Pulling my 1983 Mirada from Storage - Ew!

[moreada]

So I have decided the Mirada needs to come out of storage for some TLC. Here's the rub... it's been sitting for about 6 years and was put away a bit hastily when young and dumb. :eusa_wall:

While the body and such appears to be sound and rust free, there is likely a list of engine/fuel removal issues that will need to be sorted. I assumed as much. Fortunately a 318 doesn't require a degree in mechanical cryptography. Worst case is swapping in another 318 or 340... right? :eusa_eh:

The worst part is that some mice seem to have gotten in. I shoulda mothballed the hell out of it. The year before I stored for winter after an oiling and had good luck. Not this time. There is a bad smell and at least one dead one on the floor. It's foul. I assume this will be my biggest hurdle. I am actively hitting google, trying to find what I can, but am curious what the J Body crowd has to say about my stupidity. I figure since I'm new a bit of hazing is in order.

After I live down the shame, I've gotta roll up my sleeves... where do I start and how? Thanks in advance.

 

[80 Aspen RT]

Yeah, you are likely to find a big mess somewhere in it. Mice like everything, I thought my Super Coupe was pretty animal free when we got it, but I found a mouse nest on top of the heater box.
Like you said your just going to have to pull up your sleeves and start looking. Might be a good idea to wear a mask too, mouse crap can make you sick. Look up under the dash, under the seats, carpet, headliner if you have the fabric one. They say a mouse can get through a hole the size of a quarter.

And don't beat you self up too bad, we have all done stuff and didn't think too much about it at the time, but regretted it later.

 

[jasperjacko]

More than likely your vent system will be loaded with mice crispies!

 

[Jack Meoff]

Outside of your house guests as far as the car itself my items would be. How much garbage gas is in the tank?
Dealing with that could be done a few ways. If there's not much and I were feeling lazy I'd fill it with premium and my thinking is that would allow you to get away with it. I'd go for one or two extra fuel filters before the fuel pump. The clear ones so you can see what kind of crap if any is coming out of the tank.
Check any line made of rubber to make sure it's not cracked or dry rotted and waiting to pop.
Dump the oil and refill and then rotate the engine by hand to make sure all is well before trying to crank it.

I'm sure I'll think of more and the rest of the gang will add their own ideas.

By the way.
Welcome aboard.

 

[Aspen500]

Go over your wiring with a fine tooth comb. Electrical wire insulation seems to be like mouse cocaine or something. They absolutely love that stuff.

Chances are, and this comes from experience, the inside of your fuel tank is solid rust and the sender is the same way. My car sat with a full tank of fuel (about 16 gallons of premium and 2 gallons of race fuel. Used to have 11.5:1 CR) in it for 6 years before I could get to "the build" (fortunately stored in a heated garage with no critters). The stench when I opened the gas cap,,,,,,,,,,,,,WOW. Managed to drop the tank without spilling any and drug it outdoors. When I pulled the sender out, the pickup tube almost fell off. Inside of the tank was crusty rust,,,,,,it was horrible. Worst part was, the tank was only a couple years old when the trans fried (original reason the car got parked, but then I bought an old house that needed a lot of work, etc....hence the 6 years). Another new tank and sending unit and good to go.
Moot point in my case with a complete rebuild of the entire car but the fuel pump was seized solid and the carb was basically ruined.
Here's hoping you get lucky and it hasn't gone that far yet.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Go over your wiring with a fine tooth comb. Electrical wire insulation seems to be like mouse cocaine or something. They absolutely love that stuff.

Chances are, and this comes from experience, the inside of your fuel tank is solid rust and the sender is the same way. My car sat with a full tank of fuel (about 16 gallons of premium and 2 gallons of race fuel. Used to have 11.5:1 CR) in it for 6 years before I could get to "the build" (fortunately stored in a heated garage with no critters). The stench when I opened the gas cap,,,,,,,,,,,,,WOW. Managed to drop the tank without spilling any and drug it outdoors. When I pulled the sender out, the pickup tube almost fell off. Inside of the tank was crusty rust,,,,,,it was horrible. Worst part was, the tank was only a couple years old when the trans fried (original reason the car got parked, but then I bought an old house that needed a lot of work, etc....hence the 6 years). Another new tank and sending unit and good to go.
Moot point in my case with a complete rebuild of the entire car but the fuel pump was seized solid and the carb was basically ruined.
Here's hoping you get lucky and it hasn't gone that far yet.

Excellent points.
I was hoping someone more knowledgeable would correct my wishful thinking on the tank.

 

[Aspen500]

Last fall at work, a 1991 Camaro RS came in on the flat bed. Car had been stored with the tank half full. Must have been indoors and a dry garage though. Found out later it had last been driven in 1995 so that gas was at LEAST 20 years old. Blech. No start, no fuel. Took the gas cap off and the whole shop reeked for days. Ended up with a new tank and fuel pump. Solid rust and gunk. We found a brand new I guess you'd have to call it NOS tank and fuel pump assy to keep the car original. If you've never pulled the fuel tank from one of these cars, DONT. About the worst tank I've ever done, EVER. No joking. Plus I didn't want to scratch anything which added a little more aggravation to the project. The car had a grand total of 386 miles on it. Other than the fuel issue the car was MINT and untouched. I mean, it's still a '91 Camaro with a stump pulling 305 TBI but was kind of cool anyways. Like being in a time machine.

Nowdays, most gas starts going bad in about a month unless stabilizer is added. Even then, after a year it's not much good anymore. Mentioned my car after 6 years and I had put Stabil in it and the tank was full, minimizing air space. Guess additives can only do so much.

 

[moreada]

Thanks for all the replies. Well tomorrow will be the day of the big move. Got a driveway to put it in while I clean it out and fix what I can. Then if needed, it will be towed to a shop to get it on the road. I say this with hesitation, as I am unsure what other surprises will await me once I get it into the sun.

A question regarding parts:

Other than needing to replace the fluids and filters, I forsee needing a new tank and pump etc... would it be wise to buy an aftermarket unit that is slightly improved over stock when needing a replacement part? If so, are there any logical choices I should make? Say suspension parts like shocks?

Thanks again, I will take and post photos tomorrow.

 

[moreada]

Well she's home and ready to be washed... first i will be cleaning/defunkifying the interior to ensure I am not dealing with more than assumed. Lesson i learned most: car covers and mousedeterrent.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Still looking good.

 

[moreada]

Still looking good.

One thing i like about these bad boys is they tend to keep their looks. This one is exceptionally well taken care of... or was. I pulled the carpet and such from the trunk and pitched it. It had a lot of sh1t and p1ssor whatever they left on it. It was grody.

Under the carpet not a spec of rust. Phew. Its so nice, I think I will leave it carpetless until I can afford to replace it.

There is one screw along the inside of the trunk that keeps the rearmost strip of carpet fastened. Unfortunately the screw won't back out and just spins and because its by the tailight I can't feel the other side for a nut etc. Any tips on removal?

Tomorrow I will pull the seats out and the carpet. Gonna wash/shampoo the seats and inspect them to high hell then I will pull up the carpet, wash it and hang it on the line. May repeat. Hopefully most of the smell will be gone because there's little for stains. Padding will go as well. The trunk was the worst of it.

Should I replace the padding with something specific or any underlay should do? Dynamat looks a bit pricey and permanent (or a pain to remove).

Lastly, tomorrow I plan to pull the padding on the underside of the hood as its quite chewed and full of nuts. You can hear the rattle when you lift the hood haha. Does it need replacing? My concern is whether or not the heat will affect the paint on the top side of hood.

Thanks again. Having a riot and worrying less thanks to FMJ Bodies Only and all you folks. Talk at yous tomorrow.

 

[jasperjacko]

Try to get a small screwdriver or pry bar under the screw head and gently pry up while loosening, the threads should bite then.

 

[Aspen500]

If you decide to line the interior with Dyna-Mat, yeah it's pretty much permanent but chance of ever having to remove it are slim to none. I would recommend the Eastwood's version of Dyna-Mat. Almost as good and half the price.

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-thermocoustic-material.html

 

[moreada]

I've spent some time removing junk and the interior from the car. I am amazed that after the seats are out, there aren't that many screws holding the interior there. Also found some prize spare parts from the factory when I lifted the carpet.

It was probably overkill to pull it all but I wanted to be safe. The front seats are fine, just need a vacuum and shampoo. The rear seat bottom is perfect as well. The part they got into was the foam on one spot of the rear seat where they made a nice little nest. Was easy to clean out but now am left pondering how to deal with it. Will likely find some foam in a similar density and make a patch. Simple enough.

Need a Radiator and Brakes for sure. Tires too. I was expecting it. My friend has 16" tires he was gonna give me but then I'd need 16" rims. My preferred option is finding 5on5 or 10spoke cmx wheels and putting rubber on those. Reality is i Wil probably get tires for the steels and caps i have now, and when I find wheels swapping the tires over. In that case, what size tires should I look out for??

So today I am off to the store... need to pick up a few things. Some info is in other threads, but want to use this as my main thread. Perhaps a mod can move it to the appropriate sub forum.

My shopping List (feel free to make suggestions) today will be for:
- Meguiars APC
- Scrubbing brushes
- Shampoo
- New Mitt
- wax
- some type of polish for the chrome trim and to clean up my bumper.

I am curious... after a long sit with no cover, what should my washing approach be to keep from hurting the paint any more than it already is? I've rinsed it so far just cuz there was a lot of crap on it and was getting a hard time. Now i gotta clean it and am unsure how to proceed.

The carpet has been vacuumed and I pulled the padding from bottom because it would have absorbed most of the funk. The black covered padding was very good though. I hosed the carpet down to help get some junk out and will shampoo it as well today.

Here's a photo of the interior after a few hours of hard work yesterday:

 

[Cordoba1]

Your paint isn't likely to be damaged any more than it has been by being "unloved" for so long. Just use a Ph-neutral car soap (any brand of "car wash") and use the two-bucket method for washing: A bucket for your soap and water, and a rinse bucket. Get the car wet, apply soapy water with a wash-mitt, rinse the mitt in the rinse bucket, repeat. Apply a wax after your wash. I'm not a wax snob, any will do. For now, just start with good ole' Turtle wax, you'll be amazed. If you have time, using a polishing compound before the wax job will remove even more oxidation. Just be easy on the polishing compound -- it's easy to polish the paint clean away, especially on the corners. A little goes a long way (product & pressure!)

 

[Cordoba1]

Your car appears to be quite clean, both under the hood and inside. It should be pretty easy to bring her back to life. Since you've taken the trouble to pull the carpets, you might consider replacing with new. They're on ebay for about $100, and will really dress up the interior. Again, since you have the flooring pulled out, adding Dynamat would really quiet the car up -- but that does cost quite a bit of money. I get the sense you're on a bit of a budget: Shampoo the carpets before reinstalling -- much easier, and you can make sure they are dry before reinstalling. Keep us informed!

 

[moreada]

Thanks for the advice!

The carpets that came out are near spotless... I'm more a germophobe than anything. A shampoo should bring them back to glory. This car had seat covers for the first 20 or more years so its quite clean inside, just got a little messy.

I'm trying to get the auto glass place to fix two small chips but they're pushing for replacement. I hear it can be done DIY but if they mess something up its less likely to cost me $$$.

Budget is an understatement. That said, I've got time and desire to do things properly so I don't have to do it again in 8 weeks.

They don't sell Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner in retail locations here... I was going to use that to clean carpets and seats. Any suggestion on what alternative cleaners I could look for? The Meguiars was nice as its supposedly great and does any surface from carpet to seats to plastic.

I suppose shampooing the engine is a bit premature as I hear it needs to be run after?

 

[Cordoba1]

Maybe invest in some Simple Green. Diluted, you can use it to clean up both the hard and soft surfaces inside the car. It'll work great on the upholstery. A little goes a LONG way, so be very sure to dilute as directed. You can use the same product to do a "pre-clean" on your engine bay. If nothing else, if you're really going to be digging into that engine bay, wouldn't hurt to degrease it with full-strength Simple Green. It'll make working on it much more pleasurable. I wouldn't recommend full-on detailing the engine bay at this time. Worry about the big stuff for now, make pretty under the hood later. If you're were to pull the engine, however, that would be a great time to perhaps do a quick spray-paint of the engine bay. It's certainly easier sans-an-engine in there!

 

[moreada]

Thanks. I went to visit the guy at the detailing shop. He gave me some of his magic formula.

Worked great. Got out grease stains that had been there since grandpa drove it. I did a wash with pressure washer yesterday and will do it again today for good measure. The seats I am going to vacuum then use just the foamy bit on top of water to wash them. I'm just worried the clean won't go deep enough to remove odours.

Does anyone have a line on well priced brake parts? I'm gonna need calipers, pads, shoes and lines. Still rolling on stock somehow and figure brakes are a good investment someone told me the rotors aren't just rotors like on a Nissan and have some hub bearing (?) incorporated... this true?

 

[kkritsilas]

Depending on the odours, Febreeze may be able to eliminate them; and a repeated heavy application of Febreeze, with the windows rolled up after you finish applying for a day, followed by putting it in the sun with the windows rolled down the following day. Repeat as often as it takes to get rid of all of the stink. Obviously, remove all mouse droppings and dead mice first.

Febreeze is actually not just an odour cover up. It actually can destroy (as in break down) odors. I have used it to get the cigarette smell out of guitar cases and recently, a case for a Fluke multimeter. It can take multiple applications, but it does get the job done. The "suntanning" of the car is also useful, as the UV rays that damage the interior plastics also tend to destroy a lot of odour causing substances, adn the windows rolled down allow the odour causing substances that have broken down to exit the car.