My father recently passed and left me his fully restored 1967 GTA convertible. It has been garage kept it's entire life. The problem is he would drive it on weekends and then when his health started going downhill it just stayed in the garage for 20 years. No conditioning for long term storage was done to it. At one point he went to start it up and the pistons were frozen and 2 push rods were bent. He had began the process of tapping them daily with a copper hammer to loosen them up but then he became bed-riden.

What all will I need to do to get her running again?

 

If the engine is froze up as you stated I would remove the engine and go through it/rebuild it. \


HoUTex??
Corrected spelling on yer user name

 

You rang?

Yeah... that's a lost cause of the engine, I'm sorry to say. 20 years of mostly sitting about, with erratic to no running around isn't going to come loose easily, especially if the push rods are already bent, and the pistons have seized once. That's just rust for ya.

I'm agreein' with Glenn, but worse. Sorry, but...

Yank the motor, rebuild it. Trans too, it's not going to be happy, although you *might* get away with full fluid swap with a can of TransX thrown in. Check the axle. Change the fluid in it. Don't forget to do the power steering if equipped as well (TransX can also be applied here.) New brake fluid, flush the system, new pads, turned or new rotors and drums.

And *all* the rubber bits that have to do with the running of the car down the road, which means new brake calipers up front (there's a rubber seal on it in the piston(s), new slaves on the back, brake hoses, fuel hoses, coolant hoses, suspension bushings everywhere. Which is fun with the upper A-arm spring perch thing. Reason being that dry rot happens, even in storage, unless it was airconditioned. So... 20 years of that isn't going to be pretty.

Tires, of course, 'cause thems are likely dry rotted. And then we haven't even got to the top mechanism...

Fuel system, that means taking the tank out and making sure it's not rusty. Fix or replace. New fuel pump (and here, I would *highly* recommend an electric low pressure one, not the side mount mechanical. Yes, it's not stock. Original <> better.), filter, rubber lines (blow out the hard ones) and rebuild the carb.

On the face of it, this is a rebuild project. You're not going to likely be happy trying to cheap it out. As such, if you can't afford the time/effort/monetary, then it might be best to store it until you can, or sell it and get something more accessible.

Still... a '67 GTA 'vert, huh. I'd have a hard time lettin' it go, surely.

And all *that* is without looking at it. For all I know? All is good and the motor is the problem only. So... yeah. Perhaps I'm blowing it all out of proportion. But the motor is done already, rebuild time, that's a 10-4, roger that.

Pics would help. Love to see the thing!

And hey there, nice to meet ya, welcome to the forum!