Recent posts

#31

For Sale - Parts / Free engine and Hydramatic tra...

Last post by jwwseville60 - Yesterday at 02:59:04 PM

My 1963 390 engine and its rebuilt hydramatic are up for grabs.
They came out of my 1963 wagon. 90K miles on the motor, ran good!

I used a 429/t400 in the resto.

Contact Billy Ray Thompson at White Post Restorations in Virginia.
You can pick it up or pay them to crate it for you.

#32

General Discussion / Re: Whats Up With Ebay

Last post by jwwseville60 - Yesterday at 02:54:10 PM

With Flea-bay you have to be ultra specific and detailed.
There are so many semi-scams that purport to be "factory correct."
Vendors are always looking for suckers who dont exactly know what they are looking at. Old as the hills.

#33

For Sale - Cars / Re: 1978 Eldorado Biarritz Pho...

Last post by marty55cdv - Yesterday at 02:34:53 PM

  Possibly the 2 tone Brown Arizona Beige and Demitasse editions with a sunroof

#34

Technical / Authenticity / Re: 2000 Eldorado ETC P0741 Co...

Last post by TJ Hopland - Yesterday at 02:28:19 PM

I would want to see a Cadillac specific diagnostic chart for this issue.  Too many people end up going down the wrong path using the generic definitions. 

#35

General Discussion / Re: Good video explaining zinc...

Last post by TJ Hopland - Yesterday at 02:25:21 PM

That's another thing I don't quite understand.  I have been watching a bunch of engine teardown videos on the I Do Cars youtube channel and it appears to me that is maybe half and half rollers or not.  I have not actually started a spread sheet to try and figure out which has what or why but it doesn't seem like its cheap cars vs expensive or a high performance thing.   

Pretty much everything is overhead cam and maybe half of them do have a rocker like setup with a roller that rides on the cam.  The rest of them have what seem to be called 'buckets' which seems to just be a cup that sits over the top of the valve and spring. The cam lobe rides directly over this bucket so it seems to me the exact same thing going on with our push rod engines. 

With push rods there is some leverage action going on with the rocker arm so we get more valve movement with less cam/lifter.  What does that do to the pressure involved?  On these bucket style its running directly on the valve so if they want the valve to move 1/4" that has to be how high the bump is on the cam.  I would assume the pressure would be equal or maybe even more?  When there is a rocker is there still a leverage thing going on?  Or is it just to get a roller in there?  To me it looks like its mostly to get the roller in there.   

And with any of the OHC designs there doesn't appear to be any sort of hydraulic lifter sort of thing going on.  How are they getting away with that now but in the olden days you had to do constant valve adjusting with solid lifters? 

#36

Technical / Authenticity / Re: 1959 original generator to...

Last post by cadman59 - Yesterday at 02:15:28 PM

Hi all,

Just want to let you know that, thanks to fellow member Brian Faull, I now have an original wiring harness including the original fuse holder. 
Though the wiring has become very stiff and needs to be replaced I am very happy with the original fuse holder, and that I can use the original harness to use as a template.

Besides the wiring harness he also had a correct original adjustment generator bracket for my non AC car, and an original fuel hose clamp (the one that attaches below the mounting bolt of the generator bracket).

It gives a lot of fun bringing back some original parts to the car.

#37

Technical / Authenticity / Re: 2000 Eldorado ETC P0741 Co...

Last post by smokuspollutus - Yesterday at 02:14:19 PM

This usually means the sensor needs to be replaced. Unfortunately the trans has to be rebuilt to do that. If you do not have emissions in your state, best to leave it alone.

#38

General Discussion / Re: Good video explaining zinc...

Last post by smokuspollutus - Yesterday at 02:02:34 PM

Interesting video TJ.

I run Rotella oil as it is cheap and available, and is similar to the oils my era cars were designed to run. Nothing has to be added to it to get it up to snuff which is a big plus. I have not had any abnormal wear or failures in the past 30-40k combined miles I have put since switching over.

I had spoken to a mechanic who does a lot of work on Northstars. I didn't know at the time but apparently the first generation Northstars (93-99) were made with flat tappet cams. He said that in almost every one he takes apart, the vehicles have cam and or follower wear. This adds a lot of expense to the head gasket job and he has ended up owning a few of these cars due to that fact.

This was interesting to me as the Northstar showed up at right about the end of the flat tappet era and was probably spec'd for the older oils. But they were in daily service during all of the reformulations. So they likely got fed whatever the shop was buying in bulk which were the reformulated oils that are supposedly backwards compatible.

For now I'll continue running diesel spec oil in my old flat tappets until some regulator finds a new species that's going extinct because of me.

#39

For Sale - Cars / Re: 1978 Eldorado Biarritz Pho...

Last post by smokuspollutus - Yesterday at 01:49:10 PM

More like 1499 weren't a Biarritz!

#40

For Sale - Cars / Re: 1953 Eldorado barn find, t...

Last post by Cadman-iac - Yesterday at 01:18:07 PM

This would be a great car to restore, providing the floors are still in it. All the windows are down and it looks like the rear window is missing or broken, so it's probably filled with pigeon and chicken crap, not to mention the rat crap.
Is that $99,999. the price or was that one of your parameters for your search?

Rick