My newly acquired 1974 Eldorado convertible project car

[MaR]

I did a little more work this weekend. The rear of the car has never sat level since I got the car. The drivers side sat at least 1-1/2" lower than the passenger side. I had held out a little hope that changing out the shocks would help, but that was not the case. I bought a pair of rear springs, rubber insulators, and a "loaner" spring compressor from the local parts store and got to work. The old springs did not look bad from a visual inspection but there was something obviously wrong with them.





I started by lifting the car and loosely installing the spring compressor.





Next I jacked the suspension to compress the spring enough to get the spring out. This is the point where I tightened up the spring compressor.





Now I lower the jack and the suspension so I could pop the spring off the lower perch and pull out the old spring.





I then compressed the new spring and popped it into place making sure to clock it per the service manual. The new rubber bushing goes on top.





Now I jacked the suspension back up again to release the pressure on the spring compressor and pop it out of the spring.





I put the shock back on it's mount and put the wheel back on then check the height. It's now within .25" from one side to the other. Here are the old springs, you can see that there is a huge difference between the length of one side vs the other.

[hornetball]

I think another member had this exact same issue on a '76.  Maybe a previous owner was a "heavy-hitter"?   

I got my car back from the body shop and my interior is back too.  Need to post an update.  Some good, some bad (mostly good) -- which is what happens when hourly employees work on a car.

[MaR]

I think another member had this exact same issue on a '76.  Maybe a previous owner was a "heavy-hitter"?   

I got my car back from the body shop and my interior is back too.  Need to post an update.  Some good, some bad (mostly good) -- which is what happens when hourly employees work on a car.

Considering how worn out the seat springs are on the drivers side, you may be on to something...

[Big Fins]

I think another member had this exact same issue on a '76.  Maybe a previous owner was a "heavy-hitter"?   

I got my car back from the body shop and my interior is back too.  Need to post an update.  Some good, some bad (mostly good) -- which is what happens when hourly employees work on a car.

That was me. I also had the drivers seat resprung and restuffed. Like factory now. 

[MaR]

My next task is to get the floorpan and firewall cleaned up to the point where I can start putting sound deadener material in and get the "guts" of the dash plus the dash frame back in. I will hold off on putting the actual dash pads back in until after I paint the car. I started with the rear area under the back seat. I had previously cleaned everything up so it was already ready to coat. I'm using POR-15 for the coating on the sheet metal itself.







Most of the things that are attached to the middle and passenger side of the fire wall were already off the car. I just had to remove some wiring and finish removing the degraded seam sealer.







Next up was removing all of the pedals, the steering column, and the main wring harness with the fuse panel. With those out of the way, I was able to clean up the glue overspray and the remaining rockwool fuzz from the old sound deadener.







With everything cleaned up, I finished coating the firewall and then finished the last of the floor pan under the drivers side seat.

[hornetball]

Looks really good.  Curious, why didn't you pull the seatbelts?

[MaR]

Looks really good.  Curious, why didn't you pull the seatbelts?

I forgot to bring my torx sockets....

[MaR]

Time for a much needed update. After I finished up the POR-15 coating on the floorpan/firewall, I started on replacing the seam sealer. The seam sealer is available in caulk gun tubes and in quart container. I opted for the quart containers as it's easier for me to use over the tubes. The process is basically just liberally apply it to the seams and then brush it smooth-ish.

[MaR]

Since I want to put the pedals, steering column, and the dash frame back in soon, I need to get to work on cleaning those parts up. I started with the parking brake assembly. Since it's all riveted together, I opted to not put this in the sand blaster. I used Evapo-rust to clean this part up. Here is what I started with:



I did not have quite enough to fully submerge the assembly but it gives a good contrast on how thoroughly it removes the rust. This was after soaking overnight.







And here it is after the complete rust removal. I did not submerge the vacuum servo; the discoloration is just grease.







And here it is after a bit of paint:

[MaR]

Next up is the brake pedal assembly. The mounting bracket was covered in surface rust but all the other parts really were not that bad.





Unlike the parking brake assembly, the brake pedal assembly just bolts together. I stripped it down to just the bracket and sand blasted that part.





With the bracket and the pedal arm painted, I reassembled the assembly and it's ready to be reinstalled.

[MaR]

Another set of parts that needs a bit of refurbishing are the wiring harnessed. Overall, the harnesses and connectors look to be in serviceable condition with very little corrosion. The loom tape is showing wear though and the harnesses are just dirty overall. I have decided to re-wrap them all in modern fabric tape that is made for automotive harnesses. I have used good quality electrical tape before and it always just ends up as a gooey mess later on. This fabric tape has a very light adhesive side and it should stay pliable for a very long time. Being a fabric tape, it will also help dampen any rattles that may occur from taking the entire car apart. I started with the small harness that runs down the passenger side for the rear power window, courtesy light and cigar lighter.









I removed the old tape and cleaned up the connectors and wires. I then wrapped the entire harness in the new cloth tape.






I will repeat this process for all the harnesses in the interior of the car.



 

[hornetball]

Since your brake pedal assembly is out, you might check your cruise control vacuum break.  Mine had a pretty good leak.  Got a NOS replacement that is really tight.

[MaR]

Since your brake pedal assembly is out, you might check your cruise control vacuum break.  Mine had a pretty good leak.  Got a NOS replacement that is really tight.

I'm a bit more worried about the vacuum booster itself. The boot is torn and some pieces that I think are a filter want to fall out. I'm not having any issues with the booster but I don't like the fact that it's torn.

[hornetball]

Let me know if you need a booster.  I scored a reman unit when I thought that mine had an internal problem that was giving me a high pedal.  As it turns out, my problem was that the booster bracket (between booster and firewall) was missing.  I bought a used bracket and restored normal operation.  I kept the reman as a spare, but if you need it just let me know.

[MaR]

Long time no post! I have been quite busy but I just have not had much time to post about it. First off, I had to acquire a replacement floor pan plug as the tab broke off of one of mine when I tried to reinstall it. I found a suitable one at my local junk yard. It cleaned up well and fit perfectly.









After that, I started on the heat barrier and sound dampening on the firewall. What came off the car seemed to be asphalt impregnated fiberboard with a rockwool sound dampening layer. I'going to use more modern materials as replacements. For the heat shielding, I used two layers adhesive butyl rubber sheets with an aluminium face. for the sound dampening I used .375" thick closed cell foam. From the factory, the sound dampening was just on the lower firewall and had separate pieces on the kick panel area. I put the butyl over the complete firewall and as much of the A pillar as possible.






The foam came in relatively small pieces and has to have the stickiest adhesive backing I have ever used.







The foam was not nearly as compliant as the butyl so it had to have many relief cuts to get it to lay flat. It's all going to be hidden under the dash and carpet in the end so it does not have to look nice.





Now the firewall is ready to have parts put back on it.

[MaR]

Now to continue on with part to put on the firewall. The stainless steel trim on both the accelerator and brake pedal was looking shabby. It was time to polish them up a bit. Here is the before and after of the brake pedal insert:









And the before and after of the accelerator pedal:









It's really hard to take good pictures of mirror shinny things but they did turn out nice.

[MaR]

While I was cleaning up things, I cleaned up a map light housing that I picked up recently from the junk yard. It was a but grungy and had some rust staining but it came out nice. I now just need to pain the rear section black like the '74 light was.







And after:

[MaR]

I also started to fab up the mount for the Talisman center console. I decided that I want brackets that fit over the inner seat rail studs and that I want a plate in the middle to not only mount the console, but any accessory electronics that I may add also. I started by making cardboard templates and then transferring that to 16 AWG steel. Here are the parts after I bent them and then with the mounting holes.







Next up is to test fit the brackets and check the plate size and location:






Now I need to weld the plate to the brackets and make the mounts for the console itself. That part will come soon. (hopefully)

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

It's really hard to take good pictures of mirror shinny things but they did turn out nice. 

The secret is to turn off the flash on the camera before taking pictures.

Bruce.

[hornetball]

Great work as always!  I like your brackets.  That will make the console installation really clean.