Long sitting '71 1800- Now runs, trying to troubleshoot...

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:58 pm

I'm still not sure if I should be excited or kill myself now while it's still affordable, but I bought a '71 1800 wagon tonight. It's been sitting at least 15 years. Automatic (eeww). Amazingly non-rusty and the interior looks pretty good too.

Soooo... what should I be looking at to get this thing back to life? Anything special about these I should know, or is it pretty straightforward stuff? I'm going to bet it needs hydraulic stuff in the brake system (supposedly it was parked because it was an extra car and it was having brake woes)? What are the chances that the automatic trans will still work, or am I better off expecting it to be useless? Anything important that's known to go bad?

Please help me regret my split-second purchase a little less! :oops:

akaloosey · **Posted:** Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:40 pm

Congrats on the find. Is that the one the guy had described as a 71 808 Sation Wagon??? I think you might be surprised with the drivetrain. Have you even heard it start and run yet? I've had a few that had sat for years like yours and ran fine once all the kinks were worked out. A 71 is running the sidedraft Hitachi SU carb, right? Easy as pie to clean out compared to all the little bits in disassembling the 2bbl. I'd just change the oil and coolant and leave the trans fluid alone for right now unless problems are obvious when driving. Of course any car that sat for 15 years will need brake work. Things to look out for are the fuel pump and brake booster. These are the common problems I have found among this range. As for regrets, it sounds like you invested little in the car so what have you got to lose. The USD is just funny paper anyways. Have fun.

B1600 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 06, 2011 2:34 am

you'll be right. It's a Mazda.
Clean the fuel tank. Clean the carby. Change to oil. Make sure its got spark. Try and start it.
Then go through and replace all the old hoses once she runs Fuel first.. The radiator will more than likely need to be replaced or recored..
You will need to do all the fluids where possible but you should not have any drama's.
Everyone needs a project.
Once it goes you can work on the tidy up.

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Sat Aug 06, 2011 12:14 pm

Yeah, same car. My real issue is I'm still bent on another 1st gen Celica, and I have 8 other cars. And only one of those runs. :oops:

It's all funny paper til you don't have enough of it! :lol:

I do appreciate the tips! Fingers crossed it doesn't need much work. No, it doesn't run, didn't have a battery in it, no one tried. In my stupidity, I didn't even try to turn the motor over by hand (I didn't think I was going to buy it until my mouth outpaced my brain). Sounds like it was driven in the garage with vague "brake issues" and no one ever touched it again. But the owner is MIA, either dead or in a vegetative state from the sounds of it, the house is for sale, and the car had to go one way or another.

Fuel pump is attached to the block I presume? Are they hard to source replacements for, or are mechanical bits reasonably easy to come by?

I do have a friend with a B1800 truck that runs/drives he wants gone as well, with a 4-speed, if any of that will be of use.

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Sat Aug 06, 2011 1:35 pm

Also, it needs a windshield. Not sure where the hell I'm gonna get one for this, or will glass shops still make windshields for anything?

akaloosey · **Posted:** Sat Aug 06, 2011 2:02 pm

The fuel pump is an electric/diaphragm type not mechanical. It would be in the back behind the gas tank. Should be an access cover somewhere in the rear floor. Yeah, it would be very unlikely to find an exact fit if/when it needs swapped out. You would need a universal pump that carries the same psi / pressure and make up a bracket of sorts to securely attach it. Too bad about the glass.

UtahSleeper · **Posted:** Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:24 am

Sounds like there is enough listed here to get the old girl running, so good luck.

car-part.com lists 4 windshields for an 1800, just an FYI.

Sven7 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:33 am

Any updates on this dude? Please tell me you're keeping it.

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:29 pm

Got it today. Rust on the bottoms of fenders is on verge of going through in a few spots, not that bad. Aired up the tires and it rolled fine, brakes seem to work fine still too from rolling it around and slamming on them. There's a dent that was bondo'd over poorly some time ago on the rear valence, can feel backside and feel no rust, just the damage of the dent and some moron with a hammer years ago.

Right now, my priority is to install this 350 into my Impala and make it leave my life for good, so the Mazda will probably sit for a bit unless I find a free day to go where it's hidden and tinker.

Also, some jaggoff saw us loading it onto the trailer, stopped his car, and wandered over to talk to the guy I bought it from because it intrigued him and he wanted to see what else was in the garage (I've been a collector of all sorts of shit my whole life, and I've grown up around antiques/collectables/junk people, and there wasn't shit of value in that garage anymore outside of the Mazda). He started flapping gums about license plates and made the seller remove the plate from the car since it wasn't "transferable" and "You're supposed to give those back to the secretary of state when you're done with them!" (Top Tip- No, you're not, and butting in where you don't belong isn't cool). So other than that, it went fairly smoothly.

Sven7 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:11 pm

Looks good dude. Not a Familia as I was assuming. Actually a Luce ftw. Wanna go over one day and I can clean the thing up? :mrgreen:

Camshaft · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:00 pm

Nice find! Sell it to me when you find your dream Celica.

Seriously, though, once it's drivable you should cruise on down to the CLE and hang out.

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 10:13 pm

Camshaft wrote:

Nice find! Sell it to me when you find your dream Celica.

Seriously, though, once it's drivable you should cruise on down to the CLE and hang out.

UGH, I forgot you're in Cleveland! I was just there for the whole past week! :oops:

Dave77 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:18 pm

Nice find. Looks pretty good in the photo. I'd say it has potential.

Camshaft · **Posted:** Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:15 am

Stationwagonguy wrote:

Camshaft wrote:

Nice find! Sell it to me when you find your dream Celica.

Seriously, though, once it's drivable you should cruise on down to the CLE and hang out.

UGH, I forgot you're in Cleveland! I was just there for the whole past week! :oops:

FFFFFFF

I hope you didn't pay for lodging, you've always got a place here, man.

zionfarm · **Posted:** Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:36 pm

Sup man is there any updates on the wagon?

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2011 11:16 am

Nothing has happened yet, nope. Been busy with a lot of other ish, the 1800 will likely be on the back burner for a few more weeks. :oops:

zionfarm · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:51 am

Lets get some engine pics along with some interior pic's when you get some free time.

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:39 pm

Tyler got some pictures yesterday, he might have them up soon. I took some as well, but they're buried 5,000 pictures in on my camera and I haven't had a chance to go through everything and upload again yet. Will work on it though.

Mild update- tried to start it last night, but showed up in the darkness, grabbed the wrong battery (already dead), and discovered the battery cable ends are pretty chewed up. Did get it to crank very slowly (battery dead) after jumping it with a friend's truck... which ended up killing his alternator (oops!). Did manage to turn the radio on, the backlight popped right on and it sounded really good and clear (AM only). So that was kind of neat. Did not hear the fuel pump go on at all though, but it barely had any power either, so who knows.

zionfarm · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:59 pm

Sounds good man hope everything goes allright with the car. You should check it this froum.
http://www.ausrotary.com/index.php.
The guys over in Aussie land are more familiar with your car and can give more in depth help with it.

Camshaft · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:56 pm

zionfarm wrote:

Sounds good man hope everything goes allright with the car. You should check it this froum.
http://www.ausrotary.com/index.php.
The guys over in Aussie land are more familiar with your car and can give more in depth help with it.

They're going to tell him to cut it up and put a rotary in it. :lol:

Also candy paint and 18" Simmons wheels.

Long sitting '71 1800- Now runs, trying to troubleshoot...

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