This rust free coupe with an awesome paint job is the one you want to start your project with! My blog has given me the opportunity to meet other coupe enthusiasts, and today I had the opportunity to meet one in person and see his car. My family and I are on vacation in Anaheim, so I took the opportunity to meet a fellow coupe owner and he showed me his stalled project that is looking for a good home.
After purchasing from the original owner, he had a sunroof installed by American Sunroof, disassembled much of the trim and interior and had the car painted black from the original red color. Then the project lost steam as other projects took priority and then stalled due to age and health issues. This looks like a completely rust free car that has been sitting under a cover in a garage since it’s paint job. The car was dusty, but the paint looked like a deep black and I’m sure would be awesome in the sunlight.
Lots of assembly required here and all the trim to put it back together will be provided. Some parts would need to be replaced like the cracked dash cover and stiff seat leather.
The best part of this project is the solid, rust free body with a quality paint job. Interior will take some work to put back together and will be fiddly, but with all the parts shouldn’t provide too much issues.
The biggest unknown is the engine. Hasn’t been run in a while, but no known issues with it. I would probably:
- Remove spark plugs to see what they tell you. While doing this check if plug wires or rotor cap needs to be replaced.
- Squirt some oil like Marvel Mystery oil in each of the spark plug holes and let sit for a while.
- Try turning motor over clockwise at crank bolt with 7/8″ wrench.
- Replace with new spark plugs
- Replace all fuel hoses. This is a bigger job than it sounds. It’s also a good idea to replace the fuel filter.
- Change oil and filter. If oil is goopy, remove oil pan and clean before adding new oil
- Drain each tank and then add some fresh fuel to tanks. Install pressure gauge in fuel rail (hose to one of the cold start injectors works well for this) and just turn the ignition on to get the fuel pump working without the starter. Pump turns off after a couple of seconds, so it might take a few tries to build up pressure, but you should see 30 to 31 psi at the gauge, and if all is well, you shouldn’t smell any leaking gas and the pressure should drop off very slowly.
- Remove orange wire (terminal 85) on the fuel pump relay to stop the fuel pump from starting when cranking. Crank engine without starting in an attempt to get some oil pressure built up before starting.
- Reconnect fuel pump relay, cross fingers, and try to start
There is some nice work that has been done already such as both fuel tanks have been powder coated and connected together to eliminate the need for the complex switch over mechanism in the trunk. This looks like a big project, but the starting point is a solid one.
If you have interest in the car, send me a note in the “contact John” box at the bottom of the page and I will put you in touch with the owner. This one deserves some effort to get it back on the road.
Update – this car has been sold and is now going through an awesome resto-mod.
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