1) Regarding the brakes...... since you are mentioning your wife will be driving the car and you haven't
told me anything about your experience with working on cars, I suggest you take the car to a
brake specialist and get their opinion. I assume you do not want to regret being responsible for
your wife's early demise.
2) Regarding the engine.....here are some things to do
1) change the motor oil.....don't worry about changing the filter at this time
2) disconnect the carb, plug off the fuel line
3) remove the top valve cover and crank the engine by hand. All the components in the
valve train area should be snug fitting. If you know how to measure valve clearance, check it out. The service manual is online at the group site.
Turn over the engine until you see a slot appear on the driver side of the cam. Stop at this point and look at crankshaft pulley to see if the mark on it is aligned with the "T" on the casing. If it isn't, your cam is not aligned and this should be corrected before continuing. Check the service manual or ask on here for help.
If everything looks good, leave the cover off and continue.
4) remove both spark plugs and put a shot of oil into each cylinder (the same oil you added to the engine)
5) run a compression test on each cylinder (you will need to connect the battery and act like you are starting the car). The compression in each cylinder should be around 160 psi. The numbers on each cylinder should be very close in value. If not, you will suffer in engine performance. If the numbers are very low and a large difference between the cylinders, the problem should be corrected before continuing.
This may require a person to help you if you do not have a remote starter.....crank over the engine and look at the valve train components. Look for any unusual behavior and noises. Nothing should be rattling and the chain should not be jumping on the cam. If it doesn't sound good during low speed operation, it isn't going to do well at high rpm.
Replace the valve cover and continue if all is good.
6) connect the spark plugs to the spark plug wires and rest the threaded, outer portion against the engine case. Have someone crank over the engine and watch for spark at each of the spark plug gaps. I suggest you use some new plugs. The plug gap should be around 0.030 inches.
turn the ignition switch to off and replace the plugs in the engine and attach the spark plug wires.
If everything looks good, go to the next step.
7) remove the two bolts which hold the cover plate for the points and condensor. It is on the passenger side of the cam housing (the horn of the air cleaner "looks" at it). Turn over the engine by hand until the point gap is at its greatest. This gap should be 0.012 to 0.016 inches. At this point, I would be most concerned that I do see the points open and close as I crank the engine and the contact surface of the points appear to be clean. If they are not, you can clean them or replace the points.
Turn over the engine by hand until the mark on the crank pulley is aligned with the "F" on the casing. If you connect a voltmeter (set to read for 12 volts) or attach a 12 volt lamp between the engine case (negative) and the blue wire going to the points (positive), you can statically time the engine. With a 10mm wrench, loosen the bolt on the vacuum advance (on the top of the cam housing where you are working. It had a black hose going from it to the carb. Move the vacuum advance back and forth until you find the spot where the voltmeter (or light) starts to transition between 0 volts (lamp off) and 12 volts (lamp on). That is the spot where the points are starting to open. Tighten the bolt holding the vacuum advance. If you cannot find this spot, you have a problem which needs correcting.
If everything looks ok, continue to the next step.
8) unplug the fuel line and pump some gas into a clear container (you may need someone to turn the ignition switch to the run position while you do this or you could just connect and disconnect the battery cable).
Check the quality of the fuel.....if it doesn't look good you should consider letting the fuel pump run until the tank is empty and then add some fresh fuel. If the fuel pump is not pumping any fuel through the line (and you have added fresh gas), you may have a plugged fuel filter. It is located in the engine compartment and is accessed by removing the air blower. It is near one of the bolts which attaches the front portion of the subframe to the car body.
9) I normally clean out the carb when I have a car of unknown condition. If you are reluctant to do this, here is an alternative. Connect the fuel line to the carb but do not attach the carb to the car. Power up the car so you can hear the fuel pump running and pumping gas into the carb. Initially, you will hear the fuel pump click rapidly and within a minute the pump should only click several times a minute. You should not see any fuel spilling out of the carb as you hold it horizontal. If you manually activate the throttle lever of the carb, you should see a shot or stream of gas exit the front of the carb indicating the accelerator pump is working. If this is what you observe, the carb "appears" to be good and you can go ahead and install it on the engine. Otherwise, I suggest you disassemble it and clean it and replace any worn/damaged parts.
10) With the carb back on the car and all the wires and hoses connected, take a look at the air filter. If you are unsure of its condition, leave it out for the next test which is to try starting the car. I would use new spark plugs (or ones which you know are good) when first trying to start the car.
What happens? Does it start?
Does it make popping noises like it wants to start? Nothing happens?
Let us know.
good luck,
Dale
Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you now.> Hello,
> I just bought this car off ebay and look fwd to restoring the > little > car. I am sure I will need plenty of help as well as advice. This > was > sitting in a barn for god knows how long? It looks really complete
> and the price was right.
> What advice should I do first to try and
> get it running and checking
> the brakes? Put Marvel mystery oil in
> cylinders first and hand crank
> motor 1st? It will be a fun project I am
> sure? Also where can I find
> different type of wheels besides the stock
> rims? Thanks for your
> Time. P.S. already looking at fixing this car up for
> the wife and
> buying me an Orange coupe down the
> road.