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3rd try on a 68 conv.

Started by speach, June 06, 2011, 11:22:03 PM

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speach

So I am 35 and my first car that I owned was a 76 Fleetwood Brougham. I took my drivers test in that thing. Yes they had to move the cones in order for me to parallel park. That car was my home growing up. Literally at times. I remember seeing a 68 conv deville in a junk yard that had caught on fire and fell in love. After the 76 was a 63 coupe. Years later I bought a rust bucket of a 68 stripped it for parts realizing it would be a stupid time and financial decision to pick that car to restore. Some times you gotta make hard wise decisions even when it comes to cars. Ended up buying another one that was a good car but needed to be totally gone through. Well before I actually drove it more than three times it caught on fire. Luckily we had full coverage and we received 2 grand more than we payed for it. Thankfully I hadnt put any real time or money in the car yet and only payed 4,000 for it. So yes I found another even better car for 4,000 again. Only this car came from Arizona only a few short years earlier, ran, and the guy bought all new weather stripping for the car. Even the conv top stripping. Oh dang! if you have bought or priced that stuff lately then you know it's not cheap. He probably saved me 500 bucks in stripping. I went through the brakes due to that being the reason my previous car caught on fire. Then I realized that I had an exhaust leak that was crippling my ride. Stealing power and leaking exhaust. Not an enjoyable thing when driving a convertible. So this was the next project. The exhaust leak was due to a busted manifold bolt, which  were all old, rusted and brittle. So I took both heads off to have the bolts removed. Awesome guy, Orwin who has about three teeth in his mouth did that work for me. Now that I can put new bolts in and had the heads off I decided to poke around and see what else might need to be cleaned or replaced. Ha! It all begins. Next posting I will go into all of that.    
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

TJ Hopland

Congrats on the 3rd try.  Hopefully it will be the charm.    Bad exhaust is one of those things that just ruins a nice drive and as you found out can be a 'can of worms'.   Sounds like you are on track to getting that solved and a few other issues along the way. 

So brakes were the cause of fires?  Like to hear a little more about how that happens.

Be sure to sign your posts with at least your first initial and last name, its a much debated policy but so far its still the rule.   
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

speach

Yea. Im working it out. The car that I have now has dual exhaust which was done extremely well unlike many others that I have seen on some Cadillacs. Well I hadnt really driven it but a couple of times knowing that I really needed to go through it. But it was a driver so I could pass up the opportunity to drive it up about 20 min away to meet a few other Cadillac owners for lunch. While driving home I began to notice my brakes acting funny. I was so close to home I decided to just wait until I got home. As I was coming in the neighborhood I had a blow out, drove it not far at all on the bad tire into my driveway. I went inside kind of bummed that I had a flat. Next thing I know my neighbor is pounding on my door, telling me that my car is on fire. Oh man! was it! Completely up in flames. We have a volunteer fire dept where I live so as you can guess by the time they came the car was charred. Funny thing though I had a new conv top it the trunk that was in a box. I was able to pull it out the next day, its fine and will be going on my current car down the road. My conclusion was that I had a leaking brake line which was what I was feeling on my way home. Didnt know that the fluid was that low, but I could feel it grinding a bit when I would brake. So it seems that the friction mixed with leaking brake fluid started a small fire that blew out my tire only to grow while I was in my house. It was crazy to say the least. I would always park the car close to the garage but for some reason I parked it at the end of the driveway that time. I thank God for that despite my stupidity for driving it without knowing the condition of the car better. Live and learn. I will try to post photos at some point.

Wtrausch
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

Aaron Hudacky

Nice looking 68! Were/are your cars drum or disc cars?
1970 Eldorado
1978 Coupe deVille
1979 Coupe deVille
2008 Subaru STI

speach

#4
Thanks. They were drum. I will be on a mission to research the swap at a later date. Any insight would be much appreciated. Not interested in buying an aftermarket high priced kit you know. From what I have read I have not been able to get clear information on the swap.Even though discs were an option in 68 I dont think many people were sold on it back then because from what I gather it is a pretty rare option to see. They switched up a lot of stuff between 68 and 70, prob alot due to the new 472. So it makes it even more confusing. Somewhere I read that some years corvette boosters will swap. I don't really know.  
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

speach

After repairing my exhaust manifolds from the damage of old rusted bolts I realized why stop there. I am not rebuilding this motor now. i originally set out to just be able to drive this car without an exhaust leak. But you know how one thing can lead to another. So heres my parts after being removed wire brushed, heat temp primed and painted. All except the exhaust manifolds. 
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

speach

After doing some reading I found that it would be wise to change the timing chain and gears while I was in the process of freshening up the engine. As I began to dismantle the fan, balancer etc and water pump. Lo and behold massive rust. I couldnt believe that the water pump was still working. Not to mention that I found the timing cover plate heavily pitted. So I ordered some more new parts, and sent the timing cover to be blasted. Below are a few photos of it as I replace the seal, and begin to restore the plate with JB Weld. All the pits will be gone and it will work great very soon. The seal was a pain to get out. I stuck a flat head screw driver in the top ridge and pried it little by little all the way around, then carefully beat it out with a flat head screw driver and hammer being careful not to damage the plate. I did mar it up a bit around the ridge but I filed it and it is fine. JB weld, I just mixed it up equal hardener to steel and squeegeed it over the pitting. I have since then sanded it even and applied another coat of JB weld. I will have photos up of it repaired and painted. The thermostat housing was another nightmare but I will save that for another post. 
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

speach

#7
Ok since my last update I have a new oil slinger coming from a fellow forum club member. I am trading him a set of my new exhaust manifold bolts for it. As soon as it comes in the mail I will be able to install my timing cover back on. Recently I have installed my clean, stripped, primed and painted oil pan, along with my fly wheel cover. That was a part I took from the first 68. It happened to have one on there. How about that for a rusty parts car. I hope I never have to put another oil pan on when the motor is still in. Kind of a sticky pain. My exhaust manifolds are back on. This time I used the more expensive Victor Renz gaskets. They are awesome! They are shaped like the manifold ports. Instead of looking stupid with a bunch of extra gasket hanging out all over the place. I removed the heads again to install new valve seals. Which I am so glad that I did. All of my seals were totally cracked and brittle. I installed the new heat riser. What a pricey piece that was ( about 80 bucks on ebay ). Hooked the dual exhaust back up. Soon it will be time to clean the carb up and look at my before photos to make sure I have all the hoses hooked up correctly. Below is a photo of a few of my parts that I took a wire wheel to then primed and painted. My cheapo power grinder burnt out on me so I am currently looking for a higher quality used one on Craigslist. To be continued..............  Any insight or helpful hints on cleaning up the Rochester would be greatly appreciated. It seemed to be working well before, so not quite sure if I should have it rebuilt. I would like to figure out how to rebuild one, which I do have a spare. Probably pretty time consuming. Also below is a before photo of the engine bay, which already is looking much better.
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

speach

Well I had a good day today. Although my 68 project will have to be semi on hold after I get it running again, I now have a great 66 2dr Calais to get going. I will post photos soon.
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

speach

Main goal right now is to get my 68 running again. Since my last update I have installed the exhaust, and partially installed the carburetor. I just bought a 66 2dr Calais that I will be blogging about as well. So that has deterred my attention a bit. It's a really nice car for what I payed. It was minus an engine though. Luckily I just found a low mile 429 locally for it. I also got a 69 472 that was given to me with the car. So that will be going in my 68 some time in the future. Somebody put a 72 or 3 472 in my 68 before I purchased it. So I will be trying to get the proper pistons etc back in it at some point.
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

speach

Ok well sorry for no pics until now but. Here are a couple of my motor after all of the work. Soon I will be installing an HEI dist, new window motors and getting my top to go up and down properly along with eliminating some minor rust spots on the body.
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch