I found the vacuum advance on the tranny had come off so I reattached it with a clamp.  The problem was that, like the dipstick, it had not been bolted to the bell housing.  The bolt was there, it just hadn't been attached.  I had to take the dipstick off to get it in place and then reattach everything.  I degreased the engine and where the oil had sprayed.  Except for the main seal and possibly the steering box I think I have all the leaks plugged.

Replaced transmission filter and gasket because it was still leaking.  Very clean.  I was told it was a newly rebuilt tranny with not too many miles.  There were no shavings.  Clean filter too.  About the only thing was a couple of bugs that had crawled over the last decade while the tube was out.

 

 

Well, the new gasket didn't stop the leak.  In fact, it was a lot worse.  I looked around while tranny fluid was going every where and found that when they were replacing either the tranny or engine, they had crushed a tranny coolant line near the motor mount and had replaced it with rubber hose.  That hose had moved over and touched the exhaust manifold and got a hole melted in it.  It really sprayed when I found the hole.  I replaced the hosed and stopped the leak.

 

 

I flushed the power steering lines before connecting them.  I think there's a  leak in the steering box but it may be fluid still running off.  I know there's a leak in the rear main seal.  It will have to wait until we pull the engine.

Replaced power steering pump and put some more tranny fluid in.  She's still leaking.  I wanted to change the filter anyway.  Looks like now's the time.

Fired it up unloaded the car from the trailer and warmed the car up.  The power steering pump leaks like a sieve.  I had topped off the tranny but after it warmed up it still needed another quart.

Hooked up some jumper cables because I'm too cheap to buy a battery right now if we need to take the engine out and rebuild it later.  I decided to take the plugs out and turn the engine over a few times with the cylinders open to get oil pumped up through the system before it fires up under pressure.  I replaced them with new plugs.  Gassed up the car with 3 oz. of Mystery oil in the gas.  Primed the carb and started the car.  There was one valve lifter that clicked for a while and quit.  The engine sounds really good.

Replaced fuel lines and fuel filter.  Drained fuel tank.  There was about a gallon.  I washed it out with another couple gallons of gas with Mystery oil.  Took out the plugs, turned the engine over by hand a few more times and put the plugs in solid.

Changed the oil and scoped the cylinders.  They looked really good for an engine that's almost as old as me.  I checked the engine block numbers and verified '68 GTO 400 cid.  The block numbers are 9786133 which corresponds to an engine built in 1967, but more than likely it was put into a car the next year.  1968 was the year of GTO I was told that it came out of.  I removed the hood to make things a little easier.  Replaced the bolt missing from the bell housing.  Here's a picture of the radiator overflow.  Ya, that's a Downy fabric softener bottle.

Blew the dust and cobwebs out of the engine compartment.  We found that when they had installed the new engine or transmission, they had left a bolt out of the bell housing (or it had come out) where the tranny dipstick tube bolts on for support.  We assumed since the dipstick tube was out of the tranny, that's where the tranny fluid was coming from that caused the car to be parked.  So, Jason and I put it back in.

I pulled the plugs and squirted Marvel Mystery Oil into the cylinders then, with the plugs out, turned the engine over by hand.  Nothing seemed frozen so we let it set.

So, Jason and I hooked a chain on the old girl and pulled her out of the ragweed.  Billie the owner, with her Harley tattoo peeking out of her tank top, kept flirting with Jason while she smoked her Marlboros.  She called me "Dad" and him Jase.  I said he was my personal mechanic.  She looked at him and said, "I need me a mechanic."  She was probably older than me, not to mention, she had a lot of city miles, hard city miles.  We winched her (the car not the owner) up on the trailer, chained her down (the owner not the...ya ok the car) to the trailer and headed for home with our treasure.

Broomba (Parker's name for the car) was sitting behind a barn in Lindon, UT.  She had been there for the last 10 or so years.  The prior owner used to drive it from Lindon up to the State Prison each week-end to see her husband.  The engine "threw it's guts all over the interstate" on one of the trips.  Her Dad had a GTO 400 V8 that he put in it for her.  Her husband got out of the clink and shortly after passed away.  About that time the transmission went out.  She had a newly rebuilt one put in and it started leaking fluid really bad so, she parked it behind the barn.  She was going to Florida and didn't need it fixed.  When she came back it was to care for her elderly parents so she drove their vehicles and the LeMans just sat there ever since.