Hi all I'm new hear to this forum and I was hoping to get some advice. I'm looking to purchase a '66 coupe that has been garage stored, it has been in CA the whole life of the car, for the past 3 years. I've only seen one pictures so far and am going to view the car soon. I was wondering what generally might i have to do maintenance wise before i start and drive the car, best case scenario being the car doesn't have any major mechanical faults. Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.

 

dupe.

 

very high on my list would be: change all fluids (water/antifreeze, engine opil, trans oil, rear axle oil, brake fluid)
prime the engine and check the distributor (points /mechanical advance weights rusty?)
check the brakes (clean)
charge the battery (replace)
inspect carburetor (does everything move?), maybe replace all gaskets

 

"in CA for it's whole life, for the past 3 years." Does this mean it hasn't been started in the last three years?

If so, I would want to hear it run before buying it, unless the price was right and taking this into consideration. As long as it has oil and coolant, see if you can get it to start. If so, run it until temperature comes up and then immediately change oil and filter. Changing oil before starting it up will leave LOTS of gunk in the crankcase.

If you plan on driving it home, before doing so, with the car standing still, STAND on the brake pedal and make sure that it doesn't turn loose. Turn the steering wheel lock to lock before hitting the road, then EASE it home. Once home you can change all the fluids and filters, give it fresh points and plugs or better yet, put a Pertronix points eliminator in it.

I wouldn't drive such a car home unless it is a short distance and you have someone to follow along. Ideally it would be best to have it hauled home and then go over it thoroughly before driving it. After all the TLC, give it a couple of short oil changes, that is about every 500 miles for a couple of changes. When you drain the oil, pull the plug when the engine is at operating temperature. This will get a LOT more sludge out with oil.

Enjoy.

 

ya. i assumed you'd trailor it home. and yes, oil changes are better done at operating temperatur. I do them then as well. I would have said do an oil change before starting up just as there might be water swimming on top of the oil etc

 

it's a CA car with the original black license plates. According to the guy that's selling it it has been stored in his garage for the past 3 years and he hasn't driven it. The car is about 20 miles from my house and if I did purchase it I would more than likely trailer it home unless it was safe to drive those 20 odd miles on city streets back to my house.

 

obviously it would be great if you could see the engine running and the car moving. if that's not an option I personally would trailer it. The last thing you want is your new pride and joy to brake down after two miles. It will be the new hate object.

 

kalli makes a good point regarding the psychological risk involved in driving it home. If you can trailer it, that is of course the best option.

 

Even though it is a CA it is still possible for the old girl to have rust problems.

Bring a flashlight, inspection mirror or small hand mirror and a magnet. Maybe a small screwdriver or pointy object. If the owner will let you you can use the screwdriver to poke at rust and see if it is surface rust or a rust hole.

Touch the magnet to both of the rear quarter panels to see if they have bondo in them. Use the flashlight and mirror to get a good look at the front and rear frame rails. The front commonly rust out at the spot welded joint under the firewall. The rears will rust out at the points where the leaf springs bolt into them, front and back. Look at the sheetmetal behind the rear half of the leaf springs and see if the trunk drop off have rusted, this metal takes alot of rocks from the tires taking the paint off the metal. Take a look at the floor pans most rust will start around the frame rails and along the outside seams where they are welded to the rockers.

Take a close look at both sides of the engine bay, from the engine side and the wheel well side. Especially where the shock towers are welded At the top and the bottom. Look in the right wheel well under the battery. Take a look at the bottom side corners of the radiator support.

If the owner will let you, take the splash guards off the back side of the front wheel wells and get a good look under them. This will let you see some of the outside of the cowl area behind the fenders. Look down through the cowl vent and see if you can see anything obvious wrong, its hard to see anything but worth a quick look. Take a look under the dash at the firewall and try to see if there is any rust water streaks running down and feel under the carpet for water or rust. All of this is to try and see if the cowl under the windshield is rusted out. The most thorough way is to take the cowl off but it is a very rare owner that will do this.

Crawl all the way under the car and take a look at the underside of the transmission tunnel. Is is a common thing when a car is converteted from auto tranny to manual to cut out the transmission tunnel to be able to install the shifter. This is a lesson i learned the hard way as sombody used a torch to cut a 10" hole in my mach1's tunnel.

This is a few of the common rust areas that can be a bit harder to find. I hope someothers on the forum will add to my list.

 

I would be interested to know what exactly it is and what you have to give for it. What engine, what trans? Is it a pony interior? Does it run?