[alpentolic]

Just picked up this '76 Chinook, it's been garaged for close to 20 years and the PO is in his 80's now and has forgotten most of what he had done to it prior.

Starts right up. The only immediate problem is no action on the clutch pedal at all. I'd guess from sitting so long the slave cylinder or even master could be frozen. I would say the fluid is gone but the master cylinder still has fluid in it, although it is REAL dark.

I ordered a new master and slave cylinder, hoping that will at least get it drivable and do a new clutch later. Going to flush radiator, change oil, replace gear oil, rebuild carb, flush gas tank.

Anything else I should be looking at in the short term?

 

[OmniGLHS]

Looks like it's is awesome condition! I'm jealous.

So.... I'd be looking at the brake cylinders at all four wheels and changing out the brake fluid at the same time.

You also might want to consider changing out the radiator and heater hoses, plus flushing the system.

I'd also change the belts.

 

[no_common_sense]

Along with what you already have planned and what OmniGLHS recommended, I'd encourage you to just do all your fluid maintenance. Gearbox, differential, power steering fluid, etc... I'd also take off the distributor cap and give a good visual inspection to the interior bits. Pull your spark plugs and give them a look with the precision eyeballs. I'm never afraid to keep using any of those components if they look ok. Otherwise replace the bad bits if/as needed. I'm the type to always be suspicious of old plug wires though. When it's running, you may want to shoot them with soapy water and look for a voltage leak off the wires or just load & fire the parts cannon on this one and feel no shame. I'd give the brake system a complete inspection/overhaul and immediately replace the 20 year old tires. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'd probably do a thorough inspection on all your wiring throughout the vehicle. Corrosion and rodent damage would be immediate concerns for me; even if it was garage kept for the last two decades. The air filter should probably take an immediate walk in favor of a new one as well. As I recall it, Toyotas used to like what they called a pancake air filter and they were fussy little princesses. I once bought a Tercel for $30 because of a plugged air filter.

Once you got it how you want it, do some local driving for a few days and let it show you what else it needs. Better to be close to home if it starts trying to tell you it wants to sleep another 20 years. One thing I might do in your case, is to make sure you can find a lot of your parts first. Make sure you can find all your brake bits, tune up parts, power steering pump & hoses, front steering and suspension parts. My immediate worry is you're going to have that break down a thousand miles from home at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon and the nearest shop is just about to close and doesn't open again until Monday. THEN the shit storm happens when it's impossible to find what used to be an odd part even in 1976 or it's a week out to order the part and you find it's the wrong part when it finally gets there. If you're going to put real miles on it, it's worth planning ahead on these contingencies. I'd rather you drove a thousand miles to see the world instead of a ridiculous shop bill.

 

[OmniGLHS]

Spraying the wires with soapy water and looking for voltage leaks is a great idea. Seems no_common_sense has more sense than he’s letting on, lol.
He’s also spot on about parts and keeping your initial drives local. Long ago, I picked up somebody’s Granny’s Dodge Omni that hadn’t been driven in years and it took me close to six months to eliminate various glitches that happen to cars left sitting.