Hello Guys:
My brother gave my son Michael his 1972 Avanti 400/4speed. This car has sat in storage for the last 23 years and has about 90,000 miles. We discovered the engine was frozen some years ago. When Dad died and Mom sold the storage garage we towed the Avanti to Moms home last fall and had a look.
I made a grease fitting from a sparkplug and started pummping grease into the engine. We found it would turn backwards but when we bumped the starter it would lock up in the same place. I pulled the pushrods out and noticed I had the number 7 cylinder exh valve stuck solid. Mike and I pulled that head and found a crack that allowed the coolent to rust that valve up tight. Well time ran out and we had to return to Tennessee without getting his car running.
Further progress was hampered by surgery on my right leg Nov 17. During my 5 day internship at Vanderbilt Univ Medical Center my lovely bride bid on and won a set of 400 sb heads off a running engine. Gotta love a girl like that!!!!!!
It's now approaching spring break and Michael has two weeks off from school and I'm still home on Short Term Disability. This gives us the opportunity for Michael to do all the work while I supervise from a lawnchair at Grandmas' house. I finally get to be a supervisor!!!
NOW TO THE POINT OF THE THREAD. Hope I haven't lost my audience.
The 4 Maypop GT radials on the car are at least 25 years old. I'm thinking that it would be best to replace them with 205/75/15 on the original wheels to get his car home from Connecticut. He's (me really) is going to want spiffier wheels for the car. He'll want Dubs for the car, but since his only job is honing his basketball skills, money talks, Dad wins. I found this post on the forum with some very good information:
It got me thinking about the Ranger/Explorer wheels. I thought about S10 wheels since they mimick the original spokes, but the bolt pattern is to big.
Has anyone used these wheels to their satisfaction? I noticed on Ebay, some of the wheels list an offset, such as 7J. Can someone tell me what that means?
Thanks for the help on these [?]'s
Kevin Edwards
My brother gave my son Michael his 1972 Avanti 400/4speed. This car has sat in storage for the last 23 years and has about 90,000 miles. We discovered the engine was frozen some years ago. When Dad died and Mom sold the storage garage we towed the Avanti to Moms home last fall and had a look.
I made a grease fitting from a sparkplug and started pummping grease into the engine. We found it would turn backwards but when we bumped the starter it would lock up in the same place. I pulled the pushrods out and noticed I had the number 7 cylinder exh valve stuck solid. Mike and I pulled that head and found a crack that allowed the coolent to rust that valve up tight. Well time ran out and we had to return to Tennessee without getting his car running.
Further progress was hampered by surgery on my right leg Nov 17. During my 5 day internship at Vanderbilt Univ Medical Center my lovely bride bid on and won a set of 400 sb heads off a running engine. Gotta love a girl like that!!!!!!
It's now approaching spring break and Michael has two weeks off from school and I'm still home on Short Term Disability. This gives us the opportunity for Michael to do all the work while I supervise from a lawnchair at Grandmas' house. I finally get to be a supervisor!!!
NOW TO THE POINT OF THE THREAD. Hope I haven't lost my audience.
The 4 Maypop GT radials on the car are at least 25 years old. I'm thinking that it would be best to replace them with 205/75/15 on the original wheels to get his car home from Connecticut. He's (me really) is going to want spiffier wheels for the car. He'll want Dubs for the car, but since his only job is honing his basketball skills, money talks, Dad wins. I found this post on the forum with some very good information:
It got me thinking about the Ranger/Explorer wheels. I thought about S10 wheels since they mimick the original spokes, but the bolt pattern is to big.
Has anyone used these wheels to their satisfaction? I noticed on Ebay, some of the wheels list an offset, such as 7J. Can someone tell me what that means?
Thanks for the help on these [?]'s
Kevin Edwards
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