Caddylackn
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- Sep 7, 2015
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I had ten days off at Christmas and was not able to travel to see family, so I spent some time on the Caddy to get as much done as I could. My goal was to get it running and driving. I got close. I realized that my car's 60th birthday was this week, then it gave me more incentive to get it done.
I can tell you, a heated garage makes all the difference.
1. First job: To re-align the passenger fender-. It took a bunch of tweeking and shims, but I got the most of it to line up with the door and hood. The bottom 1/4 of the fenders I fabbed up didn't quite have the save contour so lining up the stainless fender trim to the door trim, left the bottom of the fender hanging down about 1/2". That didn't look good, so I jacked up the bottom of the fender to pinch it some and add some contour, then drilled and bolted it securely to the bottom attachment points. When I had all bolts tightened I lowered the jack and it fit pretty good to the body lines. This 1/4 bottom fender repair was literally my first rust repair and welding job that I ever did, and I did it over 25 years ago. I am so glad it ended up be acceptable.
2. Installed the door stainless trim after making new trim fasteners by welding washers to size 10 screws.
3. Installed the key latches on both front doors. Then lubed up the latches. They work smooth and I can easily unlock or lock the doors with a key.
4. With the passenger fender fully aligned, bolted, and tightened, I could now re-install the battery tray behind the grill and the borrowed battery.
5. With the battery, I was able to jump wire all the windows and lower them and then clean the tracks and lube them up, and adjust the windows for gaps. I got all four windows to work well. I had to solder one pair of the wires directly to the window motor since the connection was broken. I got three of the four power wing windows to work. One of the wing motors is missing substantial pieces, so I left the motor off. I will get to that someday.
6. I was then able to install the two passenger interior door panels I previously fixed. I replaced the existing cabin door lights with LED, and they are pretty bright and pretty. Unfortunately, the rear doors, the lights stay on when the doors are shut, so there is a short somewhere. Both rear door lights are supposed to light if either door is open, so I have work cut out for me to find the short. I will work on that later. I pulled the bulbs for now.
7. I fixed the two driver's door interior panels. These interior panels were water damaged and the bottoms were curled from being wet. The hold down "nails" that clip it to the door had pulled through the panels on the bottom, so the door bottoms were permanently curled and dry rotted. I cleaned them up, then I made some sheet metal support panels, then glued these on the back with PL Adhesive. That PL stuff is polyurethane glue and is as tough as iron when dried. The metal panels once glued to the hardboard, allowed me to bend the existing hardboard panel to straight and also give me screw support for trim screws to bite into to keep them straight. I then used rubber cement to fix all the factory windlace that was falling off the door panel. I then sprayed flex-seal the whole inside panel when done, so it doesn't get soggy and warp again. The installed panel doesn't look bad. I used stainless screws with trim rings to screw the panels through the support metal to the bottom of the doors.
here is the finished interior of the panel before installation:
here is the panel before picture. You can see that the bottom steel strip with the attachment "nails" is completely rusted away.
8. With the interior panels on, the interior looks finished. I installed the new top of door seals I was able to find. They fit with modifications.
9. I installed the top/body stainless trim. I was impressed that I was still able to find all the one-off type of trim retainers they took.
10. I installed the trunk seal. Then re-installed all the tail light wiring I removed to paint the trunk.
11. I installed one of the door seals. I couldn't find reasonable priced '61 Cadillac door seals, so I bought two '61 chevy biscayne 4 door seals. The clip pattern on the rubber was the same, even though the seal ends were different. They fit with modifications.. I tried to install one on the driver's door, but the door would not shut without a hard slamming, so I took it off. I will put it on the other rear door. I will have to get something else to work for the front doors. The Cadillac parts vendors want $100 each for these door seals, so I have incentive to find something else that will work.
12. I took off the fender skirts and put the stainless trim on and adjusted the fender skirt to fit better. One of the skirts fell off while it was on the car and hit the ground and chipped some paint
. I installed these skirts back on. I will touch up paint chips later.
13. I installed the rear fender trim and the Fleetwood 6 chrome "stripes"
14. The reproduction door bumpers I bought were too thick, I had to really slam the doors to get them to latch. I took them off and cut an 1/8" off each face, then sanded them, then put them back on.
That wraps up the external stuff
.
The good news is that after I was done with all the trim, I was only missing two pieces of stainless trim when completed. I was missing one of the 6 stripes on the passenger side for the Fleetwood trim, and the passenger rear fender stainless. I know I was missing these before I took the car apart so that is good news that I don't have to spend countless hours looking for parts I took off almost 30 years ago. The bad news is that I have been looking for these "hen's teeth" on Ebay for months and months for these pieces so I will have to spend a $$$$ to buy them if these ever turn up at auction. The Fleetwood stripes only came on the '61 model 60 or 75 and the rear fender trim length I need only came on the Fleetwood or Sedan De Ville, so I will have to wait until I see somebody parting a '61 Fleetwood.
At this point, the car is physically put together, but now I got to get everything working and driving again.
I went and bought a battery at Walmart. Let's see. 390 cubic inches at 10.5 to 1 on a motor that has sat for 10 years unstarted with dry cylinders, my math says 1,000 CCA should do it. The Group 65 battery with 1,000 CCA was $30 cheaper than the Group 24 battery with the same rating so I bought that. It should fit, right? Seems like there is a ton of room.
Well, not exactly but it was close. I had to do some sheet metal "trimming" to make this fit. It was about 1/4" too wide, but I got it in there. by sliding it in sideways. I won't need a hold down now, at least.
I put a gallon of 92 octane in the tank. I couldn't find ethanol free around here,
.
I hit it with a 3 second blast of Starter Fluid then turned the key.
It fired up after the 3rd crank and ran for about a second. It rattled bad as the lifters pumped up.
I hit it with a few more shots of starting fluid and it started again for a second each time.
I couldn't get any gas to the fuel filter from the fuel pump. I trickled some gas in the carb so it would start and run for at least a few seconds, but still no fuel pumpage. The rubber fuel line to the fuel pump from the hardline was pretty rock hard, so I replaced it with new 3/8" gas line. While it was off, I blew some compressed air through the line and I could hear it at the tank, so I knew the line wasn't plugged.
I will pull the fuel pump apart and see what I have for the diaphram. The fuel pump is "new", I replaced it about 30 years ago . It turns out, this $30 fuel pump I bought 30 years ago, is now like $200 if you can find one
. If I can't fix it I will go with an electric fuel pump. I did see a rebuilt kit on Ebay for like $68 for this pump.
I can tell you, a heated garage makes all the difference.
1. First job: To re-align the passenger fender-. It took a bunch of tweeking and shims, but I got the most of it to line up with the door and hood. The bottom 1/4 of the fenders I fabbed up didn't quite have the save contour so lining up the stainless fender trim to the door trim, left the bottom of the fender hanging down about 1/2". That didn't look good, so I jacked up the bottom of the fender to pinch it some and add some contour, then drilled and bolted it securely to the bottom attachment points. When I had all bolts tightened I lowered the jack and it fit pretty good to the body lines. This 1/4 bottom fender repair was literally my first rust repair and welding job that I ever did, and I did it over 25 years ago. I am so glad it ended up be acceptable.
2. Installed the door stainless trim after making new trim fasteners by welding washers to size 10 screws.
3. Installed the key latches on both front doors. Then lubed up the latches. They work smooth and I can easily unlock or lock the doors with a key.
4. With the passenger fender fully aligned, bolted, and tightened, I could now re-install the battery tray behind the grill and the borrowed battery.
5. With the battery, I was able to jump wire all the windows and lower them and then clean the tracks and lube them up, and adjust the windows for gaps. I got all four windows to work well. I had to solder one pair of the wires directly to the window motor since the connection was broken. I got three of the four power wing windows to work. One of the wing motors is missing substantial pieces, so I left the motor off. I will get to that someday.
6. I was then able to install the two passenger interior door panels I previously fixed. I replaced the existing cabin door lights with LED, and they are pretty bright and pretty. Unfortunately, the rear doors, the lights stay on when the doors are shut, so there is a short somewhere. Both rear door lights are supposed to light if either door is open, so I have work cut out for me to find the short. I will work on that later. I pulled the bulbs for now.
7. I fixed the two driver's door interior panels. These interior panels were water damaged and the bottoms were curled from being wet. The hold down "nails" that clip it to the door had pulled through the panels on the bottom, so the door bottoms were permanently curled and dry rotted. I cleaned them up, then I made some sheet metal support panels, then glued these on the back with PL Adhesive. That PL stuff is polyurethane glue and is as tough as iron when dried. The metal panels once glued to the hardboard, allowed me to bend the existing hardboard panel to straight and also give me screw support for trim screws to bite into to keep them straight. I then used rubber cement to fix all the factory windlace that was falling off the door panel. I then sprayed flex-seal the whole inside panel when done, so it doesn't get soggy and warp again. The installed panel doesn't look bad. I used stainless screws with trim rings to screw the panels through the support metal to the bottom of the doors.

here is the finished interior of the panel before installation:

here is the panel before picture. You can see that the bottom steel strip with the attachment "nails" is completely rusted away.

8. With the interior panels on, the interior looks finished. I installed the new top of door seals I was able to find. They fit with modifications.
9. I installed the top/body stainless trim. I was impressed that I was still able to find all the one-off type of trim retainers they took.
10. I installed the trunk seal. Then re-installed all the tail light wiring I removed to paint the trunk.

11. I installed one of the door seals. I couldn't find reasonable priced '61 Cadillac door seals, so I bought two '61 chevy biscayne 4 door seals. The clip pattern on the rubber was the same, even though the seal ends were different. They fit with modifications.. I tried to install one on the driver's door, but the door would not shut without a hard slamming, so I took it off. I will put it on the other rear door. I will have to get something else to work for the front doors. The Cadillac parts vendors want $100 each for these door seals, so I have incentive to find something else that will work.
12. I took off the fender skirts and put the stainless trim on and adjusted the fender skirt to fit better. One of the skirts fell off while it was on the car and hit the ground and chipped some paint
13. I installed the rear fender trim and the Fleetwood 6 chrome "stripes"

14. The reproduction door bumpers I bought were too thick, I had to really slam the doors to get them to latch. I took them off and cut an 1/8" off each face, then sanded them, then put them back on.
That wraps up the external stuff
The good news is that after I was done with all the trim, I was only missing two pieces of stainless trim when completed. I was missing one of the 6 stripes on the passenger side for the Fleetwood trim, and the passenger rear fender stainless. I know I was missing these before I took the car apart so that is good news that I don't have to spend countless hours looking for parts I took off almost 30 years ago. The bad news is that I have been looking for these "hen's teeth" on Ebay for months and months for these pieces so I will have to spend a $$$$ to buy them if these ever turn up at auction. The Fleetwood stripes only came on the '61 model 60 or 75 and the rear fender trim length I need only came on the Fleetwood or Sedan De Ville, so I will have to wait until I see somebody parting a '61 Fleetwood.
At this point, the car is physically put together, but now I got to get everything working and driving again.
I went and bought a battery at Walmart. Let's see. 390 cubic inches at 10.5 to 1 on a motor that has sat for 10 years unstarted with dry cylinders, my math says 1,000 CCA should do it. The Group 65 battery with 1,000 CCA was $30 cheaper than the Group 24 battery with the same rating so I bought that. It should fit, right? Seems like there is a ton of room.
Well, not exactly but it was close. I had to do some sheet metal "trimming" to make this fit. It was about 1/4" too wide, but I got it in there. by sliding it in sideways. I won't need a hold down now, at least.
I put a gallon of 92 octane in the tank. I couldn't find ethanol free around here,
I hit it with a 3 second blast of Starter Fluid then turned the key.
It fired up after the 3rd crank and ran for about a second. It rattled bad as the lifters pumped up.
I hit it with a few more shots of starting fluid and it started again for a second each time.
I couldn't get any gas to the fuel filter from the fuel pump. I trickled some gas in the carb so it would start and run for at least a few seconds, but still no fuel pumpage. The rubber fuel line to the fuel pump from the hardline was pretty rock hard, so I replaced it with new 3/8" gas line. While it was off, I blew some compressed air through the line and I could hear it at the tank, so I knew the line wasn't plugged.
I will pull the fuel pump apart and see what I have for the diaphram. The fuel pump is "new", I replaced it about 30 years ago . It turns out, this $30 fuel pump I bought 30 years ago, is now like $200 if you can find one