Great story Fred. Yes, it is possible to fix these cars with the help of this
list, and for that guy, a helpful person like you.
Linda
roadster wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> A couple weeks ago I mentioned a casual acquaintance was considering selling
> his '67.5 SPL311 with U20 & 5-spd, 'cause it hadn't run for over 10 years and
> he had to move it out or else. I've run into him several times over the last
> few years, and he says he wishes he could someday get it running so he can go
> to a show. He mentioned a couple guys had checked it out years ago and
> couldn't get it running so it sat. And sat.
>
> So I arranged to drop by with my tools. We cleared away some junk (old dead
> roadsters always become shelf-space in the garage) and took a look. This car
> has a near-perfect body and good chrome but bad paint, and the interior needs
> freshening up but everything is pretty much there (gauges and seats are real
> nice). The master cylinders looked new although the fluid was black, but the
> hydraulics still worked. Then I took a look at the engine, popped off the
> valve cover, opened the carbs, etc. Everything looked NEW! He admitted to not
> knowing anything about engines and asked if there was a chance of making it
> run! I removed the distributor, and spun the oil pump to prime the engine,
> squirt some oil in the right places. I had noticed the distributor was set the
> wrong way, so I reset it properly for #1 to fire at TDC (the slot at 11:25
> position trick). Put some fuel in the fuel bowls, then we put jumper cables to
> it from his other car. Then tried to start it.
>
> Click. Dead. Cleaned up the starter wire connections. Click-click, not so
> dead. So I moved the jumper cable from the battery neg. cable to an engine
> part and said try again. Roar! Smooth running like you wouldn't believe. My
> friend grabbed his young son, they jumped in and took it for a ride around the
> neighborhood. They both came back laughing and chuckling like they had the
> roller coaster ride of their lives. Now he says he will definitely keep it,
> and is happy that he'll finally be able to come to a show with his own
> roadster.
>
> This guy was probably going to sell it for a couple thousand because he
> thought it was dead. And why? Because of bad battery cable connections and a
> distributor that was installed wrong. Moral of the story - get to know the
> theory behind tuning up a roadster engine, get to know the specifications and
> follow them to the letter. And don't rely on a couple hacks telling you it's
> dead, work on it yourself and be sure if it is or not!
>
> Fred - So.SF
> BADROC
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