1957 Biarritz

[Valts]

Hi!

I`m from Europe and I help my friend to restore his 1957 Eldorado he bought from US some 5 years ago. It looked fine on the pictures when he bought it, but turned out to be real disaster.  Now he has a goal to completely restore it for his 50-th birthday which is only in 4 years.....

I did the metalwork of the body and most probably will help him with other parts cause he has very little time to work on it himself.

I started this topic, as we are in the point where the body will go to painter`s shop and we start with mechanical repairs etc, and we most defenately need your advice and suggestions in it.

Here`s the link to metalwork topic, posted in our local forum.
Start from the bottom, follow the numbers..... its a strange language for you guys, but as we all know- " one picture says more than thousand words".... If anything is particularly interesting, I can translate it or ad some comments.

http://www.vanatehnika.ee/foorum/viewforum.php?f=84

To start with several questions: whats the correct coating for hood hinges of that car? Zinc-plated, painted black/grey/ body color?

The body color by data-plate is 98, copper-bronze.

Vallo

[David King (kz78hy)]

Very well done.  I wish you were close to me...

David

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Vallo,

Beautiful job. The hood hinge bodies were "silver-gray" cadmium plated.

HTH,
Ralph

[JoeKarasinski]

That is just AMAZING! Wow!

I can't imagine the amount of time that went into making all of those pieces. Very, very good!

[Glen]

If you readers want you can go to Google click on “more” and then “translate” on the drop down menu.  Copy and paste each paragraph into the left box.  It does a fair job of translating Estonian.  It misses a word or two now and then. 

I also agree that that is some great metal work. 

[Valts]

Vallo,

Beautiful job. The hood hinge bodies were "silver-gray" cadmium plated.

HTH,
Ralph

Thanks, also other members for good comments.

I will have many questions about originality of the eldorado cause there has been several smaller accidents with that car and many parts are badly repaired, overpainted several times or missing.

The car has been painted atleast 2 times, red and pink, metal repairs were done with lots of filler and every part of the body needed serious action. It was real hassle to get all panels fit nicely.

By now the running chassis is also completely restored. It was also really worn-out, all bushings, bearings, suspension and steering parts were total crap. Everything was dissassembled, cleaned, painted, replaced  and repaired. New everything that was available ( most of it from Kanter auto)
I will ad pictures in some weeks when I have them sorted out and uploaded.

Today I worked on trunk lid and its power motor......some final adjustments before paintwork.

Thanks again, I know I will use your help many-many times

[chris cunliffe]

Translated page http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=et&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fvanatehnika.ee%2Ffoorum%2Fviewforum.php%3Ff%3D84

[57eldoking]

What is the cost of completely restoring a 57 Biarritz in Estonia?

[Barry]

Amazing work !! Please keep us posted and updated ! Barry

[Valts]

Hi!
Sorry for that pause, I`ll try to continue now.

As the body was almost done, it was stored to wait for assembled frame and suspension.
The whole suspension and axles were completley worn-out.
Everything looked like this when disassembled.



After sandblasting and paint all parts were assembled with new seals, bushings, brake cylinders,tie rods, bearings, brake drums..... everything that was available
Ofcourse, all those new parts came in raw, so they had to be primed and painted. Lots of hours into those small details.  Otherwise it will be rusty after first run in rain....



New leaf-springs from Kanter Auto (as all other stuff)




Some leafs on old springs were broken and there were different number of leafs on each sides...

And finally its done!





It took whole winter as a side project, cause always there was some missing parts, bushings that were ordered from US,  bolts and nuts that needed zink-coat and so on and so on....

We really didnt want all that to be covered with bondo-dust , primer and paint  that is "flying around" in paint shop so I wrapped the whole frame into fabric. It is used in gardening and costs only cents, 2 hours later:



Also protects the frame when lifting the body on frame, transport, etc.

Later that day, the body was lifted on the frame, using my good old tractor.

[Valts]

It took a lot of my nerves to get all panels aligned and gapped nicely, They were put on and off several times, corrected when needed, hammer it here, grind it there, weld on the other side... check front bumper, chrome pieces, front bumber again.....you know.


But some weeks later later finally completed body was taken out of the shop





And as it arrived some years ago in the dark, it also left in the dark. Straight to the paint-shop.

[INTMD8]

Very nice! Excellent work

[Valts]

I finally found some time to tear apart the engine and other smaller parts....

The number on the frame is 5762 003870 but on the engine 5762 013412 (engine unit number 76X14131)....so it seems that its not "matching numbers" car and engine has been changed.
But it`s still the "early" type engine with shorter pushrods.?

Some pushrods are bent and one is different from others, but overall the engine looks like in pretty ok condition. Some honing and valve-job will still be done, and engine will be rebuilt with new kit (gaskets, bearings, lifters, pushrods, etc)


I just ordered Authenticity Manual for 57-58, looking forward for it.

[Valts]

Today I sandblasted the fuel tank filler tube and discovered that It has some strange coating on it. Looks like zink but is very soft and too thick for ordinary zink-coating. Shines real nice after blasting and wire-wheeling it  What coating is it?
I  haven`t seen the fuel tank yet, maybe its covered with same stuff.

Then I found some odd looking blue on some parts, like this breather tube. Thats not Cadillac-blue, more like Ford-blue or something...



Also disassembled water pump, it was pretty ulgy and made some weird noises while turning. IMO.



Completely torn apart



We still have problem, finding correct nowadays color code for factory 98.
Is there any paint-pros here, who could help us a little bit, we would really appreciate it!

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

The plating on the Fuel Filler pipe is Solder, as in a Tin Coating.

All containers for petrol are "Tinned" where the surface can come into contact with Petrol, as this is the way the manufacturers stop rusting.

If you remove the coating with heat, and get the surface back to bare steel, it will eventually rust out.

Diesel Tanks can be plain steel, as the splashing on the Diesel coats the surface, whereas when petrol dries from a surface, and condensation occurs, rust starts.

If you care to look inside your Petrol Tank, you will see this Solder coating, and one of the reasons why a petrol tank from a vehicle that has been caught in a fire, is that the heat destroys the coating.

Bruce.

[Eldovette]

Hi Vallo,
i am currently doing the same restoration, also here in Europe. You´ve done the best job i´ve ever seen before! Amazing!
I hope my 57 eldo isn´t that bad rusted as yours was!

Lucky

[Valts]

Thanks Bruce, for the information about filler tube, and Ludwig, for kind words!
Hopefully we can also see your Eldo build in here pretty soon, it would be real interesting cause there arent too many full-project stories out here.

Vallo

[Valts]

As about water pump rebuild, theres a kit for sale that includes ordinary stuff + impeller.

http://www.cadillacpartsltd.com/19cawapureki3.html

Is this new sheet-metal impeller any way better than original cast-iron one?
If no, then I may buy the rebuild kit without impeller, will be bit cheaper also.

[cadman49]

valts,looks like you're doing a good job and going about it right. I know what you're going thru and how much patience it takes to do it this way! I did a 57 corvette like the way you're doing it. every nut and bolt. the things you do when you're young! with raising a family and buying a home, it did'nt get done for 9yrs!! p.s. that impeller don't look that bad,clean on wire wheel. 57 water  pumps are one year only!. the bottom outlet is on the pass. side! I think the impellers are the same. check your engine number to tell early or late motor. (pushrods)....r king.

[Valts]

We  have some really slow progress but its still moving .....
I got the 57-58 Authenticity Manual, witch is really a great sorce for information about paints, coatings and details. Really wort every penny.

The body is in the paint shop, almost smooth, real painting  soon.
Engine is in mechanic shop, the block will be honed and crank needs some work, otherwise just a usual rebuild with new gaskets and stuff.

And I decided to work on power steering pump. Just a quick rebuild and repaint.  As I took it apart today, I noticed that theres something wrong with pump bracket. Something is missing here, on the right upper corner, where the screwdriver points:



I could not find and good picture of the correct bracket, maybe you guys have some and help me out?