Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1965 Corvair, air intakes, wd 40

Question
MY friend has been working at restoring this 86 years old and has done a great job replacing almost every part  for five years.  He is 86 yrs old and when we start the car it runs for a few minutes and the stops.  He is looking for a buyer but would like to get it running well before that.  Do you have any suggestions?

Answer
There are probalby hundreds of different things that could cause this.  The first thing to do is to figure out if it is stopping because of lack of fuel, ignition, or exhaust restriction.  

Try restarting it by spraying some starting fluid or WD-40 in the air intakes while you crank it.  If that starts it, you know the problem is lack of fuel.   Then you need to look at the fuel pump performance and for restrictions in the line from the fuel tank - possibly even the wrong gas cap can cause this.

Do some more fact gathering and ask again - I'll see if I can help.

Dick