Carburetor Progress

I decided to rebuild the carburetor. Something I've never done or even thought of doing before, but have a feeling it might be the answer to all of my issues with Diane starting. Here's a couple of before pictures. I'm hoping that my suspicions are correct.

So I have completely dismantled the carburetor and begun to clean it all up. What a pain! Luckily it's a fairly simple thus far. There is a ton of carbon build up inside. Most of it is cleaning up fairly well though. I'm hoping to have it rebuilt and reinstalled either tomorrow or on Monday so I can try to fire her, Diane, up.

Well I got the carb. rebuilt today. Not too many hiccups. Replaced most everything inside and resealed all of the new gaskets and put anti seize on the bolts. I get it reattached tomorrow and try to start Diane again. Unfortunately it started to rain tonight and got chilly outside too fast for me to get it done tonight.

Some progress

It's been a few weeks since I've posted again. Between the hot weather and just being busy I haven't worked on Diane too much lately. But since I have had her for just over 6 months now I thought I should do a progress report. In the last 6 months I really have done a lot, even though she doesn't look like I have. First I guess I was able to remove the wheels without breaking or slicing off any of the nuts, and have put her up on blocks in the garage. I have replaced basically everything electrical in the engine bay, from the battery, cables, plugs, points, starter, and coil. I have gotten most of the major dents out of her, and have removed most of the trim, except for the couple of stubborn pieces. I've emptied the gas tank twice trying to remove any built up debris. Both side windows have also been removed, along with the steering wheel to help me gain access to the underside of the dash.

I know there are still a couple of things I'm missing from the list but, so far that really looks like I've done a fair amount. I realize that I have a much, much longer road ahead but at least I have a decent start. Thankfully I have a wife that is very accepting of how long it's going to take to rebuild Diane.

My current projects are working on rebuilding the carburetor, and removing the remaining trim ( the front grill, front window trim, and passenger side door handle). Then I'm not sure of exactly what I'll do next. If rebuilding the carb gets it so I can start Diane, then I'll probably purchase a newly converted generator, and then maybe start on converting the breaks so I can drive her onto a trailer to take her to get washed. If rebuilding the carb doesn't work then I'm thinking I might need to break down and by a new one and go from there. Although I'm sure it's fairly obvious I have a lot of work ahead of me. I'm going to try to get back into writing everything as it's happening unlike I've done here for the past couple of months.