welcome to the madness friend... enjoy that thing on this weekend if you can. I hope we get 70 at the Palooza over in Ar-Kan-Zis this weekend...SmileWavy

HarryD, all good points and advice. Thanks.

Everyone else, thanks for the welcome.

The oil leak, I think, will have to be addressed sooner rather than later.

When I look up under the car, I can see drops of oil, dripping down onto the heat exchangers at the front of the engine. I had HOPED that it was the valve covers. And, they may leak a bit, too, but nothing like what I'm seeing. At least not the lower ones. I still need to examine the upper covers.

I'm going to need to resolve the oil leak issue sooner rather than later. Any BTDT or other suggestions for what this could be? It's not pouring out, but I'm not sure I want to keep driving it with the stink and smoke, It's not super bad, but annoying enough that I don't like it.

Brakes are solid, the car STOPS when I hit them. All lights w/ exception of the turn indicators work, I'll have the "new to me" tires mounted on it tomorrow. The dry rot was, to be honest, the most pressing safety issue. Pan shows no evidence of rust, just the bottom of the passenger door and the inside jam of the driver's side. There may be more, though. I need to do a full inspection of the undercarrage. And I just discovered that the horn is disfunctional. I can live with that, tho. At least for now.

Next step will be to get this car up off the ground and get under it, see if I can ID where that damn oil leak is coming from. I'll flush and replace all fluids at the same time.

Photos of what I find, and other info to follow. - Tom

Tom,

The area between the door and the rear wheel traps moisture and rusts. Probe carfully to determine the full extent. These cars rust from the inside out. Do a search here on rust and read about the typical places to find rust. Your car is NOT 100% galvanized.

Also do a search for oil leaks. A common location is the "back" of the engine (behind the fan housing). There are several gasketed fittings there and they typically leak as they age. You will most likely need to remove the engine to get access but with your carbs, you may be able to get there without the drop. I would suggest you clean your engine and then look for the leak.

So Tom, are you selling, or is this the orig ad?

http://denver.craigslist.org/car/474182615.html

Let us know, man. If you want a car like these you're in the right place, and there's a lot of Denver folks to help you. If you want to find one that's not as big of a challenge, we can help you. You might have to pay twice as much, but it's worth it. Just checking in.