I have a 1964 low mileage coupe that had been "barn-stored" for about 40 years. The newest dime under the seat was from 1970. I am doing a preservation.



The fuel pump and the starter had been replaced. It had an M-21 with a 1969 casing. Everything else seems original except the Ansen's and the flares.

The frame is brown, but solid. The birdcage is compromised, but functional. The motor was crusty, locked up. A valve had rusted through the stem and dropped its bell onto the number 8 piston, obviously some many years after it had last run.





The interior stunk. The seat frames had disintegrated.

New dash harness. Right side is shorted, apparently. We call such things foreshadowing events in the study of literature


The car has been in storage for 6 months waiting for the garage to be built. It moved from Tucson to Missouri with about 15 minutes or run time and moved about 25 feet of it own power. It had been dyno-ed and tuned after a professional rebuild.





The move was a danger for the project, but the exigencies of contracts, job starts and setting up house took precedence.


Enroute in Alamagordo, NM

So I started the motor once a month to keep the carburetor wet.


As weeks turned to months, I had not noticed that the radiator fluid had finally dripped from an incomplete installation of the lower hose.
After a few slow laps around the storage compound I heard popping noises, and backfire. I looked under the hood and there was smoke coming from under the headers. There was steam coming from the overflow tank. I shut it off and left. When I returned a few days later, I added 3 1/2 gallons of coolant. The oil was off the dipstick. I added about three quarts to bring it to full.

Neither the oil or temperature gauges were operating and I hadn't had the time to sort out what is likely a grounding problem. I assumed the headers had come loose and were the cause of the backfiring. I know I made a series of dumb moves.

My question for the forum is how to best recover. I need to start it once move to drive it onto a car hauler, soon. The garage is done, finally.

I imagine the oil should be changed. Can anyone tell me what damage I may encounter, how to discover the extent of the damage, and what the due diligence would be to recover from this idiocy?

 

Welcome to the forum. I guess the safest thing to do would be to tear the engine down and check for damage.