Update #1

[LoyalKnight683]

So, first came the bath, since it had been stored in a dirt floor barn for 4 years. That led me to the first “opportunity”. The company I work for doesn’t like us using the term “problem”, I guess its caught on. Anyway, as with any 20yr old car, gaskets and seals dry out, crack, and disappear. I pop the hood and begin to wash the engine bay with simple green and the water hose. Finally, it’s looking good so I call it a day and decide to pull it back in the garage, but it doesn’t start. So after, reading endless forums about “crank but won’t start” opportunities, I narrow it down to the CAS. Call around, order one in, put it in and voila, she starts again. Play around with the timing a little and seems a little better than before. The car looked clean but I don’t think it was worth the $250 bill. Next time, I will be wrapping the CAS in a plastic bag.
Now that she’s clean, the second opportunity came when I decided it was time to change the oil, filters, plugs, and plug wires. That all went smoothly but when I tried to do the BLT, I could not build any pressure. I could hear the air gushing out but couldn’t quite get my hand to the place I thought it was coming from, so I had a buddy come by and feel around where my hand wouldn’t go. Found it… intake gasket bottom side of runner number 4. No big deal, just buy one and replace it. Hey, bonus! The idle surge is gone. It now holds about 5psi during the BLT, however there is still a lot of room for improvement.
I would love to go out romping on her but the suspension is shot! I mean wobbly like Jello, so all she gets is circles around the neighborhood. You guessed it, third opportunity. So I figure, time for struts/shocks and bushings. I will just go ahead and do all the bushings while I’ve got her apart. Also, seems like an ideal time to do belts, water pump, and tensioners (I don’t know if they’ve ever been done) and I’ll be putting the new motor mount bushings concurrently.