Will be going through my engine this winter. got from original owner and she drove it so little that the engine was never broken in.
Plugs 2-5 get caked with crap but 1&6 are pretty good. What do I need to look for and fix, I know rings will most likely need work or repalcing. Are there items out there to upgade to for our new crappy gas. I live in Wisconsin and we have to have 10% ethenol in our gas. thanks in advance for you input.

 

just do a oil change,and run it around the block to get it up to running temp, than change it again to insure its clean, as for the ring and the cylinder walls, i dont thing thats a cause for concern, mainly because if the engine wasnt broke in thats not a bad thing, its if its not broken in and you go racing in it than well have problems but its a I6 i wouldnt worry about that. Normal drive wont hurt the motor at all. Change the spark plugs with new ones, and just for kicks up the octane to a 91 just for this once, get all the old burned off, and than go back to reg. If the spark plugs are gunking up, i would check to make sure the carb is still good, and that its not burning to rich or to lean, (remember its better to burn to rich than to lean) change the plug wires, aintifreeze, test the thermostat, basically give it a full tune up. There is no need to tear down a good engine, you must see if its good first, and if this fixes the problem, than i would than suggest pulling the motor, and refurbishing it (ie: repainting it, changings gaskets etc) but dont jump to conclusions that the motors shot, do all the things i listed and im pretty sure itll fix the problem. Take your carb if you dont know how to work on them, to a good carb guy, and let him know what the plugs look like, if the car has heistation problems etc, this way he can do adjustments, and fix as nessasary.

oh and please change the fuel pump, filter,rubber gaskets that dry rotted, and take the old gas out of the tank first!! VIa the drain plug in the bottom. when it comes to bad signs of engine distress, look at the plugs really good, do they look burnt? how does the oil smell? let me know???

 

Good advice Joe. The best thing you could do with that car is to drive it. Change all the fluids, plugs etc., then take it for a 500 mile trip one way. It just needs to be driven as it was designed to do.

 

didn't drive it that far, but it is in storage now. did most things Joe mentioned. Any other advice??

 

Changed plugs, wires, oil, points the day after I bought it in June. Also did some adjusting to carb. It still ran a little rough, and would kill after short stops to the store. (only sat less than 15 min.) It does blow blue smoke on start up, but not a lot. Plugs didn't look burnt just, caked with carbon(I think). It was black gunk. Cleaned them twice during the summer. What about the valve? seats, could they be bad? A friend says they might be. Car is in storage now with a tank full of premium in it, do I need to drain it to get to the pump? Where is it?

 

could i just rebuild the carb? is there a kit, or what is the best thing to do beside taking it to someone. My brother works on cars and will help me. i already bought a spare carb from ebay.

 

Does the engine use a lot of oil? A little smoke on startup could be valve guides. Dont know about a 6 but on an 8 you can get seals for the valve stems. If you are going to drive it a lot you may want to have hardened valve seats installed for unleaded gas.
My first car was a 67 6cly. My dad had our mech take the head off once and scrape the carbon off the pistons. It didnt foul the plugs anymore until i completly wore it out.

 

didn't burn alot of oil, but I only drove it 500-600 miles for the summer.