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While in Ohio I talked with Uncle Tom about things he had done to the ‘ol girl, what he and Dad had tried to do, and what he thought should be done.

We knew that the tank had gas in it that was close to ten years old.  That the brakes hadn’t worked properly longer than that.  That it had relatively new tires and a brand new battery.  And he thought he had changed the oil not long before it got parked in 2005.  The good thing was that it had lived in the barn all the time it spent in Ohio. The bad thing was I would have to address all of these problems before attempting to start her up.  I decided to start with the fuel system and a tune up.

I knew the tank was going to have to be removed, cleaned and resealed. I started cleaning out the trunk so I could remove the gas tank.  And this is where her age started to show…

These old Plymouths are famous for the trunk lid seal getting hard, cracking and leaking…right into the trunk floor.  When I finally got everything out I discovered I could actually see concrete though the floor [much like when I started on my van!].

The second problem arose when I attempted to remove the gas tank.  The tank straps secure to the car with threaded stock on their ends that go up through the trunk floor and have nuts within the trunk to tighten them up.  Well…with decades of water leaking into the trunk floor these nuts were rusted solid.
Check out the pictures…

And when I put a breaker bar to the nuts they twisted right off the tank straps…

I tried to find new straps but they are not being reproduced so I had to figure out a way to fix the broken ones.  I knew that the straps pulled tight from the bottom up through the trunk.  I drilled out the old rivets and cleaned up the ends of the straps.  I then made 90* ends for the straps with holes drilled in the top for a bolt to go through.  I fabricated gusset plates to add strength to the new ends and welded it all up…

I purchased some stainless steel bolts, nuts and washers and tested it all by remounting the gas tank which easily went back in and the modified straps worked like a charm!  I moved on to the trunk floor next.

I had already decided that I was not going to do a frame-off restoration on this ‘ol girl until after I was done with my van and Barracuda.  I wanted to drive her and have fun while I worked on my other projects.  Predetermining this allowed me to make some decisions that I would have never otherwise made, the trunk floor being the first.  I decided to clean and seal the floor and not worry about replacing the rusted metal at this time.  I broke out an electric high-speed grinder with an industrial wire wheel and went to work.  There was a large cloud of rust dust floating around my work area for a few days while I cleaned both the inside and the underside of the trunk floor.

Once this was completed I wiped down the bare metal with a degreaser and applied several coats of rust converter and ZeroRust sealer...

I will make a new trunk mat and let it ride like this until the frame off starts.

I took the tank over to Kirk’s Radiator, they have done several tanks and radiators for me and I recommend them 100%
Ryan checked it out and said that besides all the old gas and sludge in the bottom the tank was in very good shape.  I had him service and seal the tank.  Once this was done I started cleaning the exterior of the tank, then cleaned the bare metal with degreaser and sealed it with several coats of ZeroRust sealer.  After the sealer was dry I applied three coats of Rust-Oleum semi-gloss black paint.

I cleaned the fuel lines all the way to the carburetor, installed a new in-line fuel filter, replaced the fuel pump and reinstalled the gas tank.  Then I started working on the engine.

I first wanted to make sure it wasn’t seized, after all it had been sitting for a long time.  I wanted to get some oil down into the cylinders and quickly found that this isn’t an easy task with these old L-Head 6 cylinder engines.  The spark plug sits to the side of the cylinder, not directly above as most modern engines.  I had to find a way to get the oil [Marvel Mystery Oil] down into the cylinder and around the rings.  I found an old bottle in my garage [for some reason a very long time ago I threw this bottle in a box for “future use”…whoda thunk it?!] with a long, thin hose on the end that worked just fine for this task.  The long hose easily slid into the cylinders and I was able to squirt oil down the cylinder walls…

L-Head Engine Diagram

Special Cylinder Wall Lubricating Apparatus

I re-oiled the cylinders three days in a row, letting the oil soak in overnight.  On the fourth day I put the transmission into third gear, with the spark plugs out, and tried spinning the rear wheels.  Surprisingly, with a lot of effort, I was able to get them to move!  I took this to mean the engine was not seized.  I then hooked the battery up and engaged the starter through a few revolutions, the engine spun freely.
This was a huge relief!

I took the carbs [I had a spare] down to Rick “The Carb Guy” here in San Diego County.  He’s a well-known carburetor repair guy.  He gets carbs from all over the world, from Ford to Duesenberg’s he’s rebuilt them all!  He was able to rebuild the main carb and told me to hang onto the spare “just in case”.

While the carb was being rebuilt I gathered the parts for a tune-up.  The plug wires were in excellent shape so I left them be.  The spark plugs were another story!  I know my Gramps is well known for using whatever he has on hand…and he lived up to his reputation here.  There were three different manufacturer spark plugs in the engine!

I got the rebuilt carb back on a Tuesday and while reinstalling it my friend Bill stopped by to see how things were going.  Bill is my “go-to” guy when it comes to engines.  At that time I was planning to attempt to start her the following weekend, giving me some time to check everything out and QC my work.  After I finished the tune-up I went over with him all the things I had done to the car so far.  When I finished going down the list I looked over at Bill and said, “Damn, I think all we need is some gas, she’s ready to start!”  He agreed so we made a dash to get some premium gas for her first run.

We hooked the battery up and cranked the starter until the oil pressure gauge started moving and the fuel pump had gas in the bowl.  Bill plugged in the coil wire, dumped some gas down the carb and gave me a thumbs-up.  I engaged the choke, hit the starter and she fired right up!

  We let her warm up, disengaged the choke and she settled in to a nice smooth idle.

Not bad for a seventy-one year old car!

Here’s a video of her first start…