TC2 Restauration Project - A complete beginner's experience

Hey guys!

Two years ago I was looking for a hobby as I was really bored. While I do work as a driver and loved cars since I was a kid - I entered this with no knowledge about anything and a will to learn.

After finding a car in my quarter life crisis, one thing led to another and I was getting busier and busier with other life stuff, while the old Ford waited for me in the garage, day after day.

In three months time I will be moving cross-country. Luckily, my inlaws will have a place where I can keep the car so my adventure won't stop then. However the goal is to get it to at least driving condition so I don't have to pay for it to get towed.

The car is, well interesting.

I don't have any photos from then, but ex owner seemed to be an "oldsmobile" fan. There was a racing steering wheel with an oldsmobile badge, he took out the original mask and put an oldsmobile one, and he put on chrome linings on the hood and doors.

It is clear that he tried to go for a more "Racing" look, you will see from the photos. I'm going for a more original look, not necessarily 100% original, but something in the middle where I will like what I have.

The problems came very soon.

Around one or two weeks after purchase, all of a sudden the engine wouldn't turn on anymore. It cranked and cranked, but also. If I put petrol directly in the carb, it would start no problem. So obviously there is a problem with the fuel sending.

I already restored the fuel tank as well as ordered a new sending unit. The old one literally burned down. Don't know where and when. The wires around it are also almost reduced to ashes.

Today I ordered some copper-nickel fuel pipes and removed the old ones from the car. Can't wait for the new stuff to come.

I will show some more images when it comes to rust in the upcoming posts.

Right now I have two problems

1. How do I put the ring on the fuel sender??

2. What tool did you use to remove the mirror on the left hand side? The Haynes manual says you need to have a special tool...

See you soon!

Thanks for the tips! I figured there should be an easier way to getting that off that wouldn't include their "tool" (which is nowhere to be found anyways).

When we talk about rust, I started looking for some but I'm not yet pulling the whole car apart.

For now, I noticed some on the sides, but even more importantly in the pockets above the back wheels. When I was purchasing the car it didn't appear in my mind to look here, but boy was it a nice surprise. It was "Fixed" with foam with the ex owner, but sooner or later it's going to have to be solved.

"Luckily" the car was in a mostly dry and sunny area of the country the past 30 years, so I hope this will be kept at a minimum. Due to my circumstances I'm definitely going to have to do a rolling restauration.

All the foam I've found is above the rear whell wells (which we call "pockets" in Croatia).

Today I took out the seats to get a view of the floor situation. As always, one stubborn (and probably rusty) bolt got the better of me today, it was the one under the right side seatbelt holder.

So I didn't manage to check the right side but I did check the driver's one. And how would you access the lower level of metal - below the rear seats - images 3 and 5?

Front door sill seems okay, but rear door sill has a few problems as you can see on the photos. Nothing to do about it now but at least I'll get a chance to clean up all the dirt that has accumulated.

Of course, motomobil has completely new parts :D

After the clean up, I'll have to jack the car up. Where would be the best place to put the car jack and axle stands for the rear and front? Is it safe to put axle stands under the axle, as the name says?

Then goes trying to get it to run. Setting up the fuel lines (I got 90/10 kunifer pipes) and the tank. I still haven't realised how to put the fuel sender back in its place though.

Thanks for the advices and help!

Zitat von Bunkie Knudsen

Best to take some photos to show where the jack and the mounts should go.

Here Are a few photos of the back

Here are a few photos from the bottom. Thanks for the help

With a lot of help from my girlfriend, the fuel tank is back in position. Funny thing however - it looks like the gaskets (both original and motomobil) dont fit on motomobil fuel sender.

So i managed to find some xyz thin gasket of the same size and managed to lock in the sender.

I’m going to need to do some more bending of the straps because as you can see, theyre a bit crooked. Fuel lines fit and Look Well though.

Did it turn on? Unfortunately no. There is no spark. Spark plugs and cables Are new and connections seem to be all in good shape…

However i noticed something Weird when it comes to the ignition coil. The two wires (Circled in Yellow) on the left- both lead to the distributor cap, while the right one is earth. Shouldnt there be a wire connection to the starter?

Yeah I figured the coil is okay. When I do the spark test on the engine block I’m Getting no spark.

Plugs Are a few Years old but Look good. I only manage to take out the first 2 from the radiator, the other 2 seem seized, going to have to get some tools to get it out. Not working with a t-wrench.

VIDEO

I noticed the red wire and the black/yellow one at the starter werent connected properly. So i did that a bit better and now I can hear some hissing noise while cranking. Even without it, it sounds like she is gonna start any second.

Fuel going right up to carb, tried putting it inside directly, not turning on. Spark plugs are fine, distributor too (its an aftermarket one). I tried to test the coil by putting red on + and black needle on -, both on the coil. Not Getting any reading so am I doing it wrong?