Well I am now the proud owner of a 1970 454 C3, It has 53K miles on it with original 390hp engine and auto tranny. It was bought new by my grandma in 1970 for my grandpa as a anniversary gift (yeah, go grandma). Its currently in need of serious work as its been sitting in garages since about 81 in raw fiberglass. Pretty much sometime around 81 my grandpa decided he wanted to spruce it up, He did some conversion for it to run better on unleaded gas (something with the heads) he told me around 5 yrs ago and i cant remember exactly what was done to it. I know the car was driven about 6 blocks from my grandpas house where it was garaged to my moms house in about 1988 where it sat in the garage until about 97/98 when it was towed from my moms house to my great grandmas garage. From when it was towed i do remember the brakes were frozen and that it was leaking oil or transmission fluid at the time as there was a puddle on my moms floor. So now fast forward to 2005 the car has been basically mines to do whatever i wanted with since i was about 13/14 but now at 21 im finally in the financially posistion to do things to the car correctly and not turn it into a pile of fiberglass next to a brick wall. I plan to pull the body off and redo all the suspension bushings and brakes also repaint the frame. while i send the body off to a friends to get the fiberglass work done as there are a few chips and 2 small cracks i want to have fixed while he paints the body. My big question is to do with the motor and tranny, After the car was moved in 88 it was pretty much parked and just sat was never even turned over. A few people said i can drain whats left of the oil get the carb rebuilt or replaced as ive been hearing horror stories about Q-jets being a PIA, Kill the ignition to get the oil flowing and possibly start it up but i dont want to risk permanently damaging the block if anything is stuck so do you guys think that is a good idea with the amount of time it has been sitting. Also What is the deal witht he Q-jets is it worth rebuilding now or should i get a edelbrok or holley and save the q-jet for if i ever want to take it back to stock. Also on the tranny I know my grandpa put a Transco shift kit in it in its early days and he thinks the tranny may be able to be used without a rebuild if i fill it with fresh fluid am i risking any irrepairible damage tesing it? I have pretty much all the parts my grandpa tossed the ac years ago so i need to re source that as well as a set of stock pop ups as he put some funky fixed light things in and the bumpers and grill. Also im not really worried about taking the car back to its original stock look i just dont want to do anything to it that i could never make up for or reverse if i ever chose to. So what do you guys think im pretty new with older chevy's ive owned a t-brid and f-body but they were all newer is there any problem spots with the c3's that I should address now especially since the body is off? Any help would be appreciated and sorry for how long that was, just felt i should explain the situation before i ask the questions.

Statik

 

Wow, that's a lot. First thing: What do you want to do with the car? NCRS -all original show piece? Just a cruiser with minimal modification? Tire roasting, corner carving, street machine? I think you probably sound like you want to keep it as original as possible. Source the parts now I guess if you feel it necessary. Might as well have them if you truly want them because they'll be easier to get now than in 20 years or whatever.

Make sure all the seams are welded nicely on the frame, replace every suspension bushing, get some o-ring calipers or rebuild them yourself. Rebuild the trailing arms. Take your time, make it perfect. You only want to pull the body off once.

The transmission may be junk and in need of rebuild. It just happens when they sit for too long. The seals just dry up. For the engine, pull the spark plugs and put a very healthy squirt of Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder and let it sit. Replace all the fluids and see if it'll crank. MMO has brought back many assumed dead engines.

There is nothing wrong with a quadrajet. The problem is that people just don't know how to work them as they are more complicated than a Holley. Put whatever would make you feel the most comfortable on. Lars can help with any q-jet related issue.

I cannot think of any modification that is not reversible with these cars. You can back halve it and still reverse it, it just takes more work.

 

need paragraphs dude

 

 

seeing that you have it all apart now is the time to pull the engine down or at least do a head job, timing chain and oil pump new freeze plugs and gasgets and clean and paint the engine and the rebuilt trans.

Keep asking question on this forum as the folks here will give you some good advise.
Good luck

 

English, the lost language.

Good luck with that '70 Statik.

 

To convert to unleaded the heads will have had hardened valve seats fitted and probably new valves.

If you are doing a body off I would have the engine, gearbox and diff stripped and rebuilt as a matter of course. They may just need new seals and gaskets but at least then you know the true condition of each.

Graeme

 

If you have the body off I'd at least disassemble it and put rings/bearings/gaskets/oil pump/timing chain in the engine to freshen it up. If it's an automatic I'd probably have the trans rebuilt, if a 4-sp I'd change the clutch. As far as the rear dff, I'd at least put new side seals in it. Depending on miles and use it may be OK. I'd have the trailing arms done by VanSteel while it's apart. I'd replace all the u-joints, tie-rods, and all bushings throughout. I would replace both fuel and brake lines while the body is off, they are tough to do with the body on. I would have the frame painted or powder coated while everything is apart. Then whatever you decide on the top side you will have a nice base to put it on. This car is worth fixing right. Dont Skimp. If it takes a few years longer it will be worth it. My .02

 

You took the body off already? The very first thing you should do is to take about 200 pictures of it from every angle you can get to inside and out with a good quality digital camera. Something that has a manual focus so you can get close. While you're doing this gently clean birty areas (especially wires) so you can see the colors.

If the car were mine I would try to get the engine to run. Get some carburator cleaner down in the carb then prime it and see if you can get the accelerator pump to shoot fuel into the intake manifold. Change the oil, pull all the plugs and get some spray lube like liquid wrench in the cylinders. Try to turn the motor with a socket on the crank snout. If it turns (don't go more than a quarter turn) take the distributer out and use a prelube tool to get some oil up in the engine bearrings. Run the oil pump for a couple minutes then turn the crank a quarter turn clockwise. Repeat this for two full revolutions of the crank. Reinstall the distributer, get some plugs and a battery in it and try to start it. You may be suprised. This shouldn't take more than an hour and if it all works it will make you feel great.

If you havn't taken the body off yet now is the time to deside what to do first. If the frame is sound you may want to get the car drivable and restore it a little at a time. If you deside to do this the FIRST thing you should do is the breaks.

By the way there is nothing wrong with Quadrajet carbs.

Hope this helps.

BigBlockk

Later.....

 

Quadrajunk, Quadrabog...

Actually a Qjet is a fine carb if you get somebody who knows what they are doing to build it. I have built many engines, but I can't build a Qjet. If you get it done right-everybody says Lars is the man-then a Qjet is the best of both worlds. It has small primaries for mileage and big secondaries for go. Don't give up on the Qjet, get it done right by somebody who knows them and you will be just fine..