I have come up with what I want to do with this car. For now I am leaving it dirty and don’t plan to clean it up. I want to keep that “as found” look to it for as long as I can. I did start the process to attempt to get it started today. I will not start it till Spring but starting now on preparations.
I changed the oil and filter first thing then marked the distributor so I could time it exactly where it was at. Pulled the distributor and spun the oil pump with a chisel attached to a socket and to a drill. I circulated the oil for about 5 minutes and let it sit for a couple hours and repeated the process. I then turned the engine a half turn and did it all again. It turned over nice and easy so I do not believe it has any stuck valves. Looking down the hole for the distributor it is very clean inside.
I took the radiator hose off and found the antifreeze is crystallized real bad. This is going to be very tough to clean out. I will likely have to pull it apart to do it right. I am sure the turbo and throttle body is full of it also. I hope to clean it enough to be able to at least run it and see what kinds of other problems there are to fix. This Spring I plan to attempt to run hot water through the system from the hot water heater. Hopefully it will melt some of this out.
I pulled the float cover off and found that it is very clean inside the carburetor. I went ahead and blew out the orifices and all are clear. At least clear enough to run the engine. The gas tank is 3/4 full of 1974 gas and it is BAD! I am not even going to drain it here at home. This stuff is the most potent stale gas I have ever seen. I am going to take it out to the river bottoms and drain it into a drum and burn it. I got a little out of it when we first bought the car and that spot of the driveway stunk for over a month. Nobody lives out at the river bottoms so if a little gets spilled it won’t bother anyone.
