Hi everyone, I am new to this forum, and pretty new to Cadillacs in general. I have always had a love for huge convertibles, since I was a kid and my next door neighbor had two old Devilles that kinda rotted away in his back yard. About a year and a half ago, I bought a 76 eldorado that kinda ran... It was cheap, and had a decent looking body and frame, especially for New England. It has been, and continues to be one heck of a project. I call this a rebuild, because I have not tried to keep it all original, and it was never meant to be a true show car. I just wanted a slick driver that fits my 4 kids. Here is a pic from last January when it was dropped off
Thanks
Brian L.
I took a pic for a friend to show it fit in the garage (with about 12†to spare). It’s a tight squeeze but it gives me a space to work in the winter.
Big old 500 in this guy, and it had the factory EFI in it. It ran, but really rough, and once in the garage, there was a strong fuel smell. The garage is attached to the house, so my wife promptly kicked the car out until I figured out the fuel leak.
Couple of other immediate items were that the rear passengers window does not go up or down. And the top is good at about 20 feet, but the back window was a botch job. It is clear that the top will need to be replaced
Carpet is ratty as well. All fixable.
-Brian L
Kids will love it. Went to the drive-in movies last Sunday night with the grandkids in a '74.
Your wife is right about that fuel leak, you need to get that fixed. I know carbs (glad I have one), but there are some experts here on the fuel injection system. I think the main issue with early fuel injection is finding repair parts.
Good luck!
Thanks hornetball. I actually had the car done and back on the road. Long process so was starting at the beginning :)
I say had, because I blew a bearing on the engine and am now rebuilding it. I will get to that soon.
-Brian
So as I got into the car I started pulling out the interior. I wish I had taken more pictures of the car in the beginning, but can’t go back in time.... interior was pretty rough, carpet worn through, and leather cracked and ripped in a few spots.
Once I got through the carpet, floors were Swiss cheese, and clearly needed to b replaced as well.
Bought a welder and learned how to weld. Also learned that welding rusty sheet metal stinks.... it takes a long time to say the least . Whole process took about 2 months to get back to a solid floor. Used a rust encapsulator primer, and a black chassis paint
Here are a few pics of the car as I was disassembling the interior, and redoing the metal
Also the gas leak was the tank. I sent it out to be re-coated, as you can’t get a reproduction of the EFI tanks from this year. Cleaned, primed and painted the body and frame under the tank, and my son made some new tank straps. Also replaced all the fuel, return, and brake lines on the car, as they were all rusted in a few spots, and I like stopping
Last one for tonight, installed sound deadener (noico rubberized sound deadeneder from amazon) and then dry fit the new carpet. My wife recommended that we have the seats professionally reupholstered, so they were at an old school upholstery shop near me in RI.
This was about a year ago today. Lots more to come!
-Brian
The top... with the help of my kids, we replaced the top. Taking it off, the rest tack bow was completely rotted out at both ends, so that needed to be replaced. Fortunately, parts are readily available for scissor tops. Also, the mechanism itself works well, so the tack bow was the only physical repair that was needed on the frame.
My oldest son was really into this, and helped a lot with the re-assembly. The fisher body manual is a must here, as it gives step by step instructions for the replacement.
All in all it was a tedious process, and I am pretty happy with th results. It keeps the rain out... there are some areas that we will be re-stretching this summer to tighten it up better. Frankly, I never want to drive it with the top on, so it is pretty low on the list 😆
G'day Brian,
Congratulations for doing the replacement yourself.
Boy, that is one rusty tack strip.
I too replaced the roof on a '71 Eldo, and know that the Shop Manual is a must for these tasks.
Love to know how the factory got them so well, but at least, they would have had an outside framework to assemble everything on, before installing the complete unit.
Bruce. >:D
PS. Did you replace the drain gutter as well?
Hey Bruce, thanks for the reply. Yup on the gutter, the retaining rod in the old one was rusted out, and it was brittle. I didn’t re use any of the soft components of the top. I have seen old pics of the factory assembly, and they have them fully made and hoist the whole thing in from above... my home factory is not as advanced unfortunately 😆.
Lots more to update on soon.
Thanks
-Brian
So on to the interior! The passengers side of the car had issues with the door seals, and the rear quarter window didn’t go up all the way. This must have been going on for a while, because the lower door panels were pretty bad when I got the car. I decided to try to repair them as opposed to replacing them using fiberglass resin. The old fiber board forms were frayed in a lot of spots, nd soaked up the resin like a sponge. It gave the forms structural integrity, and works for now.
For the dash pad nd doors, I re- colored them usning the SEM system paints. Can’t say enough about these, they work so well. The car had a two tone grey interior, which I kept close to original
Finally the pads on the top of the doors needed to be re-covered. The place that did my seats had a special tool to remove the inverted push nuts that hold the pads to the metal. They also gave me all of the leftover leather and vinyl from the seats, so I had lots of material to work with. I ordered matching carpet for the bottom of the doors too. I decided to wrap the rear pads in the vinyl, and the front in the leather (since my arm would be on it 😊)
My younger sons helped with the pads as you can see in the pics
They came out well. Tough to get the corners a tight with the leather, but the fronts are butter soft.
- Brian
Interior finishing touches. A bunch of other, not too exciting, interior items were taken care of.
- Installed a retro sound radio, and was able to fit the original knobs.
- Put in a new light switch, and rewired the interior lights after chasing a short
- new speakers in the dash ( oversized, and had to modify slightly to fit )
- all new cluster lamps
- rebuilt the speedometer housing with parts from two
- dressed up the chrome trim with a paint pen
Also, got new floor mats as a gift for Christmas. Yes, by now we are into January of this year. It is amazing how time moves by. But in January 2020 I finished the interior and had it fully re-installed. I absolutely love how the interior came out. The only thing left to do inside is the steering wheel, but that can wait for now. I still have extra seat leather to make a wrap for it.
-Brian L.
Ooooohhh! Upper door panel in leather. Nice.
I wrapped my steering wheel and like how it turned out.
Give one of your sons some "Never-Dull" and set them to work on the door sill plates.
Hornetball, I love your thread on your 74. That green is pimptastic, and I have serious garage envy. I actually ordered a grey sample from wheelskins based on your post to see if it matches my leather. May go that route if it is close.
My door sill plates are pulled through at about 1/2 of the screw holes, so I actually have new ones sitting on my workbench. I may try the ‘never-dull’ on some of the other chrome trim pieces that are currently always dull 😆
-Brian
G'day Brian,
Great to see the younger generation getting stuck into tasks that some people would not attempt.
Bruce. >:D
Ok, so the interior is done, so it’s basically ready, except for this nagging issue in the trunk area that I have been putting off. The rim around the trunk seal rotted through in a few areas, and it is in a tricky area that has bends in it. Unlike the floor pans, this area can be seen. Few pics of before, and prepping the area for welding.
As I dug in to this area, there are some clear signs of a previous repair, with quite a bit of body making the hole thing more complicated.
This section tested my welding skills. Especially with the cheap, flux core welder I have. Lots of tack welding, with lots of grinding to get this smooth. Also, some odd ball pieces that needed to be hand formed. I have a sheet metal break at work that let me make the major bends, but even these needed to be tweaked to fit in the vise.
Had a few separate sections to weld, and after a lot of trial and error, got it to a decent place.
-Brian
To finish the rear, I skimmed on som filler, sanded a lot, primed, and painted. You really get n appreciation for the labor that goes into body work and paint prep when you do it yourself. I don’t have a ton of pics here, but there were touch ups done on the outside of the rear quarter as well, where there was some old pitting that was never repaired properly. Eventually, the whole car need to be painted, and it will be a big job.
-Brian
Did a bit of work on the rear suspension as well. The ALS is completely shot, with a few pinholes in the pump / pressure tank, so I pulled the pimp, and replaced the shocks with KYB gas filled.
The whole area was a mess, so we wire brushed, and painted with a rust encapsulating rubberized undercoating. Got my son to sand the springs. Add in the new brakes and the underside is starting to look good.
-Brian
So I got everything back together and installed, and tried starting the car. Nothing.... I mentioned that this was an original EFI. The computer was a replacement at some point, and not installed properly in the dash.
Went through everything, I had compression, spark, but no fuel. After a while of testing, found that I was not getting any signal to the injectors. I tested the injectors themselves and they opened fine.
I was hoping this was not the case, as parts for these are rare. The wiring was a little screwed up too. I ended up deciding to replace the EFI system with a sniper unit, so Thai wouldn’t be fighting with this for ever.
Last pic of the old efi attached from May
-Brian
I decided to use the EFI intake, but opened up the throat to allow more air and fuel mix to pull into the engine, the throttle body opening was restrictive. I had to modify a spacer and make a gasket to mount the sniper to the throttle body mounts.
I plugged the injector holes with threaded plugs to ensure no leaks. The overall height was about the same as the original so the air cleaner was usable as is.
Used the cruise control bracket as a mount for the fuel filter, and replumbed the feed and return fuel lines.
Once installed, the engine started up pretty easily, timing was real bad, and I realized quickly that both the battery and the alternator were shot. Once I got the tuning correct, the car started running well !
-Brian
After all this work, the car deserved a nice shower 😊
I love how the car looks all clean. Drives like a dream. The kind of dream where you are floating...
- Brian
G'day Brian,
Boy, she is looking really nice, and thanks for showing the picture of the EFI Intake Manifold.
Great job on the trunk drip rail. The before pictures are great, and show what a lot of people would have discarded this vehicle as being a parts car. You are resurrecting it.
Bruce. >:D
You car is looking great! I used a lot of the interior restoration products that you have used with great results also.
Thanks guys, unfortunately, the joy of driving her was short lived. She ran for about 200 miles. I had the oil changed and the coolant flushed and then all hell broke loose ( and probably a bunch of engine sludge.... ). I took the car for a drive, and had a massive backfire on the highway ( bad AIR diverter ) which was shortly followed by the car overheating, and the engine dying on me. After a bit of diagnosis by both my local mechanic (who did the oil and coolant) and then getting the car home, it was clear that the engine blew. Compression was down below 100 on all cylinders and the car smelled like burnt gear oil. It also would not turn over with the spark plugs in it, and would barely crank by hand.
The backfire took out the muffler too, blew it up like a balloon 🎈
In the end, I decided to pull the engine, dig in and see what was what.
-Brian
Pulled the heads, and the top of the engine looked ok. Valves are all operational, rods and lifters look good. Even the cylinder walls on the top side looked decent.
So the problem was not here, and it appeared that the backfire didn’t damage the valve train which is a plus
-Brian
So on to the bottom of the engine. Pulled the oil pan, and it was immediately obvious that the crank bearings were the problem. The rod bearings were completely gone on 7&8, and spun on 6. All of the pins were tight on the pistons, and the rods were stiff. There was also some scoring at the bottom of the bores, likely from the tight pins.
The bearings were the main culprit through. I found it interesting that the problem got worse towards the back of the engine although the cooling passages in the back of the engine were full of crud when I pulled the freeze plugs. Could have been uneven cooling, oil pump failure, all of the above or the bearings were iffy, and just went when I took it on the highway for a couple of exits.
Either way, the block and crank are at the machine shop. And I guess we are doing an engine rebuild.
So the saga of the car continues. And you are basically caught up. I have been working on the heads, which I will post about separately. The upside is my 11 year old got to hammer pistons out of a 500 ci engine, and that doesn’t happen every day
Thanks, Brian
Oh dear. No mention of any knocking noises before you stopped it?
Looks like the damage to the Crank Shaft will require a replacement, as with that damage, it probably won't have sufficient metal to take a full grind. Plus, probably new Connecting Rods as well.
Looks like the engine has been run without sufficient lubrication.
The "massive" backfire is from the over-rich mixture filling the Muffler, which in turn received a spark from hot exhaust gases, and the tail pipe simply couldn't exit the explosive pressure fast enough.
Seen this sort of damage when people drive a car, turn off the ignition momentarily, then turn it back on, and there is an explosion in the exhaust system. Been done a lot of times with Rental cars especially going through tunnels, just to make noises. Probably not done as much these days with cars that have steering locks, but back in the day, the "lads" had fun.
Bruce. >:D
The lube could definitely be an issue. Did I mention that the dipstick was snapped off prior to my owning it. When I had the oil changed, I had them put in the full 6 qt capacity, but this could have been an issue for longer than I had the car.
I a hoping the crank can be salvaged, should find out next week. I am expecting it will be a full .030 under if they can get it to grind.
I am expecting to need a few connecting rods, especially on 6, 7, and 8 where the bearings were spun or completely destroyed. They did mic the block, and it needs to be line honed.
And a full new set of pistons
At least money grows on trees here hahaha
- Brian
I am considering switching to a carb manifold instead of using the modified efi unit. Someone mentioned that the channels would have been designed for fuel air mixture better than the efi manifold, and that could lead to an uneven mixture to the different cylinders. Thoughts?
-Brian
From my memory banks, every time an engine spins bearings as bad as yours has, the crankshaft will end up being bent.
I hope the shop checks that before proceeding on any grinding.
These bearings came out of a full race engine that spun 3 bearings, and the damage shown was from just 1/2 a lap before the engine was turned off.
Luckily, the Billet Crankshaft was salvageable, but not so for 3 of the Rods.
Bruce. >:D
Quote from: Leary75 on July 06, 2020, 09:31:58 PM
I am considering switching to a carb manifold instead of using the modified efi unit. Someone mentioned that the channels would have been designed for fuel air mixture better than the efi manifold, and that could lead to an uneven mixture to the different cylinders. Thoughts?
-Brian
Possible, but converting the Carb Manifold to the EFI Manifold looks like it is just a Flange change. The Factory wouldn't have used a bolt-on adaptor as it would be too "messy".
Bruce. >:D
The look on your 11 year old's face as he is checking out the 500 is great. He is thinking "my Dad is cooler than your Dad." Haha.
I would definitely seek out a carb manifold to host the Sniper.
I had the ol' "exploding muffler" routine happen on a '74 CDV that I had long ago. In my case, it was a bad pickup coil on the HEI distributor that was cutting the ignition out randomly. It shut off on the expressway and then came back on a few seconds later with a sizable BOOM. Good luck with your rebuild. My vote would be to swap out EFI manifold for a carb manifold and then use the Sniper Quadrajet system also.
There are a few differences in the EFI manifold that I can see.
1. The mounting flange and bolt pattern are different. The efi throttle body had only the two holes, so less open area. There are off the shelf adaptors to convert Quadra jet to spread bore mounting
2. The EGR routes very differently. The efi comes in from the side and into the top of the air passage. On the carb, the channel routes to the back and the gas enters from underneath the secondaries.
3. The EFI manifold is smooth beneath the throttle body. The carb manifold has raised ridges (assuming these are to help with vaporization.).
I was able to get a cheap used carb manifold off of eBay, and I am thinking I will switch to that just to be safe. I just have to get a new AC rear bracket...
And for the record, my 11 year old’s dad is pretty cool 😎 😆
Thanks -Brian
Cleaning motor parts is gross, but rewarding. Cleaned up the oil pan, and pickup tube, and the whole valve train. Also ground some of the flash out of the oil return Passages in the heads.
Also, new flowkooler water pump, and Cloyes roller timing set arrived. My old timing set is in surprisingly good shape, with all the nylon on teeth still fully intact.
-Brian
You are lucky with those teeth, as they are very worn, and wouldn't have been long before they started to fail.
Bruce. >:D
I was really surprised to see the teeth intact. The chain was sloppy. Maybe I can send it to a museum... or hang it on the wall in my garage.
I found and bought a carb intake. Looks like all my pretty painting on the other intake was for nothing 😆.
Been doing some head work while I wait for the block. Had my valves ground, and have been lapping them in by hand, The seats were in good shape. I used a dremel with a brass brush to clean them up.
Also just received my new camshaft , springs and lifters form CAD company. It’s a mild cam, their 120 cam, designed for smooth idle, with a little better lift and duration than stock. Really looking forward to feeling the difference. The car never really idled solidly which probably had something to do with that sloppy chain....
Aiming to re-assemble the heads this weekend and then get them pressure tested next week. Getting a house project done in the mean time.
Best. -Brian
Looking great so far!
Still waiting on the engine, but took the time to get my living room painted. Major points scored with my wife which will buy me a lot of car time :D
Bruce, you were right, and the crankshaft is slightly bent, about .060 off. The shop that is doing the grinding has a straightener. Basically they told me they will either get it straight or it will snap, so fingers crossed. Should find out this week. Rock auto has a remanufactured one if all else fails.
Also needed 2 connecting rods on 7 & 8.
Should get back to the heads this weekend, and hopefully can get the engine back soon.
-Brian
Well, the crank did snap, so I ended up having to get a new one. Good news is that rock auto had one in stock and it came with bearings.
Had some time last weekend to clean and reassemble the heads with my new springs from cad company. Excited to start putting things back together.
Question... what do people like for engine paint. Deciding between KBS motor coaster and Eastwood engine enamel. Suggestions?
Thanks, Brian
G'day Brian,
Sorry to hear that the Crank actually broke, as Cast cranks usually do that, whereas a steel crank will straighten.
At least it didn't break whilst spinning. That could have caused more "terminal" damage to everything else.
Bruce. >:D
Quick update, I get the engine block back tomorrow! Been busy painting accessories, and reading the engine bay. Will be back soon with lots of pics of the engine assembly.
Tonight I rebuilt the power steering pump while on a conference call. Very simple, elegant design.
Thanks, Brian
So, it’s been a while. Finally got the engine completely rebuilt and back in the car. The engine building process was tedious but fun, and I took the opportunity to clean up all the accessory pulleys and brackets. Here is a before and after of the engine when it blew and back in the car.
Here are a few pics of the engine assembly itself. Block is bored to 0.030 over. I have a mild rev cam from cad company, a flowkooler water pump and a blueprinted, high flow oil pump. I also got a new intake manifold from a carbureted car, as the air flow channels on the old efi intake were more constricted, and not really made for air/fuel mix.
My middle son was very into the engine build. He has a cameo in a couple of the pics. By getting the block machined only and doing the build up myself, the total cost was under 3k for the full build, so I am really happy with the whole thing.
Thanks, Brian
And finally all back in the car and ready to cruise. Did the first oil change after the cam break in yesterday, and got the exhaust installed today. Purrs like a kitten (a kitten with a ton of torque) :D
Enjoy!
-Brian
nice! 8)
Best regards,
Nicolas
Looks good. 8)
It's coming along nicely!
Thanks everyone, engine is breaking in nicely, and running smoothly. I am on to the next project, fixing the climate control. I have a diagnostic book from Cadillac Tim, and I am going to troubleshoot this weekend. Also it is back in the 60’s up here so should have some decent cruising weather for the next week!
Need to get the heat pumping if I want to take any winter drives. (I am the crazy guy in a parka driving a convertible on a sunny 30 degree day)
Quote from: Leary75 on November 04, 2020, 03:00:33 PM
Thanks everyone, engine is breaking in nicely, and running smoothly. I am on to the next project, fixing the climate control. I have a diagnostic book from Cadillac Tim, and I am going to troubleshoot this weekend. Also it is back in the 60’s up here so should have some decent cruising weather for the next week!
Need to get the heat pumping if I want to take any winter drives. (I am the crazy guy in a parka driving a convertible on a sunny 30 degree day)
I just got the heat working in my '74 for the exact same thing!
The late James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos" fame had a very used 68 Cadillac convertible that he drove during the winter with the top down. According to family members, it was his prized possession.
It’s been a while since I did much on the caddy. Was able to drive in right up to January, but then we go a lot of snow, and the salt that comes with it. Not wanting to re-re do my floors anytime soon, she has been tucked away in the garage.
Well we are back into the 50’s, so I thought I would tackle my next little project on the car, the steering wheel. It is in real rough shape. I have a bit of the seat leather leftover, so I have decided to have it leather wrapped instead of restoring the original. I have removed it, and will be filling the major voids with epoxy, and smoothing it back down. I am having the shop that did my seats do the stitching on the leather so I am hoping it comes out pretty sweet.
Couple of before pics for your viewing pleasure. Going to take the opportunity to re-paint the rear cover and the column neck too. Also may polish the shifter and cruise shafts.
-Brian
Ahhh the sounds of progress, and with a couple of days of "mock spring." Can convertible weather be close at hand, and with the covid crisis coming to end, driving that beautiful car around town will get more than just "thumbs up"--- perhaps a standing ovation! Thanks for posting on your progress. Makes many of us happy, James
Hahaha. Thanks James. I am really enjoying bringing this beautiful machine back to some of its former glory. Made a little progress today, cleaned and primed the collar, and the wheel spokes. Will be painting the rear cover tomorrow while it
WOW that was quite the undertaking, kudos. Hopefully someone will get the dimensions of the tank when they take it off and send them tone of the manufacturers to see what they can do for us Eldorado owners or see if they match up with Toranado tanks.
Been a while since I updated. I did get the steering wheel re-wrapped. I feel like the stitching could be better, but overall I am happy I did it. It took a while, and in the meantime, I also replaced the front right wheel bearing, and the driver side door pins. Door sag was eliminated, and the car drives a bit safer with the new bearing.
Finally, I replaced the transmission pan gasket. Now I can take the drip pan off the floor of the garage 😆
Lots of driving lately, I love floating around I this bad boy. I even let my son take it to school one day... just one.
Happy driving!
Brian
My Dad bought me a '61 CAdillac convertible for me when I was a sophomore in college in 1965. I never had a desire to own another brand of car ever since! Happy day, James
Quote from: James Landi on June 03, 2021, 05:57:59 PM
My Dad bought me a '61 CAdillac convertible for me when I was a sophomore in college in 1965. I never had a desire to own another brand of car ever since! Happy day, James
James, there is something special about driving around in a convertible caddy. I haven't felt this way in any other car. It is a joyful experience.
-Brian
Brian,
It''s safe to say that owning a Cadillac convertible is a transgenerational affliction. Since the mid 60's, I've owned many Cadillac convertibles, and now, as a "boomer" / geezer who's seventy-five years old, I'm driving an "Infared" XLR-- in spite of logic, and yes, everytime I drive that car and recall all the other Cadillacs I've owned, it's brightened my day. YOur generation Eldorado, when brought up to specs, is simply an incredible ride--- Similar to sitting in a posh movie theatre and watching a film--- "road feel," be damned! Happy day, James