What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

72KinswoodEstate: The wagon looks good and solid. What is wrong with the engine? It seems a real shame to let such a beautiful wagon go downhill because the engine is not working. That's normally the EASY part to fix!

 

You would think so. However, there are MANY long and drawn out threads on the subject of 72king's engine. IIRC, before he bought the car the engine may have been messed with and, possibly, incorrect parts installed. What 72king needs is someone that knows these engines to go look at it and find the problems. He says that he has tried local mechanics without satisfaction. The car was beautiful when he got it but, because of the engine problem, it has been slightly deteriorating over time from sitting. It has been discussed here ad infinitum but the car still sits.

 

Mike - as Silverfox has mentioned, this has been an ongoing problem for about 5 years now (I bought the car in the summer of '07) for $4000 CASH and have never got to drive it. Foolishness on my part, but I wanted the car very badly for years (it was a local car) and practically begged the old lady that owned it to sell it to me for 10 years. She originally wanted $10,000 for it! No, this wasnt one of your deals where you run across an old person wanting to sell something much less than its worth, but one that thought the car was gold plated and thought I was stealing it from her for $4000. The car did run and sound good when I bought it, but had set for years in her garage. The car had a low power issue from day 1. To make a very long story short, I paid a guy $500 four years ago to put in a new cam (it was very worn) and new lifters, which we thought was the problem. No change, still would not even pull up the steep part of my driveway from a dead stop. You could set there and floor it, but it would not move, it would just run around 3000 rpms and set there like a stick! We over the next 2 summers, worked on it a little at a time - then put in new spark plugs, new plug wires, new points (and had them properly set), rebuilt the carburator, etc. THEN, two autumns ago, I was told the timing chain could be stretched (the mechanic didnt replace it), so I started to tear down the front of the engine and got down to the harmonic balancer, even bought a puller, but could not get it off... fed up, rolled the car down the driveway, shoved it there where it sets now at the bottom of the driveway where its been setting for months.

When I had some extra $$ (which is rare) I advertised for a mechanic to come to my home to work on it. I had like three calls initially, but when it came down to it, no one ever showed up. I gave up.

Someone recently told me that I should have put in a new distributor as that may be the problem, but now I dont have the time to really put into it right now. ALSO, I was told that the exhaust system may have stopped up/collapsed, but I do feel alot of air flow from the tailpipe, but not sure if that means anything or not. IDK how you would even properly check it for this problem other than cutting the pipes loose up at the engine?

**It is funny and its very true - like you said, on this car, an OLD CHEVY engine should be something super simple to fix, especially since my dad was pretty good on tinkering with cars in the 70s and 80s. He really owned nothing but GM cars back then, most of which were 60s and 70s Chevroleys and even recently (back in 2004) restored a '69 Camaro and rebuilt the engine and had a perfect running car. He even rebuilt the engine in my old 69 Caprice with the 396 and did a fine job, but never had much time for this car.

Now, I dont have time to deal with it and tired of these "mechanics" not showing up. I really dont even have the extra cash right now to deal with it. My dad is still telling me when he gets his "big retirement" settlement, he is going to have the car completely restored for me and find someone to completely rebuild the engine, or get me a new engine for it, but it may be too far gone to where I can find one already nice and running for less than what I could get this one running and on the road again for. It had good brakes, we had put new brakes on it back in 2008. Transmission seems OK, but never had it out on the road other than our driveway, so I cant say for sure.

The body is still solid, but has the typical rust these cars get in a moist climate. The car has been a southern car, but we have super moist summers and winters and these cars gets rust around the windows/spare tire area, etc, but the car was kept inside for a number of years and the interior is still in excellent shape other than some discoloration of the black carpeting and the covering on the right rear cargo panel area is a little torn. Seats are perfect, even the driver seat, as well as the dash pad and door panels. This car was never abused and was a 2-owner car. The old lady I bought it from had bought it in 1984 from the original owner.

I would like to someday get it running or trade it for a nice running classic sedan or wagon that is already running, but may not be as rare or nice on the inside. I know I could never get the $4000 back out I paid for it, not to mention the $500 I paid the mechanic and the $300-400 more I spent on it on things we did to it. I have about $5000 in it and still it just sets there.

Basically above is what I have been ranting about since 2007. I stopped posting on here for a couple of years, because I knew everyone was tired of hearing it, I had made no progress or time to deal with it. lol.

I recently got the fever to do something with it... just waiting to see what happens over the next couple of months.

 

Working on my 1997 Subaru Wagon-there was a problem with the drivers seat belt-so since Subaru has a life time guarantee on seat belts.It was repalced under warranty by the dealer-no charge.

 

Suggestions for 72 estate

Quote: You could set there and floor it, but it would not move, it would just run around 3000 rpms and set there like a stick! One would think that at 3000 RPM's with an auto trans the car should move. You might have multiple (but easy) things to look at. Is the tourqe converter locking up? (check fluid to make sure it's not low) At 3000 RPM's that car should move engine problems or not the car should move forward. (also check the parking brake to make sure it is not locked up) 3000 RPMs you again say is the max. Have you checked your fuel flow (I.E filter/lines hard and rubber for kinks or crimps/clogged fuel pick up and or crap in the tank/fuel pump pressure) that engine may just be starving for fuel. Does the engine run smooth at max or is it breaking up (missing). Try just putting the engine back together and check the timing. Start out with an initial setting of 16 BTDC an see how it runs (should run pretty good) One more thing to check is the old chevy's had a dampener in the exhaust manifold that was designed to close about 90% when the car was cold this would cause the car to heat up faster in the winter. These would fail and stay closed causing a back pressure problem. My Mom's 70 Towsman had that issue. I removed the dampener and the problem was sovled! Hope you can use these ideas to get your car running. The guys are right it would be a shame to let that beauty sit there and rust away. Good luck Dan R

 

Dan: That dampener is the heat riser valve. I had forgotten all bout that. That could certainly cause a lot of these problems. I would hazard a guess that you are right. It is likely stick in the closed position from sitting idle.

I'm going to talk with friends who are Chevy nuts and see if any have suggestions. I am HOPING to get south this winter sometime, and if I can make it, I'd love to have a go at the old girl. I love hearing an old car run properly.

 

I had the same issue with my Buick when I brought it home. The weights in the distributor where rusty and stuck so it had no timing advance. Pulled the dizzy, cleaned the weights and it has ran perfect ever since. On a Chevy it is easy to find a replacement HEI dizzy and swap it out. Much more reliable and better power than the old points style. If I was closer I would come and do it for you no charge

 

Here is my new wagon sitting outside the hotel, it was raining so hard the night before I could not see to drive so we had to stop and stay the night


My wife requested a room right above my wagon so we could keep an eye on it.


Got here home and 20 minutes later she was wearing her new shoes. I will get it buffed out and detailed and post more pictures of her. In the pictures she looks yellow but is actually tan with Saddle Tan interior. She was a special order car as the "Chamois" exterior came standard with green interior????



Overall I am very happy with it. I have extensive paperwork about the car and it was kept in doors its entire life. The lower front door panels have a little fade as do the rear wheel well interior panels. Easy fix. The worst part about the car is engine compartment, the entire car was undercoated whiched saved it but makes detailing under the hood nearly impossible.

 

That's really sweet Swanny! Congrats, I love it!

 

Swanny that's another great looking wagon. Kinda looked ugly on the trailer. But on those new tires and wheels it is sweet!

72KingswoodEstate Some great advice and I feel your discust. The two main things I'd check is the torque converter and distrubutor. Distributor first because it is easier. At 3000 RPM that thing should almost pop wheelies!
Yes, the emergency brake cable could also be frozen solid with rust. Jack it up and spin the wheels, running or by hand.

 

I had the same symptom on an 88 Dodge Dakota pickup. Turned out to be a collapsed catalytic converter. At idle, exhaust would flow through, but when you gave it some gas, all the broken bits in the catalytic converter would be pushed back and (at least partially) block the exit restricting the exhaust. You could floor it, and not go anywhere. In my case, replacing the catalytic converter solved the problem.

 

Just a dumb thought...

But if the engine is turning 3000 RPM and the car isn't moving, maybe the source of the problem is actually somewhere else, like the transmission or rear axle? Is the drive shaft rotating?

 

In 1972 it should not have a cat convertor on it. I would say parking brake is froze or he is guessing at what the rpm's actually are turning

 

That is why I mentioned in my post to check the trans fluid. I also questioned if the tourqe converter was locking up. I agree there is something else other than a engine issue there.

 

Got the wagon detailed and buffed. Below are some pictures of it cleaned up