Second day working on The Beast. My dad is a genius and stuck the exhaust line from a shop vac into the gas filler opening to pressurize the tank. This sent fuel from the tank out through the gas line at the carburetor, where I had disconnected the line from the fuel filter and carb. Using this method, we were able to drain about 3 gallons of fuel from the tank. A small spill made a puddle and I attempted to burn it off with a lighter, but it wouldn't ignite. All of the volatile portions of the fuel had evaporated.
I removed the starter motor, which was silly easy with only 2 bolts holding the unit on. Some of the contacts inside of the starter solenoid looked slightly corroded, so I took a wire wheel to them. Once the starter was back in, I tried turning the motor over. For some reason the gear from the starter only engages the engine about every 10th try.
With fresh gas in the tank and the fuel lines primed, I cranked the engine and The Beast fired right up, however she won't hold an idle consistently. I accidentally broke off 3 brittle vacuum lines, so maybe that's why the idle isn't great.
It turns out there was some water in the radiator, I had just assumed there was none since the cap has been off for 20 years. I'll still need to replace the radiator or figure out how to fix the flange.
The barn find in the previous photo is the farmer's daughter, and I married her a couple months ago.
Buick Riviera Starting - YouTube