The Challenge:

Take a car that you have never driven (except for 10 mintue test drive) or worked on or even barely seen before...
Completely tear down every nut and bolt on car to bare body!
Sandy blast, repaint, reassemble exterior and interior.
Completely tear down engine
Clean, rebuild, reassemble engine (tricky part because old wiring was a mess, fuel pump was running off coil, cold start valve running all the time, temp sensors were disconnected, fuses blown, hoses missing....you get the point)
Install engine
Install all new hoses and fuel lines (harder than it sounds)
All done in 17 months 22 days

and then......and then....

The Result:

pour gasoline into tank

get two fire extingushers just in case....

install battery

turn key......and then....and then....

wait for fuel pump to prime and shut off.....done

depress clutch (even if car is on axle stands)

turn key one more notch......nothing.....try again....nothing...back key off to off position and try again....nothing

crawl under car to look at starter, ah ha. solinoid wire was off.

get into car and turn key

It didn't take but 1 1/2 seconds and bang bang, as in chitty chitty, and it was running!:rockin:


It's a little noisey but I still have to time it and test run it and bring it up to temp but for now....IT"S ALIVE!!!!!
I have one beer left in the case and I am now going to celebrate.

Thanks to all on this site who have helped me along the way. I salute you!

Party on dude!

I felt all warm and fuzzy reading your post

Congrats!!!!

Man you rock!

I am in the same boat (minus the ten minute test drive), and I have not even finished taking mine apart (almost though).

Did you blast with sand or some other media? I will be at this point soon and for financial reasons I see blasting as my only option. Did you look into any of the less conventional media like soda or dry ice?

Again congrats! I can only imagine what it is like to sit in a teener with an actual seat, and everything else no less.

-Pete

eewh

Glass beaded on most of it but that only took the crappy paint off where someone had done work before. The two rear quarter panels had original paint and 3 other colours on it. They had to be sanded down to the first coat then I beaded the rest. (yes it was alot of work)

What do you want a picture of? It's still up on the axle stands, still has the crappy chrome moon rims on it (my Mahles are blasted but not yet clear coated and I have to buy new tirees for them), it hasn't been polished since it was painted, no mirrors on it yet and the top needs repainting.
Other than that it's ready to go and I will post pictures tomorrow.
Tx
Doug

Congrats Doug.
It sure is a nice feeling the first time.

I corrected it for you, Andy :finger2:

'grats!

Congratulations! It's such a wonderful thing when it work like this. It's worth all the hard work

That will be the best beer you will ever drink!!! Excellent job. Love it when a project comes to a satisfactory conclusion.


Steve Hurt