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In this Discussion
- LariRudi August 2009
- Lee ODell August 2009
- Oldcar_Mechanic August 2009
1966 Ford Fairlane 500 sat for 25 years- & I need help because I bought it.
-
Thanks for looking,
I recently bought a 66 4-door fairlane.
some general specifics: Sat for 20 years in garage, 6 outside in Riverside, CA
Has 289 V8 2 barrel carb
Has C-4 Automatic Transmission
Has Factory A/C
Has newly repainted and restored rims because it had four flats and I had to fix them. That was costly and has me worried.
Has I don't know what else. I'll find out when I get it out of Corona, With no wheels that's hard.
Has amazingly preserved interior, how long should rubber last in this car? How difficult should flushing bad liquids from this car be?
How much do I need to do before this thing can roll down El Paseo in Palm Desert & not be kicked off for breaking down? :cool: (maybe for comparison I'll say Bel Air in L.A., Another place I may actually go- not because I'm rich but because I've got relatives to live up to. Working on that.)
I already know about flushing the gas tank, what else needs repair/replace? I want to do as little as possible to get it running and work from there as I drive it. I intend to make this car perfect eventually but drivability is first.
Any suggestions?
-Thanks, Justin -
Well, I'm not a pro, but HAVE cars that have sat too long w/o attention, and here's what I find most of the time.
Duh, battery
remove/replace T-stat
Air Filter
Oil Change and Filter
Fuel filter?
You already mentioned liquids; radiator/coolant
do you want to take a chance on hoses? [inside 20 years] else radiator hoses, heater hoses, non-metal fuel lines.
above are too obvious, of course, but the RUBBER or gasket type stuff that gets me too often is the fuel pump diaphragm, and carb rebuild kit.
Check your nuts too before driving away; hate to have a flat on busy freeway and they're rusted to the studs.
Those are my thoughts that came to me these three minutes.... I'm sure I've forgotten something.
good luck, keep us posted; photos too.
LarryR : ) -
I agree with Larry, plus
Belts
Change trans fluid and filter
20 years....... I would pull the plugs and squirt some Marvel oil in the cylinders and let sit, then crank some before starting.
Maybe new plugs
Points, condenser
Probably most important......BRAKES, check and flush system and replace three flex lines. You may have cylinders that are gummed up and they will need to be replaced along with a master cylinder.
Before you get all excited and drive the car once it gets running, make sure you run it for a good long time (preferrable with a fan in front of the radiator). I have done many cars that seemed fine after all the work only to find that a welch plug was rotted out and blew out. It was always good that the car was right there and I could shut it down in the shop.
Ron -
Hi Justin. Larry and Ron made many very good suggestions that should not be avoided.
A couple more. Change P/S fluid. If manual steering check steering gear box oil.
Change Differential gear oil.
Clean and repack front wheel bearings.
Ditto on the brakes. After sitting over 20 years I would replace the master cylinder and wheel cylinders. All that crud and rust inside will act as files on the cups in the master and wheel cylinders. Just flushing the fluid will not remove it all. Even if you see clean fluid coming out of the bleeder. You don't want to risk brake failure down the road.
Short cuts will usually come back to haunt you.
Enjoy your new project. Lee -
Oldcar_Mechanic wrote:I agree with Larry, plus
.....................
Probably most important......BRAKES, check and flush system and replace three flex lines. You may have cylinders that are gummed up and they will need to be replaced along with a master cylinder.........................
Ron
Yip, I agree with all those comments from you and other's........ I KNEW I couldn't catch it all in my first post..................... BRAKES..... yip............ can be deadly.......... good thing MY incident is humorous.... 1966 Merc Montclair sat in my driveway for 15 yrs.... was gonna get some body work done on it, so my [then] wife started to tow me out of the driveway, she turned a little too short, was gonna hit something, so I put on the brakes, NONE NONE NONE.... CRASHED into the rear of the towing car at 2 mph, ha... no damage, but it DID wake me up............... now imagine that at 55-70 mph..... yip, as he said,
BRAKES NUMBER ONE.
continued good luck to you.
LarryR : )
