Newbie about to score an '85 Fifth Avenue; your ideas wanted for upgrades

[drpreposterous]

'Greetings one and all!

I am new to this forum and am just about to drop some modest dollars on an amazingly well preserved '85 5th Avenue. This will be my daily driver and, as such, I want to put some money into it to make it more responsive and reliable.

Since the purchase price is so low, I have $2,000/2,500 to spend on it afterwards. Please keep in mind, I am a good nurse, but no wrench turner. The work will be farmed out to a pro.

So where should I start?

• Ditch the Lean Burn?
• New carb and intake?
• Dual exhaust?
• Suspension upgrade?
• New brake and fuel lines?

Please let me know what you think.

Thank you!
Brian

 

[ramenth]

First advice, you don't need to farm it out to a pro. Step by steps can be found on here for all the upgrades with the membership more than willing to help out along the way. The money you save that way can go into more mods and upgrades.

I usually don't ditch the lean burn until it starts giving problems. But, it's not a bad upgrade right from the start.

A four barrel intake and carb along with a set of headers and dual exhaust will wake it up a bit and make it more fun to drive.

Dumping all the rubber in the suspension is a huge improvement.

New brake and fuel lines? Only if they're rusty and about to break through.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Welcome once again..
I'm guessing you passed on the LeBaron.....

As far as your Fifth....Robert has given you some great suggestions including doing a fair bit of it yourself. There's lots of help to be had on here.
I'm a driveway mechanic myself and am by no means an "expert" and get a lot of help and guidance from the good folks here.

I have a Fifth myself and it's my daily driver.
Bone stock...still has the lean burn on it.

I guess my question would be....what do you want it to be?
If you want a reliable daily driver I wouldn't worry about doing much of anything outside of inspecting everything to make sure it's all solid. Brake and fuel lines, brakes, shocks, tires, belts, etc....and fluid changes.

Lean burn normally works fine until it doesn't....that's when I'll be ditching mine.

A tune up (new plugs, wires, cap and rotor and all filters) makes a huge difference in driveability along with running a tank of premium through it.
I run premium all the time myself.

If performance is your goal than Robert is on the money...however I would suggest your first course of action would be to swap the rear end to eliminate the sluggo 2.2 gears that are in it now if it's stock. That upgrade alone will do wonders. I suggest figuring out what your end goal is and THEN deciding what your upgrades should be......just my two cents.

 

[brotherGood]

Welcome.

Not saying anything that hasn't been said already, but if its going to be your DD..focus on the reliability. If it needs new lines, then do those first. If its in tip top shape, and you want more performance, first step is the rear. 2.2s are going to get you off the line about as fast as I can run..and at 6'3" 300 lbs..it aint fast.

FWIW, the Lean-burn removal will most likely go hand in hand with a 4bbl swap. On a stock 318 2bbl though, I wouldn't worry about headers..but if you can get away with it..why not go duals.

And, as mentioned, you don't have to farm it out. I hardly knew anything about how to wrench on my car when I got it..now, I know a fair bit. Stay on the forums, get a FSM, and be patient. If you're willing to learn, it'll save you so much money..but also give you a much better sense of satisfaction and self worth .

 

[Monkeyed]

if it ain't broke, don't fix it! don't try and guess what you think you'll be using it for, use it, and look for areas that aren't as up to the task as they could be.

 

[Monkeyed]

I agree money spent on labor, is money that could have been used for better parts, but Clint Eastwood put it best "A man's got to know his limitations" so if you have to farm it out, remember an honest mechanic is worth far more than a good one.

a good, crooked tech can cheat you in ways you'd never dreamed of, at least an honest one will tell you what they honestly think the problem is, even if they can't do anything about themselves.

 

[Monkeyed]

if you can find a good AND honest tech you can bet there's some shady s.o.b. trying to get them fired. :laughing11:

 

[drpreposterous]

Aaargghh! I went to scope it out and it looked and drove great! It is in exceptional condition with only 39K miles (owner is 90), but just as I was forking over the dough, I noticed a coolant leak. I couldn't risk driving home 70 miles with that. Purchase (at least for now) aborted. Thanks for all the support. This is a great community!

 

[LSM360]

Leaking coolant from where?

 

[Jack Meoff]

Leaking coolant from where?

X2
Could be a real easy fix depending and a really good bartering tool....

 

[drpreposterous]

I'm not really knowledgeable here, but it was rearward of radiator--the water pump?

 

[Jack Meoff]

Could be the weep hole in the water pump. A pump isn't a huge deal. Was it leaking badly?

 

[Jack Meoff]

Could even be something as easy as a hose.
If he's close you should keep the deal hot and snap some pics and we can make a better call on it. Like I said even a water pump or even a rad isn't a massive deal.

 

[ramenth]

Could even be something as easy as a hose.
If he's close you should keep the deal hot and snap some pics and we can make a better call on it. Like I said even a water pump or even a rad isn't a massive deal.

Lay the brackets over to the side and change the pump. Fifteen minute job for a lot of us, half hour tops if you milk it. I don't know... getting older, I can't pick 'em up and lay 'em down like I used to. Once upon a time I could bust and balance four tires in fifteen minutes. Looked at the clock yesterday and the same job took half an hour and I thought I was moving fast. So, maybe these days it might take me half an hour. lol

Coolant leak isn't a deal breaker or even a drive breaker, depending on what's leaking and how much. Behind the rad? Hoses, pump... look for signs of coolant and go from there. Pump might take a little while for a novice, a hose is two clamps, fill, and done.

 

[brotherGood]

yep, just stick a pan under to catch the fluid so you don't kill any critters. Gotta yank the water pump/timing cover off the truck next spring and change the timing chain.

 

[jasperjacko]

Any old car is going to need something. That's no reason to bail on the sale?

 

[Jack Meoff]

Any old car is going to need something. That's no reason to bail on the sale?

Exactly....
It's a given that if you buy an oldie it's gonna need something.

 

[drpreposterous]

I agree

Exactly....
It's a given that if you buy an oldie it's gonna need something.

Ya, but it was 5 pm, I was 70 miles from home and had to work at 11 pm that night.

 

[Jack Meoff]

So what's going on with it now?
As mentioned....a coolant leak could be a very easy fix.

 

[drpreposterous]

Sold the very next day. I missed out!