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The Restoration of Bessie

Started by mgbeda, October 30, 2012, 02:24:13 PM

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mgbeda


I’ve actually been working on restoring Ol’ Bessie for about four and a half years now, part time, with a few interruptions.  I'm starting this Restoration Blog now for three reasons: 
-I’ve “turned the corner”, so to speak, and am finally starting to build up instead of tear down;
-Lots of the work needed now is cleaning greasy parts and refinishing them, which is my least favorite thing to do with a car;
-With that in mind I am worried that I may start to procrastinate and that Bessie could turn into one of those never-finished restoration projects.  By blogging about my progress I hope I will feel somewhat accountable to my loyal readers (you know who you are) and if I go too long without making forward progress I hope that some people will start to nag me to get my lazy butt in gear again.

THE STORY OF BESSIE
Bessie is a Commodore Blue 1976 Sedan deVille that my father bought in the summer of 1978 with somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 miles on her.  Though she was sold the first and second (i.e. last) time by Central Cadillac in Cleveland (my hometown) the first owner apparently kept her at his winter home in Florida, so she was only used half the year.  We were also told she was chauffeur driven.  She was certainly the nicest car we had ever owned to that point, and made quite an impression on me as a young boy; I spent much of my pre- and early teens polishing her.  She would also, sadly, turn out to be my father’s last car.
She got to travel a lot in our family’s possession, going as far south as Washington D.C. and as far north as Quebec City during our family summer vacations.

I quite literally learned to drive on her (after which EVERYTHING else seems a compact).  Around 1988 I took her over as my own car, with about 80,000 miles.  I drove her from Cleveland to L.A. where we started a new life.  From then until 1995 she was my daily driver, and ran up another 100,000 miles, including numerous roadtrips, some to go to about any Grateful Dead show within 500 miles, a couple of trips to Sun Valley, Idaho, back and forth to Cleveland one more time, trips to see the Indians’ spring training in Tuscon, Camping trips (sleeps three comfortably), trips to Vegas, etc.  I did a whole lot of living in that car.  By ’95, prompted mainly by a series of four (4) failed Aamco transmissions, she was semi-retired; no longer a daily driver, though I kept her in running condition.  She still looked good, despite being ravaged by 10 years of rustbelt winters.  My Dad had her repainted in the early 80’s, and I did so again in ’93.

In 2004 my wife and I moved to Colorado, and of course Bessie came along.  She continued to get “special occasion” use through 2007, though she was showing her age, mainly in the interior which started to crumble.  In early 2008 I was checking out something underneath and I noticed, to my horror, a crack in her frame just ahead of the left rear wheel.  Further exploration turned up more cracks and holes in that area and beyond.  The repaints may have kept the body shell looking nice, but those Cleveland winters, plus 180,000 not so easy miles, had taken their toll; her back was broken.
Of course there was only one sensible thing to do at this point.  That’s right: perform a frame-off restoration, and while I’m at it throw away the frame.  Seeing as paying someone else to do this would probably cost around $50,000 for a car that goes for about $5,000 in pristine condition, and seeing as a ’76 sedan with a broken frame was worth about bupkis on the open market.  I figured I had nothing to lose by trying to do as much work as I could myself.  I’d always been a “car guy” and had worked as a mechanic in the mid 80’s while I was going to engineering school in Cleveland.  My plan was, and still is, to do the work that isn’t easily seen and then pay someone to do the finishing touches, like paint and upholstery.  I got a non-running parts car with a solid frame and then commenced to spend the next four and a half years completely tearing apart both cars so that I could put together one good, nay perfect, ’76 Sedan deVille.

And that brings us up to today.  The “new” frame is completely stripped of parts from the firewall forward.  I have now started cleaning it up in preparation for paint.  My plan is to scrape off as much 36 year old grease as I can with putty knives and wire brushes, then use mineral spirits and simple green to clean it up more, then use some “rust-convertor” product to etch the metal and lastly paint it semi-gloss black.  After that is done I can put back the suspension and various fuel, brake and steering lines, then put back the engine before moving aft to clean that section of frame and underbody.  I’ve already had the engine rebuilt; probably jumped the gun there, because it’s been sitting and waiting since May, and I don’t think it’ll get run again until the end of January.

Now for a few pictures.  This first one shows Bessie during a family vacation back in  August,  1978.  The chubby kid polishing her is me.  Shame about my ruining the picture like that.
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Next are a couple of pictures from 2008, just before I got started on the dismantling.  Still pretty nice looking, until you look closely at the left rear bumper.  Gee , you don’t think that’s a sign of anything serious, do you?
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Here are a couple of pictures showing the state of the frame.  These are just the most obvious spots; there was significant rust pretty much everywhere.
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Lastly we come to the present.  Bessie’s engine has been rebuilt, and repainted with Bill Hirsch Cadillac Blue.  The rebuilder said it still had cross-hatch marks on the cylinder walls, but after 180,000 miles I figured a rebuild wasn't a bad idea.  And here’s the frame that needs lots of cleaning and painting.  I am open to advice about that, with a couple limitations: no sandblasting (because I don’t have the equipment and I don’t want to deal with the mess) and no hosing off (because it’s inside a garage with no drain and it has no wheels, so it’s not moving for a while).
I hope to provide updates weekly or bi-weekly at the least.  And I encourage you to get on my case if too much time goes by without me making any progress.

Thanks for looking,

-Mike Beda

-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

KD

Nice post,
Good luck finishing it. We all know it's a labor of love and these cars are an important part of our lives.
Ken Dennison CLC#26801
Ken Dennison

1935 Auburn S/C Cabroilet
1940 Cadillac V16 7 passenger Imperial Sedan (9033)
1929 Ford Closed Cab Pick Up
1960 Austin Healey Sprite

76eldo

Great story. I worked for an over the road jewelry sales rep in the late 70's and  put thousands of miles on a 1976 Fleetwood so I know how great these cars are to drive. I used to get the car serviced at Webb Cadillac in Jenkintown, Pa and loved the car.

I did that job for 18 months and couldn't stand it any more so I quit.
The Fleetwood got traded for a 1980 Seville when I left and he retired.

Good luck with your car.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

mgbeda

See how it’s changed?

Okay, it may not look like much but I have been working at cleaning the frame up, and it’s quite clean in spots.  I still have a lot of work to do to get it clean enough to paint.  There’s a lot of nooks and crannies that I don’t know how I’ll ever get clean.  Especially the insides of the fully boxed sections, which I can barely touch, much less scrub.  Anybody found a good way to clean the inside of a frame?

I’ve read on this forum that these frames are supposed to be painted semi-gloss black, but it doesn’t look to me like this was painted at all.  If it was, that paint sure came off easy.  On the other hand it seems like being covered by a layer of grease is a great preservative.  Maybe I should introduce some oil leaks in my rebuilt engine to keep that rustproofing system going.

The third picture below shows the kind of welding GM did in the mid 70’s.  My shop teacher would not be happy.  In addition to all the splatter there are a lot of pieces of welding wire left stuck on.  This is just one of many places like this.  On the other hand the welds have lasted 36 years, so I guess they’re good enough.

The plan for now is just more of the same, so don’t expect anything interesting to happen for the next week or two.  Thanks for looking, and thanks for the encouraging words, Ken and Brian.

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

mgbeda

See how it’s changed?

Seriously I’ve been working on this quite a lot.  If you don’t believe me ask my wire brush (third picture).  Guess I’ll need a new one of those.  The second picture shows a before / after comparison looking at the left hand side.  Although the before is more like a midway.  It still doesn’t look like much for all the hours I’ve spent on it.  That’s one of the reasons why I hate cleaning.

Anyhow I think I’ve gotten the outside surfaces of the frame as clean as I can (although I will pass over them with a wire wheel before I’m finished).  Now I have to try and clean out the enclosed box sections, like under the engine.  I’m becoming resigned to not being able to clean these out thoroughly.  My only idea is to use a long handled brush and a shop vac to suck out as much grime as I can, then maybe some Simple Green to try and get some grease off.  On the bright side if I can’t see these spaces now no one will ever be able to see them later.

For the next step I plan to use this Eastwood product: Internal Frame Coating w/Spray Nozzle; Item #12515 Z.  Has anyone here had any experience with that?
http://www.eastwood.com/internal-frame-coating-w-spray-nozzle.html

My goal is to get this front frame all painted by New Year’s so in January I can start putting back the front suspension and engine.

Thanks for looking,

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

Brad Hemingson CLC #18437

Taking on a frame with a hand held wire brush is a lot of work. I generally start by steam cleaning/power washing them and then sand blasting. You have to get it degreased and then get the rust off. Using a wire brush or wire wheel will knock off the loose stuff but you still need to degrease it to get paint to stick.

In the days when we weren't so carefull with the environment or or health I'd put it in the yard and use gas to degrease. Not recommended!

mgbeda

Yeah, tell me about it.  I have been using mineral spirits as a degreaser, and just before priming I'm thinking of using Prep-All® Wax & Grease Remover.  I'm hoping this will get the frame clean enough.

The problem I see is that most of the best and easiest ways of cleaning a frame involve moving it somewhere.  The garage where the car is has no drain so power washing, or even hosing down, is out.  I don't have sandblasting equipment, or even a compressor, and I've kind of shied away from sandblasting because of the sand-everywhere thing.  I like the idea of Prep-All because it doesn't require rinsing after use (though I am thinking I might try using a spray on degreaser and rinsing with water in a spray bottle and a basin underneath, especially for the internal sections that I can't even see much less scrub).  As always I'd love to hear about good or bad experiences with these products I'm considering.

Thanks for your comments.

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

Caddy Wizard

Eastwood makes a super-powerful frame cleaner that really cuts through the grime.  But DO NOT get it on the car's paint!
Art Gardner


1955 S60 Fleetwood sedan (now under resto -- has been in paint shop since June 2022!)
1955 S62 Coupe (future show car? 2/3 done)
1958 Eldo Seville (2/3 done)

mgbeda

Hi Art,

I couldn't find any mention of that Eastwood frame cleaner on their site or the web in general.  Do you know exactly what it's called?  Are you sure it's from Eastwood?

Right now there is no paint to worry about on the whole car.

Thanks,

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

mgbeda

12-24-2012

Merry Christmas Eve, everybody.

My work has suffered a setback.  I’ve discovered a rust hole in the NEW frame.  I have, of course, been cleaning the frame for the last two or three centuries, and have progressed to the inside of the frame.  Here on the left side just aft of the front wheel (see first two pictures) there’s an oval hole (next picture).  Inside there is a bulkhead which closes off the frame.  This only exists on the left side, not the right; it may be related to the steering gear mounting.  It’s not completely inaccessible in there (there’s that oval hole and a few smaller ones further forward) so there’s ways for water and dirt to get in, but not out.  As I was poking around trying to clean in there with fingers, brushes and a coat hanger I found chunks of rusty metal no longer attached to anything, as seen in the next picture.  (I neglected to provide a scale, but the largest of these chunks is an inch across).  That’s bad.  I decided to drill a small hole through the bottom to act as a drain hole (that’s the smaller hole on the right in the picture of the bottom).  This also let me clean more dirt out, rather than just moving it around.  As I continued to poke around I managed to poke a pinhole through the bottom with a coat hanger.  That’s very bad.  I ended up enlarging that pinhole with a drill (it’s the larger hole at the left of the same picture), which was way too easy to do.  On the bright side I now have more access to this hidden area.  On the dark side THERE’S A FRIGGIN’ RUST HOLE IN MY FRAME.  Discouraging, to say the least.

I can’t face the idea of buying another parts car after spending two years tearing this one down.  And there’s no guarantee that the next one would be any better.  This one looked mostly rust free from the outside (the body as well the frame), and the hole is in an area that looks positively shiny on the outside, so there’s no way I could have found it on an assembled car.  I haven’t found anything more than light surface rust anywhere else on the frame, inside or out, (though I’ve only really gotten into the front third of it so far) and I’m hoping I won’t.

So my new plan is to continue cleaning out this area the best I can.  Next I will treat the inside with some sort of “rust converter” to hopefully stop the rust where it is.  Then I’ll have to weld an external patch on the bottom of the frame to make up for the strength and stiffness that’s been lost in this area, and finish by using the Eastwood internal frame coating.  Needless to say I’m not going to make my goal of painting the frame by year’s end.

The fact that this spot is rusted out on such an otherwise rust-free Colorado car makes me think this is a serious design flaw, having this water trap right here. It’s probably a good idea for other ’76 and similar owners to check this area and maybe add their own drain hole.

Thanks for looking,

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

The Tassie Devil(le)

Don't you just love the sight of the factory welds where they just "spray" the weld around and hope it gets into the right place.

Shouldn't be too hard to fix, but cut out all the bad stuff and cut out a patch piece of the correct thickness and weld it into place.   But, do it better than the factory, and it will last forever.

I would say that this vehicle had been driven in some dusty areas, then the dust turned to mud when it got wet.

Bruce. >:D
'72 Eldorado Convertible (LHD)
'70 Ranchero Squire (RHD)
'74 Chris Craft Gull Wing (SH)
'02 VX Series II Holden Commodore SS Sedan
(Past President Modified Chapter)

Past Cars of significance - to me
1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe
1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe
1937 Chevrolet Sports Coupe
1955 Chevrolet Convertible
1959 Ford Fairlane Ranch Wagon
1960 Cadillac CDV
1972 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe

mgbeda

Makes sense, Bruce.  It is very dusty here in eastern Colorado, and to this day dirt roads are not unheard of.

Happy Boxing Day!

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

mgbeda

3-13-2013

It took me more than two months, but I finally finished my frame repair.  I was going to just buy some steel and make a patch myself, but the metal shop I went to offered to take my template and cut out the thing for $25.  Seemed worth it.  I ground away everything that seemed thin from the bottom of the frame and took the newly opened slot all the way back to the interior bulkhead that indirectly caused the problem (by trapping dirt and water there).  The place where I originally thought the bulkhead was turned out to be about four inches forward of where the bulkhead really was.  All the rest was a lot of clay-like mud, now chipped out.  I painted the top of the patch and the bottom of the frame with some eastwood weld-through primer so there wouldn’t be any bare metal in there.  Then I clamped the patch in place and started welding.  Welding upside down is hard and a bit painful (as some slag dripping off the frame burned through my welding coat and two more layers to settle on my chest).  The frame curves up a little bit at the back of my patch.  I shaped the patch to that by welding the front (flat) part in place and then using a small jack to press the back corner of the patch up to meet the frame.  I used a propane torch to stress relieve the bend as much as I could.  Then I welded the back part in place.  I ended up doing three passes of welding with grinding in between to try to fill and smooth the entire seam.  I still ended up with a few pits, so for the very last step I filled those with epoxy and shot a little primer over everything to cover up the shiny bare metal until I paint the whole frame.  I know no one will ever see it, but I still want it to look as good as possible.  Since the patch is a little thicker (they didn’t have .150 thick steel so I got 3/16”) and much larger than the hole, this part of the frame should actually be a bit stronger than when it was new.

Now I have to get back to the cleaning of the inside of the frame.  I’m actually almost done with that; at this rate I figure another two hours.  I hope that this weekend I can get the internal frame coating applied.
I learned a couple important safety tips that I want to share.  The short version is brake cleaner (aka chassis cleaner) is nasty stuff.  I know that should be obvious and they have plenty of warnings on the can.  But one cold afternoon I was cleaning with that stuff, and it was cold so I had the doors and windows closed, and after a while I started feeling pretty woozy.  I went outside, but I still didn’t feel right.  After this went on for over an hour I started looking up on the internet just what I had done to myself.  Turns out I was accidentally “huffing”, and the effects are about the same as getting extremely drunk.  I spent the rest of the day somewhere between wasted and hung over.  Still it could have been worse;  I came across this article:

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

I have posted this on the general forum too, but I think it bears repeating:  Never MIG or TIG weld something you cleaned with brake cleaner.  The combination of the cleaner, argon gas and heat can produce a super deadly nerve gas.  And I had used that to clean the frame where I welded the patch; fortunately enough time must have elapsed between cleaning and welding that the cleaner had all evaporated.  From now on I’m using simple green.  I’d rather have a dirty frame than a coffin.

I’ll leave you all with some pictures of my patch job.  First is the patch, with weld-through primer.  The top hole is for a fuel line screw, the larger bottom hole I added for drainage.  Next we have the hole I opened up in the frame after I ground away everything that seemed rusty.  Then there’s the patch clamped in place, and next a view of the jack I used to bend the back part of the patch into place.  It worked pretty well.  The next two pictures show the patch welded in place and ground down to something like even (bottom and side views) and last we have the finished product with a quick coat of primer (bottom and side views).  Once everything is painted black I think it’ll blend in pretty well.

Thanks for looking,

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

mgbeda

4-8-2013

Finally I’ve finished cleaning and painting the frame, or at least the part forward of the firewall.  After patching the frame the rest of the job went smoothly.  I cleaned the frame as well as I could inside and then used Eastwood’s “Internal Frame Coating”.  It comes in a spray can with a long flexible wand you attach to it so you can get it inside enclosed areas.  It did a pretty good job coating the inside of the frame, but, wand or no wand, gravity seems to dictate that the bottom parts get better coated than the top parts.  Then again gravity will also make water and dirt collect on those parts so I guess it comes out even.  They say it takes two cans to do a whole frame, but I used three cans just on the front third.

After that I cleaned the outside of the frame one last time with Simple Green.  Then I used a couple wire wheels to polish everything up.  Those worked great.  I couldn’t get over how shiny everything came out.  The picture below doesn’t do it justice; the brownish patches are really reflections of the bare wood walls and butcher paper on the floor.  After that I wiped everything down with rubbing alcohol.  Next I wiped everything down with Krud Kutter rust remover, which is basically phosphoric acid.  And finally another wipe down with alcohol.

Then I had at it with Zero Rust paint.  I did two coats of red primer followed by two coats of black.  Took a little over three hours.  Considering most of the frame was just fine after almost 40 years with the little or no paint the factory put on I’m sure this will outlast me.

With this done I can finally start reassembling the car, starting with the front suspension.  This will be the first time I’ve put something back together instead of taking things apart, so this is kind of a turning point in the restoration.  I’m excited.

Here are a few pictures.  First the shiny frame after being wirebrushed.  Then the frame in red primer.  And the frame with the final black coat on it.  Lastly here’s how the patched area looks after paint.  You can see why I don’t plan on doing the external body work.  But it’s strong and hopefully no one will ever see it again.

Thanks for looking,

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

cadillacmike68

Nice work there, Mike!

The rear frame, where the control arms connect was where my 1970 rusted out. I had it repaired One side then the other, but there were too many other issues with the car after 17 years in the NE rust belt, that i finally gave up the ghost on it.  Good luck getting the 1976 finished. It's one of the last of the real long ones.
Regards,
"Cadillac" Mike

mgbeda

5-31-2013

Look, Ma, a Front Suspension!

Okay, it still needs a few things, like strut rods, tie rods, shocks, brakes, wheels, an engine, fenders, etc.  But at least things have started to come together, instead of coming apart.

Of course no restoration work comes without headaches.  Everything has, literally, taken twice as long as I thought it would.  Okay, I’ve heard that before, but the sad thing is having heard that I doubled all my time estimates and it STILL takes twice as long.

For instance I took my control arms to a local shop to have the ball joints and bushings pressed out.  When they pressed out the upper ball joints they threw away the ball joints AND the camber bushings. They also tore up the bushing hole in one of the lower arms with an air chisel.  The shop manual says that if that surface gets scratched you have to replace the arm.  I hope they meant to say “or grind, sand and polish until the surface is smooth again,” because that’s what I did.  So when time came to get the new parts pressed back in I took the arms to a different (pricier) shop.  Who put the upper ball joints in upside down.  You can’t win.  In the meantime I found a new pair of camber bushings for 70-71 Cadillacs on ebay.  My parts catalog says they are the same 70-76, so I bought them.  After trying to attach the spindle to the upper ball joint I realized the stud was coming out at a very weird angle.  Long story short, those bushings are definitely different from the originals; I don’t know what year they do fit.  So I had to pull the bushings out of the parts car.

Once all these hassles were dealt with the rest of the assembly went pretty smoothly.  I used Detroit Eaton springs which fit perfectly (thanks to Mike Harnack for the recommendation).  The left spring took me about three hours to get in.  After learning a lot of lessons the right one took 30 minutes.  What worked was jacking up the frame further (so I could fit my big floor jack under the lower arm), letting the car down on the lower arm which compresses the spring a bit, then jacking the lower arm up, which compresses the spring more.  No big surprise that with the engine and front clip removed there isn’t quite enough weight to compress the spring so you can get the lower ball stud nut on.  On the left side I got past this by using a ratcheting tie down to pull the lower and upper arms together.  Probably not very safe, and it broke the tie down ratchet, but not before getting the nut on.  On the right side I used a different approach: Pile every heavy thing in the shop on the frame, then sit on it.  And bounce.  That worked easier and didn’t break anything.

Next up will come the rest of the front suspension, the brakes and then the fuel and brake lines, then finally the engine can go back in.  My goal for that is end of July.  Does that mean it’ll really be the end of September?  I hope not.

Pictures enclosed: First, the frame, now with upper and lower arms and springs.  A shot of all the junk I piled on to weigh down the front end.  And a picture showing how the jack went under the lower control arm.

Thanks for looking,

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

wrench

Enjoyed reading your story. Good luck with the project.
1951 Series 62 Sedan
1969 Eldorado
1970 Eldorado (Triple Black w/power roof)
1958 Apache 3/4 ton 4x4
2005 F250
2014 FLHP
2014 SRX

Blade

That's an amazing job you're doing with that car Mike!

mgbeda

07-02-2013

Thanks for the encouraging words!

Not that much progress to report at this time.  Two of the cars I actually drive have demanded my attention lately.  I have gotten more of the front suspension in place now; the steering linkage, sway bar, strut rods and the rotor shields.  I would have the shocks in except when I opened the package of two new AC Delco shocks I had mail-ordered I was (wait for it) shocked (bet you didn’t see that coming) that only one was usable.  The other was made with an incorrect short bottom bushing.  The sealed boxes had the same part number and all, so it had to be a mistake at the factory.  Glad to see that GM has fixed their quality control problems.  I had to mail that back and I’m waiting for a replacement to come.  But that just seems to be part of the hobby.  Next up will be brake rotors, then calipers and wheels, which will be exciting.  To me.

I enclose a couple views of the front frame now with more stuff bolted on, and a picture of the mismatched shocks.

Thanks for looking,

-mB
-Mike Beda
CLC #24610
1976 Sedan DeVille (Bessie)

John McLaurine CLC 17181

Hi Mike

I am enjoying following along with your restoration.  Your garage with the front of the Caddy disassembled is a familar sight -  I have 72 Eldo that I am trying to restore also, but is taking forever.

good luck!
John McLaurine