1961 Cadillac Restoration: Sweating for the wedding?

[Andrew Trout]

Have you noticed any engine paint overspray on gasketed surfaces.  Incredible as it sounds, this condition can cause engine oil leaks even if the paint appears to be well adhered to the metal

I believe it. We painted each component and then attached, then hit it with another coat after assembly. It's possible that's what is throwing us off.

I would be pulling the sump to see where the problem is.

These engines don't leak when using the proper gaskets, and using the proper procedure to fit them.

To do the job properly, I would suggest pulling the engine and put it on the engine stand where you can work on it and really see what is going on as you are pulling it apart.

Sounds like the front seal is not seated correctly.

Bruce.

Pulling the engine is not an option at this point. We're less than a month from the wedding.

I agree that the front seal doesn't seem to be seated correctly.

[Dan LeBlanc]

I'd be willing to wager that it is leaking where the cork seal on the front cover meets the cork seal for the oil pan gasket.  It cannot be sealed properly with the pan still installed.

Drop the oil pan, remove the front cover, regasket, put the oil pan gasket into place with a thin smear of silicone to hold it in place.  Also put a little dab of silicone in the seam between the front cover gasket and oil pan gasket.

It can be done with the engine in the car, but is a real pain to do.  Pulling the engine may not be an option but neither is driving it around with oil gushing out.  In all honesty, the last time I pulled a 61 engine - from the time I popped the hood until the time it was resting on the floor was 1 1/2 hours.  They're really not hard to pull.

[mgbeda]

Urgh.  How frustrating and stressful to be this close and have a "new" problem like that turn up.  We are rooting for you!

-mB

[Andrew Trout]

Interior is almost done. Car will be ready to pick up on Friday, but we're having them hold it until Monday and then getting it rollbacked to our mechanic's for some final work.

To better explain what 'interior is almost done' means:

• Dashboard was removed and re-painted
• Front and rear seat removed and stripped down to the frame, which was powder coated. Seats were then re-upholstered with new leather, foam and burlap.
• Door panels were removed and re-finished with new leather and carpet put on
• Kick panels removed, new carpet for them, the vents were removed and re-painted
• All the metal trim on the front seat was re-painted
• Armrests for rear seat were removed and re-upholstered
• sound/heat insulation was installed on floor pan
• new carpet
• new door sills
• Seats re-installed
• Door panels re-installed
• Rear arm rests re-installed

We went to http://www.carlsautoseatcover.com in Rochester.

As I said, on Monday the car goes to the mechanic for finishing touches.

• Front end alignment
• Finish installed exhaust. The part that loops over the rear axel and the resonator and tailpipe
• Drain gas tank
• Bleed brakes
• Check timing
• Timing chain cover gasket
• Bolt driveshaft support into place
• Install rebuilt power steering pump
• Install replacement power steering gear box
• New York State Inspection

Yes, there's a fair amount of this that we could do. But it's much easier and faster to do if you have a lift, so we're outsourcing it all to our mechanic. Also, I get married in 23 days. Time is of the essence.

In theory, the Cadillac should ready for some cruising this time next week.

[Jerry Puma]

Andrew,

Thanks for the update - I've been waiting anxiously.  It sounds like you discovered the problem with your power steering! You will be in great shape for the wedding.  Feel free to come to Buffalo for the shake-down cruise....

Jerry

[Andrew Trout]

Whew! It's been a while.

Wedding:

Our wedding was beautiful. Weather was great during the ceremony and photos, food and drinks were wonderful, and all of our friends and family had a blast.

Honeymoon:

Equally beautiful. My wife and I spent a week in wine country in northern California. 3 days in Napa Valley, 2 days in Sonoma Valley, and a day and a half in San Fran. We had some of the best dinners we'll ever have, and tasted so many wines it's hard to remember all of the places we went. We also brought back over a case of wine for celebrating future anniversaries and milestones. And driving around wine country in a convertible Mustang is very nice.

The Cadillac:

Didn't make it to the wedding. There were too many small bugs and issues to make a trip down to our venue safe.


So where do we stand now?

In a pretty good spot, actually. The car starts up and drives fine. My Dad and I took it out for a 40-minute drive Saturday morning. It was a beautiful fall day. Driving a car that big is a new experience for me, but I was getting more comfortable as the trip progressed. It turns quite a bit wider than my car (2007 Mazda 3 hatchback), and is much wider so positioning the Cadillac in the lane on the road took some getting used to. Only having the rear-view and driver's side mirrors cuts down on rear visibility, but the thinner a-pillars and wraparound windshield is great front visibility. Bumps weren't an issue, and the front suspension was great.

We stopped at a local corner store for a few minutes and one of the customers came over and started asking questions about the car. That was pretty cool. I didn't snap any pictures of it, so I'm kicking myself a little about that.

Overall the little trip was a lot of fun, and very comfortable in a luxurious Cadillac. 

But there are still several issues we need to resolve:

  1. Replace power steering hose. The sending line on our original hose had a metal crimp on it that raises pressure at low idle. Right now the steering is EXTREMELY heavy at idle, and you need to either wrestle the wheel around or put the car in park and give it some gas to get the wheel turning. Once you get moving it's fine. So we're going to put the old hose on.
           2. Check speedometer cable because it's not working. Our cluster was rebuilt by McVey (or Fusick? One of the two) so that should be good. The fuel gage works and the generator light works. The needle doesn't move, and neither does the odometer. Might be the transmission as well, because oh hey, the transmission leaks. So we'll take the car over to the transmission shop that rebuilt it and see what they have to say. 
           3. Front seat is getting damaged. When you flip the front seat forward to access the rear seat, part of the seat frame pinches the leather and is starting to damage it. We'll be taking the car and/or seat back to the interior shop and having them fix that.
           4. Have interior shop fix the seat transmission, as it's not working.
           5. Check for more oil leaks (just in case!)
           6. Install new kit for horn
           7. Have brakes adjusted once horn is working, the car pulls to the right some when you really stand on the brakes
          8. Drain oil out of power top motor , use grade 4 bake fluid
          9. Install last part of dash and hardware to straight out dash by ash tray
          10. Buff out rear bumper
          11. Switch hood brackets at fire wall to see if hood will set lower
          12. Install 2nd set of inter fender wells
          13. Check into getting a trunk liner kit
          14. Get hubcaps repainted
          15. Black paint on dash needs repainted
          16. Order Floor mats
          17. Order new rear springs and rear arms bushing

Looking at the list, it seems like a lot, but compared to everything else we've gone through it's nothing. And hey: The car drives! 

[Andrew Trout]

Another nice fall afternoon, so it's time for a drive!





Before this, we also fussed around with the hood hinges some, with no luck. It's still sitting high in the back.

During the week, my Dad was able to swap in the old power steering hose that has a metal collar on it. Power steering was much better at idle, so turning the car around in the driveway was a snap.

I also adjusted the gear selection indicator so we're able to see what gear we're in. Much more helpful than wondering why it won't shift and realizing you're in low drive.

We took the car out for another drive, everything's great. The only issues for drivability are the speedometer not working, horn not working, and the canceling cam for directions not working. Oh, and random feedback in the radio while listening to my iPhone via an auxiliary input. I'm thinking we need a capacitor on the generator.

My wife's traveling for work this weekend, but the Saturday forecast looks beautiful so hopefully I'll be able to take her out for a nice cruise on Saturday afternoon.

[Andrew Trout]

Working on the little bugs now.





First one was the horn.

We're still not sure where the horn is failing. It's a little frustrating. The horns sound if you manually engage them, but there some wiring somewhere between the button and the firewall that's not working. And we have no idea what it is.



Next up was fixing the speedometer. Transmission was rebuilt, new cable, and the instrument cluster was gone through by McVey's. So all parts should be working. But nothing was happening when we drove. We thought maybe the transmission shop forgot to re-install the gear in the transmission. Or we needed to pull the cable off and grease the connection. When we were under the dash checking horn wiring, my Dad noticed we didn't plug the speedometer cable into the instrument cluster.

Whoops!

So, threaded that on and took the car for a spin. Speedometer works, along with odometer and trip odometer! We'll take it out on a highway to check accuracy against some mile markers later.



After that, it was time to fix the steering wheel. Basically it squeaked when you turned the wheel. My Dad was thinking we had it on too tight (or too close to the steering column) so there was friction when we turned the wheel. It also made the steering a little tougher at low idle. So we pulled the wheel off three times (once it wasn't straight). On the third pulling we noticed that if you didn't crank on the screws holding the center trim into place the wheel didn't squeak. Just snugging them up is good.

While we had the wheel off we checked the canceling spring as that's not working either. Everything appears to be in good order, and you see it move when you engage the directional. But the directionals won't cancel after you turn. 



I also noticed that the great state of New York gave us the wrong registration. Sigh. It's frustrating because my Dad had the old registration with him. All they had to do was copy the date.



Driver's side door interior.



And I got to take my wife for a ride! Beautiful fall afternoon with a beautiful lady. 

[Rob Troxel]

Fantastic chronicle of your project!  What a car to do this to.  Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

[Andrew Trout]

The Cadillac went through another round of detailing.

The first time, my Dad went to a friend who's done body work for us in the past. The guy used to do really great work, but has gotten a lot older and his worked has fallen into the 'eh' category. Looking over the Cadillac you could see spots that weren't as well done as others.

So, asked around town and found a new shop and man did they do a great job.









They clayed the paint, along with washed and waxed. No swirls from the wax, either! The shop also polished the chrome and stainless trim, cleaned all of the windows (including the rear window on the top), and I believe cleaned the top as well. They were also able to adjust the brakes and fixed the horn. Apparently our horn relay was bad. I would have sworn we replaced it earlier this summer. Oh well. Now the car has passed it's NYS safety inspection and is road legal...just in time to hibernate for the winter. 

On the plus side, now that the car is legal, we're able to drive it to the transmission shop and have them find the small leak we're dealing with there, and then go to the interior shop to fix the front seat. The stitching is tearing on the bottom part near your hip, where the seat folds over it to access the rear seat.

We're down to about 10 things to do on the car. Several are cosmetic issues with the dash panels not lining up perfectly, and the rest are getting the hood to lay flat and replacing the rear suspension this winter.

[Rob Troxel]

What a trip you have shared.  What a fine 62 which is my favorite body style.  Hope you can get some break in proving miles on it before it goes for a rest.

[Dan LeBlanc]

Car is looking really good.

Just do yourself a favor and install your tailpipe the other way (the end pointing out should be the one coming out of the resonator) and trim it so it just peeks down below the bumper before you whack your shins on that thing.

[Andrew Trout]

The great hood mystery has been solved.

We put the springs on backwards!

Huh.

My Dad took the car over to the interior shop to show them the seat. They'll stand by their work and repair it. We'll pull the seat this winter when we park the car to replace all of the rubber in the rear suspension. That will also allow more room in the interior to finish off the dashboard.

[Andrew Trout]

So the weather has been unseasonably warm up here, and my Dad and I opted to take advantage of it.

The seat leather has been ripping, and needs to go back to the interior shop for repairs and altering how the leather is sewed on so it won't rip in the future. We pulled the car out to have lots of room for removing the seat, but before that, we went on a quick trip.



My Dad driving the car.





We stopped at a gas station down the road that has ethanol-free gas (at over $3.00/gallon) and while we were filling up a guy at one of the other pumps came over to say hello. He was really impressed by the car, and at one pointed remarked "Hey, this is like...a show car! Do you take it to any shows!?"  Well, not yet.  Next year we'll be doing quite a bit more.



I got to drive the car as well, and we just drove around the neighborhood. Lots of fun.

Then it was time to pull the seats.





You can see the rips in the seats. The drivers side is a bit worse, and both sides will continue to get worse.



We removed all of the trim from the seat before unbolting it. Unbolting was a pain, as it seems the interior shop used some sort of compound on the seat bolt threads so they're weather-tight. It make removing the bolts a real pain.



We walked the seat out, and put it in the back of my Dad's car. He's taking it over today (Monday) and they'll 'babysit' it for a while, meaning they'll get to it when they get to it. Fine by us, as we've got plenty of interior work to do this winter to get the dash pieces better aligned, and get the top to come down.



Here's the interior without the front seat. The dash under the radio needs some straightening, as do the ash trays. We're also going to take the section of the dash that says "CADILLAC" out and get that re-painted, and attached the medallion to the radio bezel. Also, the panel that goes under the steering column will get installed after we get the gear indicator on the shifter better adjusted (it's still a little off). Plenty of little things to work on after the new year.

[Sweede64]

Hi Andrew!
Stumbled on your post and cot stuck! Nice work and a realy heart-warming story in father son bonding, feels like i know you a little bit now!
I am doing a simular project and came to a complete halt a couple of years ago. Looking at your work made me start working on the car again and its going to be finished this summer, thank´s and take care, maybe some kids will occupy the back seat soon
Thomas K

[Andrew Trout]

We bought some NOS parts this weekend.



While looking around on eBay, my Dad spotted some nice looking white wheel covers. Ours are in fair shape, but not as good as the ones listed. We shot the seller a note and he put the four best ones he had together and sent us a few pictures. We agreed to buy them, and asked if he had any other parts.

Turns out the seller is Tom Murray of the Valley Forge CLC Chapter and he has a LOT of parts. We drove down yesterday to meet him and buy what we could. It was a long day. We left at 5am and go back at 6:30 pm. But it was well worth it! We got the parts listed below

Four wheel covers
Complete triple-plated rear bumper and lights
Interior instrument cluster and radio trim with clock
Passenger speaker bezel and medallion
Hood medallion (no V though)
Brake shoes
Engine mounts
Three tail fin lights, two covers, and one NOS cover
NOS PF7C filter
Most of a front bumper. Lower parking lights and upper center part are re-chromed, the upper sections below the headlamps will need to be re-chromed
Some other trim parts

We also got to see Tom's collection of cars, and spare parts. It's extensive.

We'll be replacing some of our current bumpers and interior trim with these newly purchased parts and getting the original parts cleaned up. This way we can have a better looking car this summer and not have to deal with the frustrations of having an incomplete car at any point.

[Rob Troxel]

Nice treasure trove.  Hard to find at any price.  Thanks for the update!

[Dan LeBlanc]

Wow.  That's some pretty awesome jewelry you picked up.   

[Jerry Puma]

It looks like Christmas morning!  I'm actually going to get my new front bumper ends on this year.  Are you planning to come to Club activity on the 23rd?

Jerry

[Andrew Trout]

Wow.  That's some pretty awesome jewelry you picked up.   

Nice treasure trove.  Hard to find at any price.  Thanks for the update!

Thanks! Tom has a huge collection of parts between his attic, basement, and garage. We got lucky that he had so many parts. Apparently someone in Sweden was trying to buy up everything, but he found it easier to have us come buy stuff instead of packaging and shipping overseas.

It looks like Christmas morning!  I'm actually going to get my new front bumper ends on this year.  Are you planning to come to Club activity on the 23rd?

Jerry

I don't think I'll be able to make that event. My wife and I bought a house and that's around our potential closing date.