FORGOTTEN Pontiac Catalina - Will It RUN AND DRIVE 150 Miles Home?

oh hi there guys up in Northern Tennessee working on this 1973 Pontiac Catalina wine mixer I don't think it's the wine mixer Edition but the Pontiac I'm told it's been off the road no less than 10 years so we're gonna try to get this thing fired up and drive at 150 miles back home seems fine nope definitely not [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's a square body back here I don't know anything about this car at all that's the first time I'm seeing it told it's got a 400 under the hood and it's just I don't know it's a classic Pontiac it's worth saving for sure it actually looks pretty good just glancing at it real quick but you know the deal let's walk around this thing discover what we got going on do some automobile archeology if you will and then I got a good wrenching on this thing I'm getting a late start in the afternoon we've still got 150 miles to go I can already see we've got to put tires on this and some other things let alone see if it runs drives moves and baby stops but brakes are generally a casual Maybe they're not you know it's an option all right let's walk around this does have a vinyl top I think it did one of the first things I see right away is you know the old 400 badge Pontiac was just killing The Styling and looks Department here in late 60s early 70s even though this is a 73 still not a bad looking car the front clip's been replaced that's probably the most obvious thing to see right away but I mean it's pretty solid look at all this you can definitely see that it's been sitting a very long time you can see where this tire must leak down it was rolled back into this bullpen but these tires are all dry rotted cracked or shot a little bit of rust right there nothing terrible little spot right there I could see remnants of a respray you know professional paint job lost the receipts most likely hasn't been clobbered back here got all the trim on it bumper is pretty decent these are those old school dangerous slots in the bumper for the jack that would hook in here and you jack your car up and your jack would be at like a 43 degree angle and then you would just NASCAR your tire on and off as fast as possible before this just collapsed and pinched your leg off so that's pretty neat oh yeah I don't know this has been boogered into we should probably check that out at some point no hail damage or nothing on this just a lot of dirt and grime similar rust condition over here just a tiny wee bit but that's more of a speed hole than anything it ain't even quite the weight reduction stage now we got a Dean Alpha Omega 365. son in the rain and the wheat fields and snow tire so that's a pretty good unit there multi-season got snails putting some interstates on the glass here looking pretty good rocker panels are in decent shape so it must have got a front end booger this does have a dent right there I guess it's hard to tell because it's so uh faded must have been that original cream color then they primered it black it looks like would be my guess here's what saved this car it used to be a vinyl top I'm going to say white you can tell because of the way that it is but they took it off so none of this rotted out see the breasts and water can make its way underneath of that and this didn't get just rotted like most final I like vinyl tops they're just they're dangerous if you ain't taking care of a rig that is for sure that's been siliconed up there looks like the weather stripping is pretty well shot but overall just nice solid Pontiac I think the first place we should start is back in the trunk you guys have heard me say this many times but I like to start in the trunk so I could just mentally prepare for what's about to happen as an example do I need to find a motel right now because if there is one head and a pair of head gaskets back there it's going to be a long day you know what I mean and if you're lucky there ain't nothing you know what I mean maybe just some Mountain sodas that'd be nice some new parts that just aren't on I don't know let's go find out just rained here for 57 000 days so that's that's great got my Pontiac key out oh word okay well yeah oh what is this quick break Quaker State okay we got Mouse levels just went up yeah this is where probably the seat cushions went oh I see a digital clicky clacker hanging on back there we got some front end apparels we got a boom boom Warren G would be proud fan motor's been replaced or just missing one of the two so that's fine I knew it it's just it's got that look on it one oh no we do got a set with brake pads just in case steering components okay well the good news is nothing engineish looking and in fact I think we're just gonna kind of slowly back away from all of that and just uh pretend we didn't see it I think a guy's gonna slide in here it's time see what we got going on yeah it's really it's really nice that it just rained and it's a super humid and hot okay yeah it smells like a cigar box full of acorns and fly wings there's also a severe amount of mold on the door panels and seats so we'll ignore that I guess I'll put that in there sure oh wow I love the controls in here though this thing is sweet Catalina wood grains this was a gentleman's car you know like something like you could come from the bank from your third mortgage then you slip down to the tavern and brag about it that's this rig right here it's slick look how sharp that door panel is I should make sure I'm right on the ear here yep July 73. a little bit oh it's just surface rust doors are in pretty good shape yet this is a solid car there's your Ridge color there's the not soar Ridge color they were close you can't even tell if you just squint and look away it's the same okay look at this Catalina I got some mirror oh good that works let's just go ahead leave that down it must have been parked up by some trees or in some tall grass or something water leaking on the inside here a bunch of mold stuff in there look at the pedals though this is a fairly low mile car I can tell you that right now oh boosters no I don't know what that is that vent right there needs to come back into automobiles you guys know what I'm talking about but look at this overall nice wood grain all the way around seats look to be in halfway decent shape just got to get them cleaned up that's pretty there's been some moisture in here look at the wheel it's uh there's some sort of science that happens to these wheels they delaminate or something when they get hot and then they turn into a sticky mess like this one there back seat looks to be in really good shape just needs to be cleaned there are in a rip in it I don't think anyway tilt go oh yeah that's in great shape just kick that thing out and pressure wash it headliner is almost all well it is actually it's just the sail panels over there got a little saggy that's all right it's pretty good little baby diaper in the back but not bad not bad at all seat belt looks brand new that ain't never even been worn I'm gonna be honest how many miles does it say 98 000 that could maybe be tape player Sony instances synthesizer tuner wow that's pretty nice AC car obviously but no power or anything else I'm not even sure what the options were for that this is cool Body by Fisher let's see if we get the other side open I'm digging the saddle blanket seat cover that barely fits I don't know what's underneath of it I think the bottom just got deleted on door test look at that Body by Fisher be convenient if they both look at that they both open oh okay this action on the windows oh Boy The Styling back then you just you couldn't beat it it's kind of a Monte carlo-esque kind of driver situation oh goodness okay now she Burns oil and nothing else in there it doesn't look like okay proper gasoline this vehicle is designed to operate on a leaded or low leaded fuels of at least 91 research octane noted okay oh we got an ignition stick well still doesn't run I guess we haven't done anything yet but I'd say this is probably a 98 000 mile car based on that and the seat armrest needs cleaned but it ain't blowed out you know so that's pretty incredible 1973 I would say probably legitimately 100 000 mile car well it's time to get under the power Barn see what we got okay let's see what's in the power Barn here right in the retinas yes oh we got completed whoa we might got some speed Parts either stickers everywhere we got boom tubes some sort of intake this thing might be hopped up more than a bunny Farm I'll be dipped it looks complete I mean it might even have a holly film I could happen here I've never had I've never had this happen with the speed parts hope is not blown up huh let me show you what we got here so you guys know the deal with the steal me stickers or the go fast horsepower badges they're either legit or someone just collecting on them you know what I mean but this one I'm seeing Holly yeah I'm seeing MSD could it have a crane cam doubtful very so that's good boy this thing had been sitting a while gonna have to clean all that out if it does run otherwise we're gonna get a fire under here there's one of the mice were sleeping or that's the restroom I guess but we got Excel lightning hoses looks like I think I saw Holly how you know it underneath there [Music] huh definitely looks like a 400. and completed it's all here power brakes power steering AC pump's been deleted on that would normally be hanging out here and it's impossible to get to the the sparklators with that bracket in the way Mr Gasket header gaskets nice rough toe good start yep yep yep here's the plan I don't have one whatsoever but there are a few things I know a guy is going to need to do here first of all let's make sure this engine still rotates moisture creeps up the exhaust or into the fuel make it happener it's very easy to get ring ridges stuck valves things like that when cars sit especially when they sit up in a poor environment or somewhere with a lot of moisture like Tall Grass which is my biggest fear of them all all now it's it's up there it's not the biggest though if the thing rotates we'll probably pull a sparkle later or three maybe six or all eight out scan the peepers on them get an idea of how it was running when it was parked and what kind of condition the engine's in and then we got to get sparkles out of this thing make sure we got spark and then fuel delivery who knows what the fuel tank is looking like confirmed it's there at least that's good I'm not even sure if it's on a mechanical pump or a digital one we did see one rolling around in the trunk there and then we'll dump some fire maker down this thing hopefully hear it bark off and if it does then we can invest the time and money into a couple parts and pieces probably change on the Earl Spruce it up clean it up a little bit and then check the shift Machine brakes home that's the plan anyway I'm already getting hungry and I ain't missing dinner tonight I'll tell you that much I'm going to use the charger wheeler up here because I ain't got a socket with them big enough to go on the cranks now okay yep it moved a little there it goes oh yeah she's rotating squishing some spider nuts down there the charger where there's been replaced probably right before it was parked looks like trying to find a date down there and it's not telling me I always try to confirm how long these have been sitting as possible well the engine rotates so that's 78.3697 percent of the battle guys gonna move on to pulling some speculators out see what's in here oh wow see what this can't be real we might not be taking the spark lighters out because if I snap this one off geez they were torquing landed to 715 foot-pounds yeah richer than Elon but she was running let's pull out another one just we need a larger sample base that's ridiculous oh come on now that one is drastically different than that one so that's good well you can see here one is Rich and one is lean and they're Neighbors so kind of an uneven health status right now but it was running they're not fouled up they're not bent up or anything like that I think I'll just stick them back in once we hear it make some noise then I can decide if I'm gonna put 30 bucks and sparklators in or not let's get there filtration system off see what we got going there Jam these back in quick first I'm gonna put the failed one backwards seem to be hit cleaner Auto clean it's like throwing a dirty dish in the dishwasher just ignore it it'll fix itself I hope we don't have the dreaded Pontiac timing chain issue okay I wonder where I could put that Hardware so I could lose it somewhere over here oh yeah we got a holly vacuum secondary single Pumper Manuel chocolates it ain't locked up fuel line is really really brittle super brittle and I believe that's going to direct to the old steel fuel line so it's going to be on a digital pump Fellers I wondered see here we are now okay all the hardware is in it kind of just looking things over from Mouse chewed wires especially with this MSD stuff that switch in there might have been for either the electric fuel pump or this digital spark shooter box this is an older guy multi-spark discharges sure that sandwich oh we got a little true right there seems to be plugged in right I don't know should we test that first sparkles actually leave the back all the way up put a battery in this thing first of all see if it turns the starter make sure the starter is good then we can move on to sparkles get out of here 's a closer look at the fuel making happener I believe well let's take a look say eighteen six no it must be 18.50 Dash two so that's going to be a 600 CFM and like I say it's it's got the manual choke which is Frozen and uh she's just a single pumper vacuum secondary and this brittle hose right here runs right down into this so I'm gonna say digital pump Yep this has been it's hard to see but there's a block off plate it's even Chrome even six horsepower no probably not good luck guys this is really fast but you still can't drive it okay oh here you go 19.99 Long Beach California so anyway let's go ahead and get a different battery in here and we're gonna do my favorite start going through all the digitals now please favorite by far very specific reason I went with this battery no it was just the cheapest cotton got top posts on it right there okay like a glove I wonder if I should hook up Earth first let the sad guy win for once oh it's snapping something is drawn powers headlights on no okay well that's let's listen for for fire sounds sizzles and smokes I could do got one two three four five six seven wires coming off to alternate oh they're wow they're powering the MSD straight from the alternator that's classy because the you know it's too far to go to the positive post right here also I just noticed talking to you over there that's it there it is on and that's probably what's power that's neat we might have to rewire this this box I believe in the instructions it says do not take power from charge on Wheeler warning warning do not show you what I got going on here this one I can get pretty taunt this devil I got the nut maxed out on her maxed maxed maxed and she's still jiggly like John Goodman's neck see so what I'm going to do here is just take a screw that I found on the ground I'm going to run it in right here and it's going to spread this out enough and make a tight connection there fixed for free okay there we go yeah oh yeah now when the car starts to light on fire we got to remember to get the root driver out to get the screw out because we're not going to get it Discord fast enough but she's going to burn down and I guess we're just gonna have to hitchhike is what I'm saying well before a guy goes cranking on this like a water well we ought to make sure there's some lubrication in the bottom end okay starter gets stuck and she runs away from us beforehand mentioned Electro electricity connections okay oh it's got Earl in it it is not 5 30 as suggested by the glove box so this is um this is standard issue 1030 conventional but it's in there I think I'm going to run heavier though well that's not terrible it's good enough we can crank this thing and probably even run it for a few minutes ain't worried about that at all while I'm here what do we got on the ice cube boiler there's juice in there sliding busted out and the freeze plugs in the block must be in there and the lower rat hose must not leak too bad we're moving right along both the belts need replaced it's going to ignore that charging ruler is at like a 97 degree angle I'm just going to lean like now it's straight right there so that's fine okay oh that's going to be an issue we can fix that though the coil wire is chewed up by the mises all right I'm gonna jump in Twist on the ignition stick what we're hoping for is the wiring from set ignition stick through the column throughout the vehicle to the starter and all that is intact and the starter in fact works the flywheel isn't missing 48 teeth it rotates the engine over we don't hear anything knocking banging and clanking or it just goes chug that would not be good this looks like a pretty hot little motor for someone just to give up on you know what I mean it's got a guy scratching my brain bucket a little bit all right gonna jump in the line mixer here get some unknown disease from the seat and crank on the starter there see what happens no tilt unfortunately all right it does have a digital pump but listen turn it up a little yeah you can't hear that it's in the back cranks oil light works brake light works digital pump works radio does not work disappoint very disappoint okay well that's all great news so far Stop Parking your cars under trees Fellers and pellets it's terrible for them this poor thing these cows rot out then you're in a world of hurt believe you me so a guy threw it in my little blinky lat doodab or spark tester and you guys are going to watch in here if we got Sparkles that light bulb should blink every time it's hitting over here on this wire so I'll go crank on it you guys watch that right there foreign yeah okay blanked a couple times we got Sparkles that's great news yeah I know I heard it too it's got a little Gallop in there but listen it could come back around these rings have been sitting a long time sometimes you just gotta get them out blow the cobwebs out of them I'll bring them back around just fine what I'm talking about is turning it over there you know you know one horse is slower than the other basically not too worried about it okay rotates Spark let's go ahead and work on fuel I'm gonna find a funnel somewhere around here or something there's stuff and pipes and things I got five gallons of bad lawnmower gas from three years ago in a dirty jug I'm gonna pour that in so at least we know something is in the tank and then we can start accessorizing what is coming out we got a pump somewhere I could probably crawl under somewhere there and try to figure that out too just so we know what we have there should be a fill tray somewhere too hopefully along the lines otherwise we'll just have to splice one in Red Rider guy shock Okay so yeah here we are above the axle and some really old clicky clacky with some superb wiring up there goes into that severely kinked feline into this crazy looking fuel filter I don't know if I've ever even seen one like that into this other Kink steel line up into this crusty line that goes on top of the tank so that's good it's got a chrome transmission pan and blow it out mufflers and I see some wire hanging up that muffler so I think I've already worked on this car I'm just trying to remember when it was my knees and my back are soaked well here's what we got going on I got the clamp that's supposed to hold the pump with the zip tie that was zip tied to the brake line to another zip tie off because it wasn't doing anything this is the filter I've never seen it does make a cool noise it's got 13 clamps on it and it's been kinked in half and that side went into a 5 16 Inlet on the failure to use filter with pump will avoid warranty thing that came out into a smaller fitting to 5 16 to an airline coupler to a female to female brass fitting to a threaded to 3 8 coupling to another clamp over to the other side that was kinked into the pump okay listen I think we're just going to start over this pump is pumping but it probably only worked about as far as I could throw a barrel of whiskey which is only about 300 yards you know and we got a bunch 48 dollars in different fittings here I think I could just get in one of those that'll broken clicky clackies that come with the 3 8 fittings already on it and a filtrate see where I'm going here and I could just Boop plug the two together and we have 3 8 all the way up front and we'll be getting the correct pressure plastic snapped off in that I think a guy can even pick up an extra pre-filter on those so if in we plug it we could swap that out quick we might even have to run a filter in front of that because of how the filters got to sit down below it's doing this then if I just put the same fittings on should be good theoretically okay so I'm gonna run down to the parts store good 3 8 5 16 fuel lines clamp laters a clicky clacky get this buttoned up the good news here is the tank looks like it's been replaced 15 years ago maybe it's newish or looking but it's done and smashed and definitely tarnish and varnish but it's not the original tank so that gives me a lot of Hope that we're not going to be sucking up a bunch of crud hopefully because 150 miles if it's plugging every 20 it's going to be a long night speaking of we're losing daylight oh I need to get a funnel for the gas tank thing okay plan sure is that a blue jay well I'm back with some parts here I've got this put in see this is going to help take care of all this mess we got the right size fittings and then I just made sure the digital connectors were the same as what was already in there so when I crawl underneath and I get stuff in my retinas I should be able to just plug these in really quick just need to plan A New Path of all of this stuff and figure out what to zip tie it to throw some clamps on it and hopefully we get this fuel system back here to tie it up so I got the pump hanging here and I got a lion stubbed up to our food to where it goes forwarder I think I'm going to run this pump up like this zip tie it to that brake line and then swoop this one in from the other side and try to keep it from kinking and I am going to gamble with this little fill tray because look at the tank that's what I'm saying it's stand it up and stuff but I think it's well it's obviously been replaced the question is how long ago but it's bone dry I don't think there's going to be a lot of rust and rot in there hopefully I mean if it works is it a dumb idea you know technically I use two zip ties so that's professional right there now we'll just turn the key and see if it fires up hit that key and I tell you what I can hear that thing running like O.J Simpson so we're good there I'm gonna go ahead and dump some fuel on this thing now see if we can get it to push fuel up front this is the downside to blpc life is funnels and this and that to try to get on the fuel I was rooting around for some stuff back here to try to get a 90 or 45 so I didn't spill all this fuel and I ended up asking the filler Donnie you know here you know Donnie yes you do he uh had one of these things and apparently you just shake this oh yeah and there it goes it's now fueling hear that I'll be dipped I'm gonna have to start carrying one of these and I ain't kidding you boy it's going quick huh it's already down to here and it's only been going for 30 45 seconds that's the way to do it okay we've got 4.96 gallons of fuel in here but before we go cranking on this thing I think I want to go ahead and replace well that's vacuum this guy here is so brittle I think that's just going to be an issue at some point anyway so I'm just going to get in here tear that out and replace it and before we plug her into the fuel making happener I'll just have it hanging here we'll turn the key on make sure we get fuel coming of what it looks like then we can plug it in and see how bad shape that thing's in some of you are really shocked right now because I believe I just said let's fix a problem before it to problems you know it wasn't but 10 years ago I would wait till the Flames were just boiling out from underneath the hood now I'd be like oh something's not good listen fire ain't nothing to play with that's for sure and this car is too good to burn down so let's get this oop delay Plus I wanted the lead before dark which means we're definitely not leaving before dark so I don't want to be messing with this on the side of the highway with no lights because I don't plan on her prepare for that either so it's fine wrestle that side out yeah cut this side out um [Music] sure Mazel go right ahead that's okay keep these clamps somewhere expensive is that 3 8 oh it is 3 8 okay I think I got a stick of that um yeah okay all right something like oh that one's all boogered up actually it's this one probably yeah it ain't no good did a guy bring any clamps well I don't know currents oh I did [Applause] oh God you picked these up well you said whenever you get hoes get some clamps huh well you were right you were okay now kind of guy a good sound kinking It Off so I'm gonna try boy that would be cool if this thing really was camed wasn't it it would all right then this up like that yes yes Steven Seagal that off now let's sit this right here we're going to see if we get fuel coming out of that Palms running come on come on nothing oh I hear it trying I might have to coax her along hope the pickup screen isn't plugged foreign thank you this doesn't leak it's fighting against the pump maybe I got a lot to rear the car down I'm glad that didn't do anything it's just not reach and fuel Just Wind pick up tube broken off can't be I'm gonna shoot some juice backwards in this try to Prime that pump a little bit get some velocity adhesions with the moleculars kick chemicals at the stage boy this juice is tart oh yeah [Music] see if I can push this back look now let's see boy it just ain't quiet there huh I don't like that well she ain't secondizing from the fuel incubator back there before we get too excited about that though let's hear this thing run I don't want to put any more time and money into this thing unless it fires off so I'm gonna get some weed whacker gas I got that around here somewhere gonna Prime up the carbs do that through the vent tube there a little down the app and we're going to twist the key in hopefully this thing fires off and does not knock that'd be nice what have we got today we're running with 40 to one guy likes a little bit of a two-stroke fuel or the two-stroke oil more precisely just in case these rigs don't fire up number one you're not washing the Rings down gives us a little bit of lubrication whoops that was way too much perfect and it's not so hard on them about the worst thing a guy could do is get in here with brake cleaner or carb cleaner and just hose this thing down okay it's plenty of fuel let me take this sparkle tester out of line we know we got Spark it should just bang right off come on now do the thing fired there it goes third is running that's why that charger where they look miserable foreign make it happen it's alive she's a runner severe exhaust leaks it's not even really smoking a little bit but that's probably the fuel you know that's going to be an issue well that's fantastic news she's a runner now we can better address that feel issue we can get fuel supply we got her made well I want to add some more fuel try this first [Music] I mean I've done it before where you replace the tank and you find out that the pickup tube is messed up [Music] for the screen so you shorten that there we go and you just tell yourself well I'll remember that I got a new tank that's a win we'll just have to remember that you have to put a little bit more fuel in it because it won't reach the bottom at least that's what I'm hoping is going on here this doesn't work we'll have to go to a different fuel source I think rather than drop this tank out here in the squishy mud stuff trying her now so far a lot of the same Mike could crawl under there quick and try to get some fuel up to the pump make sure that's slow and decent then reconnect it well here's the thing Fellers and fillets we've danked around at this point wasted a bunch of time I'm gonna go old school I'm just going to get some fuel line throw it out over the fender throw her in the passenger seat drop it in a bucket and we're gonna go home that way ain't got the patience right now to drop that tank we're losing light quick I got a big old thunderstorm coming in I don't even know if the lights were because the wipers are none of that so I'm going to get what I got left the fuel line that I didn't hack up try to get it into a pail or something get this thing fired up and see if it'll idle for a few minutes we got to make sure the head gaskets come around the thermostat's going to open if anything leaks all that stuff okay did I cut up all of that fuel line I hope not I got a chunk here so here's what I'm looking at Fellers we're going to need power for the cookie clacker over here so we can click a clock fuel out of the passenger seat over to the fuel make it happen here I don't have a bunch of wiring stuff with me so I started rooting around for power sources lo and behold there was two red wires that one there and this one here laid up over there tested of power got nothing traced them and sure enough that's that switch right there that wasn't even being used so I swung one side over here so now we got juice there and if I hook that side into this we should get click well once you know it switch is bad so I just looped it over now if I ground the pump pump's working it's starting to rain I just checked the radar there is a nasty nasty storm headed this way so this is going to get really interesting really quick Hefty you know okay so we gotta get that's all right so I'm gonna jump underneath this quick change oil on this thing so this is done and off the list fuel shouldn't be too bad I'm almost there but it's got a what am I gonna do now I guess I'll hitchhike down and get some gas or something throw it out in the passenger seat drop the hose on that ready to rock I got a set of tires and wheels already here we've got to bolt those on quick and then maybe we just slam this thing and drive the storms are coming it's going to get really really nasty so I got a limited amount of time here to get this wrapped up getting these little breaks in a little rain so a guy's been just you know I think I just threw my elbow out anyway got the oil dropped wasn't terrible terrible but needed changed pretty sure the reason this is parked was the fuel issue someone didn't want to drop the tank again going with the old diesel oil heavy duty Rotella tease with the four it's got all the dinosaurs and vitamins good stuff for these flat tappet cams which I'm assuming this still has didn't sound like it was cammed up I think the crane cam was more of a you know feather feather belt buckle you know look at look at my engine kind of move get this knocked out well I kind of wanted to put fresh sparklators in it but on a kind of leather we might try to get some miles down before the hail gets here maybe we got naders I'm not even sure anymore it's hard to say in Tennessee things good things things change in a hurry around these parts I'll tell you that much okay get that off the list so this little deal with Bobby sits on top of those new batteries so they could stack him you know any hoose a guy cut off one end here with the old leaderman and then I zip tied her onto my fuel line here for a couple reasons one we want to make sure that the end of the line doesn't get sucked to the bottom of the can so I left a little extra there and two we want this to be straight so we drop this into the can it goes straight down and doesn't do that curl because we're not going to effectively get all of the capacity because if we're going five gallons at a time this is going to be really sketchy on fuel so but you know what if it works it's really a dumb idea let me come over here Jam this into here just like that Perfect all right clicky clack is all plugged in let's go ahead and fire up the pump all right let's pull on fuel [Music] hear it filling the bowl carburetor adjustment tool that seems to be doing good let's fire it see if we get it to idle anything in the way of the fan yeah maybe this also I don't need this laying in here I guess okay ah there we go that's more like it oil light came off brake light stayed on that seems very normal there we go all right now let's see if it's charging do I got a meters man what you doing for lightning you're making some 14 . she's charging Laden all right gonna let it run for a minute no accelerator pump but that doesn't surprise me see what the blood stick says here what are you saying I think she's good smells like burnt hair but we'll ignore that so I'm gonna let it run for a minute hopefully come up temperature make sure that we don't have like a rear main seal blown out or bad head gaskets we're not pumping fluid into the crankcase got the idle rack up on her now trying to get the thermostat to open [Music] there is a little bit of vacuum leak there interesting [Music] over here too [Music] sounds pretty good pair it opens [Music] she's warming up water's Rising borrowed an air hose in the shop here try to get some of this stuff out before we get a fire must be chewing on an acorn come on now oh I probably hit it with too much air [Music] we got a leak down there shouldn't be doing that way down there goodness gracious come on chew on that dirt for Pete's sake oh oh I could feel a hand to virus entering my body oh word I don't know it's like Uncle Buck's cousin thank you come on now open up not a water pump at some point that's neat now we're going to give her the Italian tune-up he's warmed up you know some barium and b12 right down there yeah this will clean up the intake Runners valves sparklators since we're not going to be changing them this will knock some of that crud off of them now [Music] [Applause] nice looking good let's see what it tells us for break juice lights on on the inside what's happening I don't know oh one's completely empty and one's half empty ah that seems fine the scary part a guy's gonna go ahead and throw his Earth pounder into the stoplighter pad here see what happens it moves I wonder about the brake it's there I mean it feels like something's there I don't know what I'm on the jack right now but it's just throw in reverse sounding solid solid [Music] well we definitely have transmissionage the shift machine is shifting oh man there's so much stuff in the air in here it's just [Music] concerning look at that it's a Catalina wine mixer I'll be dip decided to save a few more bucks and just you know about too terrible as I say that the cotton is blowing apart in the filtrate this must be a frame I would explain well get this put on quick put some tires and wheels on this pack if we head Southwest fast enough we might miss the eye of the storm okay yes hip [Music] boy this is pretty tossed together here but I think she's going to be able to get us home well we just don't know yet do we 150 miles there's a lot that could happen well as far as tires go all of these are completely dry rotted they ain't gonna get us 15 miles let alone 150. so we got a set sitting up here for this rig look at this Avengers and GTS these are like Cooper cobras there's a couple different brands that are really similar tread pattern and these are just steel wheels powder coated trim ring and a nice old school Pontiac poverty cap there the old dog dish in the center this combo looks great it's going to change the whole look of the car buses off quick get these tires on and then we got a scoot first test drive is just headed home the guy really should look at you know the wheel bearings so I'm not gonna do that you know God to be kidding me hmm might have to come from the back side yeah I only got one good hoof missed my boots terribly [Music] great things happen when you cut Corners it unless it just costs you more time and then it's super frustrating stuff oh wow yeah these haven't been rolled or braked on in many many moons sure pass check well suppose I gotta I suppose I'm gonna have to scratch up the wheel just to get the cap off come on now well for crying in the mud they just haven't seen such a thing don't want to Dent these well a guy just did fight 37 and a half hours to get center cap off so I could apply a said Tire so here's a new plan because we're probably going to blow a wheel bearing or an axle bearing or something I'm going to leave those off unless we make it back home if we make it back home Not only would we pop those bad boys on but I think we'll run it over to a pressure wash station and wash this thing down and see what it's got hiding underneath all this crud and grime now we could see it finished tires Wheels with the caps on and clean paint plant how many pops the rest of these tires on quick I gotta finish packing these are the wrong style lug nuts so guys borrowing some from the square body over there they won't be missing one per wheel right yeah we'll be fine yep breaks equally as bad okay ignore that looking much more good or ish these are those junky Beauty covered lug nuts I hate this style okay barely rotates good enough this [Applause] guy's just standing here watching my Jack sink in the mud when I realized even the trunk light works I'll be dipped a big guy down here almost stepped on him well [Music] I guess that does it gonna jump in first stop gas station somewhere we've got to top off our five gallon jug and then I've got to get on the pocket computer and start gypsing out a route we're going to assume the 400 is going to get 9.23 miles to the gallon so we're going to have to strategically plan where we're stopping for fuel all while staying on the back roads and avoiding the storm that's great anyway let's go oh can't forget my tarp we might need this and my trash bag poncho here we go Fellers first time moving under its own power 10 years [Music] okay now Drive oh yeah she wants to go we dare try the brakes this early oh really spongy I think I'm kind of safe on those might need them a little later you know [Music] okay let's go find a fuel station top this thing off we got all three gears 50 miles an hour maybe a little nervous on the second or the two seconds third two to three Chef she hung on there a little bit I thought maybe the vacuum I came on catahorn let's recheck the radio Gotham nice old tow truck sitting there tonight I mean it handles like the boat that it is I did that and I cut out I started sucking air on The View it must be the way the carbs set up the floats are probably set really low that could cause that potentially but I would really feel like changing that right now unless we have to we just got to get miles an hour belt everything's fine okay first stop I'm gonna top this thing off all the way to the maximum to where it's just gently spilling out and then we're gonna go about 40 miles that's a little more than that it's like 44 miles 45 miles to the next stop and then we can measure or get it I get whoop whoop get a gauge for how far we can go start planting the rest of our fuel routes okay well big toes crossed let's hit her [Music] hey we made it to our destination cart haggy or this is I think that's not the town but it's that I don't know anyway remember that yellow Corvette a year or two ago and we put the blower on it right away like day two yeah yeah not somewhere around here 's doing okay-ish check this out I got tail lips and head lips on this no dash lights or nothing but look at that oh sweet old break I'm a little afraid to hit the high low beam because on GMS all the power goes through them sometimes those switches get a little snotty and if you mess up you can get stuck with no lights or just they don't mean she's getting a wash as we're going but there's still a lot of stuff left on it you've got side marker line might have to dig into that fuel make it happener every time I cross the bridge or hit a bump or anything like that she's spitting and sputtering yeah I mean other than that it's it's cruising pretty good if it does have an overheating problem I'm not aware we've been driving through rain Non-Stop and it's nice and cool out maybe that's a good thing no wipers they're not working and we made it just in the nick of time we're definitely getting right at nine or ten miles of the gallon so it's Gonna Fill this up Global position sensor up on the digital pocket box another fuel stop I think at this point we got to start cutting across on the two lines but we're making the way so far completely normal nothing to nothing to see here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] raining again but this little town has a self-serve spray wash so we're going to go ahead and see if we can get all the years of grime and moss and white chickens Munchkins everything off of this car cleaned it up a little bit get them caps on see what this thing's looking like cars running great the more we run it down the highway the better it's running sitting up being good for these rigs just got to get them out on the road I promise they're gonna do better for you better shut the lights off I only got one battery so anyway let's clean this thing up I'm excited to see what it's going to look like here look at the difference already no SOS pad no scrubbing nothing just pressurized soap this thing can clean up really good just gotta paint that front clip do something with the roof color there [Music] all right [Music] now caps on cleaned up a little bit resale red [Music] looks really good nice old car well the guy's not home yet still got some miles to put down I'm gonna jump in pull the wick out on her a little bit let her run free see if I can get home here in the next half hour 45 minutes or so [Music] oh well the 73 Pontiac Catalina officially has made it back to the barn what an incredible day this was a lot of fun this thing wants to run it didn't take much of anything to be honest and the day was just great cruising through the back roads of Tennessee today even though it was rainy and foggy it was just spectacular you guys have got to travel this way avoid highways on whatever map system you're on and I promise you you're going to see the true America and you can even support some small businesses along the way and meet some great folks the car is great it's going to be a great car we are cruising along and all of a sudden the dash lights just turned on a little while later the climate control lights turned on about 10 miles from the house here the wipers just started working and I must have tried those 150 times today didn't check any fuses or anything like that and all of a sudden boom they just turned on it's like right inside of Christina you know what I mean but Christine I should say if the radio came on I probably would have just you know opened the door and bailed though you know what I'm saying this one I don't have to ask you guys what's next for it because the owner is picking it up this weekend that's right it's gone but I'm very very happy the car is back on the road it's roadworthy once again it's doing what it should be doing and not just sitting somewhere rotting and that makes me very happy thanks guys for watching appreciate all of you so very much and remember your project won't work if you don't [Music] thank you

Channel: Vice Grip Garage

Views: 2,999,343

Keywords: motortrend, roadkill, vice grip garage, vise grip garage, vgg, will it run, will it start, will it drive, road trip, pontiac, 400, catalina, revival, rescue

Id: ttY5A0QpysI

Length: 78min 21sec (4701 seconds)

Published: Fri May 19 2023