|
(reposting from the Stupid Questions thread) This is my buddy's newly inherited barge - a 1963 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible. I'll be re-posting what we've done so far in the first few posts, from there I'll post updates more sporadically - it's not my car, and we can only really work on it on weekends.  Day one It came to him via a recently departed relative who was something of an amateur wrencher years ago - apparently at one point he had two of these things. The other was to be his "main" vehicle, this was purchased to be the parts car - but it turned out that this was the nicer car, and so it was promoted. This photo was taken the first time I laid eyes upon the car. As it sat in this photo, a family member had hooked up a trickle charger but the car hadn't actually moved for somewhere between 2 and 5 years.  We got it going and limped it out of the garage. Not that it's visible in this photo but several of the tires were warped/bulging and two were fairly flat. We limped it around the block, stopping at a gas station to add some gas and top up the tires. We made a few observations along the way: • The odometer shows 53,000 miles, but I'm going to assume that's inaccurate. • The engine seemed to be running on 3 or 4 cylinders initially, but more were coming online about every minute that the engine was running • The brakes are barely more effective than braking Simpsons style • The tires are not long for this world. • The battery is hosed • The ride is ｆｌｏａｔｙ   We put the car away again and put our to-do list together. Day two Time was tight and we had to get the car out. I'd hoped we'd get a chance to bleed the brakes before we drove it the few miles to its new home but instead our limited time was spent replacing a tire we'd inflated the prior week which since detonated. This was more of an issue than it might sound as the tiny garage meant there was barely any room to move around in and the car is so long that you can only close the garage door if you park the car with its fins between the wall studs. But anyways, we got the spare out of the trunk, got it inflated, topped up the brake fluid and moved as much new fluid as we could before we set sail. My buddy was driving, I was following in a car behind with hazards on.  On the way to its new home I noted that the car would periodically lurch to the left. I asked my buddy what was happening - he answered "that's what happens when I brake".  There was concern the car wouldn't negotiate the ramp to this garage owing to the comedic length behind the rear axle but it turned out to not be an issue. Before long we had the car parked and expanded the list of things to check/replace (I'm pretty sure it dropped some rubber bushings or exhaust hangers that I ran over as we drove).     Thanks to everyone from the stupid questions thread who has provided invaluable advice! sarcastx fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Apr 10, 2021 |
#
?
Apr 10, 2021 21:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 6, 2024 00:13 |
|
|
Day three Wrenching begins.  Disclaimer Before I go on from here I must stress that while I'm not exactly a mechanical noob - all the wrenching I have done was on a car from MY2000. As a result, all of my wrenching experience is with cars that have EFI and coil packs and the like, and where I could always fall back onto an OBD-II reader to help me diagnose issues. My buddy hasn't wrenched ever as far as I know, but we're both fast learners and aren't afraid to get our hands dirty. Anyways, the car had spent a few days in an underground garage and we expected the battery to be about as functional as an anchor - so color us surprised that the car started without incident on the first try. We know the car has an electronic choke so we theorized that this helped us a lot... at first. First order of business was to do a complete flush of the brake fluid. The first corner (rear passenger) went like a dream (I have a vacuum bleed kit so I was basically pumping and watching the fluid turn from a milky brown to a nice clear straw color). I'd hoped that the rest of the bleeds would go this smoothly. This hope was misplaced. Here's how it went: >Rear Passenger: Success >Rear Driver: Brake bleed nipple rusted in place, no combination of elbow grease/PB-Blaster/wrenches/bloody knuckles/cursing made it budge even a goddamned hair. In the interest of improving things at least a tiny bit we loosened the hose further up so that it would "weep" brake fluid without allowing air back in with full knowledge it'd all need to be redone later >Front Passenger: Nipple came off without issue - - - but then not even a drop of brake fluid came out. Inspecting the hose I'd guess it's rusted from the inside. >Front Driver: Success. This meant we had effective braking on 2 of the 4 wheels. While that doesn't sound like much of an improvement... yeah no, it's not much of an improvement. But at least there's much less pedal travel now before the brakes do something, so that's neat. The next steps we had planned were: We have a friend with a workshop, so rather than attempt to deal with that rusted-on hose nipple we're going to take it to him to get the nipple off/loose/replaced. We're also going to get the car on a lift and get our first good look underneath the car. All of the brake hoses and wheel cylinders will be replaced while it's on the hoist - and new tires arrived yesterday. As an aside, we didn't know what size tire to get because the front tires were so old (or of an old style) that their size was marked as "8.0x15", but the rear tires were newer and had the size printed as 225 x 75 x 15. We've also got a new Master Cylinder ready to go on (after the hoses, naturally) and this will (hopefully) be the last time we need to flush all of the brake fluid through the system for a while.  Other things we discovered this day: The car is very easy to flood The dipstick is completely loose (gotta work out how to re-install it) The top hydraulics work perfectly There's a radio/cassette deck in the glove box sarcastx fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Apr 10, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2021 21:44
|
|
|
Today The car was on its way to the shop for its date with the hoist when (predictable) disaster struck:  Now, I wasn't with the car at the time but supposedly the tire blew out with such force that it launched the skirt off the car and it's apparently been slightly damaged (no pics of that yet). The car got back home - I believe my buddy will be putting the car on jackstands so he can take the new tires/old rims an axle at a time to be mounted, and then he'll bring the car to the shop for its date with the hoist. That's the next time I'll see it (and have an opportunity to document here). The only other update I can provide since the last post on the questions thread is: PainterofCrap, your car starting sequence with the electronic choke worked a treat, thank you 
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2021 21:57
|
|
|
This should be great. Paging LobsterboyX!
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2021 12:38
|
|
|
Oh poo poo yeah. Looking forward to this. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2021 15:31
|
|
|
You're welcome! Glad it worked, it is a sign of overall good health of the engine and also that it was not hosed with. Setting right other people's ham-handed 'fixes' is the worst. Also glad that it was a rear tire blowout; fronts can be fun, but tend to be less dramatic on these big cars - they tend to keep truckin' along without a care in the world BUT at the wrong moment... I hope the skirt isn't badly damaged - I had one beat up when a hubcap came loose at about 40-MPH and was trapped in there. Had to re-weld the brace Also, check the anchors at the front and rear of both the wheel arch and the skirt...they may be bent. If you haven't already, pull the skirts and hubcaps until you have new tires. If the skirt is beat up too badly, they are available
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2021 16:43
|
|
|
8.0x15 sounds like the wheel size requirement for that tire. 8” wide, 15” diameter. That said, there are older tire sizes with that kind of numbering scheme that are terrible to figure out. Stock tires on my FJ40 were 7.50-16, which is equal to about a 190/90R16. That car looks awesome.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2021 19:48
|
|
|
finally got a photo of the tire and sweet jesus Lift photos tomorrow or Tuesday I think.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2021 20:24
|
|
|
This thread rules Beautiful boat
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 00:33
|
|
|
Yeah that car rules.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 00:42
|
|
|
nice car! With old cars that have sat there is nothing wrong with loading the parts cannon up with all the brake parts possible (I'd recommend it!)
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 09:08
|
|
|
Rad car. Looks like it's in decent shape, could easily be a fun weekend cruiser as is, without tons of work needed.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 21:01
|
|
|
now that's a floaty boi
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2021 12:01
|
|
|
A bit of an update after a date with the lift: unfortunately it's not the news we wanted but we'll persevere nonetheless. It would appear she's a bit of a Van Gogh (or whichever artist) - everything looks great provided you don't look too closely. Generally, the frame is OK, but there have obviously been a number of significant rust repairs done    ...and there is a lot of oil strewn about.  The good news, however, is that we think that an oil leak isn't the cause of the vast majority of the spilt oil (I mean, yes, it is leaking oil - almost certainly) but we noticed that the bulk of the oil was concentrated around the drivers' side of the vehicle:  ...which is where the dipstick tube is completely snapped off from the block. Grampa apparently tried to JB Weld the tube back on with limited success, it would seem. List updated: Trying to source a new dip stick tube that doesn't cost $120 shipped Ongoing: >Brake hoses/cylinders/lines/associated faff going on this week(ish) >New tires should be on by the time I'm posting this. As far as the body rust goes... it's obviously sad (but probably to be expected, sadly). I had a slight concern that my friend might decide to abort the project after he saw the rust but he's got such low expectations of the vehicle I don't think it deterred him any. I sincerely doubt the car is ever going to do much else than flop around town under 40MPH with his wife and/or friends in tow.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 01:42
|
|
|
It's difficult to tell where that rust is in all of the photos, but my guess would be that most of it is in the trunk, or at least from the rear axle back. This is because convertibles drain their water down the roof and after enough years, the waterproofing gives up, the drain lines in the well (under the rear window) get clogged, or the material just plain fails from age; all of these things means that water winds up in the trunk, usually trapped under a vinyl mat, and unnoticed until the holes develop. Another common spot is at the front footwells due to leaks around the windshield or blocked water drainage at the fresh air intake dam under the wipers (in where the wiper transmission lives). Water winds up running down the firewall and collecting in the horsehair padding so voila holes. If the frame is solid, these are repairable, and patch panels are made, or can be adapted to fit (my first '66 Bonneville had a sheetmetal panel covering massive rust-out. No trunk pans are reproduced for a Bonneville, so an Impala pan sectioned with 18-ga sheet stood in). If the car will be for fair-weather pleasure cruising, try to treat the rust with something to arrest it & keep on truckin' With respect to the oil leaks: American V8s, and my experience is with a wide spectrum of Chrysler & GM products (including a '67 DeVille), and they all like to leak at the front and rear main seals. Within four years after having my 389 rebuilt, it was leaking from the rear main seal. Part of the reason is it sits a bit, and the seal has a cork part that dries out a bit, The leaking slows considerably if I drive it a lot. The upside is it coats the underbody, and acts as an ad-hoc rust preventative. An open dipstick hole in the lower block will shoot oil like a sprinkler. JB Weld won't cut it. It's a bitch to get at, but typically, they're held in place by friction, and, occasionally, a bracket bolted up near the head somewhere. If it snapped off at the block, you need to get the broken piece out. I know I'm old because there used to be a generic dipstick tube sold under the Help! brand. I used one on my '65 Fury. I see a dipstick tube for a '63 Cadillac 390 engine for $40 on eBay. If you're really jammed up, I can hit the salvage yards around here. Do you need the dipstick, or just the tube? PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Apr 15, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 03:38
|
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:It's difficult to tell where that rust is in all of the photos, but my guess would be that most of it is in the trunk, or at least from the rear axle back...Another common spot is at the front footwells. Bingo. The only actual sizeable "holes" are in the trunk but there's been a lot of patch/remediation effort at the footwells. Though there is one particularly concerning bit fore of the drivers side rear wheel arch. Mechanic buddy didn't seem too worried about it though. Oh and he ordered the new dipstick tube. PainterofCrap posted:try to treat the rust with something to arrest it & keep on truckin' I'm from rural Australia originally (think: Arizona climate) so the whole concept of horrifying midwestern rust is pretty new to me... any suggestion on what kind of treatment to use? Is this like a spray can/foam sorta deal? PainterofCrap posted:the seal has a cork part that dries out a bit loving lol, man, I have been truly spoiled by only working on newer stuff. I appreciate your help and patience with me as I struggle to wrap my head around some of these concepts and materials sarcastx fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Apr 15, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 13:41
|
|
|
oh also grampa had a white baseball cap with '63 Cadillac printed on it (it was sitting on a seat in the back), my buddy has threatened to get me a hat that says 2000 Jaguar so we can both flop around in our respective convertibles repelling young women e: he sent me a pic of the hat 
sarcastx fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Apr 15, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 13:43
|
|
|
sarcastx posted:I'm from rural Australia originally (think: Arizona climate) so the whole concept of horrifying midwestern rust is pretty new to me... any suggestion on what kind of treatment to use? Is this like a spray can/foam sorta deal? Search "rust encapsulator" and/or "rust converter." These are paint-like chemical sprays that will chemically bond to rust to arrest it. Converter sprays on clear, once it cures it can be painted over. The encapsulator sorta combines the two. After all that cures I'd spray it with more paint or a spray-on rubberized undercoating to repel moisture. This was the rust spot I found in 2010. There was symmetrical rust. This is the driver's side  I removed all of the loose rust, and beat on it with a rotary wire brush, treated it with encapsulator then undercoating, and buttoned it back up behind the stainless trim. This is the passenger side two months ago, when I set-up to weld in a patch.  Now, this car is pampered - hardly ever driven in the rain, and kept in a heated garage all winter. Even so, it held up well. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Apr 15, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 13:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 6, 2024 00:13 |
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:Search "rust encapsulator" and/or "rust converter." These are paint-like chemical sprays that will chemically bond to rust to arrest it. Converter sprays on clear, once it cures it can be painted over. The encapsulator sorta combines the two. After all that cures I'd spray it with more paint or a spray-on rubberized undercoating to repel moisture. Fluid film. It’s basically aerosol lanolin. Non-toxic and you can clean it off. You’ll want to apply every year. It’s basically sheep grease in a can. It will keep water from touching the metal (and paint) while still allowing you to do whatever. Rubber undercoating is a *bitch* to deal with once installed.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 17:33
|
|