Janice's 1974 Persian Lime Firemist Eldo Convertible

[hornetball]

$800.

But I only got charged $3500 for the paint, so maybe I'm still doing OK.

[hornetball]

New hood pad.  Old one wasn't in too bad of shape, but I figured "what the heck"!

[hornetball]

OK, somebody clue me in.  How do the side moldings go on?  Are they supposed to snap on?  Do I have the right clips?

[MaR]

Yep, the trim snaps on the plastic clips. Hook the top edge of the trim on the lip of the clip and pop the bottom edge over the bottom of the clip.

[hornetball]

MaR, can you snap me a picture of your doorjamb stickers?  Mine were stripped by the painters, and I'd like to source replacements.

[hornetball]

Added some high-res pictures of the Cadillac King restored lower door panel for Big Fins.  I think the vinyl and padding was quite well done.  There is one seam adjacent to the switch panel.

[MaR]

MaR, can you snap me a picture of your doorjamb stickers?  Mine were stripped by the painters, and I'd like to source replacements.

No problem, I'll take them in the next few days.

[Big Fins]

They did a great job on those panels. Hi-Res? Uhhh, yeah!! You can count the hairs in the back board. That looks a whole lot better than these upholstery shops do sewing them together.

Thanks!

[hornetball]

Hi-Res? Uhhh, yeah!! You can count the hairs in the back board.

You were warned!   

[MaR]

Here is the sticker:



Here is a full resolution version: http://jelloslug.com/caddy/IMG_6334%20-%20full%20size.JPG

As you can see, the actual vehicle information was added to the sticker after the boiler plate info was printed on and is in a different (typewritten) font. The sticker itself measures 3-3/4" x 1-5/8" and has a clear plastic laminating layer over the paper sticker.

[Cadillac Fleetwood]

Inline Tube in Romeo, Michigan, sells reproductions of these. Owing to the great demand for this item from owners of Olds Cutlasses, Chevelles, and Buick Skylarks, these are now readily available. Inline Tube sells directly, and on eBay.

-Charles Fares

[hornetball]

Awesome.  Thanks gentlemen!

[hornetball]

Gradually making headway on re-assembling Janice's Caddy.


I found the best way to retrim the front quarters was with them removed from the car.  Makes access to secure that lower trim piece easy.


Mounted the re-chromed rear bumper.  Used a piece of muffler strap to replace the dry-rotted inner bumper piece for the 5mph mechanism.




Also worked on repairing some of the fiber optics.




This is my fiber optic toolset from fiberopticproducts.com.  I used the gel form of Krazy Glue, and it seemed to work OK.  I also discovered that the front fiber optic cables are larger in diameter than the rears.  Go figure!


Mostly, it has just been a process of clean, polish, fit, assemble, repeat.  There are a lot of pieces on these cars!  Here's an example of a cleanup:

[Big Fins]

And it's the rear lamp monitors that are the hardest to see. My front fender monitors are like little headlights, even in the daytime.

[MaR]

It's really staring to come together! When you start to put the front fenders on, it will be very helpful to have two people. The inner fender well is a really tight fit to the fender when the inner fender is already mounted to the car. When they mounted it on the assembly line, the inner fender was already bolted to the outer fender and it was all put on as one piece.

[hornetball]

And it's the rear lamp monitors that are the hardest to see.

Plus the rears have a really long run.

When you start to put the front fenders on, it will be very helpful to have two people.

You available?   

[hornetball]

Got busy with other things and the work on the Eldo kind of languished.  But back on it with a bunch of updates.  I hope to be nearly finished by the time the current Christmas break is over.

Got the rear filler panels mounted up.  They turned out well.




Got the NOICO down in the trunk and passenger compartment.  Got all wiring resecured.






Steering wheel re-installed.  I think the dyed leather looks nice.


Got the new interior carpet out of the box and set into place to relax.  This is the ACC carpet ("Willow Green" color) with mass backing.  I'm pleased with the fit.  The mass backing even has hole locations stamped in.

[hornetball]

Worked on getting the door panels installed.  First order of business was to cut new vapor barriers.  I used sheet foam for this and used the OEM paper from the passenger door as a template.


Next up was lots and lots of polishing.  Enlisted my Grandson Preston to help.


Most of the cigarette lighters were corroded beyond saving.  Fortunately, that's an easily found item.




Don't forget the Scotchguard (tm)!




Door panels turned out well.




Since I'm close to re-install, gave the seatbelts and power seat bases a good scrubbing.  Also lubricated and painted the bottom of the seat bases to prevent rust stains on the new carpet.

[hornetball]

Most of the lights in the instrument cluster were non-functional.  So I pulled it and went through it.  I had one burned out bulb.  The remaining issues were with corrosion/poor contact between bulb and socket.  The gray sockets take type 194 lamps (daylight readable, turn indicators and high beam lamp).  The black sockets take type 161 lamps (softer night backlighting).


While I was there, gave the lens a nice polishing:

[DeVille68]

nice work!
How does the carpet texture (loop, or cutpile?) compare to the original style?

Best regards,
Nicolas