'56 Coupe Deville project

[Cadman-iac]

I've had my 56 for close to 25 years now. It was, and still is, for the most part in rough shape body wise. Its not rusted, except for a small part of the floor,  just beat up some. I found it just a mile north of the Mexican border here in Arizona.
It wasn't running,  in fact the engine and transmission came separately in the bed of my truck. The engine wasn't even the correct one. A PO had installed a 62 390 at some point in time, and the owner I got it from had removed it and was trying to install a small block Chevy and 700R4 transmission. I ended up with both engines and transmissions.
I had a 472 from a previous parts car that I rebuilt and hadn't used yet, and since I didn't have an original engine for a 56, I decided that I would use the 472 when the time came to restore the car.
For 20 years I had just been collecting the parts I needed to complete the project, and waiting for the time to be able to do it.
Some health issues have slowed me down, but I'm too stubborn (some say too stupid) to let it stop me. After 5 back surgeries and a pair of (now broken) 12" rods in my back and a plate in my neck,  I'm still trying to do what I love,  work on and drive a  real car.  Getting under one is not very easy anymore, but not impossible. I try to do as much as I can while I'm upright because of it.  I gotta remember to have all the parts and tools I'm gonna need all laid out before I get under the car.
But back to the car now,  I started working on it about 2 1/2  or 3 years ago,  I don't recall exactly.  I didn't think to document any of the work. I wish now that I had, but what's done is done.

I began with the seat adjuster. I went completely thru the  seat adjuster, as it was locked up. I  blasted what would fit in my cabinet, and sanded what wouldn't. I then rebuilt the motor and solenoids, and I rewired the whole unit and then painted it. It works as good as it looks now.

From there I started on the dash. I disassembled the gauge cluster and went thru each part one by one. I polished up the chrome and painted what needed it. Now all the gauges look and work great. Having a second gauge cluster from my parts car was a big help. Besides being a source of parts if necessary, it was a reference tool if I needed it. Fortunately for me all of the gauges worked fine. Then I did the same for the spare cluster. Afterward I boxed them up until I'm ready to assemble the car.

Next I began on the radio. I have  3 of these, all of them the Wonderbar radio. I tested each of them  before I started to clean and repair them. Two worked but the signal seeking feature didn't. The third one would turn on but nothing more.
So I started on the best looking one first, disassembled it and cleaned it up. I figured out what was wrong with the signal seeking mechanism and  corrected it, and it works perfectly. I will say that if you are bench testing an old tube style radio, it's absolutely necessary to use larger test leads than you could with a newer radio. It will still turn on if you use say 16 gage wire, but it doesn't carry enough amperage for the seeker system to function correctly. I found that out the hard way when I was chasing gremlins. Once I got some 12 gage out it worked great.
I inspected it closely for any bare wires as almost every wire in it is cloth covered with a really thin plastic coating under it. They all looked good so I didn't replace any of them.
With more confidence I then started on the radio that would only turn on . It wasn't in as good of shape as the wiring insulation was falling apart. I decided to completely disassemble it and replace every wire in it. Before I started though,  I drew out a diagram of the radio and numbered every connection in it, gave each component a number, and made a legend to help me keep everything in order, since I didn't have any schematics of the radio in any of my books.

As Mr. Murphy would have it, my wife found some schematics and some service bulletins for sale online AFTER I had drawn out the complete radio and had it completely disassembled. But that gave me all the information I needed to do the job.
I really wish now that I'd had this phone back then to take pictures and videos of the stuff I've done so far.  I had resisted getting one for years, seeing them as an electronic leash and a pain in the  neck to use from trying my wife's phone occasionally, and not having any experience with the phone, you can imagine my misgivings. 
I finally didn't have a choice though as my trusty old flip phone finally gave up the ghost, I gave in and got one.
I did show off the radios to family and friends.  Never having had a  Wonderbar radio in any of  my  other classics I was thrilled with them when I got them to work.

These pics are of the radio that I completely disassembled and rewired and my notes and diagrams. I'll post pics of the one that I didn't have to rewire when I can find the box it's in. Everything I've rebuilt has been put in boxes until I'm ready to start reassembling the car.

More to follow when I have the time.
Rick

[James Landi]

Thanks for posting Richard-- I own two of that year, and loved and really miss them-- alas, they were daily drivers  and the rust mites took them off of the road.   Would enjoy seeing picture psotings of your work.   Happy day,  James

[Cadman-iac]

So as I disassembled the dash,  I continued to rebuild the pieces. I went thru the clock,  repairing the electrical parts that typically go out after years of use. The contacts are usually the problem with them.  They become corroded over time and either won't conduct electricity,  or only enough to chatter until they burn out the coils or points.
Since I had three of them,  I went through all three. Then I set them all up on a table and just let them run and I adjusted them to keep the time correctly.
I took the one that performed the best and put the best chrome and lens on it, then did the same to the others.
Now I've got three good clocks for my car. Unfortunately one doesn't look all that good.  The parts car it came out of was apparently the home of a stray cat, who had marked his territory quite well.  If you're unaware of what cat urine can do to chrome,  well let's just say it's not kind.
I did the same thing for the dash trim, using the best for the car, the rest as backups.
I had to remove the old paint that GM put on the trim as some had either flaked off or been scratched off, or in the case of the 3rd piece,  it was "pissed" off. (No pun intended).
I tried a couple of different ways to repaint them.  I started with a small brush,  but that didn't work very well. I then tried spray paint on it.  It's more even than a brush,  but  it gets all over the part.
I had to scrape the paint off of the high spots by hand to get the original look.  That took forever. After three of the sets,  I figured I had enough. 
Two of them I repainted the original black,  but just to see how it would look,  I did the third one with a cream  white color. I liked it,  but my wife didn't. The "Boss" wins, and the white one went into the spare parts box. The one the cat ruined I didn't even try.

Even with having 2 cars myself,  and  having stripped another, and finding some stuff at swap meets, I  don't have enough parts to complete more than one dash assembly, thus the  odd number of spares. But it's good to have spares, just in case.


Another part I went thru were the headlight switches. From the 4 of them I had,  2 were for fog lamp cars, which mine has. I took them apart and cleaned and greased them, checked the circuits and rheostats, and had 3 out of 4 good switches.
I still have to do the dash panel and the top as well,  but all the stuff on or in it is done.

I decided to totally rewire it as well. I didn't want to have to buy all of it though because of the cost. I've had lots of experience making new harnesses, so that didn't worry me.
To get the harness exactly like the original, I started by disassembling the original one wire by wire and copying it with new connectors. As I did this, I would lay it out and tie it together until I had a complete harness. Once it was all laid out,  it was just a matter of wrapping it up.
I was surprised to see how they did the harnesses back then. You get the one main harness that all cars get,  then as they added options, they'd add the harness.
Mine has  1, the main,  2, the A/C,  3, the radio rear speaker,  4, the trunk release,  5, the trunk pulldown,  6, the taillamps,  7,  the fog lamps,  8, the autronic eye,  and I think that's it. Gotta get the box out with the harnesses in it and double check that now.
Oh yeah,  #9, the dome lamp harness. Now the dome and taillamp harnesses are made separately but are still part of the main one.

Anyway, that's part of what I've done so far. If anyone's interested,  I'll continue with more pictures as well.

[J. Gomez]

Rick,

Well that is a winter project for sure better to be in a warmer area working on your toys, then in a cold garage.   

I just did a complete re-cap on my spare radio and amplifier not an easy task trying to fit the now new smaller ones into the large area the older one where, just adding large pig-tails. I’ve also did an AM alignment and will be replacing the vibrator with a new solid state I’ve made and fitted inside the old can.

Next will be the one on the car but in the meantime, I’m getting the Autronic amplifiers a few spare ones and the one on the car re-cap as well and getting the vibrator made just for these since they are different.

Fun fun for sure..!   

[Cadman-iac]

Next will be the one on the car but in the meantime, I’m getting the Autronic amplifiers a few spare ones and the one on the car re-cap as well and getting the vibrator made just for these since they are different.

Fun fun for sure..!   
[/quote]
Yes! Loads of fun! I've spent many a day and night in the shop working on this stuff. But I love doin' it!

  And yes, I'd like to see your mods.  I didn't get into how I did my autronic eye yet, but if I remember right, it has a 12AU7 tube, or something like that, in the system too. It struck me a little strange as that's the same one used in the radio.
My system I had to piece together from two different cars. My Sedan Deville had everything in it except for the eye itself.  But I got really lucky  though, years prior to getting the Sedan I found a dash top with the eye still on it for  20 dollars at a swap meet.  It was the only part that the guy had for a Cadillac. I bought it just because it was a Cadillac part,  not really expecting to get a whole system someday.
Long story short,  I put the two together and tested it on my shop bench in the dark, using a small flashlight as the oncoming vehicle headlights, and it worked perfectly.
I've since rewired the whole thing as it was brittle and stiff. I didn't want to risk it shorting out. The hardest part was getting the shielded wire figured out, as the shielding doesn't actually connect between the eye and the control box if memory serves. I didn't realize that it used voltages up to 600 AC, thus the shielding.
It's a very cool setup for the time. I was suitably impressed to say the least.

You say you're replacing the original vibrator with an electronic unit? Are you making that yourself?

Rick

[J. Gomez]

And yes, I'd like to see your mods.  I didn't get into how I did my autronic eye yet, but if I remember right, it has a 12AU7 tube, or something like that, in the system too. It struck me a little strange as that's the same one used in the radio.

Yes they used the standard 12AU7 although the original one has the Guide with the 5943333 stenciled over it making hard to see.     The 12AU7 is a general amplifier commonly use then and even today in some high end audio equipment.

Long story short,  I put the two together and tested it on my shop bench in the dark, using a small flashlight as the oncoming vehicle headlights, and it worked perfectly.

Yes that is simple test    , the Autronic-Eye tester is just a box with the controls and the meter to adjust the intensity of the light bulb inside to calibrate the “DIM and HOLD” controls on the amp. I have several ones that I was able to refurbished and now stacked on my shelves.

I've since rewired the whole thing as it was brittle and stiff. I didn't want to risk it shorting out. The hardest part was getting the shielded wire figured out, as the shielding doesn't actually connect between the eye and the control box if memory serves. I didn't realize that it used voltages up to 600 AC, thus the shielding.

It's a very cool setup for the time. I was suitably impressed to say the least.

Yes that is a DENGEROUS box the voltage can reach close to 800V AC out to the phototube. 
It is funny that a similar setup is coming back on newer vehicles commonly known as “adaptive headlights” on some GM models.   

You say you're replacing the original vibrator with an electronic unit? Are you making that yourself?

Yes, I made one for the radio and fitted inside the same can as the old mechanical one (see P1150144.JPG) just need a bit of refinement on the label. I’ve use this one during the AM calibration on the spare radio, will try to make one more for the one on the car.

I just got the replacement caps for the working radio so now I need to go over these and mark which side is the “foil side”, the new ones are not marked as they did with the older wax paper caps.

I know that solid state vibrators are available but I like to tinker around, and for about $18 on parts and a few hours I could not pass the opportunity.

For the Autronic-Eye amplifier I had a few spare caps and made this board with the capacitors that are strapped on top of the transformer, had to use two in parallel for the .06mf with the ones on-hand. See attach pictures P1120140.JPG board mounted and P1150145.JPG just the board, the capacitor on the side goes under the 12AU7 socket. 

[James Landi]

 As a tinkerer who engage in vacuum tube analog technology way back in the 1950's, it was possible for someone with my limited brain power to figure such circuitry out, and then enjoy fixing broken items by replacing suspect parts.  The dawn of integrated, transistorize printed circuits ended my explorations and conquests.   Now when a control circuit board in a appliance fails, it winds up in the land fill.  James

[J. Gomez]

As a tinkerer who engage in vacuum tube analog technology way back in the 1950's, it was possible for someone with my limited brain power to figure such circuitry out, and then enjoy fixing broken items by replacing suspect parts.  The dawn of integrated, transistorize printed circuits ended my explorations and conquests.   Now when a control circuit board in a appliance fails, it winds up in the land fill.  James

James,

How true true you are, we are leaving on a disposable era cheaper to buy new than to fix and refurbished what is broken. That is why we Cadillac folks are a dying bread since we are old fixer uppers. 

[Lexi]

Hello Jose, James and Rick. You would think the "greenies" would encourage a more fixer upper society. You know, their saying "reduce, re-use, recycle", but as a society we throw away too much. Yes, this is a disposable society era. I always try to fix an item first, before tossing it. Working on my Cadillac I never throw anything out. Clay/Lexi

[J. Gomez]

Hello Jose, James and Rick. You would think the "greenies" would encourage a more fixer upper society. You know, their saying "reduce, re-use, recycle", but as a society we throw away too much. Yes, this is a disposable society era. I always try to fix an item first, before tossing it. Working on my Cadillac I never throw anything out. Clay/Lexi

Clay,

that is why my wife and kids do not understand the both tell me "why keep old stuff that you will never going to used..! " and I keep telling them "Well not today but eventually I'll..!" 

[Lexi]

I totally agree Jose. Tell your wife & kids that we all feel that they are extremely lucky to have you...!!!    Clay/Lexi

[James Landi]

I'm glad to have this chorus of encouraging (older) men singing the praises of discipline, determination, and a "can do" philosophy.  I kept my 83 Eldorado going until it reached 317,000 miles in 2013, in part to prove to myself and others (willing to listen) that a good car, well maintained is money in the bank.  I described myself as Detroit's worse nightmare, (but then, I finally "folded" and treated myself and Mrs. Landi to the most extraordinary car I've ever driven, my 2007 XLR which has ZERO user serviceable components.

[Cadman-iac]

Hello Jose, James and Rick. You would think the "greenies" would encourage a more fixer upper society. You know, their saying "reduce, re-use, recycle", but as a society we throw away too much. Yes, this is a disposable society era. I always try to fix an item first, before tossing it. Working on my Cadillac I never throw anything out. Clay/Lexi

Yup!!  I've never had a new car in my life.  One, I can't afford it, two, too damned fugly, and three, I'm doing my part to recycle.
That's my contribution to the environment!!

This throw away society is only fueled that much more by companies like "Chinamart", I mean Walmart,  and "Koreamart", Kmart.
Car companies are just as bad anymore.
Rick

[Cadman-iac]

As a tinkerer who engage in vacuum tube analog technology way back in the 1950's, it was possible for someone with my limited brain power to figure such circuitry out, and then enjoy fixing broken items by replacing suspect parts.  The dawn of integrated, transistorize printed circuits ended my explorations and conquests.   Now when a control circuit board in a appliance fails, it winds up in the land fill.  James

James, I'm not an electrical engineer or even an electrician,  but I did take a class when I was in high school, decades ago.  I had kept the book,  which was printed in the 50's or early 60's, and I would refer to it now and then over the years. I used it when I was working on the radios last year.
I do agree with you too about the garbage that's made today.  Its all disposable.  Nobody makes stuff to last anymore. Even things that aren't complicated are not repairable anymore.
That's why I love classic vehicles so much. And I think that someone who repairs and/or restores one is the ultimate environmentalist regardless of what anyone else thinks.

Don't give up!!!  Keep a classic running.
Rick

[Cadman-iac]

Another thing I've been restoring is the factory A/C unit. I did this one earlier last year. Like alot of stuff,  I've got 3 of these as well. I wanted to use the original A/C just because of the cool factor, (pun intended).
I went through the whole unit, cleaning and painting it, and rebuilding/rewiring the fan motors.
I had to fabricate the rubber seal that goes between the trunk unit and the divider behind the rear seat. I couldn't find one of them anywhere.
I also had to make a new back seat/trunk divider panel as the original one disintegrated when I tried to remove it.
Out of the 3 units, I only had 1 of the incoming air temp sensors that was somewhat useable. They are a complicated control and I'm still not sure if I've got it completely figured out yet. It's got a dual heating wire element that wraps around the capillary tube that heats the tube slightly when the A/C control on the dash is in a given position.
I'll have to read up on it again to be able to explain it better here.
Anyway,  the weak link in the  system as far as I can tell is the heating wires. Two of my sensors had both sides burned out, the third one has one side out. I'm still kicking around ways to rewire it to get the system to work like it was designed to work. I've tried several different wires from various other parts but none of them have the right resistance values, and none had  insulation thick enough to insulate yet thin enough to allow the heat to warm the capillary tube.
The biggest problem with this sensor is how they installed the heating wire on the  sensor. Besides being wrapped around the exposed part of the tube,  it's also wound around the base of the tube right at the diaphragm that expands and contracts the internal controls of the sensor, and it was originally coated with a ceramic type material.
The ceramic material helped to insulate the wire and keep the heat around the tube base and the diaphragm.
The problem with this wire is finding more with the right resistance AND with the right kind of wrapping/insulation on it as well.
As I said earlier,  there are two circuits on this heater wire. When you set the A/C dash control to max, both sides of the heating circuit are energized to help keep the sensor from icing if I remember correctly. 
Then if you slide the control to a warmer setting,  it disconnects one side of the heated wire, so the capillary tube can better detect to the incoming air temperature and act as  a  cycling switch so that the inside air isn't too cold.
There's also a evaporator temp sensor with a capillary tube that inserts into the core to cut power to the compressor if the core gets too cold. It keeps the core from icing up.

Anyway, here's some pictures of the A/C unit and the incoming air ducts.
I've  still gotta find where I put the A/C dash control and take some pictures of it.

The last two pictures here are of the rubber ducts that go from the fans to the rear package shelf outlets.
I'd like to know if these are available anywhere.  Mine are not useable as they have hardened with time and broke when I took them out.
I've not been able to figure out how to fabricate something that would work for these yet.
If anyone has a suggestion I would sure appreciate it.

Rick

[Cadman-iac]

Yes they used the standard 12AU7 although the original one has the Guide with the 5943333 stenciled over it making hard to see.     The 12AU7 is a general amplifier commonly use then and even today in some high end audio equipment.

Yes that is simple test    , the Autronic-Eye tester is just a box with the controls and the meter to adjust the intensity of the light bulb inside to calibrate the “DIM and HOLD” controls on the amp. I have several ones that I was able to refurbished and now stacked on my shelves.

Yes that is a DENGEROUS box the voltage can reach close to 800V AC out to the phototube. 
It is funny that a similar setup is coming back on newer vehicles commonly known as “adaptive headlights” on some GM models.   

Yes, I made one for the radio and fitted inside the same can as the old mechanical one (see P1150144.JPG) just need a bit of refinement on the label. I’ve use this one during the AM calibration on the spare radio, will try to make one more for the one on the car.

I just got the replacement caps for the working radio so now I need to go over these and mark which side is the “foil side”, the new ones are not marked as they did with the older wax paper caps.

I know that solid state vibrators are available but I like to tinker around, and for about $18 on parts and a few hours I could not pass the opportunity.

For the Autronic-Eye amplifier I had a few spare caps and made this board with the capacitors that are strapped on top of the transformer, had to use two in parallel for the .06mf with the ones on-hand. See attach pictures P1120140.JPG board mounted and P1150145.JPG just the board, the capacitor on the side goes under the 12AU7 socket.

J.,
I think  that's really cool that you can engineer replacements  for tubes and vibrators.  That's a bit out of my league. I'd love to be able to do that sort of stuff. I've designed some things, but nothing that complicated.
 
Have you ever thought about drawing out your designs to sell to help others who would like or need to replace a tube or vibrator?

You know I learn something new every day.  My problem is I forget something else every hour. In a few years I won't know anything! LOL!!

Rick

[James Landi]

At the risk of repeating myself, during the early 70's I used my '56 to commute a 90 trip each day to work.  I absolutely loved the a/c (and heating system)in these cars.  On hot, humid days the  a/c was so effective that I had to wrap a towel around my neck as the chrome air conditioning diverter would drip on my shoulder and neck... and yes, it was a COOL car even back in the 70's.  As a school man, the students loved to talk about it with me-- of course, those models were "very old school designs" even then.   James

[Cadman-iac]

James,
Yours must have been a 4 door sedan if the ac came out overhead.  I wish that GM had done that for all models. When I first got mine I thought someone had modified it because the ac vents were only on each side of the rear package shelf.
I found a set of the clear tube/ducts for it before I realized that the hardtop models didn't use any.
I would think it's more effective if it comes out in the roof.
I gotta wonder how much of the cool air will reach the front seat from flat vents on the rear shelf.
Another thing I'm wondering about is why the  control for the outside air intake is mounted on the rear package shelf where it can't be reached by the driver.
It seems like the engineers didn't think this through very well.
Nonetheless,  I'm excited to see how it works when I get it done.
I'm kicking around the idea of converting it from R12 to R134 because of the availability of the R12 and the outrageous price for it if you can even find it.

Thanks for your comments and memories on it. Much appreciated.
Rick

[J. Gomez]

Rick,

The specific resistance wire you are referring is called “Nichrome” it is the type used on both the inside A/C temp control lever and the thermostat on the evaporator unit. I believe the insulation used on the thermostat wire was cotton.

There should be two wires coiled around the capillary tube one has a few turns while the other has about twice as many. The short one would have a resistance of about 15ohm with a length of +/-15” and the long would be about 45ohm with a length of +/-32”. Both ends are strapped at the end of the capillary tube for the ground, DO NOT solder them at the end of the capillary tube you will destroy the tube.

The smaller wire heater is controlled by the inside temp lever position to open or close the thermostat for the compressor cycling. When the control is place on the full “cool” position the larger one is place in-line for a longer cycling.

Mine was bad so I had to modify it with a newer Ranco unit and built the heater coils and transplant the contacts over. I used a fiberglass sleeves to isolate the wires around the tube they were thing and did allowed heating around the tube.

HTH

[Dan LeBlanc]

R12 isn't that badly priced and there's tons of it on eBay and Craigslist.  I'd rather pay extra to run R12 and have it COLD than run R134 and have it _cool.