My wife’s uncle is at that “end of life care” point of his life, and decided to give his car to his favorite niece, my wife. It’s a 1976 chrysler new yorker, and she is a real beauty. Not really it’s a rolling turd that’s falling apart, more rust then metal. But my wife has childhood memories of the car, and he was so found of it, so we are going to store it until we can afford to fix it up. The problem is the only way to start the thing is to dump a small amount of gas right down the carb. if the car is sitting for more then 20 mins your have to dump more gas down the carb to start it back up. We ain’t going to drive the thing much if ever until i got some free cash to restore it - but in the mean time i am sick of dumping gas right down the carb. Any ideas - it was a daily driver until he got cancer about 3 years ago, allot of sitting in those 3 years.
Thank you scotty and i hope the Lord continues to bless you and shine down on you.
The carb has to be broken down , cleaned and rebuilt.
Are you really going to restore a rust bucket? Do you have any idea the amount of time and money that will take?
I'm going to say chances are that if you don't have the funds now, you probably never will. Hate to be a reality pill but I'd rather save you the grief.
“I'm going to say chances are that if you don't have the funds now, you probably never will. Hate to be a reality pill but I'd rather save you the grief.“
Don’t be condescending to some one you have never met- and don’t know. At 34 i make a very comfortable living. I bought a 1902 farm house last year and in full remodel mode right now. My money is tied up. In the future being a few months down the road - things will free up and i can tackle another project.
Don't be so thin skinned. I'm not judging your worth. Statistically, people just overestimate their own free time and endurance, and underestimate the amount of resources needed. You said it's more rust than metal, so if it's just the paint holding it together then you're close to building a car from scratch. You're going to put in many time more money than it'll ever be worth. I'm just trying to prepare you. I think it's just a car, but If that still sounds like a good idea to you then have at 'er.
It's only going to start with the carburettor you'll see.
To really restore that thing could easily take $50,000-$100,000 or even more depending on your starting point and how much you can do yourself. A good paint job alone gets well into 5 figures. Rust repair - a fortune depending on how bad it really is. If the torsion bar anchors for the front suspension (located under the front seat area) rust out, forget it, the car is scrap at that point
If the car is solid underneath but outer body panels have rust around the edges I'd just get it running and make sure brakes, suspension, etc. are in safe condition. In other words, forget about a full restoration unless maybe you hit the lottery. Instead, refurbish mechanical parts so it's safe to drive and otherwise leave it as is.
As far as the fuel problem you could have a plugged-up carburetor or clogged fuel filter, a bad fuel pump, or the pickup screen in the gas tank could be clogged up. Lots of opportunities for fuel system problems in a car closing in on its fifth decade that's been sitting for a few years.
Maybe you could post links to pictures. This is what one of those puppies looks like when it's in decent condition:
Thank you for the advice - this weekend i’ll start tackling the problem and get back with you. It’s not going to be a full restro - just a 10 foot paint job and interior touch ups. As far as the mechanics go the car drive smooth, stops on a dime, and sounds surprisingly great. Her uncle was a mechanic and a darn good one - he’s got cancer (3 pack a day guy @ 66 years old) and with all the chemo I can not make head or tail of what he’s trying to tell me, and i’m not sure he knows. But he took great car of that car and loved it, just as all things in Michigan they rust. Brakes i know are good, the underside was treated back in the 80’s and mostly solid still. Suspension, and most mechanical has been replaced within 5-10 years. Car has 180,000 miles though. Which one of these buttons allows me to upload pics from my phone? I’ll send a few for you guys to laugh at.
Sorry about the situation with your uncle. It's a terrible thing - those coffin nails have taken out relatives of mine as well. It's hard to believe anyone still smokes in this day and age.
In any event, instructions for pictures are in the FAQ. Basically you upload them to a file sharing site and post the links here. (Preferably post the links directly to each photo so they display here automatically.)