New car!! Need advice on starting!

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340 Dart

340 Dart

I don't know ****.
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I have found an original 49,000 mile 66 dart GT.
The car was driven twice a week till last year when unfortunately the original owner of the car died. His grandson (in his 40's) drove the car to the family farm and parked it next to the barn. This is where I found it.
I bought it, put some air in the tires and trailered it home.

The car cranks over easily enough but I havn't tried to start it.

It has the 225 slant (with "charger" on the breather)
I would assume I would need to change the oil and get new plugs but what can I do about the year old gas in the tank and lines?
How would you approach this?
 
Going to have to drain the tank. I remember when I got my spirit it had almost a full tank of gas in it for 6-8 years.
 
Drain the tank then try some Seafoam. It workes great for getting the old varnish out. I did just this in a '53 Ford F600 that I bought in November. It had been sitting for 5 years.


Chuck
 
Do you mean to add the seafoam after I get it running? Or are you talking about using it to clean the tank after I get the fuel out?
 
Make your own supply tank
and set it in the floor and send it
to the pump to check the carb's and fireing system.
But do the oil and plugs in fierst.
I have used up a starter to check an eng before.
Then I would move on to fuel line the tank problems.
Doing this could be dangerous
So keep the tank away from the eng area
Trunk works good on a pinch.
Then see if that Leaning tower of power will fire up.

Just my 1/6 cents worth,
 
Dude when I bought my Valiant it hadn't been started in over a year and had not moved in three. Third hit of the key it fired and i drove it out of the weeds and ruts that had formed from sitting that long and went home. I didn't even check the air in the tires(one had 22 pounds one had 17 the other 2 had 12), half way home I got the dash lights to come on. That was 6 years ago.
 
My bet is it will start and run on the gas thats in it. Year old isn't that bad, you can't hurt anything trying and save yourself alot of work, if it runs fill it wilh fresh gas. !!!!!!!!!

I would drain the oil, see if any water comes out first. Make sure the engine hasn't been turned over for a day any water would be settled. MY .02:evil5:
 
I drained the tank and put 5 gal of fresh gas in. The gas that was in there smelled HORRIBLE. It had to be sitting more that a year. It also got new plugs, cap, rotor, points, plug wires, fuel pump, fuel filter, and a carb rebuild.

I can't seem to get any fuel from the tank to the carb. Maybe my sender unit is varnished up? My next day off I will try Memike's trick and run it out of a gas can.

I did get it to fire and run for about 30 seconds using fuel from a squirt bottle and putting a little in the carb at a time.

Anyone know of a good place to get a sender unit, tank and lines?
 
Once you get fuel running into the carb check see if the accelerater pump is squirting. Otherwise it could lunge into the street then die. Back when unleaded fuel was distroying those pump diaframs many fell victim to trains ,etc.. Good luck
 
Check around your area and some radiator shops will clean out gas tanks! We have one around here that even cleans them and installs a lifetime coating inside! I would remove the tank and then take out the sending unit and clean it well and make sure fuel can flow through it and possibly replace the sock or filter on the end of it. Don't buy a new tank if you don't need one!Then check to make sure the gas line to the fuel pump is clean disconnect it from the fuel pump and blow air through it. Reconnect the line to the fuel pump,reinstall the tank and put about 5 gallons of gas in it to check it out.Could also be the fuel pump has a dried out and cracked diaphram and not working very well or not at all. By the way it sounds like a really cool car and hope you get it going real soon and able to DRIVE IT! Keep us posted on how things go.
 
The fuel pump lever may be stuck. Seen that a few times.


340 Dart said:
I drained the tank and put 5 gal of fresh gas in. The gas that was in there smelled HORRIBLE. It had to be sitting more that a year. It also got new plugs, cap, rotor, points, plug wires, fuel pump, fuel filter, and a carb rebuild.

I can't seem to get any fuel from the tank to the carb. Maybe my sender unit is varnished up? My next day off I will try Memike's trick and run it out of a gas can.

I did get it to fire and run for about 30 seconds using fuel from a squirt bottle and putting a little in the carb at a time.

Anyone know of a good place to get a sender unit, tank and lines?
Click to expand...
 
The tank is all dented up underneath. It looks like the PO has backed over something at one time so it is getting replaced anyway.

Fuel pump is new and I checked the lever before I put it on.

This is something we would like to depend on as a daily driver eventually so all this stuff is getting replaced just for the peace of mind.
 
take this advice from someone who learned the hard way -- if your getting a new tank, then run NEW hard line. you'll be amazed at the amount of crap that will come out of the old one especially if its been sitting with gas in it. it only takes a little tiny particle to make the carb start acting funny and if your going to rebuild the card as you said, you don't want to do it twice in short order. also rust build-up in the old line can restrict the fuel flow, it might run ok on the street but once you get on the highway you could have serious starvation issues or, worst case, run real lean and burn up the valves. a new line is money and time well spent, especially for peace of mind.
-tim
 
Ok I tried to start the car again last night. unsuccesfully.

I couldn't get any gas through the lines from the tank so I ran 8FT of rubber fuel line to a 5 gal can of fresh gas and attached the other end to the fuel pump. She is getting plenty of fuel now when you crank it, but she will only hit when you hold the pedal flat on the floor. She will run for 10-15 seconds but never over 1500 rpm's and if you lift your foot off the floor it will die immediately.
icon_rolleyes.gif


Anyone have any ideas?
 
I've had pretty good luck getting new parts from Rockauto for my old cars. www.rockauto.com

340 Dart said:
I drained the tank and put 5 gal of fresh gas in. The gas that was in there smelled HORRIBLE. It had to be sitting more that a year. It also got new plugs, cap, rotor, points, plug wires, fuel pump, fuel filter, and a carb rebuild.

I can't seem to get any fuel from the tank to the carb. Maybe my sender unit is varnished up? My next day off I will try Memike's trick and run it out of a gas can.

I did get it to fire and run for about 30 seconds using fuel from a squirt bottle and putting a little in the carb at a time.

Anyone know of a good place to get a sender unit, tank and lines?
Click to expand...
 
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