Well hello everyone! I've been gone for a while, last year I decided to go to college finally and attended UTI in Illinois. Graduated, fun times. So I decided to go pick up the Cadillac, poor thing had been sitting on jack-stands for a year. Fired up like it never even happened. Driving it home after a year, felt like a dream. Then new problems. Driving to a car show, started billowing oil smoke out of the right bank. Little bit of searching piston #5 is the only oily one, only when at operating temperature and it only seems like a valve seal. No biggie, I hope. Then I find the tires have given up, they had no cracking last year, I even placed it in the air to make sure. But, they have become unsafe and they need to replaced. But good news, while I'm still waiting for the original hood to get straightened. I got a tip about a yard having another, as you can see, about the only good panel left. It fits, but being the wrong year the fronts a little different. But, until I get the right one back, I need something "Hoodish" Been busting my back on my dad's car putting all the power options on and getting ready to change the transmission, no time for my car yet. More to come. Much, much more.
Ok so, popped the valve cover off & low & behold, about four valve seals were NOT where they were supposed to be. They had ridden up off the guide and were stuck up by the retainer. So borrowed a leak-down tester to keep the valves up and went at it. I cleaned up the guides and seals and put a little weather strip adhesive to persuade them from moving again. Replaced the fouled plugs while I was at it. I'm letting it sit overnight to cure up then we will see if my cars still a James Bond smoke screen tomorrow.
Oh boy, Where to begin. So, I order a new set of 8.20 X 15 tires for the car. Coker gives me a deal with my Alliance membership & they get delivered QUICK! That's the good news. I get the old, nasty, whitewalls off and paint the rims, get the new ones mounted. One rims bad because they tried two tires and it kept needing weights at the same spot. But it can still be run. Then while jacking the car up, I notice a small gas puddle under the tank. The hand cut paper & silicone combo from the last owner had finally given up. Of course I had just filled up the night before too, The tank had a drain plug, But it was still a muther trying not to spill any. The tank had been cleaned and sealed before, it was spotless inside. A little 1/8" thick gas approved rubber & aircraft cement later, back in business. Then I had the bright idea to check the rear brakes, radial cracks at almost the same spot on both sides. One call to Caddydaddy.com & two days and brand new drums are at my door. A little bit of grinding on my new shoes to get the emergency brake bar to fit, new coper/nickle brake lines for the rear axle and suction bleeding the new wheel cylinders, brakes are almost ready. Then my original, untouched, unrebuilt master cylinder, after 50+ years and almost 7 of mine driving it a bunch, blows out. Not on the street, not after I do something stupid, in my driveway, parked. So now I'll be making my bracket & using a GM dual MC with the fitting exits on either side since it will be going in the stock location. I'm not even going to bother rebuilding it because when I felt inside the pits and grime were rampant. So I've got New tires, New brakes, Hubcaps shined up and looking pretty. Yet I can't even drive the thing. Oh well, once I convert it to the newer master cylinder & all new lines. That's 100% new brakes and I won't have to pray the one lung system doesn't give up on me in traffic anymore. Stay Tuned!
Lovely day in the driveway. Nothing more relaxing then brake line work at about 86° and no breeze in sight. Got the new master in. All new parts right down to the hold pin for the fork. 70% of the brake lines replaced with ultrabend. The steel lines that came out were fine in the front. But if your doing part of the system why not do it all right? More to come tomorrow.
And that's that. All the brake lines replaced, bled, re-bled. Pedal has never been better, the new tires feel like a completely different car. Everything feels aces on it. I'm a bit relieved to say the least!
Back again. Not much has gone down, Car still drives & stops awesomely now. But finally got one piece of the puzzle back to normal. As was shown, My hood came up at about 50 M.P.H. right around the time I got it back on the road. The original hood was told to me by everyone to be junk. No one wanted to touch it, I left it at a friends house the year I was in Chicago. I get back and one friend, Junebug, who does amazing bodywork & fab is itching to get his hands on it, Within a week he tells me to swing the car over to get it put back on. As you can see, things went well, it's not 100% but when the cars getting ready for paint I'll worry about how smooth it is. With his help we also got the hood latch modified and back in working perfectly. I'm DEFINITELY still running a chain as back up though. The replacement 51-52 hood will be for sale on here. As we speak he's also recreating the original exhaust tips based of the rusty originals I had. Then last Saturday when the snow was coming down hard I couldn't help myself, I had to go for a little jaunt & snap some pictures in the snow. With a little bit of parking lot sliding as well of course. Stay tuned!
The Jalopy Journal
