Question: 1969 Coupe 300HP

[Mongo1]

My wife and I aquired a 69 Coupe from her brother who passed away. Among the issues with this car is the problem with the headlights/wipers. We replaced all the hoses this weekend and still cannot get the headlight doors to open. I think we will have to replace some of the other components as well but are unsure where to go from here. Our other problem is the fact that the car seems to idle to high (1100 RPM in park) and down to about 750-850 in drive. This car we think has a different cam other than the stock one. Our question is this. Are the RPM's too high? Also, this morning we started the car and about three minutes into warming up, the RPM's dropped by about 200, then went back up. This all happened in about 2 seconds. This happened 3 times while in park. I am by no means a mechanic so I am searching for a few answers.

Thanks for the help!

 

[TimAT]

First, Welcome to CAC!

On a cold start, 1100 RPM is not too high until it's warmed up. The dropping 200 and going back up would lead me to a choke problem. Vacuum pull off would be #1 to check. Idle should be 650-700 in Drive.

As far as headlights, There are a couple of good vacuum diagrams around, do a search and I'm sure one will turn up- look for anything headlight related. After that, check the override switch under the dash. If it's not fully off or on it could cause your problem.

Get yourself a copy of the AIM- Assembly Instruction Manual and a copy of the FSM- Factory Service Manual. Between those 2 books, and the added information available on the forum, there is nothing that can't be fixed.

And Congrats on the 69, although it's a shame that's how you got it, sorry for your loss.

 

[Mongo1]

Thanks for the help!

Thanks for the words as well. I will post some pics in a few days. It will be fun to work on this car, interior, etc. By the way, we took it to Brown Chevrolet here in Del Rio Texas and were not happy. They had it a total of about 3 months and we ended up getting a refund for the "transmission leak" problem. It still leaks! Car runs pretty good but needs some TLC and patience. I have ordered all the manuals so we should be good to go.

 

[TimAT]

You've gotten the two prime words in C3 Maintenance- "TLC and Patience". If you don't have either (and BOTH) of those, it's going to be a very long day.

I'm assuming your 69 is an auto trans car? Get a stack of newspaper and spread them out on the floor where you park it. Figure out the left/right/front/back of the trans over the paper- make it easier to identify what exactly is leaking. And what it needs to get it stopped. 90% of the time, it's something easy to fix. The other 10% the trans needs to come out for a front seal. And pulling the trans is not as difficult as it sounds.

 

[73shark]

Here's one resource for vacuum troubleshooting: Vacuum Troubleshooting