I took the carburetor off again, removed the bowl and jet, and cleaned everything out. This time it only ran for about 5 minutes before clogging up again. Both filters are clear, so it must be gunk still in the carb body somewhere working loose and falling back down into the bowl to be sucked into (and clog up) the main jet. I can't afford a new one for this project, so I ordered a budget rebuild kit and some more filters, which have arrived. Now to find time to get to it and drain the tank...
The filters came in along with the carburetor rebuild components and I went through everything again. Unfortunately this time, no dice, I had lost fuel pressure from the pump! I ordered a fuel pump only to be sent an electric wiper version. I sent it back and got the correct one for vacuum wipers (it has a little chamber on the bottom and hookups for the vacuum wipers, pretty neat as it's constant-ish as opposed to engine vacuum). That finally arrived many moons later it she ran again! For about a minute. Pulling the fuel lines showed gunk like crazy in the feed line, there was no getting around it, the tank had to come out...
It was time to call in reinforcements! I had Hagerty flat-bed it to Gil's hot rod shop (the place that did the rust repair on the Javelin) where they pulled the tank and had my local radiator shop boil the tank out. We also replaced all of the rubber fuel hoses, blew out the hard lines, and cleaned the main jet and needle and seat on the carb again.
Underneath the car was ridiculously clean! No rust, no leaks, no dents. There is a newer muffler on it. The tank boiled out a-okay, with just a new gasket needed on the drain plug. We also replaced the filler hose.
We could all be so lucky to be this dry underneath when we are 62...
Grab a beverage, it's time to tell the complete story of Gladys, now that I got it all from the seller.
His dad was a Rambler guy and had bought a few of them, including a Green on Green 63 2-door Ambassador (full-size) with a 3-on-the-tree. His mom needed a car to run the kids around town and she didn't like the stick, so dad went and bought her a car. He went to Larry D. Felts Motors in Longview, Washington and ordered up a 64 Rambler Classic (mid-size) sedan with a 3-speed automatic on the column, in the top-of-the-line 770 trim including transistorized AM radio in Fathom Blue with a White top and Blue interior. Larry D. Felts himself signed all of the paperwork! (Which is all with the car)
Mom was thrilled with her smaller Rambler with the automatic and adored driving it. It only took a few days for confusion to set in when mom or dad told the kids to "get in the Rambler" and they kept getting in the wrong one. The son (who I bought it from, now in his 60's) suggested to mom that they name the cars so they could tell them apart. Mom's favorite show at the time was "Pete and Gladys", so that's what the son recommended. Mom asked which was which and the classic response, "Dad's car is Pete, it has a stick". From then on, the 64 was always known as Gladys, even on the service records!
In the service records Gladys had made it a stately 87,000 miles in 1978. In 1991 when the current set of tires were installed, that was just 98,000. Now she has 99,600!
So Gladys has been running and driving for a few weeks by this point. Turns out the tires are Sears radials from 91, and they have no weather checking, so I've been running them (and just fine, they rounded back out almost right away). I put her up for sale before touching the paint to see if anybody would bite, and I got a ton of interest, but no solid offers where Benjamins were waved in my face, so I took her back off the market, bought a house, and went on vacation. When we got back, it was going to be the biggest local show we have, the Unique Tin Car Show and Cruise, where thy shut down the main drag through town for all of the show cars to cruise. I decided that was a fantastic venue to advertise Gladys, plus the kids and SWMBO could all fit for the cruise! First, we had some work to do.
My helper changed out the rear marker lens entirely on her own (parenting win!). Gladys came with 2 complete sets of spares! (Because old guy owner)
Now, for that paint... The Fathom Blue is all original 1964 AMC lacquer, and the white top was shot with a single-stage sometime in the 80's, and it looks like an enamel (fisheyes). My weapons of choice were a Porter-Cable 7424 polisher with a 6" Lake Country head conversion, using a Medium/Soft foam 6" pad and old school Meguire's Rubbing Compound, which I have found works best on lacquer.
That gives you an idea of what we are working with here...
After! The sides turned out great, as did most of the hood and trunk lid. Obviously the spots where there's just no paint left didn't come out, but overall it is now very presentable. I managed to get the car seats in and we were all loaded up in the car the morning of the show. We started it up and made it 3/4 of the way out of the block before it started to sputter. I pulled a u-turn and coasted it back into the yard, dead. I couldn't get it restarted, it had no fuel again.
So we loaded up into the Mazda5 for the show and saw "Bernice" there. Bernice is a 1967 AMC Ambassador (full size) 4-door in green with a 232ci inline-6, that is all-original with 67K miles and on it's second owner, also sold at Larry D. Felts.
He would love to add Gladys to his collection, but has no room. I was so disappointed to not make this show.
After the disappointment simmered I got back to work. I rebuilt the carburetor again feeling that for sure it HAD to be the culprit! (That was the night the Cobra got hit) I made sure the Carter RBS was perfect and changed both fuel filters again, still nothing. It barely started after a ton of cranking, wouldn't rev, and was shooting black smoke out of the tail pipe. Hmmm...
After much research and calling of my oldest relatives, it was pointed out (again) that 90% of carburetor problems are ignition problems. I checked the plugs and found them very black and sooty, obviously misfiring and getting loaded with fuel. Following the issue upstream, the NEW points were blown out, which was odd. Out whipped the multi-meter, and found it! The ballast resistor was bad, so full current was flowing through the points not only during cranking, but also during running, which was blowing them out. I replaced the ballast resistor, points, and plugs, and crossed my fingers...
And that was that, she ran perfect. I couldn't believe it! I am kicking myself for not figuring this out before that cruise. Oh well, can't win them all. So I listed it up for sale again.
It has come a long way, I can't believe how nice this is.
Great find and excellent work.
And last night the first responder became the new owner. His folks had a Rambler when he was a kid and his kids are grown with families of their own so he's been dying to get a cool old car for cruising and fell in love with Gladys. Sale price was $3,200. Total investment was $1,592 for a $1,608 profit. Time to close the books on this episode and start the hunt for the next one.
I have to admit, I was really tempted to keep this one. I liked it the most out of all of my Wheeler Dealer builds. If it hadn't have fought me so much, I probably would have, but missing that cruise really soured me on working on it. I'd like a something just a little newer so the seatbelts were factory instead of add-ons, the brakes and steering were power, and a more modern motor that I could actually get parts for. A 67ish Cross Country Wagon with a 258 would be ideal. Regardless, it was a positive experience to work on something so old and original and I was glad to get her a new lease on life.
Glad to see you got her sold man, I was wondering if you would have to take a big hit on it. So what's next?
t25torx wrote: So what's next?
My current CL searches are "Lada" and "Bentley".
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