1939 Cadillac Convertible Sedan #23 of 36 Built

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Well here we go....Found this car at auction mixed in a 400 plus lots of art work, photos, etc.....

I'm going to post pictures every once in awhile to highlight problems and to ask for direction to fix the problems.....

These are from a few days ago as I was waiting for the delivery of the car....finishing up the top on the brand X car,....clearing the decks, sharpening the axe and getting ready for an exciting project....big sandblaster ready to go...4' X 4' X 6'....probably not big enough for those big fenders....

Thanks in advance for joining in!!

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

More pictures from the eastern front....

I pulled alot of raccoon and possum crap out before these pictures...

I also found a previous resident who isn't with us any more....

Mike

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Looks like you are going to need all that space to get the job done.

Like the "double" Sandblasting cabinet.   Allows a friend to assist in holding parts.

Bruce.

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Here are some parts that came with the car.....

The doors were tagged as from a LaSalle Hearse and it said these should be used for their window regulators....

The convertible top is mostly gone....all that's left is a section that was fabricated to just cover the front seat...complete with the rear window right behind the drivers head....

Those hard to find convertible sedan window posts were in the car!...

If you pirate a big chunk of the convertible top mechanism, why not take these??

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

More pictures from today...

I thought the floors weren't too bad.....only holes were in the corners near the rear fenders....

Seat springs, front and back, were also in decent shape....

The last oil change was 700 miles ago but it was done almost 60 years ago!!......I pulled the dip stick it looked clean and full with no water in it...

I wonder if that old garage is still there?....

Mike

[Tom Boehm]

Could the top frame you got with the car be from a convertible coupe?

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Could the top frame you got with the car be from a convertible coupe?

It could be Tom, they tried to rig it to those convertible sedan window posts....soon I'll take a picture of it in place....I bet it won't be pretty.....the car must have looked like a weird power boat going down the street.....

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

When I get an old barn find in, I try to figure out why it got parked decades ago....

The 1934 LaSalle, looking back now, it was obvious....somebody went trail riding with the car and they broke off the bottom of the exhaust manifold....Park it over there, it's too much work...and there it sits for decades...

This 1939....I can't tell yet....but look at this water plug that has been removed (picture)....why take that out?...Is that a hint as to why it was parked 60 years ago?

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

I have the shop manual on order and I thought I read somewhere on how to take the battery out of the car.....

Wow I thought the 1955s were tough....I had no way to pull that battery out but straight up....cable made a nice handle.....

Don't try this at home kids......see pictures.....60 plus year old battery that I had to wrap in duct tape to hold it together.....good core though.

I guess you have to turn the front wheel hard right to get access to the battery....but it's inside a box!.....I wish I had the shop manual...

Mike

[harvey b]

Nice car,i always liked the 39's better then the 37's, but i guess beggars cant be choosers.On my 37 the hole that is in your motor is where the temperature sender is on my motor?,my engine is a 37,not sure if the 39's were the same or not,does the motor in yours turn over?.Years ago i had a battery carrier just like yours,it was a plastic strap with 2 metal washer type hooks that grabbed the post to lift the battery,bought it someplace,wish i had it for removing the battery in mine now. GoodLuck Harveyb

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Nice car,i always liked the 39's better then the 37's, but i guess beggars cant be choosers.On my 37 the hole that is in your motor is where the temperature sender is on my motor?,my engine is a 37,not sure if the 39's were the same or not,does the motor in yours turn over?.Years ago i had a battery carrier just like yours,it was a plastic strap with 2 metal washer type hooks that grabbed the post to lift the battery,bought it someplace,wish i had it for removing the battery in mine now. GoodLuck Harveyb

I figured the motor was going to be stuck so I pulled the spark plugs and they all looked pretty clean....not all oil fouled like I expected....

In each plug hole I poured some of my witches brew ....ATF...acetone...PB Blaster...let it soak in...

I then put the car on the lift...boy did my lift groan lifting this monstrosity.....Once up, I was happy to see a nice flywheel cover...took that off and then got my pry bar and gently started to turn that flywheel...(picture)....Not going all cave man on it....nice and easy.....

I was surprised that it moved right away....I figured it would stuck solid right away....10-15 teeth and I hit a spot that was sticking...not solid stuck but spongy...I figured its stuck at a valve....I left the pressure on and then I heard a click, not loud but we started to move again....I kept going until I hit another spongy spot...this one I can't get thru just yet....Tonight & Tomorrow more witches brew, and we start again.....

so far so good....

Mike

[harry s]

Mike, Sounds exciting to get some movement. I agree on the spongy resistance being in the  valve train.  I've tried the ATF and acetone and will have to add some PB next time around. I predict it will be running soon. Have a nice Thanksgiving and keep us posted.
Harry

[Bob Hoffmann CLC#96]

I suggest you reverse direction & then go back & forth.

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Mike, Sounds exciting to get some movement. I agree on the spongy resistance being in the  valve train.  I've tried the ATF and acetone and will have to add some PB next time around. I predict it will be running soon. Have a nice Thanksgiving and keep us posted.
Harry

Thanks Harry.....It's fun to get back into the fight again!!

When I started to use the pry bar I put a yellow crayon mark on the flywheel, at about 6 o'clock.....not it's at 12 o'clock...

I suggest you reverse direction & then go back & forth.

Yep Bob, took that advice and went the other way and it's stuck again in both directions at about 15 teeth each way......I can't get back to the original 6 o'clock mark....the sticking is starting to move around at different points on the flywheel.....again all spongy valve train type feel.

So I went nuts with the witches brew....ATF, acetone, PB....filled each spark plug hole....alot down the carb....I'm hoping to get to those intake valves on the top side.....By the time I was done the brew was coming out of the broken exhaust pipe under the motor....

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

As I wait for the witches brew to work I went to work at the rear brakes....their dragging and I cant adjust them off the hubs....It's hard enough to push and pull this car back and forth with the brakes dragging....

You guys remember a couple of years ago I bought that wheel puller for the rear hubs on the 34 LaSalle....friends of mine said that's a nice tool but you'll never use that again....wrong !!....Today it got a workout....

6 lug nuts on each wheel and to my surprise the hub is keyed onto the axle...dragged out the wheel puller and WA-la off the hubs came.....

My short term goals for the car are to get it running....moving and stopping.....Running and moving are bogged down right now, so I can get the brakes ready to stop this thing someday...

I can get the shoes relined locally.....where can I get the spring kits, wheel cylinders, master cylinder??.....my usual suppliers websites say they have everything except for the series 75s??

The 3 rubber hoses I can get from Brake Hoses Unlimited in Mi....I can bend up the steel brake lines myself.......where do I get those other things??

Check out the pictures I took today of the puller and the brakes and the axle....

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

With regard to the brakes......

I can get the shoes relined locally.....where can I get the spring kits, wheel cylinders, master cylinder??.....my usual suppliers websites say they have everything except for the series 75s??

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Good news!!    The motor really broke free today....

Flywheel rotated in both directions nicely with only a little pinch in one spot....nothing major...no real sticking points are left...

I drained the oil pan of all the ATF, acetone & PB Blaster....had to be 3 gallons in there....I really eyeballed the draining pan....I saw no coolant and nothing unusual accept some gloppy stuff coming out at the end....

I then put a quart of Kerosene, 5 quarts of Marvel Mystry Oil and a quart of ATF into the motor oil fill......

I wanted to spin the motor with the starter to listen for any weird clunks or clanks....none were heard....It just sounds like slow turning 6 volt motor....Starter is pretty much shot, but I rigged up the battery charger to throw 12 volts into it to get it to turn.....just the starter and just for 10 to 15 second blasts....

You 346 experts can chime in and tell me if I'm ok thinking that the oil pump will pull my new MMO mixture up to keep the motor going in that good unstuck direction....

Was a good day today.....but lots has to be done now to get it running on its own....

Mike

[Bob Hoffmann CLC#96]

Good news. Spin the motor as you're doing & see if it shows oil pressure on the gauge.
Re the brakes:
How much meat on the shoes? If there's a lot, use them as is. You'll never wear them out. And I'm sure they're quality material.  Hone the wheel cylinders &  MC. Replace all rubber hoses. You may have to replace all brake lines. Clean & lube all moving parts. Clean up drums. No need to turn them.
Bob

[Roger Zimmermann]

Rear axle: is the axle shaft straight and not conical? If yes, this is why there is a key.

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Good news. Spin the motor as you're doing & see if it shows oil pressure on the gauge.
Re the brakes:
How much meat on the shoes? If there's a lot, use them as is. You'll never wear them out. And I'm sure they're quality material.  Hone the wheel cylinders &  MC. Replace all rubber hoses. You may have to replace all brake lines. Clean & lube all moving parts. Clean up drums. No need to turn them.
Bob

I pulled all drums......the rear brakes shoes are into the rivets and the rear hubs are grooved up pretty good.....I'm going to have to turn them...

Front brakes are a different story...they don't look like they have 50 miles on them....the manual says the spec on all shoes should be 1/4" of meat...fronts have all of that, the rears not so much....

It looks like somebody just did a brake job on the fronts and the tires all around are just about brand new when parked....there are no tire codes on any of the tires so I'm guessing these are pre-1970 tires....It makes me nervous to see lots of brake work and tires done just before the car is parked.....I'm starting to think something bad happened to stop the car....we'll find it soon enough....

after 50 plus years of sitting do I keep those front shoes???......the front hubs look great, nice and smooth....

The starter just couldn't turn the motor fast or long enough to get the oil pressure gauge to move....so the starter, the generator and the voltage regulator went my local rebuild guy....He's got a new 6 volt battery and maybe some new Gates belts....the old numbers are on the belts....although he said the old belts looked new when parked and could be reused....(see pictures of everything)

Mike