1951 Caddy daily driver

[dogbergs]

I love this thread!

Greetings from Sweden.

/ Johan

[Mowerhoarder]

Dn,
I didn't know it was that simple! I know that's how you check it on any normal car but the manual goes through a whole procedure on how to check it. It says stuff about running the engine at a speed equal to 20mph for 2 minutes which I guess is just warming it up, I'm gonna check it today and fill/drain some. I do like original parts when I can find them and the wheel cylinders I'm buying are high quality stuff. As for the u-joints, the front I ordered is a MOOG and the rear is NOS so should be all good there.

[Mowerhoarder]

Here's what the stick looks like, checked in drive with engine at idle:

[dn010]

It is supposed to be checked in neutral with engine idling and while the car is on a level surface.

[Mowerhoarder]

Dn, DOH! I knew that but I dunno why I thought it was supposed to be checked in drive. Either way, it was about the same in neutral so I drained about 2 quarts and it's at the proper level now.

And an update: Since draining the fluid, nothing changed! Pretty sure I have to fiddle with the TV linkage some more to get it to shift right, all that's wrong with it is it shifts late now so gotta increase(?) pressure I think. I did get around to throwing shocks on it and it really doesn't ride any better than it did before. I finally did an ignition tune up and this thing rips! it's way better than it was before except it shakes at idle now. I'm not sure how to adjust the carb for that but I did mess with the only 2 screws I could see which were at the base of the carb an it made no noticeable difference so I just set them back to where they were. Put a new points and condenser set and plugs, cap, rotor. Took the car on a 4 hour trip with zero issues, took backroads down and the highway back and it's a great cruiser. I definitely need to get the brakes better and I think the last step I have is to get the shoes re-lined as they're pretty worn and also don't match. I'm gonna do new wheel cylinders and wheel seals at the same time as well. Does anybody have a good re-lining person? I have contacted these guys: https://www.brakematerialsandparts.com/    and they said it would be about $300 for all 8 shoes.

[Mowerhoarder]

Update: Converted the car to a 6v alternator and it's amazing! Got sick of the battery always dying but I did get to jump start my car with some cool cars! I doubt anyone has jumpstarted one of these with a Mercedes AMG before! Anyway, alternator life is amazing and the lights are brighter, the car starts faster and it feels maybe slightly faster? I did run out of gas at the bottom of a hill and had to drive backwards up the hill so the gas would run to the front of the tank which was pretty interesting but other than that, zero problems still!

[TJ Hopland]

I did run out of gas at the bottom of a hill and had to drive backwards up the hill so the gas would run to the front of the tank which was pretty interesting

I bet that was a bit of an odd site to see.

[dogbergs]

Does anybody have a good re-lining person? I have contacted these guys: https://www.brakematerialsandparts.com/    and they said it would be about $300 for all 8 shoes.

To me here in Sweden thats about ok, if translating kronor to dollars I would ask around 240 but dollar is strong to krona nowadays so thats fair!

Johan

[Mowerhoarder]

Tj,
Yeah I definitely got some weird looks from people but that's just how old cars go

Dogbergs,
Thanks! I think I'm gonna send them out soon and have them redone, supposedly high friction material and eco friendly and it might make the car stop better