Parts removal Day 1

After I put her up on blocks my first task was removing the god-awful exhaust. I wasn't concerned with the hangers so I hack-sawed them off. I removed the bolts on the thermal reactor and slid the entire exhaust out as one piece.

Once in the light I realized what a horrible POS it was. There were pieces of cheap exhaust piping spot welded between OEM pipe and those crappy 90-degree bend pipes the auto parts store sells. It was leaking exhuast from a few places and the cherry bomb glasspack on the back didn't do much for the sound.

My plans are a streetable header to a catalytic converter and Magnaflow muffler. When it comes time for the exhaust creation I will explain my reasons for including the cat and not going straight pipe.

I pulled out the spark plugs and they were really old and worn. The gap was much larger than it should be but there was no oil or signs of lean running. So that is good. If anything they were a little rich. The wires were OEM NGK's and were stiff. The boots slid right off the top of the dizzy cap. Pulling the cap off I noticed lots of rust inside and the contacts on the ignitors were corroded.

With the exhaust out of the way I removed the carb and intake manifold. There were tons of yellow/brown crud around the water holes and lots of dryed oil everwhere. I also noticed the rod for the Oil pump was stuck. Hopefully it was stuck open but only time will tell.

With the exhaust, carb and intake manifolds gone I could now work on the radiator. I threw a pan under the car and cut through the lower hose. The radiator emptied and I pulled off the top hose. Almost immediately the radiator fell out. Odd, I thought, I didn't remove the bolts from the outside of the radiator. The thing was so old and deterioratied, the core litterally fell out. Parts of the car starting crumbling in my hands the entire lower third of the cooling fins were gone. I don't know how I was able to drive that thing 2 hours home without the coolant leaking everywhere or the car overheating. So a new radiator now must be added to my list. Yep, that list is growing. What started as four new tires and a tune up is looking like a complete exhaust and radiator.

Feeling well accomplished in my goals for the day I unplugged the radio and turned off the lights. Time to go home and search for prices and parts to hopefully get a good deal.