do then I'm grabbing the camera and the starting fluid and see if the'll cough back into life

oldcutlass

Yes, you can mark it and note where it is now, however if you don't get it back in right your going to end up cranking it to number one again anyway.

yamahondarider

New battery terminals

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New coil
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points are out and cleaned however theres a pretty decent crater on one of side
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Oh and I got the trunk open. The only treasure I found is that there isn't a huge rust hole
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yamahondarider

I'll upload the video after dinner, but, I cleaned the points and SHE RUNS! Granted, its more of starting when you put gas or starting fluid down the carb but its close. I ran to the parts house and picked up some line and a fitting so I can run a gravity feed to the carburetor, if the strainer is any idication of the cleanliness of the carburetor it just may run. We'll find out!

oldcutlass

Good job! If you can get the gas can hooked up to the fuel pump and keep it running, then you can determine if the condition of the engine.

Sampson

Fantastic! Glad you got a positive response from that ol girl today.

yamahondarider

Well guys the moment we've all been waiting for. I had to clean the points, new terminals, clean the tips of the plug wires, new plugs, clean the dizzy cap and rotor, new coil, ect. but I didn't touch the carburetor I just ran fuel to it. But it runs, and it runs great (all things considered) heres a youtube video:

tru-blue 442

Congrats!
I had a feeling you would
get it figured out.

Jaybird

Yes! Success! And now the real fun begins. Congratulations yamahondarider and friend.

yamahondarider

Thanks! Yeah I was pretty worried the carburetor was gonna be pretty trashed but I didn't even have to pop the top off and clean the float bowl, just ran gas to it.

Thanks, oh and the cool thing is the guy in the purple shirt is my dad who gave me the car, he was happy to see I got the old thing running again. I'm picking up a set of Cragar's with new tires local for pretty cheap so I can get it rolling then I'm gonna check the transmission fluid and see if it'll go in gear. I'm also gonna get the brakes working, the inside of the master cylinder is clean as a whistle so I'm hoping new fluid and a good bleeding will get them working good enough to safely move it around the yard.

Grace Stinespring-Welch

awesome

oldcutlass

Ain't life grand!! Good job, it sounds good.

yamahondarider

Thanks guys! Not bad for sitting 25 years eh? I've gotta test my fuel pump tomorrow and drop the tank to either get it cleaned or get another, whichever is cheaper. maybe a fuel cell....

Seff

Sounds like some clickety-clacking the first time you accelerate, while dad's still holding the camera.

Other than that it's very cool. I love the "now it just needs everything else!" comment, and how positive that sounded.

yamahondarider

Yeah I heard it too, hasn't done it since, I'm pretty sure it was just lean knocking caused by clogged main jet or something like that. May also have been running out of gas.

Strangely, I'm actually pretty excited about doing "everything else" I just hope it goes together smoothly

Seff

How much and how long did you crank it beforehand? Did you change the oil?

The thought I'm having is that oil may have dried up in the lifter galley, causing a lifter to be dry. If it doesn't do it again, no alarm.


Looking forward to seeing how you approach this.

yamahondarider

Well originally I changed the plugs and sprayed ample PB blaster down the cylinders, but there was a lot of cranking done when I was trying to get spark, and even afterwards when I was trying to get it to start so I'm sure oil was circulating. I didn't change the oil because I wanted to get it flowing around washing the crap out so when I do change it I'm not just running clean oil thru dirty galleys and I get most of the crap out in one try but the oil was full and clean, smelled and looked fine no water so I rolled with it. Oh, and funny thing is it still had water in the radiator, I only added about a gallon, so the hoses don't seem to leak (yet). I'll keep everyone updated on the progress, I'll try to remember to get pics of everything but sometimes I just get on a roll and completely forget!

Seff

Well, it seems to have worked. Keep up the good work.

yamahondarider

Bit of an updated, I ripped most of the old carpet out along with the tarboard or insulation or whatever gunk that soggy crap was, and the floors are solid! Plenty of surface rust but no actual holes, not even pin holes. Not bad for 25 years of sitting. Also tested the fuel pump, which works fine. Now I can put a small gas can where the coolant resivour was on the passenger side in temporarily to move it around the yard once the brakes work until I get ahold of a new tank. I was vacuuming the floorboard and the 50 year old shop vac from my grandparents had the switch short out so now it doesn't shut off and the switch smokes whenever you plug it in. great Anywho, anyone have a good source for a repop gas tank? metal or plastic, doesn't matter to me.


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I also found the original dealer emblem from when it was bought brand new in Oklahoma by my great uncle Henry

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don71

That's great man! Yea, you seem so positive about the "everything else" comment. Keep at it.

yamahondarider

Yeah its fun, I started out working on mowers and things like that when I was about 8 and my dad told me about this car and it being in an old barn and all that, ever since then I've wanted to fix it up, now 10 years later I finally got it so its exciting. It would be awesome if it was in tip top shape but as much as I don't want to have to do any work, I like doing it just as much so its all good

oldcutlass

Rockauto is a good source for a fuel tank and sender, however you might just drop the one thats in it, drain it, and take it to a radiator shop for a good cleaning. Get a new sender, blowout the steel lines and replace the rubber ones and your all good.

yamahondarider

Not a bad idea. The gauge on the dash jumped up to 3/4 tank when I first turned the key on, I wonder if its actually got that much fuel in it that'd be quite a bit of old fuel to get rid of. How much do you figure it would cost to get the tank cleaned? Looks like a new tank from rock auto is about $159 in total including shipping

oldcutlass

A quick phone call to a radiator shop can get you a cost in the morning. Then make a decision which way to go. Either way you will probably need a new sender as the old one is probably gummed up.

yamahondarider

Well my borrowed jack blew a seal and leaked all the hydraulic fluid out and I can't get it off the ground to pull the tank or check the rear brake lines or what have you, so I'm dead in the water until I can get another. Also, I got the brake lights working however my switch is trash. Hopefully I can find a cheap floor jack on craigslist and get this pig in the air.

yamahondarider

Okay, good news! Put brake fluid in the MC and pumped the pedal a lot, and got it to hold pressure, so in theory the brakes should be working. They will need to be bled, but, for now its good enough to go for the first yard drive. I need to get front tires that hold air but once thats done We'll see if the transmission functions. Of course, I'll get a video

yamahondarider

Hey guys, great news. I drove the cutlass for the first time today! The brakes work but the pedal sticks so its kinda a pain in the ****. never topped 15-20 MPH though. I went to the local junkyard and picked up a set of chrome bullethole rims, two with good tires for $130, and put the two with good tires on the front. I'm getting fatties on the rear rims and we'll call it good. Anyway, I have a video of the first drive which I'll upload later (its long and will take two hours to upload stupid youtube) but for now I'll leave ya with a teaser

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yamahondarider

Where'd all the enthusiasm go guys? I got that video up for ya. The old Alternator charges fine and the power steering works, and the transmission didn't leak out all the fluid over the past 25 years (motor didn't leak either nor did the cooling system) so shes looking solid mechanically. Not too far off from being on the road. Anyway, enough talk, heres the first drive

oldcutlass

Wtg, I would start on a tuneup, flush and refill the cooling system, inspect suspension, brakes, and pack wheel bearings.