1964 - New purchase got any ideas?

[Traumatizedpear]

Howdy! I just picked up a 1964 T-bird and here's the good and bad

Interior looks amazing, floor seems to be solid, car overall other then the trunk seems to be pretty solid.

Runs and drives fantastic


The bad
Interior vacuum stuff doesn't work (disconnected & ancient)
Theorized vapor-lock (won't idle if it's turned off for a short amount of time, has to drive a while before it'll be able to idle again
Radio doesn't work ( would like to replace with a Bluetooth one that looks the part where the original is)
Trunk pan rusted decently
A/c was removed - how hard is this going to be to put back in or should I upgrade it?

The throttle also keeps falling off this bearing looking thing.

And the gauges aren't accurate or aren't working. Speedo died on my way back from the purchase, oil doesn't move, voltage actually looks right and fuel doesn't go over half


Any help, suggestions or upgrade ideas very much appreciated this will likely be a resto-mod daily driver able vehicle so I'm not opposed to modernizing things.

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[64ZCODE]

With a list like that, I'd start with getting it idling and running right. Eliminate vacuum leaks and if it still won't idle, rebuild or replace the carb. And fix that "bearing looking thing", send a pic and maybe we can help. The other priority ought to be making sure the brakes (drum brakes on a '64, emergency brake, booster, master cylinder, brake lines and wheel cylinders) are in good condition and adjusted before you drive it much.

 

[red65]

these Birds notorious for gas boiling in carburetor. do a search here, and You Tube. What I did was replace stock air cleaner housing and filter with aftermarket 14" open element housing with 2" tall K & N style air filter. Installed aftermarket 90 degree elbow under base of new housing to run breather tube from valve cover. Also, installed split round heat resistant shielding on fuel line from carburetor to fuel pump. No carburetor problem since then. But, no idea what other carburetor problem you mention without a couple of pictures of your carburetor with air filter hosing off posted here.

 

[Scary Gary]

Nice looking, it looks lowered.
There's a lot of vacuum-controlled stuff. Look online for a vacuum diagram and decide what to fix or cap off; it's no big deal.
Mine vaporlocked a lot, very frustrating. Make sure your fan shroud completely surrounds the fan blades. A good steam cleaning of the radiator and engine can't hurt. I ended up installing an aluminum radiator with twin electric fans and Sniper fuel injection to fix my problems.
I'm installing a Bluetooth-operated amp in the trunk (lots of room back there) with Undercover speakers under the front seats. That should do the trick, without messing with the original garbage.
They sell aftermarket floor pans. I have a little rust where the heater core leaked onto the front passenger floorboard. I'm buying a $130 floor plan replacement and just cutting out the small sections of the new floor pan to patch the floor. I'm using a two-part epoxy panel bond (they use it to adhere door skins to the doors on late-model cars) to attach the patches to the top of the floor pan, then undercoating the underside.
With a parts car, it shouldn't be too hard to get the AC back working. Your car would have had R-12 freon, but you will just be using R-34 instead. Don't listen to all the hype about them not being compatible without changing seals and such. I've, and a thousand other people have done it this way. Hopefully, they didn't remove the condenser or evaporator, which would make the job considerably bigger. I used an aftermarket serpentine drive belt system with a new AC compressor and power steering pump, but retained the stock condenser and evaporator.
I would use a magnetically mounted cell phone holder to monitor my GPS speeds and stream music to the trunk.
A trio gauge pack wouldn't look that out of place (on your car), mounted to the bottom of the dash. Water temp (most useful), oil pressure, and voltage. You don't have a voltage gauge now; you have an amp gauge. A voltage gauge is more useful in my book.
Good luck with your project. Just know you can probably buy a completely sorted-out car for less than what you'll be spending. I probably have three times as much invested in my car as I'll ever get back out, but then again, I don't plan on ever selling it. Gary

 

[oldad]

I got tired of fighting the carburetor probles so I put fuel injection on it. Cost is double or more of new carb but well worth it. Also, if you want to get everything working you probably should remove the dash and replace all of the vacuum lines and clean up the wiring connections, anything rubber is probably deteriorated as the car is 60+ years old. A lot of work but it the best way to deal with it - once and done.

 

[64ZCODE]

Some of the 1964 cars didn't have vacuum actuated climate controls and door locks. The only things that use vacuum inside my car are the e brake release and the flow through ventillation servo under the back lid.