1973 Mach 1 Project

So as I posted in my Introduction thread, I'm just getting started, as mentioned before this was my first car, bought in 1983, which I somehow managed to hang onto since then, its been in a garage since 1991. So my initial goal for the car is to make it road worthy again, I am not looking to restore it to factory new or correct or anything like that. I simply want to get it back on the road, take the occasional afternoon road trip, and add in some upgrades as time and money permit. In that vane, I recently replaced the gas tank, fuel pump and carb and got it running (not driving -- no brakes, stiff steering) The first issue to deal with is the back of the intake manifold as a pretty good oil leak. Plan is to take this opportunity to upgrade the manifold from the old Weiand Single Plane with a new Edelbrock Dual Plane (not sure what I was thinking back in 1988 with that Weiand). So I pulled the intake off and valve covers (might as well replace those gaskets too), and I notice that several of the pushrods and parts of the rocker arms have rust. I tried out some Scotchbrite on one of them and it seems to come off pretty easily. Plan is to just clean off all all rusted areas best I can. Would there be any concerns? I'm not looking to do a rebuild unless absolutely needed, the motor has about 35K miles on it since was rebuilt in 1988, and it does start and run ok. I can't yet tell if it consumes oil, or has any hidden issues until I get the car on the road a little. I can't tell if there any head gasket issues, the oil pressure is good at like 60 pounds. What are all your thoughts?

You may want to check your oil pressure sending unit to make sure it's not the source of the oil leak. Your head gaskets should still be okay if they were when it was parked. For the rust, you can use a wire wheel to brush off the rust but you may want to get some Evaporust, or similar, and soak the parts in to remove the rust. The parts should be good once you get them cleaned up. Just make sure you clean them well to remove any debris and flaky rust particles. Did you happen to use a bore scope to check your cylinders for rust before you started it?

The oil sending unit line and fittings were the first things I tried replacing. I did not use a bore scope. I will be doing some compression testing though.

I am NJ also, west central. What part of NJ are you in? I have quite a few left over parts from restoring my 73 Mach 1 if you need something I might have it.

Hi, Was your car in a show this weekend in Ocean City ,NJ