Time to get it going again.

[TallPaul]

My understanding of the Italian Tuneup is you get the engine well warmed up, drop it into a lower gear, then take a long run 10 or 20 miles, at high rpm. Depending on your redline the RPM will vary. My Aerostar 3.0 will 1-2 shift at 6000 on WOT kickdown into first gear, so I figure 4000+ is a good range for Italian Tuneup on that vehicle. She normally turns about 2800 on the freeway. This is supposed to blow it out, but I would suggest water injection then Italian Tuneup.

 

[occupant]

Oh heck, it'll get highway time. I need to take it to Hillsboro to get the key made for the trunk lock and that's 13 miles, 70mph speed limit most of the way, could run second (1.58:1 IIRC) which ought to get me 3800-4200rpm with these tires and the 2.75 ratio.

 

[occupant]

Well, oil is changed, I used what I had laying around (3.5qt of SuperTech SL 5w30, 1qt of some generic SJ 10w40, 16oz of MMO) and still have a tick but it isn't as raspy sounding as it was. Inspection, title, tags in the morning. Maybe the highway run to and from Hillsboro will take care of the tick. And Wifey gave me an extra $60 to get the trunk key made (he quoted me $15) so I'll get to see what all is back there. Might be empty, might have some parts, oil, coolant, tools, cleaning stuff, might have a dead dog. That's the beauty of buying a car on eBay!

 

[occupant]

Inspection and a paper tag got done...stupid seller signed the back of the title but not the front!!!

 

[addyguy]

Awesome! Good to see someone get a classic like that car running again for 'daily use' as opposed to it being a trailer queen!

One of my favourite articles in 'Car Craft' from years ago was when they bought a 1961 Buick Electra(?) convertible for like $900, and showed how easy it was to get it in running shape for cheap cruising.

Let us know how it goes with this rig!