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just some sneak peek pics for now the seller just dropped it off here. It was being used for some black lives matter protests recently so there's some names written on the side I need to clean off before any beauty shots.    It's a 1991 Cadillac Brougham Miller-Meteor hearse. It's in decent mechanical shape just needs a good sprucing up on the inside and outside. Thumposaurus fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Jun 11, 2020 |
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Jun 11, 2020 00:46
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| # ? May 2, 2024 07:37 |
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Holy gently caress those are big pictures. And that's a big car. For hauling dead folks. Pretty neat.
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Jun 11, 2020 00:52
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Fixed pics phone posting on the app.
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Jun 11, 2020 01:04
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The good: Perfectly working digital dash Power seats, mirrors, windows Cold A/C All the coffin rollers and wood floor in the back are still intact V8 runs smooth Air ride suspension is in good working order New battery Good tires The bad: The muffler on it is too restrictive or the timing is off it has a hard time getting up to highway speeds The paint is pretty faded but looks like it'll buff out some spots it needs a little rust repair All metal trim needs buffed/polished Fabric seats/carpet need a good cleaning It's got some sort of parasitic drain that will kill the battery if it's parked for too long suspect it's due to the aftermarket head unit installed The vinyl top has a leak but I have a carport it can live under for now until I figure out what to do about it Back doors have no handles on the inside(why would they?) I've got parts coming in the mail for a full tune up plus a Cadillac factory service manual Thumposaurus fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Jun 11, 2020 |
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Jun 11, 2020 01:27
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Holy gently caress in on the ground floor! 305 or 350? I owned a 90 model 305 powered brougham superior hearse. Man it was slow. It was a great highway sled though.
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Jun 11, 2020 03:06
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It's a 305 Only 63,000 miles on it I figure down the road sometime it would be fun to swap some kind of LS engine into it.
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Jun 11, 2020 03:10
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I'd say post a burnout, but I doubt that 305 has the rear end for it. I know they were the base engine, but I figured Miller would option the 350 for hearse duty. Either way, hearses are neat as frig and this thread should be pretty cool.
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Jun 11, 2020 04:18
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Neat! I hope you can figure out the crappy acceleration.
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Jun 11, 2020 05:29
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Checking timing is the first thing on my list for that. The girl I bought it from had owned it for a long time and had a lot of work done to it over the years. She had a really quiet muffler put on it her mechanic told her that it could be build up from too restrictive a muffler. I have to get under it and measure the exhaust pipe and order a Flowmaster or something like that. This is babbys first V8
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Jun 11, 2020 11:27
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Yeah start with timing. TBI is super sensitive to it.
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Jun 11, 2020 17:13
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  digital dash  Long car is long  Waxed half the car then it started raining
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Jun 11, 2020 18:14
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Spent the day vacuuming dead leaves out of the engine compartment and cleaning up the interior. The PO had something done with the gas tank and I guess it was too hard for the shop to remove the floor to do it so they just hacked a hole in it.  I'll make a cover for it for now and down the road put some better wood in the back and make some new side panels.  Spare tire in a hearse is stored under your dead rear end in what would normally be the back passengers floor boards. I haven't found a jack yet so I may have to buy a new one to keep at home and stick my old floor jack in there next to the spare. We took it out to another protest yesterday with a giant roll of paper and markers and let some kids make signs. Ran in to a Karen who thought it was in bad taste but the kids and the organizers and the people along the "parade" route loved it. Car ran well less bogging down than the first time we took it out but still seems down on power. Waiting for a factory service manual to get here in the mail to tackle setting the timing. Only other issue is the while driving it home the ABS light came on and stayed on. When I checked today it was off. Could be a relay or wheel sensor? I need to go through the fuse and relay box and spray it down with deoxit.
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Jun 14, 2020 20:26
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What's your plan for it, just own and drive a hearse or not-really stealth camper?
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Jun 16, 2020 15:08
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The PO was using it as a kinda stealth camper they had a mattress pad in the back it's still got the curtains and all. We're just going to use it like a station wagon/ pick up truck/cruiser. We have to drive to Arkansas occasionally so if we use this for that we'd probably sleep in the back and be more comfortable than the last time we did that drive(18 hours) with 2 cats in my GTI. My partner is an archeologist starting work on helping to save a historic black cemetery from having a self storage place built on top of it. She'll be using it as a way to transport tools back and forth to the site for that as well. We also want to take it down town and slowly circle the white house 
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Jun 16, 2020 15:23
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Those are great reasons to own a hearse.
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Jun 16, 2020 15:26
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Yeah it just happened to be the right deal at the right time. We were talking about getting a cheap truck or van for the same reasons but this popped up on Craigslist I sent it to her saying "wanna buy a hearse?" She was like hell yes! Got some tune up parts in the mail along with the factory service manual I got off eBay and found my timing light. The timing light I got in a box of tools I haven't had to use it in forever. I just noticed when I got it out it's so old it's not an induction type timing light it's got the little spring your supposed to slip over the spark plug and hook the spark plug wire up to it. Not sure if it'll be effective with an HEI system if I need to pick up an inductive light I will. Other parts came in too.   
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Jun 16, 2020 20:20
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Ute conversion imo
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Jun 16, 2020 20:49
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You want a "flower car" for that
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Jun 16, 2020 21:00
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Should have known it would be a thing
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Jun 16, 2020 21:44
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Jun 16, 2020 22:13
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This is great! I look forward to seeing what you do with it!  cakesmith handyman posted:Those are great reasons to own a hearse. I don't think that any additional reasons are required to own a hearse other than it being a hearse
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Jun 16, 2020 22:23
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  Spent yesterday rubbing it down with a clay bar and waxing it. Still some spots that need a little more polishing and I need to degrease the engine before I do any serious work on it its pretty grungy
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Jun 16, 2020 23:00
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Now here's a car that would suit being dropped right to the ground  Hearses are so cool (despite the whole dead people thing)
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Jun 16, 2020 23:29
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It won't happen anytime soon but putting it on airbags is gonna happen someday.
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Jun 17, 2020 00:53
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It makes a more stable foundation for sleeping when dropped to the ground at night, it's practical (do it!)
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Jun 17, 2020 10:29
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Thumposaurus posted:It won't happen anytime soon but putting it on airbags is gonna happen someday. I was hoping you'd say this!
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Jun 17, 2020 13:06
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Adjusted the static timing it'll actually rev now without bogging down. Still have to go do a road test with the new setting. I had to modify a wrench to reach the distributor bolt  Dirty engine  Old rear end timing light  It worked just fine  Cadillac service manuals are classy 
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Jun 17, 2020 18:37
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Flip that air cleaner lid Cool project.
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Jun 17, 2020 20:23
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Magnificent. Now go drive around public beaches/outdoor bars/etc real slow, blasting the dancing pallbearer song.
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Jun 17, 2020 21:56
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I gotta fix the wiring to the stereo first for that. It's a pretty nice pioneer android based headunit it just doesn't turn on or will turn on randomly by itself. I pulled it out the other day to just check how it was wired in and of course it's just a bundle of lovely splices into the factory wiring. I need to cut all of them out and re-wire it properly. I figured out how to pull ABS codes. There's a primitive OBD1 connector under the dash that you jam a paper clip between 2 terminals to get it to blink the ABS light to tell you what's wrong. Seems the right front wheel sensor is bad it's on the way from Rockauto now.
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Jun 18, 2020 02:02
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Got the new ABS sensor in the mail today. I thought it would be an easy unbolt old one bolt in new one type of deal. The bolt came out fine but the sensor was stuck in the hole I hosed it down with pb blaster and got it to move a bit then the body of the sensor snapped off of the part that goes in the hole. I tried going in from the front the wheel was stuck hard to the brake disc. More pb blaster and application of the hot wrench plus banging on it with a BFH finally got it loose. I'm going to have to go around to the other 3 corners and make sure they aren't stuck too. Then I figured out I don't have the right Allen head socket to get the caliper bolts off with. My tool set is mostly metric I only have really wrenched on old VWs and Audis prior to this. I gotta get some proper American tools. I ended up having to drill a hole in the center of the sensor and the plastic body of it out of the hole and burnt the rest out with a torch. Once I did that it was simple to bolt the new one in and re-route the wires coated back of wheel and nuts with anti-sieze and torqued 'em back down. Rust, rust never changes
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Jun 19, 2020 01:53
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I just want to say that I am super jealous of your acquisition. Also as an automotive technician I applaud and salute your willingness to care for this beast and I hope you keep her going for everyone to appreciate!
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Jun 20, 2020 04:51
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Thanks it sure gets a lot of looks when we take it out driving around. Took it over to a friend's house with some plants in the back to drop in her garden. First drive since I adjusted the timing. I think that was the problem the whole time. It was able to accelerate with no stumbling or hesitating. Brakes still have a loud squeak when stopping but the pads and disc on that one side looked good when I had the wheel off. Pads for this are dirt cheap I may just throw a new set on just because. ABS light still on I didn't do the trick to clear out the old code so it might be the same one. I'll clear it out tomorrow and see what happens. I've only got it on 30 day tags right now and I have to take it to get inspected for the MD state inspection before I can get it on permanent tags. The ABS is the only thing I see that it might fail for so gotta get that cleared up before Iv take it in.
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Jun 21, 2020 05:10
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Disconnect the battery for a few minutes a block away if you're paranoid, but I turned this up... You're probably good to go. I'd print a copy of that and take it with you just to be safe. I'd assume counties that require emissions would fail for a check engine light on OBD2, but non-OBD2 is probably fine with a CEL. It's not difficult to yank the bulbs, and they can't do a PCM/ECU scan on something that's not OBD2. Not that I advocate pulling bulbs instead of fixing issues properly. But ABS systems of that era were hot garbage. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Jun 21, 2020 |
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Jun 21, 2020 08:47
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 Chilling at a protest the other day outside a construction site where they're trying to build a self storage building over the site of a historic African American cemetery. Be back out there tomorrow again. I've got more pictures but I'm phone posting right now and they're on the computer.
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Jun 25, 2020 03:47
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Swapped out mufflers today. Old one was some rusted garbage muffler booger welded to the pipe. Cut it off with the trusty harbor frieght sawzall and popped a flowmaster in it's place. Rock Auto had the rear section of pipe for $11 so it's coming in the mail. I just put a turned down section of pipe clamped to the muffler right in front of the rear axle for now until that comes in. The old rear section that goes up and over the rear axle was pretty crusty looking. Sounds better than it did I'm pretty sure there was a significant exhaust leak around the welded area judging by the black sooty streaks down the pipe.
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Jun 27, 2020 02:50
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I sorta want to see it lifted a few inches with mud tires and a bull skull on the hood. Then again that's what I want to do to all cars.
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Jun 27, 2020 03:01
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Kinda like this I want to go the opposite direction and drop it on airbags. It already scrapes my driveway getting it up the incline so for now it's low enough.
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Jun 27, 2020 03:50
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Thumposaurus posted:My partner is an archeologist starting work on helping to save a historic black cemetery from having a self storage place built on top of it. She'll be using it as a way to transport tools back and forth to the site for that as well.
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Jun 28, 2020 16:08
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InitialDave posted:Hope she's cool with all the new goth girlfriends you attract. Quoth the Raven, "drive me to the store?"
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Jun 28, 2020 16:21
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