Projects '56 Cadillac build - Undoing the sins of my youth

Inventoried my stainless trim and grouped it by body section. Good thing I have a '56 Cadillac to put all this '56 Cadillac trim on! I really can't believe how much tooling went in to making this car. The trim is mostly one year only stuff. Crazy amount of design to make something for one year only.



check out the most useful parts hangers ever...



hubcaps!

 

Cool thread Randy......looking forward to seeing how your Caddy comes back together. Keep at it man!

 

I'm not really a caddy kind of guy. They are a little bulky for my taste, yet I have found a great interest in yours. Lookin good, and keep the pics coming

 

Gorgeous car.

 

sweet

 

nice build man

 

Hey man I feel ya... In the last 7 years I had a a garage for 1. I'm really into this thread especially cu of the whole sins of my youth angle...

 

Great Resurrection man,looking forward to the progress on this.

 

Im about 50-50 on shaving my handles. If I do ill pm ya.

 

Have you given any thought to doing a smaller outer handle? or a custom one? Maybe just a flat body colored tab at the rear edge of the door with a finger opening in the gap. Just a thought.

Love that you are sticking with the car and "fixing" what the younger version of you did. I have an OT 69 chevelle that my friends and I "redid" in 86 when we were 16. I look at it now and am like WTF were we thinking!

 

Sweeeet!!! I'll be playing along too. A person can never have enough motivation to work on their vintage Caddy's. Mine is a 55 I snatched up for $400 2 years ago

 

Here is an idea. Not saying it would work with your body lines but gives a visual. I picked up a truck with door popper that some one had made. (read: never worked right) so I added a piece of stainless rod with a pivot inside the door. A simple pull and it is open. Less bulky that the stock handles. Just a tought.

 

Randy, inspiring stuff. Keep up the good work!

 

Been out of town the last few days, but finally got some time to throw at my car.

Wanted to get the frame cleaned up before I paint it. Spent a few hours scraping and sanding. This car is as clean as they come and I STILL spent 2.5 hours in the trans tunnel getting it to look this ugly...



Experimented with some rattlecans on the frame and decided I could do a better job with quality paint and a brush. I like the bolt heads on suspension to be bolt colored, not spray bombed black. I ain't gonna tape off every bolt head, but I could paint around them with a brush.

Scuffed everything and got it mostly prepped for something brushable...



Any suggestions on frame paint. I'm NOT into POR-15 as (in my experience) brake fluid blisters that shit on contact.

 

Randy I really like that have stuck with the car and are seeing it through. I am in the same boat as you in the middle of undoing some prior indiscretions!

 

Good stuff ! I have a few I wish i could go back and redo ...

 

That's the brake fluid and not the POR15, pretty much everything short of powder coating does that. Brake fluid (DOT3) is nasty stuff.

 

Cool, then maybe I'll POR-15 it again.... I think I've got some around here.

I figured I'd better patch the floor where the old Lokar shifter once lived 'cuz it'd be a bitch to do once I put the trans back in.

I went to the shop and used this



to make this



and welded it in.



Pretty basic stuff, but progress none-the-less.

Hope to shoot the firewall in build primer this week...We'll see.

 

Go randy !

 

Couple updates...

Got the frame and suspension mostly painted. I went with Rustoleum semi-gloss. It can't be worse than the POR-15 that was on it.



The firewall is finally in 2k high build. Let the blocking begin...



Put about 3 hours into disassembling & cleaning my gauge cluster. Used a soft cloth and FLITZ polish. I polished the plastic faces using a variety of buffing compounds and cleaners. Came out pretty good.



Painted some interior parts. This was probably a bit premature, but I wanted to see the color sprayed out. I like it. Paint will need scuffing and reshooting. My pressure was too low for my spray tip size... live & learn

 

Killer thread! Keep the updates coming.

 

Have a friend that is going through similar with the 58 Olds he drove in high school. Undoing all the "cool" teenager crap.
Good color--- fourspeed

 

Took a day off to knock out a bunch of stuff.

FINALLY shot the firewall in sealer then finished paint. I'm psyched on the color. Nason single stage, acrylic enamel - came out pretty good. Cranked up the air pressure slightly and it laid out way better than my first attempt. A little orange peel in two spots, but I'll sand and buff 'em out.



Drove to Salinas and picked up my motor from Midway engine rebuilders. Very responsive, more than fair on parts & labor, nice guys. If the motor runs as well as I expect, I'd recommend them to anyone.

Got it home, scuffed the block and shot it in dark blue. Can't wait to get my finned valve covers and batwing air cleaner mounted up. I think it'll all look pretty good together.





Comin' together...

 

Also, (not that I've "learned" how to paint yet but) I'd like to publicly thank OVERSPRAY for walking me through the basics of paint technique and chemistry. It really helps to know WTF is happening when primer sticks to metal or paint sticks to primer.

The best advice he's given me is to READ THE TECH SHEETS for every material used. I kinda browsed 'em before, this time I read every word & it really helped

OVERSPRAY is one of the many reasons this place makes building cars more fun. Removing the fear and mystery of an unknown craft is crucial to having fun during the process.

Anyway, here's the PM he sent me in response to basic questions. Hope it can help someone...

 

Congrats on the rebuild Randy. Looks like you have some skiils brother! I envy you, I have been wanting to undo some of the "upgrades" the last owner of my car did, but running a shop and having two small kids, I never seem to have time.

 

I picked a similar color that I am currently working with. I am also shooting it as a single stage. From an earlier picture it looks like yours is a metallic. I do not beleive you can sand and buff a metallic single stage. The metallic gets cut by sanding and will show. Mine is PPG and the tech sheet says I can buff but no sanding. I put clear coat on top so that I can sand and buff. By shooting it as a two stage, allows the paint coat to be more forgiving. Don't worry about orange peel because you can fix it with the clear. Don't want to do runs/flow checks with metallic.

I am far from good at painting but just sharing what I have found.

Neal

 

Good luck! Such a cool car! Keep us updated!

 

Subscribing, I've got my own Caddy in the garage. It was Dad's so it avoided some of the "upgrades" over time but it is a dirty nasty mess that needs a little of everything.

Mine is 12 years newer, and the engine compartment is nasty. Between putty knives, oven cleaner and enough purple cleaner to float a canoe I'm almost there.

How do you like the rustoleum so far? I used it on my fishing boat and it seems tough enough out in the Florida sun every day. I was all set and ready to buy spray bombs but yours looks good. I may go that route.

 

Great build! I bought a 55 Coupe deVille last year and have just tinkered with it since......this thread is motivating me to dive into it. I live in Salinas Ca and hang out in Monterey area, can't to wait to see your Caddi cruising around. Keep updated and the pictures coming.

 

uh oh. That's what I get for being a damn rookie painter. If I can't wet sand & buff my paint, I may as well shoot it in Rhino liner. So, what do you guys think? Is it truly impossible to buff SS metallics or is it just a pain in the ass?

Who's done it? I dig the color more than the metallic properties in the paint, maybe they could mix it with no metallic in it.

Maybe overspray, the patron saint of DIY car painters will chime in here.