Projects Found this in an old moving trailer

I like reading build threads so maybe someone will want to see some from the car. Try and ignore the not so HAMB friendly stuff, things will show in some pics but skipping them kind of loses parts of the build. This one is being built to be another daily driver as needed. Goal is to have it ready to drive by May 1st.

Sooo...

Here is the tank as brought home. Car was not too bad as far as rot, needed both front floors done, sills, outer rocker repairs, A and B pillar repairs. Trunk and right rear fender were hammered and needed some massaging. Engine turned out to be stuck, unsure why but maybe why the car was parked.

 

Last "as found" pics before teardown started

 

cool project

subscribed

 

Thanks, here are more pics..
Goal for the car was a $5000 budget, obviously with that money there is no way to have the car "finished", the chrome bill would take most of that. I can paint it myself for reasonable money but since rechroming is out I am going to collect what good used stuff I can find over time and not paint the car yet, will be built so that when I paint it I will not have to blow the whole car apart again.

Disassembly started

 

that will make a nice car, something really different.

 

Chuck, This is the "L" shape fender bracket that I'm missing on my Cad. If this area is still accessible, could you get me these measurements? So when I fab new brackets I'll have a ballpark starting point, perhaps save me some trial & error...

Thanks,
Jason

 

Hi Jason, you can call me Dave

I believe I have another pair of the brackets, not for sale but I can get pictures and measurements.

Contact this ebay seller, they are parting out a 1941 cadillac model 61 but the brackets may be the same, I would think so. They have been easy to talk to on the phone and they may still have the brackets.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1941-Cadill...t=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

 

Ha, sorry... I knew it was Dave, don't know where I got Chuck at!

I'm not worry to much about these brackets, they seem easy enough to fab up new ones. Pics/measurements would be great, as it will give me a starting point and less trial fitting. I have the original mounting holes on the firewall, so just need to calculate the placement of the fender's mounting perch on the bracket(how far out and up) base on those holes.

I'll keeping me eyes peeled for a whole hinge assembly, but if all else fails I'll just get creative...

Thanks for your assistance, Jason

 

very cool. Cant wait to see it on the road.

 

Jason,
I have pictures of the brackets with measurements, PM me your email address and I will send them to you.

More pictures..plan was to lose the front suspension and upgrade to a G body clip. I have done a lot of work with 85-88 monte carlo super sports and had a nice clip in stock, big sway bar, F41 steering box, etc..these were the mockup pics to make sure the front steer would clear the caddy fenders.





Getting ready to cut off the front end



And gone! First cut was made long until we had the clip lined up where it should be. This was my first clip install so I had a friend who had more experience help with the install. Turned out not to be bad at all, usual measure 10x and weld once.

 

I thought I saw pictures of the frame already painted up in black. Did I miss something?
Its gonna be cool when its done. Good luck.
Paul

 

After suggestions I decided to go ahead and post the build pics from the beginning, guess I should delete the other pics!

 

Nah, dont bother. Not a big deal. But, get the rest of those picts up! haha

 

Think there is one of those in the impact area at Ft. Chaffee?

 

That is kool as hell!

1shot

 

Front subfame installation..car was leveled front to back and then side to side before the frame was cut and measurement was made from a fixed frame point to the front spindle centerline to keep the wheelbase correct. I removed the shocks from the clip and installed threaded rod and plates to crank down the front springs until the lower control arms were level to simulate ride height. The front fender was used to get an idea of where I wanted the front end height, ended up being pretty much a straight weld on. Tires used for the mockup are slightly smaller than what will be used but close enough that there will be no problems.

 

more teardown photos, dual seat heaters for ultimate comfort in 1947





Body off, only broke a couple body bolts, all others came out ok.

 

rolling chassis




original rear suspension with panhard bar, going to lose the panhard bar and convert to tube shocks.

 

Daily update until I get caught up!

Mock up for engine mounts..ignore the SB chevy if you have a problem with it, mounts get built the same way regardless of the engine. When the body was on the frame I had stabbed the engine and trans in just to get an idea of where the engine had to be for firewall clearance, with that measurement I started making the engine mounts.
Frame was leveled side to side and front to back which is the planned final ride state. Engine was set on wood blocks, leveled side to side and set with the driveline angle 5 degrees down. I normally run 3 degrees but needed extra clearance for the A/C compressor even with a frame notch. Factoy cadillac trans crossmember turned out to work perfect.




mounts being made from steel supply store cutoffs. I run a solid mount on the drivers side only, keeps the engine from moving while still allowing some movement so as not to tear things up.





rear leaf spring rebuilding, replaced the original burlap that was between the leaves with speedway spring liner material. New spring bushings installed as well.

 

The heaters under the seat are the heaters in the car, the under dash fan and core is the defroster only, kind of a convulted heating system and one lever in the control panel operates the fan and water valve for the heaters under the seat, they are designed to blow the air forward toward your feet

 

You are right, wont stay that way because the plan is to go with a vintage air or similar unit eventually. Right now I am going to eliminate the under seat heaters and run the defroster unit only, the car wont be driven in the winter but I will need the defroster in the fall from experience with my other cars.

 

Rear to be used is from a 68 impala, turned out to be a perfect fit, believe it was 75" from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. I had already cut the brackets off at this point.



frame torn down, left the front suspension together on this one as it had already been torn down and rebuilt, just needed a cleaning.



primed and painted

 

Man I'm liking the progress on this car!

 

Thanks, it has been a fun low buck project, should be a lot of fun to drive.

 

I was kinda surprised at how good the overall condition of the floor was in. Are you going to paint the car?

 

Floor was not horrible, needed patches in both front floor areas and all the sill areas, some rocker repairs as well but in no way a typical north east rot bucket. I have some pictures I will post up soon. I have found that CT cars have less rust than NY cars so I frequently look there for projects. The frame was excellent, no rot at all, just surface rust and I vacuumed out a lot of small rocks and dirt from the boxed sections.
Plans are to paint the car satin maroon but not yet, have to collect enough decent chrome pieces so the paint doesnt look out of place. Car will be "natural" for now. People are very proud of their cadillac parts and decent chrome is not cheap.

 

The floors in your Cadillac started out well. Mine weren't too bad either. Most of mine is along the raised lip for the doors. The floor brace that runs crossways behind the front bench seat is rot out. Looking forward to seeing how you tackled your floors.

Also I would like to see how you are setting up your master cylinder. I re-assembled the pedal assembly to the frame today to see how it works. It looks like it use to move a bar forward inside the frame. Debating if I could reverse the the bar (or replace it), so that it swigs toward the rear of the car, mounting the boster/master cyl. between the frame rails and center support under the driver. One concern with this is I'm not sure if the booster-cyl. can be mounted high enough and not hang partially below the frame rails. Hitting something is not like ripping the a muffler off, it's losing your brakes.

Easiest option is to change the pedals to under the dash and mount the booster/cyl. to the firewall. But I like to keep it off, I just like the looks of a clean firewall better.

I don't like those setups with the cylinder under the dash. This car will eventually have an interior, those setups seem like an accident waiting to happen. Not to mention using to much space under the dash.

Car is coming along nice! Keep the post coming.

 

A friend of mine 3 miles away, has a 1947 Series 62 Fastback. His looks similar. He has the skirts, visor, GM spot lights, and original black paint. His has no dents but minor rust at the bottom of the passenger side doors. He said the engine, a big flat head V8, is the same one used in WW II tanks. We talked about what a cool gangster sled it would make.

 

Hi, floors are pretty straight forward, cut out the bad section and butt weld in a patch. Grind and seam seal the welds, done. They are floors so dont have to be beautiful, just strong, so I put ribbing in the patches to match the original floor design.
As for the master cylinder I removed the under floor stuff, I am not interested in having it under the floor, plenty of room under the hood and much better for serviceablilty. I also wanted power brakes and was not willing to sacrifice that to try and get a large unit under the floor, these cars came with single exhaust on the passenger side so there was no issue with the master being on the drivers side. I have to check but I dont think it would even be possible to use a booster under the floor with the full duals. I ended up smoothing my firewall and used an underhood power booter and master, pictures to come.

I am watching your build as well, looks good, reading build threads always gives me inspiration to keep plugging forward.

Cerberus,
The original flathead would of been cool to use but the rebuild was not in the budget, so I use what I have "in stock". The fastbacks are great looking cars, I bet your friends is very cool. I am looking for a pair of skirts for mine, I have a set from a model 60 fleetwood but they are different than the pair for my model 61, I may have to section them if I cannot find the right set.

 

more updates..

From original measurements made after the front clip was installed I figured that the rear of the car needed to come down 2". Made permanent 2" lowering blocks by welding 2" square steel to the new rear pads. The leaf springs are 2" wide so this worked perfectly. Scratched up the spring paint working too fast, I hate waiting for paint to dry!



I had already made upper and lower shock mounts, forgot to take pictures. Uppers are angled steel with side guttets and the lowers were just flat steel welded to the original spring plates. I also welded some extra gussets on the spring plates to keep them from wanting to bend when tightening up the U bolts for the rear. The rear was installed temporarily to continue the build, I didnt want to set the pinion angle or weld the perches until the car was close to finished weight and ride height. Gas tank strap mounts were also relocated to use a poly gas tank I had mocked up earlier. Side fill and was going to fit fine, just had to remove the spare tire well in the trunk.