Quote:
Originally Posted by gto4evr
Don't stress! and first off, let me point out that all these beautiful cars you see in pics on this site are just that, PICTURES! just like your car seemed less in person than the pics of it when you bought it, all the members cars you appreciate benefit from that same upgraded quality! I can show you some pictures I have of a 68 GTO I owned 20 years ago that make it look like it was in very decent condition....reality was that you could crawl into the trunk through the side of the quarter panels they were rotted so badly. Back bumper came off due to the frame snapping behind the rear end and the trunk lid was kept open with a piece of 2x4 because the springs wouldn't stay in their brackets due to the body flexing outward when you opened the trunk! I'm not taking away from the MANY cars on here that really are stellar amazing works of art as well, just saying that you're probably not as far down the ladder as you're pushing yourself! And here's a better angle. If it's not a museum piece, you'll drive it more! I run the crap out of my 71 Lemans as a daily driver. It's definitely starting to fall apart but I can relax when I'm driving it. My 69 vert sees way less road because I'm always trying to keep it clean and don't want to have to keep at it all the time. I'm sure I had more fun in that car when it was that $800 beater I bought in 1989. I ran that car everywhere and kept a bucket I'd place on the console to catch the rain coming in through the rip in the top right there!
Anyways, on to the issues. As far at the brake light being on, two possibilities to look at. First, check the switch on the parking brake (follow the brown wire that goes up to a door jamb style plunger switch on the bottom of the pedal assembly near where the cable attaches. Make sure your pedal is up all the way and the plate is pushing down on the switch to break contact. If you're not sure, unplug the wire from that switch and see if the light goes out. If it doesn't then the next spot to check is the tan wire going to the proportioning valve. I'm guessing you've got good brake pressure on the pedal or you would have mentioned it. If the brakes are good with no air in the lines, it's possible the valve is stuck. Unplug that brown wire with the black rubber boot off the valve and see if the light goes out.
Oil leak....probably the rear main. Very common with these. I'm surprised the motor in my 69 which I did a few years ago hasn't started leaking there but all my other ones do. Just a bad design on the seals and I think I read somewhere that the newer rear main seals that come in the kits are actually undersize.
On the tach, not sure there's much you can do there if everything's wired correctly. Might just be a bad tach. I had an aftermarket one on one of my earlier cars that always read about 1k rpm lower than reality.
On the carb gas thing, it's probably an issue with the choke. Are you running an original quad with mechanical choke on there or is it an aftermarket carb/electric setup? I had a brand new holley on my 71 for the first 5 years after the motor rebuild. Always rough starting, gas fumes, black smoke.....one day I decided to put my freshly rebuilt quad I'd done for my vert on the car and was amazed how much better the car ran, all the other issues disappeared. Holley went into the junk pile and I'm a quad lover now.
Don't fret, you'll have this stuff solved in no time....remember it's a hobby so have fun working on it and you're on a great site filled with guys deep in knowledge!
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Ya, I have always wanted a project car to tinker on, but I didn't expect this to be the one. I had a provincial inspection all lined up for the day after I picked it up. I quickly changed that appointment.
Thanks for the giant write-up on all the problems mentioned. Don't get me wrong, in the short time I've been here people have been extremely helpful in my threads, and have never thrown insults my way (like what seems to be common in some of my other car forums). Don't get me wrong, I pretty much will have a thread going about every problem I have because you guys are very knowledgeable and ready to help. I am sure I will have a heck of a time when it comes to taking the dash apart for the tach cleaning/tach cable replacing.
Thanks for all the info...