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I have a friend with an all original '55 T-Bird. His dad just died and he wants to get the car running. It hasn't ran in a couple of years and has had gas in it for as long. Do I need to clean the tank with something or can I just drain the old gas out of everything, put on a new fuel pump, rebuild the carb and be done with it? I have a huge list of things he wants me to do to this car so there will probably be more questions to come.
This car has been garage kept since '55, even still has nylon tires on it. This should keep me busy until I can get my motor so I can start on my luv.

You might get by with draining it all out, changing filters, and running something like seafoam deep creep or motor treatment through the fuel system. That sould loosen up any real gummy stuff and pass it on through. It wouldn't hurt the top end of the motor any either, and might prevent you from having to troubleshoot sticky valves.

exactly how many years has it been sitting? I recently bought a 65 el camino in a lein sale and it had been sitting for bout 6 years outdoors. I poured gas in and put a battery in, checked oil, fired it up and drove home. my friend just bought a 68 camaro that sat in the weeds for over 10 years and we did the same for that car. Its hit and miss. sometimes you can get away with it and sometimes not. it wouldnt hurt to drain it and the pan and at least check the carb though.

Yeah, sometimes they just fire right off and run. I can't count the number of old farm trucks my dad has bought that had been sitting in a field so long the tires were sunk inches into the dirt. Pour some gas in the tank, a bit in the carb, and they crank right off and drive home. I remember an old two man chainsaw he bought at an auction that had been sitting in a shed for about 25 years. Just for kicks I gave a yank on the starter rope and it fired up with the gas that had been in it all that time.

To be on the safe side, drain the fuel system and give it fresh gas, but I don't know that I would worry a lot until it has problems.

when i first got the luv i was short on money and i just got a junk datsun and it had a full tank of gas.
well, i was stupid and filled my tank up.
2 days later the luv wouldn't run. it took me a week to get it to run again.
the screen coming from the float was completely cloged up.

i'll never do that again. bad thing is that the truck was only sitting for about a year and a half.

now i just run 100 octane in my tank every couple weeks. very little

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1980 luv sport 4x4 Just a memory now
Frame rusted from the inside. Truck stripped and now looking for a new donor in southern ohio

The car has been sitting 3 or 4 years. I'm kindda glad I have been working so much lately or I would have already started on it. This working from daylight to dark is really getting old. I keep trying to focus on my motor (saving money for a motor) for my luv to stay motovated, but even that is wearing thin. I even went out and started the luv last weekend just so I could hear everything rattling like hell. Oh yea, thats why I'm working like this. I was hoping to start on this car for some money the wife wouldn't know about.

Finally got the go ahead to start working on the car. Also took my first real look at it. It has the weirdest carb? throttle body? Not sure yet what it is. Holley made it though. It is also a 6 volt electrial system. I have never even seen a 6 volt system before. Anything different other than 6 volts? Gonna try to get started working on it this weekend. Guess I'm about to learn some things

If I remember right from the '55 I helped with in high school it has an unusual carb on it, as for the 6 volt... CONVERT IT TO 12..... It will cost a lil bit of money, but it will save a big headache. A couple years back I took an extremely old Dodge 2 1/2 ton truck, took the tank out and cleaned it (there was mud in the tank from getting stuck in the river up to its roof) and cleaned the carb (the old ones with the air filter pans which you put a couple quarts of oil in to catch the dirt) and it fired right up. I was going to rebuild the entire truck and get it set up to be a custom truck for the school, but their mechanic decided to tweek with it when I wasn't there and he fried the voltage regulator, the starter, and the battery. This thing was so old, it was a 6 volt positive ground, foot button start, lever action choke, and the body mounts were made out of wood (I didnt even know they had body mounts on them that far back) OH yeah it hadda cool hood ornament that one of the army guys had painted a face on (very faded)

I would change the gas , i just went to a class that had some engine failure analysis. they had a small engine that was run on bad gas about 3yrs old.the end result was not pretty it took 15 minutes for it to seize up. the piston was scored so bad it had to be beaten out of the cylinder. there was about an1/8 inch build up of varnish on the piston and packed into the ring lands. and it stunk like all hell pulling that thing apart all that burnt varnish it took a week to get the smell off my hands and out of my clothes.

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don`t have the luv no more but I still like em.72 el camino,
00 & 06 silverado one 4x4, turboed vw sandrail,99 banshee, 06 raptor 700, 02 polaris trailblazer.

While I was looking at things I saw some liquid looking substance in the fuel filter. I took it apart and got some of the gas on me and was stuck with the smell just on my hands until last night. I'm just gonna get some good gas flowing, change all the fluids, tune it up(convert those damn points) and see if it will run.

You don't like the smell of gas varnish???? Me neither, try tearing apart a VW H-4 and having enough buildup on the pistons that you think they are ridged pistons (can we say complete rebuild).

I love the smell of varnished gas. Its a prereq to working on an old ride. that sweet sweet smell......alot better than the smell of regular gas!!!

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I TOOK UR MOM DRAGGIN LAST NIGHT
Bagged 84 Pup
Bagged 53 F100
stock 72 Citroen DS19

Even old and turned to varnish some of that good old high power leaded gas just smells better somehow, mmmm lead...

I got this thing running a couple of weeks ago . Needs a motor but it ran.

kepp the ol varnish gas around to wash parts an clean up tools, and also kills weeds (LOL)

If I were you, I wouldn't convert anything. Collectors will give you more money if they are completely stock. $40,000 range and higher.

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I want to be different like everybody else.

That was his dads dream car. If you sell it to someone else his dad's age who has the money to buy it and keep it up, and keep it stock it will remain what it is, a classic. I lost my dad, my best friend, and miss him dearly, but his dreams were different than mine.

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I want to be different like everybody else.

Nothing was converted. If it worked, I didn't fix it . We had been watching the newspapers and found a '57 for $30k. He had been thinking about selling it when we finished, but now that the motor is getting built, he is going to keep it for a few more years.

Beautiful! 1955 was the first year the Thunderbird was built, and could make them more sought after. Hemming's Motor News is a publication that deals with old cars. There are a few places on the net where you can find true value. I love old cars, but I just sold my 55 Chevy yesterday. I can now concentrate on putting a LS1 six speed in my Chevy Luv.

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I want to be different like everybody else.

He was hoping the car would be ready before the 2005's came out. Now that it needs a motor I don't know if it is going to make it. Would have been nice to have it ready for the 50 year anniversary. It won't be long after though.