Waking up my inherited 67 Eldorado

[67_Eldo]

Beyond the switch, your headlight problem could also be caused by wiring melted together anywhere along the way. Check all the wiring and connectors not only for the lights, but anywhere else in the entire engine bay.

While you're at it, consider adding relays to control your headlight operation. The main reason that the original light switches get cooked is because all of the headlight amperage runs through the switch. If you add relays, the relays handle the amps while the switch only has to control a teensy tiny flow of electrons.

I bought a (cheap) kit to do that from eBay a few years ago. But my kit was *so* cheap that the wire used in the kit was too puny to properly handle the current flow. (Headlights can pull *lots* of power.) If you buy a relay-conversion kit, don't cheap out like I did. Get a good one that employs nice, fat wiring.

Someday, when I've cleared about 400 other items from my To-Do List, I'll convert my headlights to relay operation.

[TJ Hopland]

Are the 'cool' turn signals the ones on the top of the fenders?  If so weren't those fiber optics?   Or are we talking about the cornering lamps?   Or just the regular turn signals?

Didn't the 67-70's have a dual exhaust that ran into a single muffler that was transverse behind the rear axle?   That was something that came and went over the years so maybe if the original style isn't available something else may be easily adapted?   Did some of the F body cars have a setup like that?  If so those are likely reproduced.   

[67_Eldo]

Are the 'cool' turn signals the ones on the top of the fenders?

Yes.

If so weren't those fiber optics?

No. The bulb is mounted in that little housing.

Didn't the 67-70's have a dual exhaust that ran into a single muffler that was transverse behind the rear axle?

Yes. That's what makes it so easy to add dual exhaust. I call it "Toronado-izing." In my case, they were able to reuse all of the existing dual plumbing back to the rear "axle." Thin mufflers can be attached back to back and pushed up into the space that previously housed the single muffler. Then you run pipes back to the bottom -- but not beyond the bottom -- of the rear bumper. The end tips of those pipes should be turned downward.

Dual exhaust pipes should *not* stick out the back of a 1967 Eldorado. We are not savages! :-)

[TJ Hopland]

So where is the muffler in relation to the gas tank in those?   That was one of the issues with 71-78, the gas tank took up 80% of the rear of the car, there was just enough room to squeeze a single resonator between one side of the tank and the frame. 

Did the Toro's have dual outlets?   If so one on each side of the car or were they close together 80's chev truck style?

And as long as it came up anyone know what year did they go fiber optic on the hood monitors?  Had to be right around that time.

[67_Eldo]

Here's a pic. (The sunny day is wreaking havoc with my old iPhone camera, apparently.)

The original resonator was located to the left (driver's side) of the gas tank. The mufflers are where the original muffler was.

Since the Toronado was dual exhaust, the Eldo was also (basically) made for dual exhaust. But Cadillac wanted super quietness in a car that was advertised to equal or beat a Rolls Royce in smoothness and quietness. Hence single exhaust.

I never messed with Cadillac vintages later than 1968, so I can't answer the fiber-optic question.

[Cadillac Fleetwood]

And as long as it came up anyone know what year did they go fiber optic on the hood monitors?  Had to be right around that time.

1971, but on the front fenders, not the hood.

Charles Fares

[Glen]

Attached is from the shop manual.  The exhaust is dual to just behind the rear axle then it goes into the muffler then it is single coming out.  The fuel tank is aft of the muffler.

[TJ Hopland]

So 67's above photo would have more or less been a stock Toronado dual system?  Those had a dual in and out muffler?  Or did they have 2 mufflers?   Then the Eldo had a dual in single out and they added a resonator on the single outlet? 

[67_Eldo]

So 67's above photo would have more or less been a stock Toronado dual system?  Those had a dual in and out muffler?  Or did they have 2 mufflers?   Then the Eldo had a dual in single out and they added a resonator on the single outlet?

The 66-70 Toronado had a dual-in, dual-out muffler and one small resonator per each of the exhaust pipes. The stock Eldorado (single) resonator was larger than the Toro resonators.

Even though it looks like one muffler on my car, there are actually two very narrow independent mufflers welded together and pushed up into the space previously occupied by my dual-in, single-out muffler. I did away with the resonators entirely. I like the result: It is very quiet with only a slight burble audible at idle.

I've attached another pic of the work in progress.

[67_Eldo]

If you’re still interested in Eldorado anatomy, particularly as it relates to the underbody and exhaust, the pictures of a 67 Eldorado currently on auction at Bring A Trailer provide a good (if depressing) “before” view.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1967-cadillac-eldorado-8/

[76eldo]

To address the dual exhaust issue, the two actual 73 Indy Pace cars had Toronado fuel tanks so that they could run true dual exhaust. The Caddy tank only allows for the pipe on one side.

[67_Eldo]

To address the dual exhaust issue, the two actual 73 Indy Pace cars had Toronado fuel tanks so that they could run true dual exhaust. The Caddy tank only allows for the pipe on one side.

The 67 Eldorado in my driveway proves otherwise, for a 67 Eldorado. The 73 Eldo, with it's full-perimeter frame, is a different beast entirely.

[79 Eldorado]

No. The bulb is mounted in that little housing.

Crazy. I thought for sure the answer was going to be yes they were fiber optics. By 1968 the "Vigilite Rear Monitor Tail Lamp Assembly U46 Fiber Optic" option was available for the rears on some Chevrolets. I thought their main purpose was to actually show you the particular light was working. A fiber optic was a great solution because if you saw light for sure the light actually lighting was supplying the light.

So if it was a bulb did they wire it like the dreaded Christmas light string... so that any time the headlight went out the fender light would also stop working? So at least if gave you a false positive if the light on the fender was the only thing which failed?

Scott

[67_Eldo]

So if it was a bulb did they wire it like the dreaded Christmas light string... so that any time the headlight went out the fender light would also stop working?

It is wired in parallel so that the lower turn signal will still work even if the fender-mounted indicator bulb is dead or gone.

In my case, I got the car with a dead indicator bulb corroded to the socket. Also, someone who didn't understand how the bulb socket twisted out of the housing had mutilated the original plastic socket housing so that it readily fell out of the fender housing. I found a generic twist-mount soft-plastic housing at a parts store that had a lip that required trimming. Once I trimmed up the new, spliced-in socket, the new little bulb in the fender came to life.

The old, original turn signal in the bumper soldiered on throughout, no matter what was happening up above. :-)

[67_Eldo]

It just occurred to me why people might think fiber optics would be involved in the turn-signal indicator on a '67 Eldorado: They have forgotten that a '67 Eldorado has *no* lighting in its fender tips. The only '67 turn-signal indicators were mounted in the front bumper, below grille level. That's a looooong way away from the top of the fender.

In later years, particularly in the '71 and later models, it makes a lot more sense because there were lights in the fender tips and the front fenders would have been redesigned for any number of new light-routing schemes.

The light closest to the turn-signal indicator on my car is the big, white cornering light. The cornering light -- which doesn't blink -- operates on a circuit that is separate from the turn-signal circuit.

[bcroe]

I believe it was 68 when we got the side running lights.  I liked
them and found some that looked right (from a Torino) and put
them in my 62.  But the front ones were in the water and I
could not keep the bulb electric circuit working, so I let them
go as reflectors.  Actually got stopped by a cop once for them
being out once, I just pointed out they were not required on
my 62.  Bruce Roe

[K_Cassutt]

My 67 Eldo has seat belts but not shoulder belts. Has anyone installed shoulder belts in a 67 Eldo? Are attach points already in place?

[67_Eldo]

No shoulder belts on a '67 Eldorado.

Check the '68 or newer Eldorado, Toronado, and Riviera for shoulder belts that should be most easily adapted. But you'll have to install anchors.

[bctexas]

Hopefully this is already fixed, but reading through this thread something occurred to me.  When I got my '65, the rf headlights did not work.  Turned out they were grounded through a wire that attached to the frame of the regulator - and the ground was disconnected.  Hooking it back up fixed the lights.  Any chance that on the Eldo the turn signal indicator and headlights share a ground that was cooked in the fire?

Just a thought.....

[K_Cassutt]

Oil pan removal revealed crankshaft bearing fail.
Busted budget.