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High School Reunion with 1967 Sedan DeVille

Started by savemy67, December 07, 2014, 11:57:13 PM

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savemy67

Hello all,

In my previous post I described my driveway project. In the last photo accompanying that post, you can see some of the steel uprights for my carport in place.  I planned to use steel strut for the entire frame of the carport.  I was lucky to acquire several 20 foot lengths of strut at no cost, so I was able to complete the frame of the carport, having only to purchase 2 ten foot lengths.

Photo 4985 shows how I was able to take advantage of three steel columns that support my porch.  Since the columns are virtually immovable, a good deal of rigidity is imparted to my carport frame by use of the columns.  Photo 4998 shows that all the joints of the frame are assembled with 1/2-13 fasteners of various lengths.  All the fasteners are SAE grade 5, and after all the final adjustments were made, every fastener was torqued using a torque wrench so that I could establish uniformity of tension throughout the frame.

Photo 4991 shows the finished frame.  The roof frame consists of three trusses, upon which rest six purlins for the attachment of the roof panels.  In this photo you can see that I installed threaded rod diagonally to the corners of the frame just under the trusses.  The threaded rod can be tensioned with turnbuckles (photo 4996).  When I adjusted the turnbuckles, a great deal of rigidity was imparted to the frame, especially to the front.  Photo 4991 also shows that the uprights on the left are anchored to the driveway slab.  The uprights on the right are driven into the ground about 20 inches, and the front two are encased in piers that are filled with concrete.  I can hang my body weight (about 170 pounds) on the middle of the middle truss with no discernible deflection of the truss.  The engineering load specification on the strut, when used as an upright, is 660 pounds at 72 inches unbraced.  My uprights are 84 inches but are braced in 4 places.  My back-of-the-napkin calculations indicate the frame should support a snow load of about 4000 pounds.

I installed 1 x 2 battens every two feet to facilitate the installation of siding (photos 5003, 5004).  Photo 5009 shows the siding completed on the sides and gable end of the carport.  The all metal roof was installed using stainless steel bonded washer screws (photo 5032).

If my roof was decked in plywood or OSB, installing the roof panels would have been easy.  As it was, because I was installing the roof panels onto slotted strut purlins, I had know way to see from the topside of the panels where the slots were, and where the steel was.  So I drilled through the solid sections of the purlins from the underside of the roof, and located the screws from above.  I used a step flashing arrangement where the carport roof meets the siding of the porch.  After three rainstorms, I had to tighten two screws out of about 220.

Photo 5033 shows my ‘67 ensconced in its new carport.  I installed ten 150 watt equivalent LED floodlights at 5 locations that provide about 23,000 lumens.  I have several high pressure sodium bulbs, so if I come across some ballasts at a good price, I may upgrade to about 50,000 lumens.

Believe it or not, this is a temporary structure.  Conceivably, I could dismantle it and transport it to another location.  However, I am not going to do that anytime soon.  The purpose of this long awaited project is to get the car undercover so that I can proceed to work on the body regardless of the weather.  It would be great to have a big enclosed garage with a lift, but I don’t have one, so I built the next best thing â€" all in for less than $750.

Christopher Winter
Christopher Winter
1967 Sedan DeVille hardtop

harry s

Christopher, Looks good with plenty of light and room to work. Weather be
damned.      Harry
Harry Scott 4195
1941 6733
1948 6267X
2011 DTS Platinum

67_Eldo

Nice job!

Did you endure any scorn from the neighbors regarding your carport?

The reason I ask is because my neighbors would go absolutely ballistic if I tried to build the same kind of structure on my driveway.

DeVille68

very nice!

Looking forward on your posts about the next work you do on the car.
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

savemy67

Hello Scott and Nicolas,

Thank you for the compliments.

Before I began my carport I discussed the project with my neighbors.  My neighbors are easy-going, and they had no issues with my project.  In turn, I try to be a good neighbor by tackling every project I do with an eye toward doing a professional job.  And, I don't fire up the compressor much before 8:00 AM on Sunday :)

There was a thunderstorm this afternoon, and I was bone dry while working under the hood.  I removed my carburetor today for a rebuild.  That will be the subject of my next post.

Christopher Winter
Christopher Winter
1967 Sedan DeVille hardtop

savemy67

Hello all,

I have read many posts on the forum wherein members lament the fact that their cars do not idle well, but run above idle speed satisfactorily.  My issue is the opposite.  My car starts with alacrity and idles quite well, but once I am on the road, the car still exhibits some signs of poor driveability.

The previous owner replaced the fuel pump and had the carburetor rebuilt.  When I repaired my fuel tank sender, the sock was clean and the inside of the gas tank was spotless.  I have a new filter element in the glass bowl, and a new sintered bronze element in the fuel inlet of the carburetor.

Despite the fact that the previous owner had the carburetor rebuilt, I noticed that the A/C idle speed-up diaphragm was not connected, and the control link to increase idle speed was incorrectly installed (see reply 105).  Given that the carburetor rebuild may not have been 100 percent, I decided to rebuild the carburetor.

My carburetor is a Rochester Quadrajet, number 7027231, which indicates it is for a 1967 Cadillac (the year of my car).  The carburetor was not too dirty, but upon dis-assembly, I did find a few issues that are common to the Quadrajet.  I set up a dial indicator to check the primary throttle shaft for play (photo 5058).  With the throttle blades held closed, I had about .020” of play in the vertical axis, and not much in the horizontal axis.  With the blades open, there was noticeable play in the horizontal axis.  The secondary throttle shaft had no discernible play in any direction.  Given the play in the primary throttle shaft, I rebushed the primary shaft (photo 5065 â€" notice the bronze bushing around the end of the primary throttle shaft) using the tools shown in photo 5066.

Since the throttle body of the Quadrajet is aluminum, machining it with the special tool was a quick procedure.  The long bolt and washer was used to drive the bushing into place.

Another check I performed was the flatness of the air horn and bowl.  I laid a straightedge across the air horn and bowl surfaces and found gaps between the straightedge and the castings (photo 5044).  Both the air horn and bowl are slightly warped, but in the same direction.  Based on the impressions in the air horn to bowl gasket (photo 5061), made by the tiny cast ridges on the top of the fuel bowl, all the small passages look as if they were sealed properly.  I can trace the tiny casting line around all of the passages and chambers (photo 5063).

Another issue common to Quadrajets is leaking fuel wells.  Photos 5059 and 5060 show where I put an ounce or two of lacquer thinner in the float bowl and the accelerator pump well, and placed the bowl over a paper towel.  Overnight, there was no sign that the thinner leaked out of the bowl.  The day on which this was done was very humid â€" relative humidity was in excess of 80 percent (it was a three-beer day) â€" so I wasn’t worried about evaporation.  Lacquer thinner is a little denser than gasoline, but I think the densities are close enough so that if the lacquer thinner did not leak overnight, I probably won’t have a problem with gasoline.  For as many posts on the Internet that show the wells being repaired with epoxy, there are as many that show the epoxy failing.  The alternative is to drill and tap the wells (two primary, two secondary, and one accelerator pump) and install threaded plugs.  A tedious task indeed.

When I dis-assembled the carburetor I noticed the power piston seemed to be a little sticky.  This may be the cause of my poor driveability.  The power piston is vacuum actuated against spring pressure.  As engine demand/load increases and vacuum drops, spring pressure overcomes vacuum, and the power piston is pushed up by the spring, thus raising the main metering rods in the main jets, allowing more fuel to flow.  This is the heart of the Quadrajet design, but it must function properly.  I thoroughly cleaned my power piston and the bore in the bowl in which it rides.  Photo 5063 shows the power piston with attached main metering rods installed in the fuel bowl.  FYI, from the introduction of the Quadrajet (1965 for Chevrolet, 1967 for Cadillac) through the early ‘70s, 4 different retainers were used for the power piston.  My power piston is retained by a brass sleeve that expands against the inside of the power piston bore.

There are lots of tiny passages in a Quadrajet.  Cleaning them thoroughly is a must.  Some rebuilders will go so far as to remove the idle tubes in order to clean the idle passages.  Since my car idles quite well I did not do this.  I used CRC carb cleaner in an aerosol can with the little straw which was effective at concentrating a burst of cleaner into the many tiny passages.  I also used guitar string to make sure all holes and passages were open.  These efforts were repeated a couple of times.

Next up will be re-assembly and adjustments.

Christopher Winter
Christopher Winter
1967 Sedan DeVille hardtop

DeVille68

nice, I almost did the same fixes to my Quadrajet two years ago. However, I did not replace the shaft bushings.

Regarding the drivability problems: Did you already check the distributor? Shaft play? Mechanical advance? Advance curve? Vacuum advance?

Best regards,
Nicolas
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

Snibbor

Christopher,

I have read this entire thread and have really enjoyed it! I recently have joined here and also have the same '67 hardtop. Quick question. My AC seems to run even in the "off" position on the dash indicator lever. When I switch it to "vent" (far left lever setting) it still seems to run. Have you experienced this?

35-709

The fan (not the AC) should run on low speed even when turned off to keep the duct work dry so you don't get instant fog on the inside of your windows when you DO turn the AC on.  This feature has been a constant source of questions and complaints for over 50 years.   :)
1935 Cadillac Sedan resto-mod "Big Red"
1973 Cadillac Caribou - Sold - but still in the family
1950 Jaguar Mark V Saloon resto-mod - Sold
1942 Cadillac 6269 - Sold
1968 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible - Sold
1950 Packard 2dr. Club Sedan
1935 Glenn Pray - Auburn Boattail Speedster, Gen. 2

Snibbor