1974 2002 farm find

[Collinster742002]

Oooh, just remembered something; while you still have the motor out (if you are still re installing the A/C) You may want to go ahead and put your crank pulley from the 74 motor on... it has the extra drive for the compressor. (seems a lot easier with the engine out of the car) Also make sure you get new O-rings and have the system evacuated when she's up and running =]

Out of curiosity, what's your compression readings/miles on that motor?

My 74 motor is 160/158/161/160 with 183,000 miles.

[sebandwhit]

Good idea about the pulley! I would have forgot. The compression readings I have are even across the board but the compression testor wasnt holding the pressure. So I will post #'s and pics once I get the other compression tester. The mileage is unknown on the motor since I bought it from another faq member 5 years ago...although the head looks very fresh and I was told the motor had been rebuilt within 20k miles. But I only had it in the 76 for 2 months before it was totalled. It has been turned frequently and has been in dry storage. But thats why im going to check a few seals. O-rings and system vac soon to come. Man I really need to make a checklist!

[Collinster742002]

Checklist? Oh stop it, you We all know once we get started on a project on these little cars it turns into 7 different "while i'm at it"'s

3 bad compression testers? That's a heck of a bad streak of luck.

I updated my blog about those tail lights; its a very easy task and you might as well do it since you probably need to change those tail light gaskets Just don't do like I did and drop the nuts down in between the trunk reinforcement.. you'll never find em.

[sebandwhit]

We had two compression testers. Only one ended up being bad but the good one was on loan to us. Swapped crank pulley for the a/c this morning and installed the flywheel and clutch. Trying to get some matching paint on several areas of the engine bay tonight before I get the motor back in. I wasnt sure that I wanted to finish that now but I might as well. Ive taken a bunch of pictures and will post soon. Did spill a little green paint on my grills though.

[sebandwhit]

Hoping to get a bunch done today... finally

Compressor clean up

A few new gaskets

[sebandwhit]

Started the engine install on a lunch break and finished it with help Thursday night. Stilll need to clean and install the carb, intake and distributer... but I finally feel like im making progress. Im trying to finish the car for Brisbane so time is becomming short. Engine has been cleaned up and has new oil, filter, oil pan gasket, exhaust and intake gaskets, exhaust flange gasket, and plugs. Also added a MSD Blaster coil.

Before:

After:

[Collinster742002]

Looks great!!! Keep up the good work man!

[sebandwhit]

I took out the fuel tank... cleaned it up and its back in the car. The radiator and hoses are all connected. With the help of Mark, his timing light and Austin, last night we started the car up and she's running pretty good! Still have some timing to work on... but its very close. Installing the 32/36 sync-link kit tonight... and hopefully adjusting the valves as well.

[sebandwhit]

Well... I didnt get the car done for the Brisbane show. But I gave it my best effort! Lots of late night really early monrning car sessions. I am having an issue getting the engine to idle once warm. I think the carb is a little sticky and might need to go through it again. I have the day off from work so today im bleeding the clutch and brakes. I just put on new brake shoes and I will try to check out the front pads today. My 5 year old was super excited about helping me adjust the valves. He seems to really like working on the car.

A little difference in paint color where I did a little polishing.

Lennox adjusting the valves for me... definately have to double check! lol

Gas tank back in and trunk comming together. I found the original jack and lug nut wrench in the parts box so those went back in.

[sebandwhit]

So I got ready today to bleed the brakes and the clutch and realized how dirty the underside of this car is. Ive mostly been working on it after hours or before daylight. So it was time to bring out the pressure washer.

I was originally worried that there was a lot of surface rust... but it was just dirt.

Getting sprayed down!

It was a hot day... in no time the driveway was dry again. Once the car is dry I will take a few after shots.

Im also going to give this a try... Im glad I have good friends to push me along on this project. My neighbor(Austin, with a 74 turbo drift project)bought this at the perfect time!

I started to use this but found that my slave cylinder is definately bad. A replacement is on its way!

[sebandwhit]

Here are a few pictures of the underside fresh from the farm.

And pictures of the underside after the first round with the pressure washer. I still might give it another wash but I can actually see what im touching now.

[malagalaga]

Nice! That is an amazingly solid car. Good score!

[sebandwhit]

Thanks! It has turned out to be a great car so far. Right now I am trying to replace the slave cylinder on this thing and man... it is a tough one! I have been spraying it and letting it soak and hopefully tonight I can finally get this done. I wanna drive this thing! lol We will see...

[sebandwhit]

Over the last few weeks I have had other projects going on but now it's back to the car! I replaced the slave cylinder finally! Tried several different times and then a neighbor brought over the torch... And some freeze spray. The combo made it very easy to remove. So if you ever need to replace a very old slave cylinder and it's stuck... Just borrow a torch if you don't have one. Pictures to come.

[Collinster742002]

Back on the road yet?

I just changed the 4 speed on mine, and the slave cylinder trick worked.