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Janice's 1974 Persian Lime Firemist Eldo Convertible

Started by hornetball, March 11, 2019, 06:03:12 PM

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hornetball

This story actually begins in 1985.  I had just graduated from Annapolis and married a lovely, fiery lass from Baltimore.  We were living in DC while I finished graduate school and she finished her BA.  A neighbor had a Persian Lime '73 Eldo convertible with a white interior that my new bride fell in love with.  We bought it and she proceeded to drive it everywhere, including a move to Pensacola for flight training.  Alas, life happened and, with my first daughter on her way, we sold the Eldo on for something more "practical."  That first Eldo was also a Northeast car and was starting to suffer from rot.  Ever since that day, every time I get her a car (and she has some really nice cars), all I hear is "I miss my beautiful, green Eldorado!"

Fast forward 34 years.  I've been on the lookout for a rust-free '73 or '74 for some time and one shows up in TN.  It's this car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHY7ZhIOXyU

The shop that had it in 2016 basically did a cheapo cosmetic "restoration" (cheap paint job, re-dyed interior) and then sold it on for max profit without addressing any of the deferred maintenance.  The elderly gentleman that bought it tried to daily drive it but ultimately traded it into a Dodge dealer.  It was then auctioned to a used car dealer in East Tennessee from whom I bought.  The last couple of years were rough on the car, the cheap paint cracked and faded, the dash and steering wheel cracked, and the deferred maintenance remained deferred.

But the car has good bones.  The metal condition on this car is amazing.  The dealer that I bought it from said that it spent most of its life in AZ and that the indicated mileage (a bit over 80K) is original.  Having spent some time under the car, I believe that.




Picking up the car was an adventure.  I "lied" to my wife and told her I needed to visit a customer in TN over the weekend to prepare for an upcoming aviation trade show.  Parts of that were true . . . I did go to TN and I do have a customer there.  But my objective was to travel to TN to determine if the car had rust and whether I thought it could make it to TX under its own power.  I left from work and flew out on frequent flier miles.  Upon inspecting the car, it looked really good underneath.  So my attention turned to road-worthiness.  I determined that basic safety items were good (newish tires, relatively smooth engine, smooth shifting transmission, fair stopping, good wipers, good lights, good heat).  As for the rest, some things worked, but a lot of the cool "Caddy" items did not.  I felt the car could make the 1000 mile drive to TX (knock on wood), so off I went!




My only drama was the AC compressor seizing about an hour West of Knoxville.  I should have pulled the clutch connector -- I didn't realize the clutch was engaged.  That also knocked out the power steering, so I manhandled the car the rest of the way.  Not too bad on the interstate, but parking was rough!

Speaking of interstates, I had forgotten how these cars drive.  That 501 just pulls the car up hills effortlessly.  It's like driving a locomotive -- set the torque and chill out.  The ride was also really nice despite the original, completely worn shock absorbers.

I made it back to TX on Sunday afternoon, hid the car in the hangar at work and drove home like nothing happened.  I was waiting for my wife's birthday.  Here's the birthday girl!  The smile says it all:




It's now home with the goal of making it 100% right!

MaR

I had the AC compressor seize up and throw the power steering belt in the middle of a sweeping expressway ramp when I was in my old '74 Coupe deVille when I was a teen. That was a great experience... The car look awesome! I would love a Persian Lime '74; that is one of my favorite colors.

hornetball

Quote from: MaR on March 11, 2019, 06:56:00 PMI had the AC compressor seize up and throw the power steering belt in the middle of a sweeping expressway ramp when I was in my old '74 Coupe deVille when I was a teen.

Yikes!

Your thread inspired me, so it was time to create the log for this restore.

Cape Cod Fleetwood

I can't LOVE this story enough, nice job Navy, BZ.

\m/
Laurie
There are 2 kinds of cars in the world, Cadillac and everything else....

The Present -1970 Fleetwood Brougham

The Past -
1996 Deville Concours
1987 Sedan De Ville "Commonwealth Edition"
1981 Coupe De Ville (8-6-4)
1976 Sedan De Ville
1975 Sedan De Ville

The Daily Driver and work slave -
2008 GMC Acadia SLT *options/all

hornetball

#4
Quote from: Cape Cod Fleetwood on March 12, 2019, 11:14:27 AM
I can't LOVE this story enough, nice job Navy, BZ.

Bravo Zulu to you too!   :)

First order of business was to start tackling all the deferred maintenance and, in the process of working on the car, discover all its secrets.  Rock Auto has been my main source for parts.  Thus far:

1.  Bought the OEM Service Manual (absolutely mandatory!!!).

2.  Flush cooling system and replace radiator/heater hoses, radiator cap and thermostat.

3.  Flush power steering system, replace power steering hoses and fix leaking flare connection at power steering box.  Had to use a copper gasket (Parker 2GF-6) to get that sealed . . . must have been leaking for a long, long time.

4.  Replace accessory drive belts.

5.  Transmission fluid and filter change.

6.  Differential fluid change.

7.  Brake fluid flush.

8.  New front brake pads.  Used the AC Delco Professional semi-metallics.  They feel nice.

9.  Rear brake pads were OK, but found one of the springs installed backwards which was preventing the self-adjuster from rotating.  This fixed an apparent "low" pedal.

10. Repacked rear wheel bearings.  They had the original factory grease and the felt-type grease seals that were in use back in the 1970s!

11. Suspension rubber and ball joints checked out good with the exception of the front sway bar link bushings.  Replaced those.  Motor mount rubber looked good too.

12. Replaced the rear spring isolators and aligned the rear springs as shown in the manual.

13. Checked suspension height.

14. Cleaned, painted and balanced the wheels.

15. Replaced the shock absorbers and steering damper.  Used KYB Gas-A-Just on the front and Monroe gas shocks on the rear.  Ride is nice and controlled now.

16. Checked the ALS system and found a bad compressor and leaking lines.  The level sensor on the rear axle was good.  Replaced the lines, but still working on the compressor.  The diaghragm is good so I should be able to bring it back to life.  Temporarily installed a Schrader valve to keep some pressure in the new rear shocks.

Still have a ways to go . . . .

A post isn't complete without a picture.  Here are the original Superlift shocks:









Skwerly62

BZ to you Navy-ator! A great story that I could see my Dad doing (former S2 driver). Car looks awesome and I’m sure she deserves it after supporting a Navy spouse! Here’s a pic of my parents driving off on their wedding day, Corvair got a rotisserie resto in ‘09 and still in the garage, a one-owner Ensign-mobile. On a side not now my oldest wants to be a plebe in 2020. Enough about me best of luck with the car and many years of her enjoyment and happiness with it! Funny how aviators love our cars so much.
1958 Extended Deck 62 Sedan SOLD
1960 Coupe - current project
USCG Vet - Fly CG!

Cape Cod Fleetwood

Quote from: hornetball on March 13, 2019, 06:30:08 PM
Bravo Zulu to you too!   :)

First order of business was to start tackling all the deferred maintenance and, in the process of working on the car, discover all its secrets.  Rock Auto has been my main source for parts.  Thus far

1.  Bought the OEM Service Manual (absolutely mandatory!!!).


You may want to add this to the NATOPS...
https://www.ebay.com/i/141988343247?chn=ps

Outstanding job of dealing with what makes it safe and driveable first.

\m/
Laurie (ABH2/NAC/AW)
There are 2 kinds of cars in the world, Cadillac and everything else....

The Present -1970 Fleetwood Brougham

The Past -
1996 Deville Concours
1987 Sedan De Ville "Commonwealth Edition"
1981 Coupe De Ville (8-6-4)
1976 Sedan De Ville
1975 Sedan De Ville

The Daily Driver and work slave -
2008 GMC Acadia SLT *options/all

hornetball

Quote from: Skwerly62 on March 14, 2019, 10:23:43 AMHere’s a pic of my parents driving off on their wedding day, Corvair got a rotisserie resto in ‘09 and still in the garage, a one-owner Ensign-mobile. On a side not now my oldest wants to be a plebe in 2020.

What a great picture.  I still have my Ensignmobile too.  A 1966 big-block Sport Fury convertible (I've always loved older cars).  I remember when a group of us drove from Meridian, MS down to Pensacola for our first carrier quals (Lexington).  The other butterbars had new Mustangs, Camaros and assorted Japanese or German cars.  That Sport Fury absolutely smoked them all on the drive down.  They couldn't believe how fast it was.  Fortunately, I don't drive like that on public roads anymore.

I'd go to Annapolis again in a heartbeat.  Great experience (although, in truth, no one "wants" to be a plebe -- but you make the best friends of your life during that long year).

hornetball

#8
Quote from: Cape Cod Fleetwood on March 14, 2019, 11:24:20 AM
You may want to add this to the NATOPS...
https://www.ebay.com/i/141988343247?chn=ps

Outstanding job of dealing with what makes it safe and driveable first.

I got the CD.  It had the 1974 service manual and body manual along with 1975 supplements.  Great deal.  Amazing how detailed the system descriptions are in those manuals.

It's a pleasure working on the car.  I built myself a really nice garage last year.

hornetball

#9
When I got the car, the engine ran smoothly but it had valvetrain noise and a distinct tick which was worse at idle when cold.  The engine oil also got dark pretty quickly, although it barely used any oil on the 1000 mile drive from TN to TX.  Plus, members here alerted me that these cars came from the factory with nylon camshaft gear teeth.  So . . . into the engine I went.

Pulling the valve covers was depressing.  Both sides had a mountain of sludge built up in the center over the exhaust crossover.  I should have taken a picture.  45 years of dino oil, short trips and poor PCV system maintenance had taken their toll.  When I pulled the rockers, there was obvious damage to many of the rockers and valve stem tips.  The pushrods were straight, open and had good ends though.  So there had not been a lack of lubrication.

I pulled the heads to get them rebuilt.  Fortunately, as I got deeper into the engine the story got a lot better.  The lifter valley was pretty clean and the pistons and cylinder walls looked really good.  I think this may be typical of these Caddy engines when they are lightly used.


I also found the source of the constant tick . . . cracked driver's side exhaust manifold.  Fortunately, Rock Auto had a new replacement.  Only the driver's side was available, and I'll bet that's the one that frequently cracks due to the exhaust manifold heat stove.




Moving on to the front of the engine, sure enough, the timing set is junk.  Chain is loose and camshaft gear is full of cracks.  Looks like I dodged a bullett here.  Replacements on order.


Cape Cod Fleetwood

There are 2 kinds of cars in the world, Cadillac and everything else....

The Present -1970 Fleetwood Brougham

The Past -
1996 Deville Concours
1987 Sedan De Ville "Commonwealth Edition"
1981 Coupe De Ville (8-6-4)
1976 Sedan De Ville
1975 Sedan De Ville

The Daily Driver and work slave -
2008 GMC Acadia SLT *options/all

hornetball


DaddyDeVille

1 Old car (The Green Devil~le) (Lots of gas)
1 New Truck (Not quite lots of gas, but still a lot of gas)
1 New Car (no gas)
1 Newish Bike (Some gas)
1 Old bike (Some more gas)

https://chuckdidit.wordpress.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mightneedoil/

hornetball


wrench

I didn't even notice the garage pic until Laurie mentioned it...

Nice setup. Nice car...glad you found one that makes your wife happy!

1951 Series 62 Sedan
1969 Eldorado
1970 Eldorado (Triple Black w/power roof)
1958 Apache 3/4 ton 4x4
2005 F250
2014 FLHP
2014 SRX

hornetball

#15
More valvetrain damage.

Valve stem tip:


Valve stem:


Rocker arms:


Closeups of camshaft gear:




Pulled the lifters and found some strange wear:


The lifter wear tipped me off that the camshaft probably had damage.  Turns out, the camshaft had 3 worn lobes.  Good lobes:


Worn lobe:


Mic measurements:


Found one of the pushrods was completely plugged -- no oil flow.  I'll bet the others had reduced flow.  I ordered a new cam directly from CompCams (got the 252H).  Buying directly from their website saved ~$70 over ordering from Summit or Jegs!  Got a new set of pushrods from RockAuto.  And a set of T-posts and rockers from CadCompany in Albuquerque.  Basically, the valvetrain on this car, starting from the crank gear, will be all new.

hornetball

#16
Got parts back from the machine shop.  It's like Christmas.  Started painting stuff dark blue:

Front cover/water pump:


Intake:


Heads:


Starting to come together.  It's fun manhandling Caddy 500 heads:


At a stopping point for now as I wait for the camshaft and pushrods to come in.

MaR

You are about a week or two ahead of me on my engine refresh. I just pulled the first head today on mine. Fortunately, I have not found any internal damage.

hornetball

Quote from: MaR on March 31, 2019, 09:00:40 PMYou are about a week or two ahead of me on my engine refresh. I just pulled the first head today on mine. Fortunately, I have not found any internal damage.

I'm glad the heads are so lightweight!   ;D

You'll probably catch up.  Waiting for parts . . . .

MaR

Quote from: hornetball on March 31, 2019, 11:44:06 PM
I'm glad the heads are so lightweight!   ;D

You'll probably catch up.  Waiting for parts . . . .
Considering that I broke five exhaust manifold bolts on the passenger side, I doubt that...