From the pasture; The valiant story of my '66 Valiant
Okay so it spins. Lets see what we are working with. I have plugs/wires/cap etc, but lets see what happens when I prime the carb and feed it fuel. Attempting to use the accelerator pedal, i feel a crunch and notice my heel sinks into the floor. Im pretty sure I know now what lurks under the pristine OG rubber floor mats, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. I open the carb and feed it a dose of fuel straight down the gullet. Now, when I crank the key it drags three times, then catches. Belching and snarling, the slant 6 erupts into life. Unfortunately for my bus, parked directly behind the prehistoric Plymouth, she shoots large gelatinous liquids out the tailpipe. Idling slowly, and erratically, like only a half dead vintage car trying to remember its rhythm can, she stumbles, threatens to stall, changes her mind, and continues to idle on her own.
I can clearly hear something going on with the lifters, and much like a stubborn ..uh.. mule.. the carburetor is pretty hesitant to do a damn thing I would like it to do. What it really wants to do, is stay dead, the motor on the other hand, seems pretty eager to rejoin the free world.
I went ahead and shut it down, before I damage anything I haven't had time to fully inspect. It does however "run" which gives me hope! Now I peak under the car, and am greeted with a big ole pile of rust flakes. (ignore the puddle, its unrelated. liquid from the heater hoses I disconnected to get the valve cover off).
I can't get under it far enough to see, but my hand tells me there is a big hole up there near the accelerator, and since this aint the Flintstones, its gonna need repair. I also unlocked the gas cap and took a sniff. That gas smells like the dead dinosaurs that made that fuel came back to life, climbed in the tank, died again and started rotting. It was RANK. As replacement tanks are only $100 ish, I'm pretty sure I'll not bother cleaning this one. Yuck.
I'm not sure I made much progress, but I have a much better idea of what I need to do now. And its alive!*
*Sorta
To do:
Until next time Constant Reader, I ain't no Plymouth mechanic, but I play one on TV.
Editors note: I also found a replacement bumper for this one year only car on one of the faceyspacey pages, and have it on the way. My front bumper is mangled so anything I found would have been better than what I had.
Okay so it spins. Lets see what we are working with. I have plugs/wires/cap etc, but lets see what happens when I prime the carb and feed it fuel. Attempting to use the accelerator pedal, i feel a crunch and notice my heel sinks into the floor. Im pretty sure I know now what lurks under the pristine OG rubber floor mats, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. I open the carb and feed it a dose of fuel straight down the gullet. Now, when I crank the key it drags three times, then catches. Belching and snarling, the slant 6 erupts into life. Unfortunately for my bus, parked directly behind the prehistoric Plymouth, she shoots large gelatinous liquids out the tailpipe. Idling slowly, and erratically, like only a half dead vintage car trying to remember its rhythm can, she stumbles, threatens to stall, changes her mind, and continues to idle on her own.
I can clearly hear something going on with the lifters, and much like a stubborn ..uh.. mule.. the carburetor is pretty hesitant to do a damn thing I would like it to do. What it really wants to do, is stay dead, the motor on the other hand, seems pretty eager to rejoin the free world.
I went ahead and shut it down, before I damage anything I haven't had time to fully inspect. It does however "run" which gives me hope! Now I peak under the car, and am greeted with a big ole pile of rust flakes. (ignore the puddle, its unrelated. liquid from the heater hoses I disconnected to get the valve cover off).
I can't get under it far enough to see, but my hand tells me there is a big hole up there near the accelerator, and since this aint the Flintstones, its gonna need repair. I also unlocked the gas cap and took a sniff. That gas smells like the dead dinosaurs that made that fuel came back to life, climbed in the tank, died again and started rotting. It was RANK. As replacement tanks are only $100 ish, I'm pretty sure I'll not bother cleaning this one. Yuck.
I'm not sure I made much progress, but I have a much better idea of what I need to do now. And its alive!*
*Sorta
To do:
- Peel back vinyl floor and inspect the metal
- Research brake options that include a dual res MC
- Set valves?
- Buy a fuel tank
- Buy a fuel pump
- Rebuild/Replace Carb
- Replace the OG radiator
Until next time Constant Reader, I ain't no Plymouth mechanic, but I play one on TV.
Editors note: I also found a replacement bumper for this one year only car on one of the faceyspacey pages, and have it on the way. My front bumper is mangled so anything I found would have been better than what I had.
