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Another Survivor, getting a make-over rather than a resto.

Started by Jeepers Creepers, April 23, 2017, 10:02:40 PM

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Jeepers Creepers

My wife and I bought our Fleetwood in August last year and shipped it home, leaving Customs and Quarantine here in Australia on the 17th of Nov.



On the 30th of Nov, we had rego, so off came the Californian plates and on went the new ones and we're ready to roll.





So, for 3 months, we drove the car a fair bit, putting approx. 3,000 miles on it in that time.
For a car that only averaged 2,500 mile per year, for 53 years, we took it very carefully and tried not to over stress the poor ol girl.

However, on the 13th of March, a small piece of piston decided it was too tired to continue, so it tapped the spark plug shut, then went straight out the exhaust port.
Not one mark, on the piston, valves or heads.... LOL



So began, the engine rebuild and engine bay tidy up.
Its turned out to be a very worth while exercise, as you'll see by the timing chain. Most times, you could measure the amount of retard from the chain in degrees.
This camshaft was running about 4 hours behind the crank.  :o



More to follow soon.
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

The Tassie Devil(le)

G'day Kevin,

Boy, you were lucky in a number of ways.

(1)   The internals of the engine look really clean, and no sludge whatsoever.
(2)   The Cam gear was caught before it totally stripped off all the nylon.
(3)   The piston piece managed to find its' way out without causing damage.

The picture of the cam gear in the process of self-destruction is a really good one to show what happens during the tooth decay, before the total rot sets in.

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

Jeepers Creepers

#2
Yeah, pretty lucky huh.

I reckon, anyone with a 100,000 miles on board, should be doing the chain.
Most cam belts on modern crap are 100,000klm change over I think

Our car has 124,000 on the dial, but will go back together with standard mains and big ends.
ITs got between 1 to 2 and half thou wear across the 8 bores.

If I wasn't keeping it or trying to do a quickie build, i'd bash 8 standard jam tins in it and button it back together.

BUT, as i'm keeping it, she's going 30 thou over, brand new stock cam, lifters blah blah and we'll do a make over on the engine bay while she's apart.

I'm servicing the turbo 400 tomorrow and of course, a new front seal while its easy to get at.

53 years of grease and crap.



Pressure washed clean ready for some fresh paint soon.



I even gave the underside, a light once over.





Some new flexible fuel lines.



Even the chassis markings came up ok.



Looking forward to getting it back on the black top soon though. 
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

Jeepers Creepers

The last two week-ends, has seen the auto serviced and a new front pump seal fitted and a bit of paint over some bits to make it nice.
The alt. has been checked and OK'd.
The starter motor is all but shot, but I have a new one arriving tomorrow.

Gave the front wheel bearing a good going over, repack and refitted.

Just taking it step by step..... 8)
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

Jeepers Creepers

#4
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been going over every nut and bolt I can find and make sure everything is tight as a drum.
I'm expecting the block and heads back any time now, so I've been cleaning and painting a few bits ready for the big day.

I can't get the exact colour here in Oz, but this came up pretty close.










Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

arch62

That is one mighty nice piece of art. The best I can do is use crayons if there are lines.
I admire your patience.

Jeepers Creepers

Mate, the collection of painted goodies is getting bigger by the day.  :o

If the weather forecast stays true, we'll paint the engine bay this week-end and have all the engine bits at home early next week.

Photo's to follow.  8)
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

Jeepers Creepers

#7
We have a painted engine bay now, as well as the air cleaner assembly and the underside of the hood in a semi-gloss black. (Looks pretty glossy to me, but it might settle.)

The hood also received its insulation in-fills and the rubber wind deflector today as well. The mate and myself are stuffed now, its been a big week-end.

In an effort to save me disconnecting the air cond, power steering and cruise control, I made a cradle to hold everything up and out of the way... sort of.

























As it says in the heading, not a restoration, but a makeover of a good survivor/driver car.
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

Jeepers Creepers

#8
This is the insulation in-fills I used on our car. Whilst I know its not the correct insulation, I preferred the look of this stuff and it seemed to blend nicer colour wise.

Not as thick, maybe half an inch thick I reckon. I just made up some thin cardboard templates and then cut the stuff from a sheet. It was only about $80.00 for the sheet, so pretty good value too.

You might notice too, I cut a pair out for the very front of the hood as well.

There are a few things I've done that are NOT ORIGINAL but nothing that couldn't be rectified should some-one buy it one day (Not likely to be getting sold in the next 20 years) and want it 100% as per the factory.

The other issue being in Oz, is the crappy dollar exchange. Our dollar here, only buys about 74 cents in the US dollar at the moment, so it all gets a bit expensive by the time you add in some freight as well.




Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

Jeepers Creepers

Oh man, feeling pretty chuffed today.

Nice squeaky clean engine block with the rotating assembly installed and neatly wrapped in plastic came home today. Oh, and two Cylinder heads, all done and assembled and wrapped in plastic too.

Now, I still have to finish the assembly and fit it back in the car, but hell, it sure is one trick looking bit of gear at the moment.

If anyone is interested in the specs,
Pistons, .030 over @ .002 clearance.
Mains, standard @ .003 clearance.
B/ends, standard @ .0025 clearance. (All bearings are Federal Mogul brand.)

Zero deck height on the block.
Hastings rings, the top ring is running @ .018" and the second ring @ .020"

The rear main cap modified to suit the later bearings and using a neoprene seal.

The heads received a fairly standard 3 angle valve job and 16 new bronze guide liners.

I reckon, by the time I stuff about painting or refurbishing each and every item as I go and get the whole thing in and running, we'll be back on the road by 4 to 5 weeks I think...... so yeah, i'm pretty happy today.... :)
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

James Landi

Inspiring-- and thank you for sharing the documentation with pics.  '64 Fleetwood is an especially wonderfully designed car, and you're adding tremendous value and longevity for a worthy piece of engineering excellence.    James

Jeepers Creepers

#11
Thanks for the kind words James.

I tell ya, putting them back together is bloody slow going  :o when you paint every part prior to bolting it onto the car or the engine.
The pile on the garage floor is pretty big, but will all start to find a home now on the big lump of iron in the engine stand.



Nearly there baby, just a little bit more......  ;)



Hmmm, nice to look at in a picture, just terrific to see and touch in real life. (Its all wrapped up again now)



Now, the reason the cover has gone on a non painted engine, was we needed to put a dial gauge on number 1 cylinder and verify the timing marks are correct. No good assuming, however, it this case, it was spot on correct.



Just a couple of updated shots....

The cruise control came up ok.



I can't wait until the bowl of spaghetti (engine wiring) is all back on correctly. Its depressing just looking at it.





Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

DeVille68

1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

Jeepers Creepers

Snipped a day off work today to get a pain in the butt job done and out of the way. (Just a bit easier to do with no motor in the frame rails)

Both upper control arms out, (Taking note and marking the camber settings prior to removal) and got the local mechanics up the road to press the old upper bushes out and press the new ones in. (I'll get a wheel alignment done once we're up and running)

Left 'em there for 4 hours while I came home and cut and shaped every rubber splash apron thingys for the inner fenders. Bit slow going, but each one done and dusted.

Upper arms back in and the final rubbers that sit over the arms cut and fitted. I don't work this hard when i'm mowing lawns for people.

The Fleetwoods back in the shed, so I managed to get the short block into primer and its first coat of blue.

The car itself now, is pretty much ready to receive the engine, so I have to get my finger out and get that to a finished product.
Geez, I'm buggered, i'm going for a beer, c ya.
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

Jeepers Creepers

I spent a fair bit of time on the week-end making sure the car is ready to receive the engine again. Only the small job of replacing the speedo drive O-ring to go and a final, final, final once over, and the car is ready.

The engine is now a COMPLETE SHORT MOTOR and will most likely get the heads put on it tomorrow. At this rate, the motor installation will be the week-end of the 24th and 25th. I could push for this week-end, but I'm going to take my time to a achieve a perfect result or as perfect as I can get it.

This morning saw a "dry fit up" of the sump as the first job to do. Why you ask?..... over time, often, sumps are warped out of shape by knuckle-heads screwing the bejesus out of them, which buckles the sealing edge.

Ours was very good and needed no repairs and the clearance to the oil pick-up was fine. (another trap, always check this) So it was on with the sump, oil pump, water pump, fuel pump and any other pump I could find today.

I also did a "dry fit up" of the new starter motor. Our car is missing the starter to engine brace.... So, to try to take some pressure off the adaptor plate for the T400 and prevent it cracking, I fabricated a small bracket to help keep it all in sync. The original Cadillac bracket, is for my liking, a bit over engineered and hard to find these days, so it was up the Campbell Brains Trust to come up with something simple. This was way easier to do with the engine on the stand. The materials I had here and it cost me $10.00 for a bit of welding and I reckon it'll do the job just fine.

I scrubbed the hell out of all the head bolts this afternoon, noting a couple do go into water jackets, so sealer will go on the offending bolts.

I'm trying to make it all "pretty with paint" as I go, but as our car is a survivor/driver, I reckon it will scrub ok. I'll pop a couple of pictures up later on today or early tomorrow.

Cheers, Kev
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

Jeepers Creepers

#15
couple of pictures.











Oh, and the elusive R/H mirror was fitted last week-end too..... bugger me, i hate drilling holes in cars....nearly gave me the shakes.
The bare metal has been touched up with white Killrust to prevent an issues.



Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

arch62


Jeepers Creepers

Quote from: arch62 on June 12, 2017, 05:35:23 PM
why the 3-holes for the RH Mirror?
Non-remote.

Hi mate, yeah, you still have the end of the spring loaded nut that gives you the tension on the swivel in the centre hole. The template shows it as needing the 3 holes as well and a photo of a car with a R/H mirror from new had the same thing.

Good question though. ;)

I got stuck in again this morning, and now the heads and rockers  etc are all on and tensioned up. Sorta looks like a real engine now.  :o
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia

arch62

Just checked mine again before I start drilling. Looks like the center hole for the mirror stem does not go past the rubber gasket. No template was included from OPG. Unless it's barely noticeable?

Jeepers Creepers

#19
Quote from: arch62 on June 13, 2017, 12:33:36 AM
Just checked mine again before I start drilling. Looks like the center hole for the mirror stem does not go past the rubber gasket. No template was included from OPG. Unless it's barely noticeable?

If you want a template, contact Russ Austin from on here or the 63/64 chapter, as on there, is the exact measurements you will need in the help section
(I'm assuming you have a 63 or 64)
The template does have a larger hole in the centre, as its a take-off from the L/H mirror.

Just allow for it when you measure it up..... I measured about 6 times before going near it with a drill.
Lots of masking tape over the door is a good move too.
I used a right angle drill to do the bolt hole in the leading edge of the door.

If I can do it and get it correct....anyone can... ::)
Kevin and Astrid Campbell
Australia