My new purchase...1981 Kammback

[shanebo]

What an awesome car!! at such a good price you cant go wrong!

[Prafeston]

Awesome Kammy! Love to see more of these around. Never seen one in real life. Looks like you got a great car at a great price!

[rohnk]

Wow, this is great! The car should clean up really nice for you. Post for parts you need as a lot of them are interchangeable with SX/4's.

[beej8508]

Update on the Kammback.

It's still over on the coast.  The mechanic replaced the distributor and said it ran great.  The next day he took it out for another spin and it started to stall.  He did a compression check and found that on three of the cylinders it has sixty pounds of pressure.  There  is no evidence of a bad head gasket etc.  He says it will need a valve job.  I am no mechanic, does this seem right?  

  

[A-A EAGLE]

Your mechanic can be right. But I this car has not run for years and was waiting outside in dense conditions I would try to keep it running for a longer time and try to make some short trips with it before doing pretty big operations to the engine. Give it some time to run with clean and fresh oil. When this does not work I would consider going further with the engine.

Anjo
Holland

[68AMXGOPAC]

I would also think in the same terms as Anjo , the lines are probably full or have crud in them, and will wreak havoc on the carb and fuel distribution till it is either drained, or new gas ran through enough that it is clean.Would add an inline cheapo fuel filter, one of those clear plastic ones, so you can see.

[Prafeston]

Wouldn't hurt to run some Heet in the gas too probably.

Maybe even some Marvel's Mystery Oil. http://www.marvelmysteryoil.com/

It can be run in the gas and the oil to help clean stuff up.

[Billman]

That looks exactly like one I used to have.

[doc65]

All the comments above are good, also run GOOD gas thru it, with GOOD cleaner(opinions vary widely, but but most agree Techron is a good cleaner, either in Chevron gas, or as a bottle of add-in from the local parts store or Wally-World), and run it for a while, at temperature.  steel valves can and to rust.  you may get them to clean up with running it some more.  This is NOT  a replacement for a GOOD valve job, but might give you a stay of execution for a while.  rust in the cylinders is another possibility after setting for a while as is rust on the cylinder walls, both of which could clear up with a bit of running as the ring tension re-seats the rings into the cylinder walls.

[HappyPappy]

  Here is what I did when I got my Iron Duke, after setting for ten tears in a barn.  The first time you try to start it, most likely one or two of the push rods will bend. That will make it miss for sure. There a real bear to get out once they bend, like trying to stuff tens pounds of poop in a five pound bag. LOL.  I had to remove the valve cover and used brake clean on the valve stems, a brass punch, and a hammer to get the stuck valves loose, once they were loose, I put a can, (the whole can) of Sea Foam in and left it in for about three to four hours, at a high idle and some short trips around the block. Changed the oil and put a smaller amount of Sea Foam in it. Ran like a new car then.

  Those push rods are hard to come by, my local NAPA had them in stock, surprised me, they can get them though.
Good luck, NICE car!!

[Prafeston]

Any updates on the Kammy?

[beej8508]

The Kammback is sitting in my driveway as I type this!!  It was covered in mold/moss from sitting under a tree for so many years (20 to be exact), so I ran it through a car wash before I hit the highway....Man, there was green slime everywhere!  The drive home was uneventful...the further I drove the car the better it ran.  I  drove it over Stevens Pass and spent most of the time in third gear and going 45 mph as it has the 4 cyl Iron Duke powering it ..... Praying, "dear Lord don't break down now!"
I was hoping to find lots of snow up there as there is a ski resort just off the highway.  Spring has sprung up there...about 10 feet of snow along the sides of the roads...and not a flake on the highway    
Since then I have buffed out the paint and cleaned up the interior.  I used "Tuff Stuff" to clean the interior.  The seats, door panels, carpet were covered in grease.  This stuff works, just spray it on wait a couple seconds and wipe off!
I had a lot of people rubber necking me when they sped past me on the freeway...I'm not sure whether they were looking at the car or angry because I was slowing them down...60 mph is about all she wants to go.
All in all I am very pleased with my purchase...it runs good...the interior is not torn up...and the paint is nice enough so that I won't have to paint it.

p.s. the reason it was stallling and had such low compression was because it needed a valve job.  Most of the springs were so compressed that they didn't any "spring" left.

[Prafeston]

Such an awesome find man. It's totally giving me Kammy fever! 

Can't wait to see more pics and glad to hear it made the trip home! Does the passenger door have a bit of a dent in it? Can it be popped out?

[beej8508]

Yeah, there is a dent in the door.  I am hoping that it will pop out.  If not,  I plan to just leave it alone...if I fix the door...then I will have to paint it.  Then, it won't match the paint on the rest of the car.

For you guys that haven't seen a Kammback in person...they are flat out beautiful in my eyes!  I love the proportions...the slanted back end...the large rear window...and there is not a blind spot anywhere on the car.  If you ever have the chance...grab it you'll be glad you did!!!!

[vangremlin]

For you guys that haven't seen a Kammback in person...they are flat out beautiful in my eyes!  I love the proportions...the slanted back end...the large rear window...and there is not a blind spot anywhere on the car.  If you ever have the chance...grab it you'll be glad you did!!!!

I couldn't agree more.  This really has to be one of the best cars I've ever owned.  Its nimble and the 4WD can handle just about any snow we get around here except the mega-blizzards.  Have fun with it!