So, I moved out of an apartment a few months ago, and my old landlord approached me about buying a car from him. I said I "might" be interested, depending on what it was. He takes me out to the alley, and opens up a garage. In the garage sits a '53 ford, in pretty decent shape. He said he never drives it anymore, and he wants to get rid of it so that he can rent the garage space out.
He says the engine was rebuilt ~6 years ago (to what exent I have no idea), and the last time he started it was about a year ago, and it started right up (but he has not actually driven it for 3 years or so). The battery was dead, so I didn't try to start it. I offered him $300, and he took it. I got a towtruck and got it towed out to my garage.
I don't really have much of a background in fixing up cars. I can change my oil well enough, but I really havn't done much past that. I figured this would be a good learning experience.
Fast forward to this past weekend... I decided to get her up and running. I went to get the battery charged, only to find out it was shot. I replaced the battery. I changed the oil+filter element. I changed the oil in the oil bath air filter (had to do a little googling to figure that one out). I siphoned out the gas tank, and replaced with fresh fuel + lead substitute. Changed out the spark plugs, and sprayed some cylinder lube in there as well. Filled up the radiator w/ water (I think there is a leak, and don't want antifreeze everywhere). I turned her over to see what would happen, and she fired up after a little coaxing. A little rough, but nothing to write home about.
Right now, the brake pedal goes straight to the floor, so I can't take her for a spin. I guess I need to fill the fluid and bleed them and check for leaks. I'll try to find a neighbor to help me with the bleeding this weekend.
Now to the question:
What else should I do?
The car has been sitting in storage for a few years, without any sort of planning before it was thrown in there. I have no idea what the story is with any of the maintainance items at all. Basically, I'm lost. I've never had a car this old... it was a wakeup call to even sit in the driver's seat. The tranny is a 3 on the tree, which I had never seen before. Yikes.
Anyways, what else do I need to do to get her back on the road?
He says the engine was rebuilt ~6 years ago (to what exent I have no idea), and the last time he started it was about a year ago, and it started right up (but he has not actually driven it for 3 years or so). The battery was dead, so I didn't try to start it. I offered him $300, and he took it. I got a towtruck and got it towed out to my garage.
I don't really have much of a background in fixing up cars. I can change my oil well enough, but I really havn't done much past that. I figured this would be a good learning experience.
Fast forward to this past weekend... I decided to get her up and running. I went to get the battery charged, only to find out it was shot. I replaced the battery. I changed the oil+filter element. I changed the oil in the oil bath air filter (had to do a little googling to figure that one out). I siphoned out the gas tank, and replaced with fresh fuel + lead substitute. Changed out the spark plugs, and sprayed some cylinder lube in there as well. Filled up the radiator w/ water (I think there is a leak, and don't want antifreeze everywhere). I turned her over to see what would happen, and she fired up after a little coaxing. A little rough, but nothing to write home about.
Right now, the brake pedal goes straight to the floor, so I can't take her for a spin. I guess I need to fill the fluid and bleed them and check for leaks. I'll try to find a neighbor to help me with the bleeding this weekend.
Now to the question:
What else should I do?
The car has been sitting in storage for a few years, without any sort of planning before it was thrown in there. I have no idea what the story is with any of the maintainance items at all. Basically, I'm lost. I've never had a car this old... it was a wakeup call to even sit in the driver's seat. The tranny is a 3 on the tree, which I had never seen before. Yikes.
Anyways, what else do I need to do to get her back on the road?
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