1974 Plymouth Valiant Scamp - Restoration is a strong word

Big win today. I got the new gas tank, and fuel sending unit installed after much cleaning of the filler neck and re-engineering some sketchy tank strap mounts from a previous owner. After replacing the spare wheel well, someone bugger welded some angle iron and drilled some holes in the wrong locations. My fix is better, but not perfect. Anyway, after replacing the tank vent hose, and the fuel outlet hose, I adjusted valves and put the valve cover back on. I tried to fire it off and nothing. I tried turning on the headlights. Nothing. I checked for voltage at the ignition module. Nothing. Then I thought back to a post above where I said I bypassed the ammeter by splicing the wiring inside the engine bay. After looking at the wiring diagram, it was obvious that wouldn't work since no power was going inside the car anymore. I added a 12 gauge wire and spliced back into the bulkhead connector, and all was good again.

I put a few gallons of fresh gas in the tank, dribbled a little bit down the carb and started it up. It fired immediately and idled smoothly for 5 minutes. I checked the trans fluid, which looked and smelled fresh, but was a little low, so I topped it off. I then shut the car down, cleared the loose items from on top of the car, filled the very old, crappy tires with air and checked to see if the trans would actually go into gear, and it did! Soooo...



The lack of power steering was funny. I expected it though with no pulley and no belt. I couldn't tell for sure on the short drive around the block whether the trans was shifting or not. I also heard some scraping, which sounded like it was coming from the right rear brake. When I got back and parked, I heard a hissing sound and could see moisture on the radiator. Oh well.

All in all, I was really excited to be driving this car only 8 days after bringing it home on a trailer where all the evidence points to it not running or driving in well over a decade.

Radiator and brakes are next. I'm also going to attempt to bring the driver side of the bench seat back to acceptable with some Amazon zig zag springs.