Yay! So picked up a sleeping beauty! This bird has been hibernating on and off for the past 10 years. A lot of resto had already started, body in extra clean shape, no rust, interior almost completely redone. It is an original 400 with a column shifter 400, pretty sweet!
It took a bit of time, but was able to make her run and go on the trailer on her own. Popped spark plugs, poured some PB blaster and oil on the cylinders, plugged a new Battery (Optima), some starter fluid, and after a couple tries on she went
She is running VERY rich! At a minimum, I need to check and clean the carb, need new spark plugs, remove old gas (thankfully the tank only has about a 1/4). Planning to redo all fluids, any other recommendations?
I appreciate all help and tips as I am not a total car newbie, but am a Bird newbie (I like working and building Jeeps for rockcrawling), and this forum has a lot of great info and knowledgeable people. Forgive me if my questions are too newbie, but I gotta learn somehow
The tires are shot, how often do you have to almost scrape the tires from the floor to move the rig? I brought a tank and popped some air in so they are decent rollers. I was afraid they would just blow up through the cracks!!
I got a few boxes of parts, trim items, etc. Need to go through them and see what is missing.
Plans for the Bird is to make it a driver and work slowly on the other body and other cosmetic stuff.
Some questions:
1- The oil dipstick is missing, where can I find one?
I will double check all wiring, grounds, etc, not sure what voltage I am getting at the bat with the car running, but at the same time when I installed the battery the terminals were not tightened all the way. Will check the voltage regulator, any other tips?
3- As far as removing the old gas from the tank, any suggestions, siphon it out, or any additives, cleaners I should run through? I should be replacing the gas filter anyway, was thinking some good Techron gas to help clean her up.
On the other to do’s list:
1- Need to get new tires, what size can I fit without major issues on a first Gen Bird? I bought for some extra $$ a set of original American racing wheels from the seller. They are 14’s, seem to be mag or alum, very light. I am not 100% sure on the actual rim width, the fornts are narrower than the rears. Measuring between inner lips the fronts are about 6”and the rears are about 8”. What size tires can I fit on those that will work on the Bord? Any tire recommendations? Want good tires, but also keep the retro look, BFG T\A’s? Cooper tires? the seller mentioned I will need to run some spacers to clear the rera wheels (he included with the wheels) The wheels I got look identical to these, any leads on where can I find the center caps? (I love the stance on this Bird)
2- Retro audio. Thankfully the dash is original and has the original stereo cut-out. I saw a few retro audios online, any recommendations? I do not want to spend $600 on a stereo, Was shooting for something like this. Any other ones that will give the retro look and are in the $200 or so ballpark? 3- Where can I find the rubber for the front nose\bumper (between fenders\valance and front chromo bumper? 4- Vendors you recommend out there that will carry the misc stuff? I.e. I have some of the cranks for the windows, but they look like missing the small rotating knobs 5- Tacho and Rear spoiler? I believe the 400 67 came with the rear spoiler? It has the 400 hood, but no hood tachometer. 6- Suspension. I am thinking lowering the suspension all around some, maybe look into hotchkis? Do I need to replace the torsion\sway bar on the front as well, or the stock will suffice?
(I like working and building Jeeps for rockcrawling), and this forum has a lot of great info and knowledgeable people. Forgive me if my questions are too newbie, but I gotta learn somehow 
