My first 65 GS, strange miss in motor + Source for clips for Rear Riviera Emblem

[Guest rusty_bucket]

Finally picked up my first GS weekend before last and trying to get it all straightened out. My dad and I have been working on "refreshing" on an original 57k mile car. Original owner parked partially protected, but outside when brakes went out, it has a cracked or severely warped front drum. All numbers matching we had to replace the carpets and repaint. It's an original ZZ Silver Cloud, but my dad picked the color and decided on a darker silver - grey and added a painted black top. He painted it himself in the driveway, but it's a really good 10 foot job. Has a few spots of cancer in rear wheel well edges and trunk lip but overall a really straight car. Not many options on the car, but it does have power windows, so I have that going for me. A/C? Who needs A/C in a dual quad big block? So far, new plugs, wires, fuel pump, filter, restored original fuel tank from my parts car with a new sender. Original interior is in pretty solid usable condition however it's originally a standard interior car and at some point, someone swapped out an original deluxe set of front and rear seats. It runs and drives....misses a little bit when in park and revving, but when it goes into D or R, it really starts missing, and from the tailpipes, it sounds like the miss is coming from the drivers side. When driving, at low RPM, it will drive pretty well, but if you give moderate acceleration, the motor really shakes for a second before slowly starting to accelerate.

Trying to get it ready for a trip to Colorado Springs for the ROA meet.

One side question - I ordered a rear Riviera script for my trunklid and it didn't come with clips. I have the screw on type for the round post emblems that go on the fenders, but the rear emblem has flat posts. I didn't see any on OPGI although I couldn't really tell from the pictures. Does anyone have a source for these? Someone I'm related to seems to have misplaced the originals along with the original rear emblem.

Here's an album of how we got the car and then the exterior after paint.

<a href="http://imgur.com/a/Zvsa1" target="blank">1965 Gran Sport rescue</a>

Options:

Remote Mirror

Tinted Front Glass Only

Power Windows

Door Edge guards (not currently on the car)

Retractable Seatbelts

Edited April 2, 2014 by rusty_bucket (see edit history)

[Guest clamshells]

I see them on ebay, they are reproductions all pretty and are the blade type. GM Obsolete is another source. I just looked OPGI has the correct one "65 only" with the blades.

Edited April 2, 2014 by clamshells (see edit history)

[Guest clamshells]

Ignition miss

Fuel miss

Vacuum miss

Start with ignition (it's the easiest) and go from there. Tracking down vacuum leaks on a non A/C car is next.............then the carb$.

[Guest rusty_bucket]

Ok, I bought a set of points to put in, but haven't done that yet. We'll see how it goes today.

[Guest clamshells]

If you have it isolated to the one bank (the left side) pull one spark plug at a time and check for fuel fouling indicating no spark. Oil on the plug? I'd start there and work back: plugs, wires, rotor, cap, points/condenser.

IME most likely vacuum or fuel but start with fire.

[rocky5517]

Nice choice on the color

[Guest clamshells]

My car came with vacuum connected to the A/C drain hoses complete with a "Y" and pseudo-braided hoses, hence check your vacuum once the spark is confirmed good. 50 years of jackasses before you "fixing stuff" very likely the problem.

[arnulfo de l.a.]

Car looks great! You and your dad brought the beauty back to that ol girl. Did you buy that car in Cali? It wouldn't be a bad idea to go over everything clamshell mentioned. If that's the car I think it is , it sat for a good while but if that's the true mileage she has a lot of life left in her. I got my 65 gs under similar circumstances and she ran like crap when I first got it. It took me a few months but I went through everything,new plugs,points wires ,rebuilt distributor, sealed up all vacuum leaks,new timing chain,and rebuilt carbs and new breaks.She now runs like a dream,fires up in what seems like half a revolution every time.The timing chain and carb rebuild made the biggist difference. My car is now very dependable and is a daily driver.i only wish it looked as good as yours!

suerte,

arnulfo

p/s make sure your wiring is sound also. All the items I mentioned above won't fix a miss if the problem is in the wiring.

[Guest rusty_bucket]

Did you buy that car in Cali?

It came from Karns City, Pa I believe. Now that guy didn't have a title and we bought it online so I don't know for a fact if the guy we bought from is in, or friends with, original owners family (that was implied) or if he bought it from them and then just flipped it to us. I suppose it's possible he bought it in Cali, had it shipped to Pa and then sold it, but considering what we paid for it, there's no way he made any money on it.

[Guest rusty_bucket]

Ok, I have the issue finally resolved and just in case anyone ends up with the same problems in the future, I'll post what I did to fix.

The car is just under 57k original miles and it had the original distributor cap. I bought a regular replacement cap, a new rotor and new points. I do not understand how to set timing really, so I paid a local mobile mechanic $65 to come set the timing at my house. When he was done it was still idling a little low, so I just slightly twisted the distributor clockwise maybe 1cm or less and it just started running like a champ. It runs like a sewing machine now.....well a sewing machine with a hot cam and an exhaust leak in front of the muffler.