Newbie looking for help and guidance lol

Okay cool

 

For sure I do know the first thing I want to do is replace the rusted floors and repair the rust over all. Any tips?

 

I love your passion and wanting to fix the car up but in being realistic without skills and tools and money you will be fighting a big battle, the money you spend to fix the car will be more than saving it and finding a better foundation to start with. I dont want to be the devils advocate but am telling you what others are thinking.

 

A car that has been sitting a long time will have a LONG list of problems, plus the original reason(s) that it got set aside. If you are in need of transportation, that poor car wont help you anytime soon. And the rust is not an easy fix. It often requires cutting away rotten metal and welding in new pieces. Good welding skills take a lot of practice and instruction....BIG learning curve....plus you need a welder, a whole new bunch of tools, and a place to store stuff. Learning to fix cars is different than learning to restore them. We learn to walk, run, skip, jump, dance, do gymnastics, over how many years? I do not want to end your quest, I want you to be successful. If you could start with a running car, learning to walk, especially without someone to teach/show you stuff, would be good. By the way, I am 53 and I suck at welding.

 

I get what you guys are saying and I appreciate the honesty. I do have a small honda thats my daily driver and I know the car will take forever to complete. I can have a little bit at a time done with my budget. But you guys think its not worth saving?

 

The experience has to be worth something, but if you're thinking long term keeper or show car I'd find one in better cond... Assuming you can be happy with a driver that's likely less than perfect, dive in... But first check condition of cowl, rust out is common and it a MAJOR undertaking to fix correctly... If cowl is OK forget floor pans and cosmetics till you, check out condition of the drive train... If motor is shot, transmission is slipping or gushing fluid I'd stop and look for another car... Brake system will no doubt need service as well as front end, suspension was generally done at 75-80K miles... And the cha-chings keep adding up...

For floor pans & body repair I'd recommend checking out a body repair & welding classes at one of the community colleges.. Floor pans are avail for Mustang that are a close fit...

 

I am also a young gun (23) and am almost done with my body restoration. Its painted and all the rust was taken care of.

With out any training i learned from youtube videos (lots on the same subject), trial and error, my dad, my uncle (for welding), and the hundreds of post i have read on here. (THANKS GUYS)

I agree with Krazy Comet in that if the engine and transmission are shot its almost out of the range to have as a beginning restoration car.

I have also been restoring an old 1967 cougar with the same rust spots as your car and me working about 12-16 hrs a week on it, it has taken 2 full summers and it is in the final stages of body work.

The thing about rust is that you need to cut it all out and weld in new pieces of metal. This takes fabrication skills, time, money. Rust is metals cancer if you don't get it all it will come back to bite you in the butt.

This is not meant as a discouragement. Just letting you know up front what to expect. also lots of $$ (3000+)

 

NO!!

Even if you had some experience...I would still say NO.

Straight up honest.....you will be buried in misery with trying to fix that car.

 

money and time wise, you would be way ahead..LOL.

 

agree...first he has to build a "car" then learn how to do motor, transmission and interior work.

 

we are not bashing you...just look around the board and see some of the cars here that are 6-8 year projects and are still not "done".
my suggestion...find a better car to start with...JMO

 

Gotcha so I should sell it and move on?

 

First, Welcome to the forum!!
Do not be discouraged by the rust or the fact that the motor hasn't run in years.
My 65 Econoline Falcon Van had been hidden in the woods from the IRS and was used as a shed for 17 years when I got it and had to bring it home on a roll back because the motor and all 4 wheels were seized completely. I was 18 and owned probably 20 sockets and a dozen wrenches, and knew nothing about cars. I got it running in 2 days and had it driving in a week, in reverse only...the trans needed to be rebuilt.

You have chosen an ideal car to learn on. A Ford Maverick with very few options was the one of simplest cars you could buy in 1973 and the basic principles you learn while working on this car will apply to every car you will ever own. A brand new cheap car is almost as complicated as a luxury car any more these days. As for the size of the motor, a 200 inline six is a very solid dependable power plant, they are not known for tremendous power or earth saving fuel efficiency, but run forever when cared for properly. It will be sufficient to get you around. A 200 makes about 120 S.A.E. gross hp when tuned properly ,or about 85 HP at the wheels, and that is ok for a car as light as a Maverick.
There are many performance upgrades available for the Ford Thriftpower Six. Your imagination and budget are the only limitations. Cylinder heads, headers, cams, 4 BBL carbs, turbos....etc.

check out Classic Inlines website...WOW! also Clifford Performance, and Melvins

Rust: It looks like your floors are in better shape than mine, but still need attention. The rust in your car is nowhere near as bad as the rust on my 70 Maverick, The 75 Maverick parts car I just cut up, or my son's 65 Falcon. These cars are known for rust in the floor boards, cowl pan, and the lower fenders/quarter panels, and rocker panels. You can buy floor pans online and have a local body shop install them. I had to check 5 or 6 body shops, but found a guy that would install a new front floor pan and toe board for $250 if I pulled the carpet and did most of the prep work.

The first thing you need to do is buy a shop manual.

Drive train: The next thing to do is take out the spark plugs and squirt about 2 tablespoons of oil into each cylinder. Then get a big socket on a breaker bar, put it on the harmonic balancer (crank) bolt and turn the motor over by hand several rotations until it feels like it spins pretty freely. Then reinstall the spark plugs.

The gas is guaranteed to be bad. do not make the mistake of pumping a bunch of bad gas through your carburetor. Drain the entire fuel system. Replace the fuel filter before you crank on it the first time with the key.
The fuel pump may be good after sitting that long, but I would replace it anyway just because they are only $25.
The carb needs to be removed and drained and cleaned thoroughly with carb cleaner and then re-installed. Hopefully you won't have to rebuild the carb.

Pull the distributor cap and look at the brass contacts, if they are corroded, replace the distributor cap and rotor button before you try to crank it the first time.
After motor is spinning freely by hand and the fuel system has been attended to then you can try to start it. If it doesn't start, check the gap on the distributor points.

Don't sell it.
Start wrenching on it.
You will learn.
You will cuss the car, you will cuss me for telling you to keep it, your wife will cuss you and the car.
You will spend too much
You will be proud like a new Dad and love riding in a car you resurrected.

 

from Northeast Pennsylvania

You have to get into those rusted areas with a sander and wire wheel and expose every bit of it - you can't tell how far reaching the rust is under paint until the paint is gone - once you see the entire picture, it will either look much better than it does now or you, yourself, will decide to find something else - Good Luck with your car

 

Oh, yeah, welcome to the rust belt! I have it worse than you here in Florida.