Okay, so my cousin came to my house for christmas and he knows a lot about cars. He tried to figure out why it wasnt starting and I am fairly convinced that it just needs to have the choke fixed. After getting it started, he told me that I dont need an engine rebuild because it runs decent and doesn't smoke out the back when started or anything. Is that true? I dont want to shell out bunches of money for something I dont need, and would rather just add parts to the engine. He said that once I add something serious, like performance heads, that I should have it rebuilt, but a new intake, carb, cam, and exhaust would be fine. Is this all true? The engine used to run well before I parked it for the summer to restore the interior, but now even once I get it started its not perfect, although I think my timing is off. So, what should I do:

TO REBUILD OR NOT TO REBUILD? that is the question...

 

From what you just discribed it sounds like all you need to do is a normal tuneup and some fresh gas. gas goes bad over time.

 

yup, engines dont just need rebuilding because they sat for a year or so

 

Do a compression test. It will tell all

 

Well, the engine is old anyways and has never been rebuild. (either 116,000 or 216000 miles but prolly the first one). I just assumed that a rebuild would be good for it and get me more power and a more reliable engine. However, if it can handle decent power now, and wont die every week then I dont want to spend the money. Ill see if I can borrow a compression tester and check that.

 

Run some fresh gas, tune it up and then see how it runs. If you don't want to rebuild, don't. If you have the time and money just rebuild it. It is such a waste of money to put new carb and intake cam blah blah blah on a tired motor. So many people think that a 4 barrel and headers automatically makes they're car a race car. Not true.

 

What does a 'tune up' include? Can I do it myself or should I have a shop do it that will know how to tune stuff right?

 

Fresh gas if yours is old. New wires if needed. New plugs, new filters (air, fuel, and oil), oil. That should get you started.


EDIT: You can also clean off the contact points if your dizzy cap and rotor, or replace them.

 

If you still have a points dist. I would put new points in it and make sure you set the gap correctly. If you get all new parts it shouldn't run you more then $50 which is about what a shop will charge just to change the spark plugs.