I was shopping around for a parts car, and this one caught my eye. I went and picked it up today. It looks in good enough shape, I may end up keeping it and not tearing into it for parts.
Its a 73 fastback. Original paint color is booger green (4B paint code). The outside was painted a forest green with sparkles some time back in the 80s or 90s. If you look close, it looks like a DIY job, but not completely terrible. The door jambs and inside of the trunk lid are still booger green. Interior is avocado green. Its in OK shape. It will need carpet and a headliner for sure. All of the seats need some attention. The radio was swapped for as AM/FM cassette player at some point, and that still works.
Marti report says H code 351C, C6 transmission, open 2.75 rear. It has the power disc brakes, power steering, and all the AC parts appear to still be there. The body is in pretty decent shape overall. The cowl is rusted through. There are several spots in the passenger side floor pan rusted through. The bottom of the driver's door has a rust hole big enough for your fingertip when you open the door and feel around at the bottom. The battery tray is pretty rusted, too. The rest of the sheet metal looks pretty decent. The car has spent some time sitting outdoors. Underneath, there are vines that have grown to it. Most things under the car have a fair amount of surface rust.
Previous owner has put on a holley intake manifold and what look like a holley vacuum secondary 4 barrel carb. Gas tank is new. It has long tube headers connected to a pretty rough looking aftermarket exhaust with what looks like glass packs. Between the glass packs and all the exhaust leaks, it sounds pretty bad. It looks like most of the convoluted smog crap, vacuum lines, and tees are still there. Some are connected, some aren't. Kickdown linkage is present, but not connected to anything. I guess because the carb requires some special adapter for it.
The car currently runs and drives. It starts right up, with a little cloud of smoke that looks like fuel. It feels like it has double digit horsepower. I've ridden powerwheels that felt snappier than this. The transmission shifts like it should. The brakes all seem to work. Previous owner has done new lines and new calipers at least. And it seems like at least 90% of the lights currently work. The heater blows hot. I havn't tried the AC yet. The seat belt buzzer works sometimes. That may be down to the switch in the seat not working right. All the tires are holding air enough to drive around, but they are all dry rotted.
So thats where I'm starting on this guy.
First thing I did was take off the silly looking front license plate bracket and the antique Bill Elliot front plate.
I checked the engine out a bit. Initial timing is set at about 18 degrees. I can loosed up the distributor screw but the distributor itself didn't want to turn. And I didn't want to smack it with a hammer and break it the first hour I had it home.
I'm sure it will rustle some jimmies, but I swapped the vacuum advance over from ported to manifold vacuum. Then I played with the idle speed and mix screws to try and find the spot where the engine is happy. I'll play around with it and try and land on some combination of settings that makes this thing feel like it has more than 3 cylinders.
Next order of business is probably sort out the tires. I'm still debating if I want to keep rocking the factory 14" wheels and dog dish hubcaps, or buy a new set of rims.
After that will likely be pulling the carpet and seeing about the floor pan. And I need to do something about the cowl. I am not going to pull this car apart to weld in a new upper and lower cowl. I was thinking about some sort of blockoff plate for the top to keep water from coming in and rotting out the floor.
I would like to eventually do the body work and paint it back to its original snot green glory.
And if there's a way to remove the surface rust from the things under the car quickly, I'm interested. I was thinking to put it up on a lift, make a big plastic tent, and then start sandblasting or put a wire brush in a drill. I'm open to suggestions for how to do it fast and easy.
Its a 73 fastback. Original paint color is booger green (4B paint code). The outside was painted a forest green with sparkles some time back in the 80s or 90s. If you look close, it looks like a DIY job, but not completely terrible. The door jambs and inside of the trunk lid are still booger green. Interior is avocado green. Its in OK shape. It will need carpet and a headliner for sure. All of the seats need some attention. The radio was swapped for as AM/FM cassette player at some point, and that still works.
Marti report says H code 351C, C6 transmission, open 2.75 rear. It has the power disc brakes, power steering, and all the AC parts appear to still be there. The body is in pretty decent shape overall. The cowl is rusted through. There are several spots in the passenger side floor pan rusted through. The bottom of the driver's door has a rust hole big enough for your fingertip when you open the door and feel around at the bottom. The battery tray is pretty rusted, too. The rest of the sheet metal looks pretty decent. The car has spent some time sitting outdoors. Underneath, there are vines that have grown to it. Most things under the car have a fair amount of surface rust.
Previous owner has put on a holley intake manifold and what look like a holley vacuum secondary 4 barrel carb. Gas tank is new. It has long tube headers connected to a pretty rough looking aftermarket exhaust with what looks like glass packs. Between the glass packs and all the exhaust leaks, it sounds pretty bad. It looks like most of the convoluted smog crap, vacuum lines, and tees are still there. Some are connected, some aren't. Kickdown linkage is present, but not connected to anything. I guess because the carb requires some special adapter for it.
The car currently runs and drives. It starts right up, with a little cloud of smoke that looks like fuel. It feels like it has double digit horsepower. I've ridden powerwheels that felt snappier than this. The transmission shifts like it should. The brakes all seem to work. Previous owner has done new lines and new calipers at least. And it seems like at least 90% of the lights currently work. The heater blows hot. I havn't tried the AC yet. The seat belt buzzer works sometimes. That may be down to the switch in the seat not working right. All the tires are holding air enough to drive around, but they are all dry rotted.
So thats where I'm starting on this guy.
First thing I did was take off the silly looking front license plate bracket and the antique Bill Elliot front plate.
I checked the engine out a bit. Initial timing is set at about 18 degrees. I can loosed up the distributor screw but the distributor itself didn't want to turn. And I didn't want to smack it with a hammer and break it the first hour I had it home.
I'm sure it will rustle some jimmies, but I swapped the vacuum advance over from ported to manifold vacuum. Then I played with the idle speed and mix screws to try and find the spot where the engine is happy. I'll play around with it and try and land on some combination of settings that makes this thing feel like it has more than 3 cylinders.
Next order of business is probably sort out the tires. I'm still debating if I want to keep rocking the factory 14" wheels and dog dish hubcaps, or buy a new set of rims.
After that will likely be pulling the carpet and seeing about the floor pan. And I need to do something about the cowl. I am not going to pull this car apart to weld in a new upper and lower cowl. I was thinking about some sort of blockoff plate for the top to keep water from coming in and rotting out the floor.
I would like to eventually do the body work and paint it back to its original snot green glory.
And if there's a way to remove the surface rust from the things under the car quickly, I'm interested. I was thinking to put it up on a lift, make a big plastic tent, and then start sandblasting or put a wire brush in a drill. I'm open to suggestions for how to do it fast and easy.
