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Restoring a 1956 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe in Germany

Started by harascho, January 14, 2016, 03:22:00 AM

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moto1969

Thanks for sharing your restoration project.  Just got a 55 Cadillac series 62 that my son and I will begin restoration on.  Two bottles of Crown Royal "Rye" whiskey paid for this ride. Passenger and driver side floor boards rusted through and some roof damage to be repaired.  Condition of engine unkown, added teaspoon of diesel fuel and 30 wt motor oil to each cylinder before cranking over motor, car has been sitting for 15-20 years.
jemedina

harascho

Ok and the story goes on... those front fenders are a real task, the inner wheel wells and headlamp cover panels.. everything is seriously rusted. I needed a lot of imagination to sort out the basic shape of some parts.... but " One piece at a time .." will bring me to the finish line..;-)

Harald

goofyhb

Hello Harald,
great progress! "One piece at a time..." great song and just the way I am taking it too. In the 55 this area looks a bit different. Did you have any remains of rubber attached to your parts? This was used to seal against the fender.
Attached pics my parts. They were just repaired. Not as nice as you do it.
Regards
Axel
1955 Series 62 Sedan http://bit.ly/1Ri914p
1949 Buick 56S
1960 Series 62 Convertible
1960 Fleetwood

harascho

and the title weights 60 lbs..;-)

Does anybody have some pics of the area front inner wheel wells to front bumper? I need to see the clearance of the fog lights in the bumper to the inner structures of the fenders. I rebuilt those parts and I do not know if the round shape in the middle of that panel is for strength or if there is a clearance issue to the lamps in the bumper.

Thanks

harald

harascho

Some engine and tranny trouble:

When I took the tranny apart I realised that the internals of the shift valve body are not according the manual. I am missing the neutral clutch valve and spring, those weren't installed in the shift valve body. Does anybody have an idea?
Also the engine showed one bent pushrod. I will investigate further today. I guess the minimum are new lifters and that pushrod and a new timing chain. I am curious how the camshaft looks... I'll post engine pics later..  here is the tranny stuff....

cheers

Harald

harascho

Now lets address the engine. I found a bent pushrod. My guess is the lifter wasn't compressing due to oil contamination. When I removed the lifters they were hard to pull out, the lower circumference had a kind of corrosion ?  Were should I buy new lifters / pushrods? I hope to remove the cam tomorrow...
The pushrod details: length 9,77" thickness 0,28" The lifter length 2", thickness 0,84"

harascho

While waiting for engine parts I started on the trunk floor
or should I say floors...'caused by the several layers of sheetmetal patchwork..

Harald

DeVille68

good work!

Wow, I would dream to be able to work in a shop like this!

I need to bring my tools by bicycle every time and don't have a lift or any help.... :-)
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

The Tassie Devil(le)

Quote from: harascho on September 13, 2016, 01:31:41 PM
...... When I removed the lifters they were hard to pull out, the lower circumference had a kind of corrosion ?  Were should I buy new lifters / pushrods? I hope to remove the cam tomorrow... 
I have always found that when trying to remove lifters from an old engine (read as high-mileage) there is always a ring of sludge/varnish around the bottom of the lifter, which stops it being pulled out past the normal movement range whilst it is working.

The big thing to check with the lifter is the condition of the bottom face, which runs on the Cam Lobe.   If it is flat, or in any way convex, then it definitely requires replacement, unless you have kept each one in alignment with its' opposing cam lobe.

Mix them around, and the cam won't last, but as you are replacing both the Cam and Lifters, that is not a problem.

Bent Push Rods is caused by sticking valves, or something wrong with the top end.   

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

harascho

Hi folks I need some help regarding the 4 rearmost body to frame mounts.

As I have the frame ready and the  body in primer by now I need to get an idea how those rearmost 4 bodymounts look like. Two are in the rear crossmember into or through that bent U-channel on the body. Question is are those bolts going trough the U channel and into the trunk ( = visible in the trunk) or hust trough the U channel and between the channel and the trunk floor is the bolt ??

Also interesting are the next two bodymounts in the trunk going into the curved outer frame rails. How do the nuts look like? There's a window in the frame rail to get access but I have no idea how those nuts & bolts look ' cause access with any kind of tool is almost impossible..

cheers

Harald


Roger Zimmermann

Quote from: harascho on September 13, 2016, 08:00:55 AM

When I took the tranny apart I realised that the internals of the shift valve body are not according the manual. I am missing the neutral clutch valve and spring, those weren't installed in the shift valve body. Does anybody have an idea?
Harald
Sorry if I'm late to answer: I practically never look at the restoration threads. Did you find a solution to your "problem" which, in fact, is nothing? According to the Serviceman bulletin from December 1955, those 2 pieces were not necessary and therefore not installed. Shop manuals are usually a good source, but changes are not included.
Another modification, done on most all '56 and '57 transmissions: on page 12-70 from the shop manual, fig. 12-85, the front sprag inner race has tangs on one face. They engage with the front unit coupling, page 12-78, fig. 12-103; unfortunately, those tangs broke easily; they were replaced with splines. Il you still have the tangs, I have a NOS front sprag inner race. However, most probably, your transmission had the splined version.
On all transmissions I overhauled, I saw just one '56 on which the tangs broke, creating a major failure.
I still have a '56 and a '57 car; I overhauled myself the '56 transmission but I have no idea which version I have; it was my first overhaul and was not aware of all possible failures/changes...
Years ago, I sold 2 '56 front fender to a man from Germany; I suppose it was not you.
1956 Sedan de Ville (sold)
1956 Eldorado Biarritz
1957 Eldorado Brougham (sold)
1972 Coupe de Ville
2011 DTS
CLCMRC benefactor #101

harascho

Hi folks, does anybody have a kind of cam card / cam spec for the standard 365 Cadillac engine's cam? I want to check timing with a degree wheel and I am missing that information.
The reason for checking is my new timing gear ( rebuilder's choice) it seems to have a little bit more chain slack that I expected..
Thx
cheers
Harald

harascho

The cam is from ELGIN,  a E-256-S, CM 256 grind..does anybody has detailed info on it? Yesterday I mailed ELGIN but the response is still on the way, hopefully..;-)

Cheers
Harald

harascho

And there was progress...... she's in beautiful paint now..;-)

harascho

And the assembly goes on..... so far no big problems....

novetti

Great photos! Thanks for sharing!

I would just ditch that air filter and go back with the original oil bath unit.
54' Iris Blue (Preservation)
54' Cabot Gray (Restoration)
58' Lincoln Continental Convertible (Restoration)
58' Ford Skyliner (Preservation)

harascho

My plan is to go back to the original oil bath filter but that nice piece is in paint prep at the moment..:-)

harascho

Ok and the beat goes on...
I finally got the alternator and Sanden AC Compressor in place. Other than a slight difference in spacing with the OEM triple pulleys and the Sanden double pulley everything fits like a glove

cheers

Harald

harascho

Hi, I am struggling to re-install the cluster with all the heater control cables. I took countless pics when I disassembled it all but now I have the 2 cables from each heater box on the A pillar plus the two coming from the water valve... Does anybody have an illustration? The workshop manual doesn't touch that.... at least not in a way that enlightens me ..;-)

Roger Zimmermann

Unfortunately, I cannot offer a definitive answer; I should look underside of my Biarritz dashboard to see which cable is going to what. I just have those images when I replaced the trip odometer from my de Ville some years ago; I doubt they will be very useful. Most certainly I did a drawing about the cables, but I gave the whole documentation to the new owner.
The left lever is for the heater. One cable is going to the Rance valve and the other to the left heater box.
The right lever is for the vent/defroster. One cable is also going to the Rance valve and the other to the right heater box. Something in my explanation does not please me as both hear and defroster levers must operate both heater boxes.
Facit: even with pictures, a note with paper and pencil can do wonders.
1956 Sedan de Ville (sold)
1956 Eldorado Biarritz
1957 Eldorado Brougham (sold)
1972 Coupe de Ville
2011 DTS
CLCMRC benefactor #101