Almost ready to fire her up again after ten years of storage. I bought her not running in May with 53,000 miles indicated (just noticed that the speedo cable was unhooked from the cruise control assembly).
So far I've been through the fuel system, the brakes,and ignition. Installed the rebuilt Quadrajet last night, and the old distributor (with a new rotor, condensor, points and cap) and coil. Set the static timing and point gap too. Tonight I checked the plug gaps and laced the plug wires. Then drained the transmission fluid. Rear end is next.
She needed the fuel tank cleaned and resealed, and a new fuel pump. Couldn't rebuild the old sending unit assembly, it was too far gone, so I bought a rebuilt one. (Gm Obsolete - ouch!). Pumps gas to the front of the car, so far so good. That took most of May.
All 5 of the brake cylinders were frozen so I swapped those out, master and 4 wheels. 3 out of 4 of the steel lines broke in the process, so replaced those. Adjusted the shoes, we have brakes again!
Fighting with the new exhaust now, the old was rusted out completely - a squirrel had moved into one of the mufflers and filled it with peanut shells! Got the 2.5 inch set from TA Performance, and some Flowmaster 40s. One of the manifold to downpipe flange studs snapped off - Why is one (passenger side) smaller than the others? Manifold to head bolts are frozen too, so that'll be a problem. Drivers side should be fine, but I just can't get the flange nuts started on the down pipe - just need one or two more threads! Took off the butterfly for the manifold heat, cleaned all that up. Did it have a gasket? Anyway, frustrated, may have to see a professional muffler man for the fix. Could always cut them off and put headers on I guess.
Chassis, suspension and steering seem OK, just a little rusty. I'll have a shop check a little closer later, maybe get an alignment down the road. Bodywise there is a little rust in the floor under the driver's seat to fix, a new carpet, whack the seat motors a few times to get them unstuck, then start thinking about the exterior and paint. Door and window seals are pretty good, although there was some suspicious dampness on the passenger side I need to track down. Everything else is pretty solid, just surface rust and a rough vinyl top.
Electrically everything seems to be working except the driver's seat, which probably just needs encouragement. I did notice that the courtesy light stay on as long as the battery is connected, so I'll need to trace that circuit for a switch that's not opening like it should.
Nothing is leaking (so far), seems like it should be ready for ignition - go for throttle up?
So, before i turn the key in earnest, what else do I need to double check?
Rebuilding my 69 GS
in Buick Riviera
Posted
Almost ready to fire her up again after ten years of storage. I bought her not running in May with 53,000 miles indicated (just noticed that the speedo cable was unhooked from the cruise control assembly).
So far I've been through the fuel system, the brakes,and ignition. Installed the rebuilt Quadrajet last night, and the old distributor (with a new rotor, condensor, points and cap) and coil. Set the static timing and point gap too. Tonight I checked the plug gaps and laced the plug wires. Then drained the transmission fluid. Rear end is next.
She needed the fuel tank cleaned and resealed, and a new fuel pump. Couldn't rebuild the old sending unit assembly, it was too far gone, so I bought a rebuilt one. (Gm Obsolete - ouch!). Pumps gas to the front of the car, so far so good. That took most of May.
All 5 of the brake cylinders were frozen so I swapped those out, master and 4 wheels. 3 out of 4 of the steel lines broke in the process, so replaced those. Adjusted the shoes, we have brakes again!
Fighting with the new exhaust now, the old was rusted out completely - a squirrel had moved into one of the mufflers and filled it with peanut shells! Got the 2.5 inch set from TA Performance, and some Flowmaster 40s. One of the manifold to downpipe flange studs snapped off - Why is one (passenger side) smaller than the others? Manifold to head bolts are frozen too, so that'll be a problem. Drivers side should be fine, but I just can't get the flange nuts started on the down pipe - just need one or two more threads! Took off the butterfly for the manifold heat, cleaned all that up. Did it have a gasket? Anyway, frustrated, may have to see a professional muffler man for the fix. Could always cut them off and put headers on I guess.
Chassis, suspension and steering seem OK, just a little rusty. I'll have a shop check a little closer later, maybe get an alignment down the road. Bodywise there is a little rust in the floor under the driver's seat to fix, a new carpet, whack the seat motors a few times to get them unstuck, then start thinking about the exterior and paint. Door and window seals are pretty good, although there was some suspicious dampness on the passenger side I need to track down. Everything else is pretty solid, just surface rust and a rough vinyl top.
Electrically everything seems to be working except the driver's seat, which probably just needs encouragement. I did notice that the courtesy light stay on as long as the battery is connected, so I'll need to trace that circuit for a switch that's not opening like it should.
Nothing is leaking (so far), seems like it should be ready for ignition - go for throttle up?
So, before i turn the key in earnest, what else do I need to double check?