So Barry and I had a fun day last week finally taking a look at a couple of project cars that we imported towards the end of last year.
We bought both cars as non-runners, one is a black interior auto and the other is a black interior manual.
The bodywork and interior is pretty good on both the cars, however, although ‘running when parked’ they both need the standard stuff normally required for project cars that have been idle for some years ie; fuel pick up hose, filter, new fuel pump, new gas struts, Fascias to be painted, brakes, suspension etc.
We started with the manual car, fitted a new battery and pulled out the fuel pump and fitted a new one which we dunked into a jug of fresh fuel. We also filled the cooling system with coolant to find that there was no leaks evident
The clutch is not functioning, probably due to leaked fluid/perished seals.
All of the electrics came to life immediately with the exception of the windows.
We jumped the fuel relay and flushed out the fuel system, the engine turned nicely but the engine struggled to fire, we quickly diagnosed that the plunger in the fuel distributor was stuck.
We swiftly removed the distributor, freed it up and refitted it. The engine fired up straight away and sounds great, obviously a full overhaul/ tune up is required but first impressions are good.
We then looked at the auto with much the same outcome with us having to free the plunger in the fuel distributor and the engine came to life, again sounding very nice.
We managed to put it in gear to drive it backwards and forwards so that was quite encouraging although we have a serious coolant leak from the water pump so it very much looks like a trip down to the VOD is required!
I must say that it is a great feeling when you fire up an engine which has been ‘resting’ for years.
We just need to decide what we are going to do with the cars now but first and foremost we really must complete our restoration of 3283.
I will post separate threads on these two cars if/as we decide to restore them ourselves.