1969 Cadillac DeVille Project

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

With the rocker arm tips so worn, I would be looking at having them refaced if possible, but the depth of wear might be too deep requiring re-hardening of the arms.

What type of oil has been used in the engine?   If it is modern stuff, with no Zinc, then you will definitely find that the Cam lobes and Lifters are worn out.

The lifters can be restored by re-radius grinding them, which is far better than purchasing new ones which most likely be Chinese made.

A friend thought he was using good oil in his two cars (Hot Rods) and thought the term "for Modern Engines" on the container meant for engines that were newer than the cars they were in.   Couldn't get proper tuning on both, and it turned out that the Lifters were shot (badly worn) from using this new oil.   No Zinc is really bad in a non-roller cam engine.   

Bruce.  

[R Simone]

Hard telling what oil was used for the first 50 years lol, but it was rarely driven the last 20 years - I used higher zinc oil but have only changed oil once or twice since owning/driving part of one summer. My local machine shop rebuilding the engine is the gold standard in these parts (been around since the 60's), but they don't dyno. You take them the engine minus carb and distributor and they clean, machine, assemble.

I am having them weld nuts to the inside of the timing cover for the small water pump bolts - they weren't stripped yet, but they were close.

The cam had some minor wear so it will get some regrinding, but they said everything else looked pretty good. I think there's just a bit of uncertainty for them on the rockers because it's not a super common engine and they're non-adjustable. They agree with the comments I see all over the forum about using original when you can because a lot of the new stuff is junk.  They are checking a source that might have quality ones and will let me know this week. I think they just don't want to see me spend several grand on a rebuild and have something small fail and ruin the engine. I don't mind spending the extra, but also didn't want to get junk. We'll see what they find.

[James Landi]

Your hydraulic lifters take up a good deal of wear in the valve train, (are you having a valve springs replaced?) In my judgement, having a reasonable expectation regarding just how you want your half century car to operate when it comes out of the shop seems to me to be a good starting point. Needless to say, a perfectly rebuilt engine with all of the torque and horsepower as when new has the potential to shorten the life or destroy the rest of an ageing  drive train... also, what is the status of the radiator... I had the unfortunate experience several decades ago, of rebuilding a Cadillac engine, and shortly thereafter, blowing out the head gasket on route 95 in Fl, because the original radiator was partially clogged.  I mention these concerns to you respectfully,   James

[R Simone]

Thanks James.  That's one of the questions they've asked me to consider while they're working out the parts list. "How are you going to use the car; will it be Sunday drives and date nights, or something your going to romp on and drive thousands of miles a year?"  (For me it's date nights, cruising, and occasional trips to the lake an hour away). I thankfully did have the radiator & condenser rebuilt already and it was a good thing. The radiator "looked" decent, but was clogged pretty good and had a tiny leak I hadn't seen.  I also sent the carb out to Bowen's in Bristol, PA and man that thing looks fantastic!  (Will post pics when I unbox it again)

I'm going to contact them today and see what they've found if anything on the rockers and will ask about the valve springs - still working on a final parts list.

[R Simone]

I've been waiting for a warm day to spruce up the engine bay and today it got up over 60 degrees here in NE Indiana so we could open the garage door (fumes), but it was windy so we didn't push her out. Just freshened things up with Krylon Satin and will apply another coat when we can get it out under the sunlight. We moved it out of my friends shop and pushed into his "house garage" while awaiting machine shop to finish so no real work going on right now, mostly a waiting game. Ordering some AC components and odds and ends...

[R Simone]

My engine is supposed to be completed this week and I dropped off my powder coated parts for installation. They do look a little lighter in the picture than in person. It's been just over 4 months that they've had the engine and it's getting nicer in NE Indiana so I'm ready to get her back together and hopefully work on the less pressing projects that need done here and there.

[R Simone]

Pics didn't attach first time...

[R Simone]

They finally completed my engine after 4 months and I picked it up this past Friday. I was in a bit of a rush just to get it dropped off at my friends shop and I didn't think to take more pics because now my head is spinning thinking about all the misc. stuff that will now rear its head. The Machine shop pics are in a weird format but at least wanted to get one pic posted for now.  Now over to the Technical Forum for searching/questions! lol

[R Simone]

Well schedules and stars finally aligned and we made some progress last week and were able to drop the engine into place. The older I get it seems my nerves aren't what they used to be and dangling several hundred pounds of metal around over the Cadillac made me jumpy for the duration. The victory was short lived however as when we went to tighten things up today to move forward (torque converter & bellhousing bolts) something was off.  We fought it about four hours and accomplished almost nothing except getting the torque converter bolts in and decided to surrender for the day. The car is jacked up pretty high in front to accommodate our "physiques" and despite jacking up the trans, taking weight on and off of the engine, and just letting everything rest, as soon as we got all of the bellhousing bolts close to tight the engine wouldn't turn over - back them out a bit and the engine turns over just fine. We don't know what could be hanging things up..?  I'm going to post in the technical help forum because we're both at a loss and any help or suggestions appreciated. Feeling pretty deflated after today.

[mario]

Flexplate on backwards? Converter not seated all the way?
Good luck
Ciao,
Mario Caimotto

[R Simone]

We had moved the car around quite a bit and neglected to check that the torque convertor was seated completely.  I hated to do it, but we pulled the trans and had everything checked out "just in case", replaced the pump gear and re-sealed.  The plan is for take 2 on the install this Friday...

At least I know it's all good now and also got to give her a fresh spray of the correct paint.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

When fitting the Trans, I always make sure that the Torque Converter can move forwards and backwards a small amount before completely tightening up the bellhousing bolts.

If after this, the Torque Converter is tight, then it is not seated.   There has to be some movement between the TQ and Flex Plate, and when the TQ nuts are tightened, you are actually pulling the Flex Plate slightly rearwards.   This assists in aligning the Ring Gear as well.

Bruce.