garaged since 1969 HELP

I found out my neighbor has a 1969 4 door chevy nova sitting in her garage since 1969!!!!!!!!! im 16 and im looking for a nice classic car. Its in perfect condition (body wise) it was only moved for about a half-year and has been sitting there since. I have no idea what kind of bad things can happen to teh engine in all that time. I figured i should change transmission and engine oil before even trying to start it, but that's all I got. Is a complete engine change needed or what other tips/advice can you give me? anything would help alot. Keep in mind that it is in perfect condition and only has like 9000 miles on it. thanks

Id say thats one hell of a find man. A 1969 with 9k original miles on it is a rare find indead. Depending on the options and how much she wants for It i dont think you could go wrong buying the car. If worse comes to worse if you get it and find out your in over your head you could probably resell it and make a few bucks. As for your question. One of the things I really believe in is that more bad stuff can happen to a car from NOT driving it then driving it. On a car thats been sitting up for that long you basically wanna check EVERY gasket/piece of rubber that you can. Just basically use common sense when looking at the car. The new oil and new transmission fluid is a smart thing to do, but I would also put some new gas in the car as well, depending on how long it has been sitting. Just before starting it look at all seals and gaskets to make sure there isnt anything glaringly wrong, and if that checks out start the car. After its runnin once again use common sense and check for fluids leaking anywhere and watch your temps gauges and such to make sure everything is par. Personally that a hell of a car man and i hope it works out for you

Rob

Just wanted to add something else. I just looked up the value of the car on NADA.COM and the Book value on the car is around 3500 dollars (i cant give an exact number becuase i dont know what engine you have) BUT NADA doesnt let you put in the car mileage, and with the mileage the car has I would expect thats you could prolly tack on come more money to the 3500 amount. Just telling you this so you can have an idea of what to pay for the car.

Rob

Since the car has been sitting for 30+ years, I would reccomend the following.#1 Change the gas tank (the fuel has turned into slush in that time and that is not a good thing to put through the engine. #2 spray some WD-40 in each of the cylinders through the spark plug holes to loosen the piston rings so they don't brake. #3 Wash the entire engine compartment and exaust system (when the engine and exaust gets hot, the old dry twigs, leaves, spiderwebs, hay, and what ever else has accumulated will want to burn in possibly turn into a serious fire. #4 An auto trans has alot more fluid than you can get out of it by simply taking the pan off. You should change the Tranny fluid about 6 times, once every 3 days, and change the filter twice, once at the first tranny oil change and once after the sixth. #5 Make sure she has the TITLE, it is a pain to get a car with a lost title. #6 You will probabbly have to change alot of the rubber parts, such as hoses, vaccume lines, belts, bushings, etc. #7 check the brake system, change old brake pads..... Anyhow, that should give you a good start. Have a nice day.

Don't forget to rebuild the carburator. That sucker's probably dried right up and the float is probably cracked. I wouldn't change the tranny fluid over and over. Once everything else is done, run the engine and disconnect the line that goes into the rad. Get a big bucket to catch the fluid that flies out, and keep topping up the tranny until it runs out blood red. This should evacuate all of the shit out of the tranny and torque converter as well. Don't forget to clean the filter and valve body and replace the pan gasket.

damn man ! :eek:

get some pics of it and post them, i wanna see it ! :eek: