Just bought a 62' F - 85... Completely unfamiliar with the 215 - any points I should start at?

My engine runs (albeit rough) and has the original air cleaner still in it!

 

Welcome to CO. i am also new to the 215 V8. i am picking up my block and rotating assembly from the machine shop tomorrow. the biggest thing i know is you need to keep it cool. you should have the radiator checked out and the cooling system flushed. other than that, i would just give it a major tune up and see what you have. if it sit for a long time, i would clean the tank and add fresh gas.

can you post some pictures.

 

at the moment this is what i have. i'll post more as they come.

 

Thats a nice car! I would start with the tuneup, and press on from there.

 

lol, i bet you have red interior also. my wife and I were looking for a 62 F-85 cutlass for about 8 months and it had to have red interior. after 8 months we found what we wanted. now that we got ours, i see them with red interior all the time.

your car looks real nice.

 

see / hear it run here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JdL4cQc8L4&feature=plcp

 

it most certainly does have the red interior / floor shift. Bringing it to the shop in a day or two to have new front floor pans put in.


Do you know anything about where to get parts for this engine?

 

parts are not a problem. call this guy. he has everything you will ever need. and cheaper than anywhere else also.
http://www.aluminumv8.com/index.htm

 

here are some more shots. it's in pretty good shape, all things considered. can't wait to get the new floors in the front. tired of feeling like fred flintstone.

 

The F-85 just has to be red no other color looks as good and the white top is just right. Looks like strawberry shortcake with whip cream. Sounds like she needs a tune up and new plug wires to me

 

A good tune up, convert to "Pertronix" ignition, and new plug wires, should be near the top of the list.

Car looks great.

Gene

 

hey,

do you guys know what this is / should it be tightly attached? Trying to get this thing running a bit better.

 

i have a differant set up than you do but i am pretty sure that is just a crankcase vent that goes down to the bottom of the car. i would put a new hose on it to keep it from leaking at the valve cover instead of going to the ground.

 

it's a metal tube.

what have you been using for plugs / wires?

 

Spec calls for AC 45FF or 46FFS for the aluminum engine. Not sure what currently crosses to that, but the guy Eric referred you to as well as the Rover crowd will know. The 215 and derivatives were used in English Rovers for decades and they turned that engine into what it should have been all along.

One thing I will caution on- the aluminum engine can be picky about antifreeze. Years back there was a factory bulletin specifically stating not to use Peak brand antifreeze in them. I wouldn't use any extended life i.e. DexCool coolant in it (or anything else) either. A good quality green ethylene glycol coolant should work fine in it.