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1961 Cadillac Restoration: Sweating for the wedding?

Started by Andrew Trout, October 30, 2014, 12:53:16 PM

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Andrew Trout

Quote from: Dan LeBlanc on June 22, 2015, 11:04:24 AM
Unless your original AC fuel pump cap is in really bad shape, you can swap them over.

We don't have it anymore  :'(. The original pump was sent to McVey's to be rebuilt. They effectively did a core exchange and sent us one off the shelf that does not have an AC stamp on it. We didn't realize it at the time. My Dad called them up once we realized the pump wasn't correct and spoke with the customer service rep about it. The CS rep will look around and see if he can find a dome to send us.

Quote from: Bill Young on June 22, 2015, 11:19:43 AM
A word to the wise regarding Hood installation. You will notice that there are removable panels toward the rear of the inner fender shields. These are there so you, while on your back can access the bolts for the Hood Hinges.  Place the Hood on the Car in the down position carefully after starting the Bolts in place securing the Hood to the Hinges so You don't damage the Hood or the car and position it front to back and side to side correctly. Then on your back tighten all the bolts holding the Hood to the hinges and the hinges to the Firewall. I Hope this helps.

Ahhh...yes, that makes sense. It always impresses me the little things that the engineers and designers did to make it easier to work on this car. Not easy of course, but easier. 
Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible

Andrew Trout

Time to install the hood!



So...it's a little redneck, but it works. The hood had been stored on top of the car, upside down for about 3 years. We walked it out, flipped it over, and walked it back in on top the hinges. To get the hood up off the cowl we stacked some planks on the cowl.



After that we got the hinge to hood bolts installed and snugged up.



Hood's in place, and ready to close. We squirted some WD-40 into the hinges as they were a little stiff from the plating process.



Obviously, it didn't fit. The front fenders have collapsed over the years, so we needed to force them out wider. Again: a little redneck, but it worked!



So there were many small adjustments. This was a tedious process. Lower hood. Doesn't fit. Raise hood. Adjust. Repeat.



But eventually we got to a point where the hood would close. Yes, the passenger side is high both front and back, and the driver's side is high in the back. We'll be fussing with it some more. The passenger headlamps are partially installed. We were hoping to put them in as a completed unit, but bolt holes weren't lining up so some partial disassembly was required. The driver's side is also ready, but we ran out of time. The grill is being cleaned and polished before installation.



Engine bay as of this weekend. We put a new wiring harness in from Y and Z, and also the generator wiring. We got the correct fuel pump cap from McVey's and swapped them, and also put the hard line from the fuel filter to the carb in place. We're leaving the fuel pump unpainted as our vision for the car is one that's been on the road for a little bit. We've got General Dual 90 tires on, and the metallic pump to imply the pump was replaced. The speedometer cable is now through the firewall, and the other cables (green and brown ones) have been pulled out. They're connected to something on the underside of the dash, just to the left of the steering column. A previous owner was a firefighter, so it might have been a CB radio or a lights/siren setup for him.

For the engine bay, there's some wires from the wiring harness that need to be connected, the spark plug wires, and the vacuum brake hoses. Oh, and the spring for the throttle. And...I think that's it? Weird to say.

The interior is a different story. That's done, it just requires everything to be installed. Plenty more still to do!  :)
Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible

Bill Young

Looking great Guys! a lot of hard work completed so far. One point I would bring up only because You have gone to such great lengths to keep Her looking original. You can buy T3 Headlights brand new. They are not cheap but any knowing eye seeing Your Car with this detail will instantly recognize that You have gone all the way to replicate what first saw the light of day at Clark Avenue so many Years ago. Just a suggestion because You are heading toward a Car that will hold up against the most discriminating Judge.

Jerry Puma

This is getting exciting! Put a couple of milk crates in the front seat area and drive it to the Keyser show on Sunday!

Jerry
Jerry Puma
1964 Eldorado
1961 Series 62 6-window

Andrew Trout

Quote from: Bill Young on July 06, 2015, 09:59:09 AM
Looking great Guys! a lot of hard work completed so far. One point I would bring up only because You have gone to such great lengths to keep Her looking original. You can buy T3 Headlights brand new. They are not cheap but any knowing eye seeing Your Car with this detail will instantly recognize that You have gone all the way to replicate what first saw the light of day at Clark Avenue so many Years ago. Just a suggestion because You are heading toward a Car that will hold up against the most discriminating Judge.

Thanks for the suggestion. We've got T3 headlights ready to go. Two high beam and two low beam.

Quote from: Jerry Puma on July 06, 2015, 02:09:16 PM
This is getting exciting! Put a couple of milk crates in the front seat area and drive it to the Keyser show on Sunday!

Jerry

No need for the milk crates, we've got the front seat done. I'm going to be out of town for the weekend though. Maybe we'll make it to the Valley Cadillac show.
Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible

Andrew Trout

So like I mentioned: The interior of the car needs to be put together. We pulled out all of the dashboard parts for service earlier on. Instrument panel, radio, and clock have all been rebuilt. We cleaned up all of the metal, and had the painted surfaces re-painted. They weren't in bad shape, but with the way the seats were looking, we knew we had to spiff up the dash as well. But before the dash can be installed, we needed to clean up the steering column.



Steering column sanded, primed, and ready for paint. There was quite a bit of masking to do.




Steering column painted. My Dad masked, sanded, and primed the column, then went up to the auto restoration shop in our town that painted the dashboard. They mixed up a small jar of paint, and my Dad zipped back home to spray it on.



Dash parts ready to go into the car. Hey, having the hood back on the car sure is coming in handy!



Glove compartment installation. Sometimes you need to get creative when getting components to line up straight and level. Or grow an extra pair of arms.




Dash installation is moving along nicely.
Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible

Jon S

I'm sure you are aware, but in case not, the fuel line to the pump mounts on the block/head side; not over the fan belt which will cut the fuel line.
Jon

1958 Cadillac Sedan De Ville
1973 Lincoln Continental Coupe
1981 Corvette
2004 Mustang GT

Dan LeBlanc

There should be a small retainer clip that goes on one of the water pump bolts and holds it against the generator adjusting link.
Dan LeBlanc
1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car

Bill Young

Am I seeing things or is the left side dash pad extension black that should be red?

Andrew Trout

#89
It's red. My Dad's taking photos with his phone while working on the dash this week, and I'm certain he accidentally turned on a filter in his iPhone's camera.



Dash as of last night. Still have to install the plate underneath the steering column, along with the light switch, radio, and clock. The plate under the steering column has the switch for the top, so getting that installed and secured has taken some extra fussing. After that, it's the medallion over the grill, dash pad and we'll be ready to go to the interior shop for carpeting! Well, assuming everything works and all of the bulbs aren't busted  ;)
Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible

auto doug

Hello Andrew  I forgot I belong to this site until just today and I found your restoration page, WOW big ambitious project!   I hope  some of the part I sent you are working out,  I did find the little headlamp brk that mounts to the grill piece, Get in touch with me via email about the other parts  and I can get them boxed up and sent out.  I'm impressed with the car and your work  now seeing pictures of what you talked about keep at it and good luck.

Doug         
Auto Kraft body & paint
A classic car metal restoration shop,  teaching tomorrows craftsmen to restore yesterdays classics

Andrew Trout



Almost completed dashboard! There are some alignment issues to deal with along the ash trays. The big one is just above the ash tray next to the ignition. There's a small gap, but we're not sure how to adjust things to close that gap. Also, does anyone know how to replace the bulb on the dash pad over the radio? We can't get the cover off. Totally stumped on that one.



A small panoramic shot of the interior. Sorry for the distortion. Steering wheel will go on after the sound insulation goes in.



Our new battery and batter cables came! The clip to secure the positive cable to the core support is on order.



Where does the horn relay attach to? We got a new one as part of the wiring harness and it has two speed clips on it. Does it attach by #1 or #2?

Spark plug wires are in, along with the throttle return spring. Generator is wired up as well. Headlamps are in, the grill will go in this week as well.

My Dad's calling the interior shop today to schedule time for the car for carpet and installing door panels and seats. The shop asks for three weeks notice, so in theory the Cadillac should be done in about a month? Who knows! I'm excited, and my fiancée has said she'll be excited when it's running. So she's close to getting excited, which is a lot better than six months ago.  ;D
Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible

Dan LeBlanc

To change the bulb, the lens just pries out.  Take a small flat head screwdriver, put it in one end of the lens, and it will pop out.
Dan LeBlanc
1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car

Andrew Trout



Christmas in July, folks! The front grill is installed.

Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible


Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621

A Cadillac Motorcar is a Possession for which there is no Acceptable Substitute

Jon S

Andrew -

Where in NY are you doing this restoration?
Jon

1958 Cadillac Sedan De Ville
1973 Lincoln Continental Coupe
1981 Corvette
2004 Mustang GT

Andrew Trout

Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible

Andrew Trout

On Monday, August 17 the Cadillac goes to the interior shop to have the carpet, seats, and door panels installed. To save a few bucks, we're putting in the soundproofing ourself:



It's really easy to work with. Very pliable and easy to cut.



Fit a piece in, cut if necessary, and then peel off the backing and stick it on. Hammer flat, and repeat.



We didn't order enough to do the whole interior. Whoops. A slight underestimation of the surface area we are attempting to cover. We'll order some more on Monday.



We got our new battery and have been figuring out the wiring, trying to find all of the grounds so things will turn on. It's frustrating at times, but worth it when things start lighting up and working. We had our radio rebuilt and an aux input installed. To operate it, turn the radio volume down to zero and play it through your phone/iPod/whatever. No setting to a certain station or anything. We tested it and it works beautifully. "Come Fly with Me" by Frank Sinatra has never sounded better.



Headlamps are also working, along with rear taillights. Directionals? Shhhhh, don't ruin the moment. They're not working right now. They worked earlier this week, but now nothing. Not sure if we blew a fuse or what. The wiper motor has stopped working as well.



Front end with the hood open.



Close up of the engine bay



And the hood closed. We put the chrome cowl in.

The starter is hooked up and works as well. You can turn the key and the starter will engage and the engine turns over. We don't have the coil plugged in so it won't spark right now. There are a couple of small leaks have appeared that we need to fix before trying to start and drive the car.

• It looks like the front passenger brake line has a slow leak where the rubber hose meets the hard line
• Transmission is leaking fluid around the speedometer cable as best as we can determine
• The engine might be leaking oil somewhere, but we can't tell right now

We also had an appraiser come by so we can get insurance for the car and get it registered.
Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible

Andrew Trout

We tried to start up the Cadillac tonight.

How did it go?



Not well.

Let's rewind from this photo.

I got out to the house and we had the old fuel hose going into a gas jug as the gas in the tank is crap. Everything is hooked up correctly. Turned the key, the starter engages, the GEN light comes on, the fuel gauge rises...but the engine won't catch. Not surprising. Pour some gas in the carb, try again. Repeat. Check the glass bowl on the fuel filter. Nothing in there, so we add some gas to the bowl and try again. Still nothing. We pull the #1 spark plug and determine that we're getting spark. While looking around the engine we notice a lot of fluid under it.

Uh-oh.

Narrow it down to the driver's side of the engine. Is it the power steering pump? Nope. Looks like it's leaking around the head gasket? That's not good. Crank the engine again and HOLY CRAP that's coolant gushing out from where the water pump meets the head.

So...we have to pull the water pump off. Which took a lot of other parts coming off as well. Which leads to the photo you see.

As for the leak: as best we can tell, we forgot to plug a hole in the head. It's the small, 1/8" hole just below the hole for the water pump on the driver's side head. So we'll clean up the head and block, apply new gaskets to the pump, touch up the paint, and put the pump, oil filler tube and fuel pump back on along with the power steering pump.

And then try to start the car again.

To that point: Any ideas on why it wasn't catching?

To recap:

We have spark
The starter engages
The engine turns over
The push rod for the fuel pump moves
Not sure if the fuel pump is pumping, how do we test?
What else could be causing it to not start? Everything should be grounded if we have spark, right?

Rochester, NY
1961 Convertible