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My newly acquired 1974 Eldorado convertible project car

Started by MaR, December 08, 2018, 07:14:12 PM

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MaR

I have continued with my restoration of the interior parts. I'm working toward getting all of the Dark Cranberry parts refreshed before I tackle the seat upholstery.






The sunvisors are in decent condition but they are dirty and discolored.




While working on the passenger side visor, I discovered that the electrical connection for the vanity mirror was connected with an RCA jack. It's sort of an odd selection but I guess that was the only choice at the time.






One of the hinge pin retainers was broken off on the vanity mirror cover. You can see the flat on the pin that keep the pin from rotating in the housing.




I coated the pin with a little grease and put the it in the housing in it's correct orientation.








I then reproduced the shape of the broken housing with two part epoxy, pulled the pin out and then let it cure. Afterward, I lightly sanded it and dyed it when I dyed the entire part. A word of warning when dying these vanity mirrors: the company that made these used some kind of plastic that is very sensitive to solvents. If you put anything that even comes close to a medium coat of solvent dye or paint, the surface will crack and craze. You have to put almost a dusting coat on in very light steps until you have coverage. Almost every American manufacturer uses these same parts from the '70s through at least the late '90s and I have seen that problem many times regardless of make.










Here are all of the upper windshield parts. I sandblasted and dyed the upper cover like I did with the A pillar covers and redyed all of the visors and the center visor support.






The visor support was especially filthy. I actually thought that the rubber was degraded and starting to come apart. Turns out that it was just really, really, dirty. The second pic was after I cleaned it.

I'm going to start pulling the dash apart next so I can clean the AC ducting, redo the firewall insulation, clean and paint all of the brackets and supports, and redye the dash pads and trim.


DeVille68

1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

Bentley

Nice work! Are you planning on painting the exterior? Most people do that first and the interior last.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

MaR

Quote from: Bentley on February 13, 2019, 03:20:49 PM
Nice work! Are you planning on painting the exterior? Most people do that first and the interior last.

Yes, I'm working on both at the same time. The interior has to come out to be able to do a proper job on the body so it's easy to just pick up a piece or two and work on them as time permits. I'm going to be doing all the work myself so I don't have to do anything in any particular order.

MaR

I received my first 3D printed filler from the model that I made of an NOS part. It turned out quite nice if I don't say so my self.















Since this method of 3D printing prints the parts in successive layers, you can end up with stair stepping on some surfaces. It sands out easily though and was expected.




The fit was great and I will soon have it painted and test fitted on the car.






MaR

There are so many rusty brackets that need refinishing. It's the same as before: remove, sandblast, prime, and then paint.














The ashtray frame and retainer I painted with a satin black, all of the other parts were painted with an industrial gloss black.





Even the contact for the cigar lighter need to be blasted.




MaR

I have also disassembled the dashboard, working my way back to the firewall so I can replace the firewall insulation, redye all the exterior parts, blast all the brackets, and clean all of the HVAC ducting. I have started with the lower dashboard parts. They are in good physical condition but very dirty and faded with a few spots that the factory dye has worn completely away.










You can see just how dingy and discolored the parts have become in this shot. On the right is how the part looked on the car, on the left is after a good cleaning before I redyed it.



The glovebox door have to come apart to redye it also. The lock was a little lose anyway so taking it apart let me fix that also.










And here are the lower dash parts after they were dyed.













MaR

Here is the middle dash pad. I have not dyed it yet but I did take it apart in preparation for dying and cleaning. It was amazingly filthy on the inside. Twenty years of sitting in a barn did not do anything good for the state of the ducting.










All of the foam gaskets have turned to dust. I will have to replace every one of them in the HVAC system.




James Landi

Yours is a labor of love--- thanks for sharing the details of your efforts with your picture postings... inspiring work that I trust you are curating through your pictures and narratives for family and friends .  James

DeVille68

very nice! 8) Thanks for updating the thread. I like reading it.
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

hornetball

#50
Great thread and great work!

I recently bought a '74 Eldo convertible too.  Persian Lime Firemist.  80K miles.  You may have inspired me to do my own thread, although my car's body and interior is at a much better starting point.  The systems, OTOH . . . it's had decades of "if it ain't broke" + "if it ain't needed" upkeep.  Sigh.  Here's a picture of it on the drive back from purchasing:



I hate to add to your list, but you NEED to replace the timing set.  The cam sprocket teeth are nylon on these engines and they're time bombs.  I finally reached mine over the weekend, and it is still intact (thank goodness) but riddled with cracks.  If it comes apart, the engine will die (of course) and you'll fill the oil pan with dried-up nylon shrapnel to clog your pickup.  I would never have known of this issue if not for the wise counsel from other members on this forum as the engine was running smoothly.

MaR

Quote from: hornetball on February 26, 2019, 01:27:39 PM
Great thread and great work!

I recently bought a '74 Eldo convertible too.  Persian Lime Firemist.  80K miles.  You may have inspired me to do my own thread, although my car's body and interior is at a much better starting point.  The systems, OTOH . . . it's had decades of "if it ain't broke" + "if it ain't needed" upkeep.  Sigh.  Here's a picture of it on the drive back from purchasing:



I hate to add to your list, but you NEED to replace the timing set.  The cam sprocket teeth are nylon on these engines and they're time bombs.  I finally reached mine over the weekend, and it is still intact (thank goodness) but riddled with cracks.  If it comes apart, the engine will die (of course) and you'll fill the oil pan with dried-up nylon shrapnel to clog your pickup.  I would never have known of this issue if not for the wise counsel from other members on this forum as the engine was running smoothly.

Yea, the timing components are on my short list of things to check on in the near future. I want to pull all the accessories off and clean up the years of neglect and while I'm there, check on the timing parts. Persian Lime Firemist is my other favorite '74 color. I could see myself having one in that color as well as the Cranberry Firemist that I currently have. Is yours the one that was for sale on ebay recently?

hornetball

#52
Quote from: MaR on February 26, 2019, 03:28:29 PMIs yours the one that was for sale on ebay recently?

I bought this one in January in TN and drove it home to TX (I've had too many cars damaged in transport -- especially big, heavy cars with soft springs).  I found it on CarGurus.  It wasn't on E-bay to my knowledge.

The back story is that when we were first married in 1985, my new bride asked me to buy a neighbor's 1973 in Persian Lime Firemist (don't ask me how a 1973 had that color ??).  A couple of years after that with a baby on the way, it was sold on (had rust also).  Ever since then . . . every time I get her a car all I hear is how much she misses her Lime Green Eldorado.  So, I've had my eye out and jumped when I found a rust-free example.  I hid it away in our work hangar and surprised her with it on her 55th.  I'm swimming in brownie points!   8)

Anyway, it's been down since then as I get it 100% mechanically up to snuff.  Fun project -- lots of parts searching.  It had the original factory grease in the rear bearings too -- with those felt grease seals they used way back then.

MaR

Quote from: hornetball on February 26, 2019, 03:48:13 PM
I bought this one in January in TN and drove it home to TX (I've had too many cars damaged in transport -- especially big, heavy cars with soft springs).  I found it on CarGurus.  It wasn't on E-bay to my knowledge.

The back story is that when we were first married in 1985, my new bride asked me to buy a neighbor's 1973 in Persian Lime Firemist (don't ask me how a 1973 had that color ??).  A couple of years after that with a baby on the way, it was sold on (had rust also).  Ever since then . . . every time I get her a car all I hear is how much she misses her Lime Green Eldorado.  So, I've had my eye out and jumped when I found a rust-free example.  I hid it away in our work hangar and surprised her with it on her 55th.  I'm swimming in brownie points!   8)

Anyway, it's been down since then as I get it 100% mechanically up to snuff.  Fun project -- lots of parts searching.  It had the original factory grease in the rear bearings too -- with those felt grease seals they used way back then.
Yea, yours is a different car. The one I saw was a bit more rough looking and was in Charleston, SC. If you need any interior parts, I know an individual that is parting out a Persian Lime CDV.

hornetball

Quote from: MaR on February 26, 2019, 03:58:29 PMIf you need any interior parts, I know an individual that is parting out a Persian Lime CDV.

Would love to talk to him.  Sent a private message with contact.

cadillacjack

The 3D printed part turned out really well!  The quality of most of the fillers is not that good.   Keep up the good work.


MaR

Quote from: cadillacjack on March 05, 2019, 11:01:28 PM
The 3D printed part turned out really well!  The quality of most of the fillers is not that good.   Keep up the good work.
One of the things that I have learned recently is that all of the companies that make the reproduction fillers are combining multiple different parts into one "generic" version. For example: there are two different rear fender extensions for the full sized Eldorado, one for the 74-76 models and one for the 77-78 models yet all the reproductions are listed to fit 74-78 models. 

MaR

Another day, another rusty bracket. These are various dash and instrument panel brackets. The white one is the backer panel for all of the upper dash indicator lights.







Here is the indicator light backer repainted white:




The adjustment knob on the clock was rusty also:




All cleaned up an ready to install:





MaR

Before I could put the upper dash panel back together, I had to address the rubbed off "chrome" on the Cadillac script, emblem, and horizontal stripes. On the main middle section, the "chrome" had rubbed or just degraded and was gone on the majority of the part. The end pieces have actual chrome plated plastic so they were OK. Here is what I started with:








I found a paint pen that was highly recommended by model makers for making items look like chrome plated parts. It was not that expensive so I gave it a shot. I was impressed with the results:








As a side note, almost every one of the twist lock bulb sockets were corroded to the point of failure. Fortunately, I had an old instrument cluster from some other car that had about twenty of the sockets that I was able to salvage. That should do the entire car with some to spare. The beats paying $2 a piece for them from the local parts store...


hornetball