Upholstery kits

leather kits you can order for your car:
http://autoupholsterykits.com/

Finally!

The tires I bought for the '95 Eldo are swapped onto non-leaky wheels!

I brought the car and my original wheels from the '93 (which are a little dinged up but don't leak) to the tire shop today. It was going to cost $96 to have the tires swapped, but I bitched about all the extra fees ($20 to fill the tires with nitrogen? WTF?) and got them to take the price down to $60, That was very nice of them, and will make me consider coming back to this shop the next time I need tires.

(photo to come)
Here's a shot of how badly one of the chrome wheels is destroyed. How does this even happen?

Automotive Painting

I just signed up for a class the local community college is hosting on Automotive painting. I figured I should Learn how to do it, since I personally have so many cars that need paint ('67 Vert, '67 Eldo, 944 and the '79 Deville) Plus, dad has two or three and Doug has a few himself.

If I can get Doug to do the body work on the '67 Vert, I may be able to get that car finished before the Cadillac-LaSalle Club's Las Vegas Grand National in the Summer of '09.

Need some rain-x

It's finally started to be winter here in California, and I'm realizing that I need to apply some Rain-x to the windsheild of the 944. The wipers work well enough, but you never know when they'll stop working, and having the rain-x on there with the wipers makes it a lot easier to see. I may have to use an entire bottle on the hatch window...

Speaking of the hatch window. I'm also wondering how much it would cost to put in a rear wiper. I already have the correct glass with the hole in it to mount one. but am not sure if I have the proper wiring or if it would need to be routed in. I'll have to do some research on it...

Sick this weekend - didn't do much

I did put the new registration sticker on the 944.

944 spider problem

Today when I left work, the 944 didn't want to start. It seemed like a battery problem, since it just clicked, with no attempt to start. the lights and radio were working with no problems, so I thought maybe there was corrosion on the cables or a bad connection. I tried to wiggle the negative cable but it was on securly and wouldn't budge, the I lifted the cap of the positive cable, and saw a little spider buliding a cocoon type web (most likely planning to lay some eggs there) on my postive battery cable. I shooed the spider away and scraped the web off the battery, then the car started right up.

Not much going on over the weekend

I hung the Christmas lights. Now the cars look pretty at night.

944 Passed smog!

Yay! I'm late in registering it, so it's costing me $70 instead of $54, but I'm very happy that I don't have to fork out a couple hundred for any smog-related issues...

Cadillac Club board meeting

A new member came out to the board meeting today and drove his 1937 Cadillac.

Ugh! Chip in the Windshield

I didn't even see or hear this one happen, it's on the passenger side just on the other side of the rearview mirror, so I can't see it from where I sit. Jim pointed it out to me when we went to get hot dogs...

Cleaned out the garage

I intended to work on the '67 eldo, but the garage was such a mess, I couldn't focus on the car...SO i cleaned the garage instead. I also re-arranged the cars a little, so the '67 eldo is in the garage for now.

Modulator arrived today

I was shocked out of sleep by a door bell ring, and what was there when I answered it? Two packages from Rock Auto! The Modulator, and an oil filter for the 944.

took the cadillac in to work today

Before I left I checked the oil and it was more than a quart low! I think my oil leak is getting worse... or maybe it was the trip to LA that burned so much of it off...

Ordered Modulator!

Maybe it will be here before the end of the week. Every time I look up this part or talk about it, I think of Marvin the Martian, and the way he says "Mod-u-la-tor"

Smog Check

I need to get a smog check done for the 944. I hope it passes! When I bought it, the guy I purchased it from did the smog check, and one of the numbers was very close to the max then. I'm hoping that stays the same, but am also fully expecting to have to get a new O2 sensor or some other smoggy part.

Changed Oil in Porsche!

Finally! I bought a couple of shorter 2-ton jackstands($20 at Kragen), and changed the oil. I was at about 5k miles since the last change (which is actually under the recommended oil change frequency for this car, but I want to keep changing the oil every 3k).

It's still difficult to change the oil even with these shorter jackstands, but at least I can get under the side of the car to reach the drain plug with the lower jacks (I did need to get Jim to help me loosen the plug - why do these guys at the shops always over-tighten everything?). I'm thinking maybe the drive-up ramp lifts might be a better way to go with this car... Also, the oil filter is angled so you lift it from the top of the engine. This makes no sense to me, there's no way to keep all the oil from spilling out over everything.

But, the drain pan I had (that had overflowed when I changed the oil in the Cadillac)worked perfectly for the 944. Just the right size for the oil pan and oil from the filter.

no tires this weekend

didn't pick up the other two wheels this weekend, but mom said she'd drop them off when she drives down this way on Friday.

Tire Swapping

I needed to drive down to LA for a wedding today, so I took one of the old wheels that I just brought down from my parents house (the one that still had functional rubber), and one of the wheels off of the '93 Eldo, and put them on the '95 Eldo. We did this last night at 11:30 p.m.



Not wanting the car to look even junkier than it already does, I swapped the wheels around on the 95 so that the two chrome wheels were on the drivers side, and the two matte aluminum wheels were on the passenger side, so at least each side of the car looked like it had matching wheels. This may not be the best option for tire wear, but it sure save on embarrasment.

Oh - two of these wheels that the tire shop installed were almost impossible to get off the car, I had to stand on the wrench to get the lugnuts off. Someone didn't set the tourque on the air wrench to the right setting... It shouldn't take 155 lbs to loosen the lugnut!

Saggy rear end

The rear end on the '95 Cad is sagging a lot, I suspect that the shocks were either swapped out for the kind you have to fill with compressed air every once in a while, or the fuse for the shocks has gone out... I will do a fuse check as soon as I can get around to it.

I took two of the spare wheels I have home this weekend, which is the number of cadillac wheels you can fit in a honda accord trunk. We're probaly going back up this weekend, so I will grab the other two then.

Why won't anyone change the oil in the 944?

This is getting ridiculous. 8 places that "specialize" in oil changes refuse to do it. WHY?! The place today tried to tell me that the engine needs to be turned over in a special way when the oil is changed. ugh...One a few weeks ago said they didn't have the tools need to change the oil in it. I refuse to go to a Porsche dealer and pay $120 bucks for an oil change!!! I'll probably break down and buy the shorter jack stands so I can do it myself at home.

'95 cad wheels

I think I'm going to grab my spare set of cadillac wheels from my parents house when I go visit this weekend...then I can have the tire shop switch over all the tires when I get the flat repaired. No more leaky tire...

Cadillac meet today

I went to a Cadillac meet today with the Bay Area chapter of the CML. Except I didn't get to drive a Cadillac. We BBQ'd and ate pie, and looked at each others cars. It was a beautiful day and great fun.

so busy...

Work this week is very busy I've had homework every night. so nothing has been done on any of the cars. I haven't even brought the flat into the tire shop for repair yet.

I was thinking that it would be a good idea to bring the 944 into the shop and have the struts and alignment done, but I'll also have to get new tires, and I'm not 100% sure the rear drivers side wheel lock will come off...

More Flat tires

This time a different tire went flat while I was at work...

Plan for this weekend

I have found myself with a free Sunday for once.

Here's a list of stuff that needs to be done that I currently have the parts for in the garage:

Change front brakes on 944
replace headlight on 944
install antenna on 944
re-connect ipod plug in 944
Change oil in 944
Change front brakes on '67 Eldo
Change oil on '95 Eldo

Here's a list of other things that I need to get parts to do:

Check rear brakes on '95 Eldo (well, I MAY need to get parts for this...)
Fix '67 Eldo (need vacuum modluator?)

Cadillac North-South Show

I went to a Cadillac show this weekend in San Luis Obispo, CA. There's nothing better then looking at beautiful working Cadillacs to motive you to finish yours...

There was a gorgeous 1930 v-16 Cadillac at the show, and many 60's including 3 '67-'68 Eldorado's!

I got some good info on possible solutions to my vacuum leak, including the difference between the two vacuum modulators that are available in parts stores. Turns out I want the more expensive brass one which is what the original came with.

The smaller modulator leaves off a feature (that I can't remember what it was exactly...) that you don't NEED to run the car, but why would you buy a part that reduces what the car does?

Going to SLO this weekend

in the '95 eldo with the leaky tire...

Dirty Dirty Cars

I need to do a mass car washing... all the cars a filthy, with the exception of the 67 Eldo which has been under a car cover the last few months. though I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't clean under there, every time the gardeners come by they use leaf blowers to "clean" the yard, and in the process blow the cover off the car (last time this was evidenced by the fact that the car cover was stretched over the antenna instead of having the antenna go through the small hole I put in the car cover). It really drives me crazy that there are people coming to the house every other week who are touching my cars.

67 Eldo vacuum modulator

I think I'll just order a new vaccuum modulator for the transmission, that seems to be the most likely thing that has gone wrong with the shifting on the '67.

the only thing is that there are two different ones available...one is big and brass and expensive $50, and the other is small and some kind of silver colored metal, and cheap $20, I can't imaging that both of these parts work properly, so I'll have to do some research...

hmmm. Updates...

The tire in the '95 is still not holding air. It loses about 4-5lbs of air a day, which means it need to fill it every day. It's a pain in the ass. I was thinking of swaping out the wheels for the spare set I have, they are not shiney chrome, but they don't leak...but then If they DO leak, I'll know it's the tires not the wheels...

Free Air Compressor

Doug found a guy through his work we was giving away an air compressor for free (because it had a hole in it) Doug took it, welded it up and gave it to me! He dropped it at the house while I was out at a cadillac event today...

Bastard!

So Last night, I got home from work and went to go hook the trickle charger up to the battery of the 95 eldo, and just as a lark, I tried to start it before I hooked it up, and broooom! It stated right up. Stupid Car.

My theory is that it wanted some garage time.

double RRRRR.

This morning I checked the tire level on the problem wheel on the 95 Eldo, and the air was low...20 PSI (should be 35 PSI). This sucks because it means the leak was not fixed. It may be leaking slower, but it hasn't stopped. I pulled it into the garage, and filled the tire, then filled the tire in the '93 Eldo since it was right there, and it was also low (most likely from sitting for a year more than anything else...).

Here's what makes it a double-rrrrr...I went to leave and all the car did was Click, Click, Click. The battery had died in the '95! What the Hell, I JUST started it, and it has not shown any signs of battery drain in the past. I checked the on-dash display, and it was showing 11 Amps, but I think It needs at least 12 to turn over. I only have a trickle charger which takes like, an hour to charge the battery up one amp, so I drove the 944 to work today.

I'm thinking now that I must not have let it run long enough the two times I started it this morning (once when Jim left for work and my car was in the way, and once to put it in the garage to fill the tire. I hope the battery didn't decide to kick the bucket right then. When I get home I will put the trickle charger on it and try starting it up tomorrow...

67 eldo shift problem

Ok, so I finally read up about the problem I'm having with the '67 cadillac not shifting from 1st to second unless it's at full throttle... the possible causes include:

-bad vaccuum hose from tranny
-bad vaccuum modulator on tranny
-bad Transmission downshift switch
-bad solenoids
-bad control valve assembly
-bad case assmebly

well now, doesn't that narrow it down...

'57 sevilles

I went to look at a pair of '57 sevilles today. As much as I have the desire to save them, I really can't take another project on. I must work on the one's I already have...

Changed Oil in 95

We got out early from work yesterday, so I got home before Jim and took the opportunity to actually get into the garage. I changed the oil in the '95 Eldo at 110,000 miles.

The engine holds 7 quarts plus maybe another .5 for the filter, but the new (meaning I bought it a year ago and this is the first time I've actually used it) 7.5 quart oil pan I had did not hold all the oil, so I made a mess in the garage.

I don't think it's really a 7.5 quart oil pan. plus it sucks with pouring, I must find a better oil pan.

rumble burnout cadillac -60 cab 502

Wow! awesome! :-D

Got the Tire back

I called the tire shop this morning, as it had become obvious that they had forgotten about me. They said yes your tire is ready...so I went in before work and had them put it on. I drove it to work today, but I'll be watching it closely.

time for brakes

Today on the drive home, the 944 sounded like the brake indicators were indicating. I think I already bought new pads for it, so I'll do the brakes soon...I think I need to pick up some lower profile jack stands though, the one's I have are for cadillac-sized cars, and the 944 looks like it's floating in the sky when its on them...

Registration Time

The registration is due for the '67 convertible, and the 944 (which I have to get smogged...) both are only 50-60 bucks, but the smog will cost...

Flat tire

I brought the car back to where I got the new tires, and they said the wheel was causing the leak, and proceeded to try to sell me new wheels, after explaingin to them that I do not want new wheels, and even if I were to need to purchase new ones, I'd get the appropriate wheels for the car, they said they would try to put a temporay fix on the wheel grinding the leaking area down, and putting an sealant on the area, to keep it from leaking for the short term. They put the spare on the car, and kept the problem wheel, I am expecting a call Monday to let me know when it's ready. My dad thinks they scratched the chrome on the wheel when they put the new tires on, causing the leak. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but I will probably not come back for tires again.

New Plan

The new plan is to get the convertible running for the 2009 CLC Grand National in Las Vegas.

First chance I get, I will finish the rear brakes, and change all the fluids. Oil, transmission, power steering, brake, coolant. and check the compression on the engine.

another un-Cadillac

Lotus Eclat
This one's half the price of the Lancia posted on June 20th, and double the horsepower...still a 4 cylinder so good gas mileage... and fun!

Air compressor search

I don't have an air compressor at home, and since I'm having these problems with the tire, it seems like a good time to buy one. I looked through all the parts store ads for any that might be one sale, but there were none. In fact, Pep boys was the only place that even had any in stock...but of course, they didn't have the one I wanted.

I went to Sears, they only had the giant shop sized one in the tool department, and when I asked if they had the smaller kind, the guy said " no we don't carry those" when in fact they do, they were just out in the Auto Center. I ended up buying one here for $50 (well, it was on sale for $44 or something like that). Which I think is a ridiculous price.

67 eldo battery

There's a little corrosion on the battery...it looks like coral.

944 dipstick

I went to check the oil in the 944 this morning, and the entire tube that the dipstick goes into pulled out! Maybe that's where my oil leak is coming from...one can only hope.

Car Chase...

This is not really Cadillac related, but it was kind of exciting, so I'll share it. Jim and I pulled into a gas station, and while we were sitting there finishing our conversation this junky old Grand National come racing into the station, and I swear I thought it was going to hit us head on he swerved around us, but luckily there was no one else parked at the pumps or there would have been damage for sure. As he books it past us, four cop cars in hot pursuit followed him through the station out to the other street.



We were talking about how crazy that was, when we see the helicopter come out and start heading toward us, then the car goes by us again coming from a completely different direction, and this time he's got 6 cop cars in hot pursuit, and three more going the other way to cut him off from the other direction.

Flat tire this morning

the front tire was looking a little low on the road trip once, and then it semed to be fine, but this morning, I noticed the tire was almost flat. I drove it to the gas station down the street to re-fill the air, and went back home to switch cars, since I don't work all that close to where I live, I didn't want to have to use a AAA lifline for a flat. I'll look and see if the tire has lost air again and bring it in to the tire shop for a repair.

Back from the trip

Well the 95 eldo made it across the country and back. 7,169 miles in 14.5 days

Got a part for the '67

While in Phoenix, AZ I made a stop at Arizona Vintage Parts, which is a cadillac-only junkyard. I was able to pick up a new dash bezel for the '67 eldo!

Tire with low air

tire had lost some air, stopped at a filling station and pumped it up a bit. Luckily I had a tire pressure reader that my dad gave me a few weeks ago, because there wasn't one on the air pump.

Oil Change

Today an oil change at 106k miles.

Arrived at Cadillac Show

Darla the car and I pulled up to the host hotel today at 5 til 4pm, just in time for me to hop out of the car in the driveway hand Darla the keys and run up the stairs the the seminar I had signed up for on air ride suspension.

Name for the Cadillac

Chicken. More explaination to follow.

Car Falling apart

Today a piece of the door trip on the passenger side fell off on Interstate 70.

Cadillac in Colorado

This morning I left the hotel room and thought "awww... some bird took a huge crap on my car..." but no, it turned out to be a bird crap shaped moth.

Car Trip coming up!

I leave this Thursday for my trip across the country. I'm mostly prepared for the trip out though there are a few options that haven't been decided yet. We'll have to see how long it actually takes us to drive the routes.

First Place for the '95!

I brought My '95 Eldo to our local CLC club's annual judged show. and won 1st place for my class, admittedly there were only two of us in the class, and I tied for first with the other person (I should have voted for myself...). But still, it's my first ribbon all the years I've been coming to this show.

Stupid car covers

I have a car cover for the 944 that won't stay on the car. I think it's because the tree that used to be next to the car was cut down and now there is no shelter from the wind. I tried tying it but it just twists around the car. maybe I can put some velcro on the bottom of the car to make it stay.

Washed cars

Today I washed three cars at once, and bought a cheap cover to put over the '67 eldo (I already have one for the 944, came with the car...) The covers should keep them pretty clean unless it rains...

A while back our landlord cut down the Pine tree (well the half a pine tree) that was covering our driveway. Now that the source of the sap has been eliminated, I can get to work on scraping the sap off of the 944 and the 67 eldo. It takes forever!

$50 dollar paint job?

this guys painted his corvair in his driveway for $50

read more on how here:

http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

It's tempting to try something like this on one of my cars just so it will look nicer for the short-term.

No Updates

The tires are great, I was amazed the first day driving on the how quiet they are!

I'm not sure what my car plan is right now, I'm gearing up for my trip to Savannah. So far, my friend Darla is driving out with me to Savannah, and no one is joining me on the way back. Maybe because I'll be driving through the desert in August.

V-12 Cadillacs that never were...

from Jalopnik...

http://jalopnik.com/cars/retro-concept/continued-caddy-concepts-v12s-that-n=ever-were-274571.php

New Tires

New tires for the 95 eldo!

Pirellis even...

Blah, Spiders...

Ugh, I was looking for the vacuum hose to the transmission in the 1967 eldo, and found a Giant Black Widow instead. Jim killed it. Well, he tried to kill it and then actually killed it. The thing outran the first spray of Raid. Then I turned the engine on to flush it out, and a second third and fourth spray of raid finally took it down.

Blech! Black Widows are gross!

Almost a blowout

Well I knew I needed new tires, but I didn't know one would literally melt. I came close to having a blowout last night.

My passenger side tire developed a wobble while Jim and I were on our way to a party last night. I thought I had a flat, and pulled to the side of the freeway, we looked at all the tires and they were all fine, so I drove slowly to the next exit. It felt as if there was something wrong with the driver's side, but when I looked at the passenger side it was wobbling severely. It had developed a huge bubble, and was distorted and melty.

We put the spare on (luckily there was a spare!), and went to the party. So now I must buy tires.

'95 on the road?

I pushed the Fuel line back onto the filter as hard as I could, but there is no snapping into place or latch that I can see. It seems to be holding gas again, So I drove it to work.

The gas tank was on empty (and was pretty much there when all this happened), so I stopped and got a few gallons, enough to get me to work, and to test it out in case it decided to leak again(I don't need to be responsible for a 20 gal fuel leak in Berkeley, they'd probably put me in jail for life). When I got to work it was still not leaking, so I'm thinking this problem is fixed. I'll continue to watch it carefully.

un-cadillac

this is so the opposite of a cadillac, but I love it! I would totally buy it if it was more like $6000.

1976 Lancia Scorpion 53k miles very original, runs perfectly! - $12000 (redwood city)
Reply to: sale-352879426@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-06-15, 11:41AM PDT

Rare 1976 Lancia Scorpion, in the UK and Continent called a Monte Carlo: Mid engine 1800cc Twin Cam, 5 Speed, all Disc brakes, original paint, runs like a watch, passes SMOG, and is very original. Only some 1700 of 7000 produced were imported to the US over a two year span, and many sadly have died a rusty death.

This little Lancia screams Italian all the way, Pininfarina (of Ferrari) design, retro color, funky roll up top ala a Topolino, classic arms extended Alfa Romeo driving position and all the right sounds from the Fiat derived overhead cam 4 cylinder with headers. Try to find another non-rusty Scorpion, much less one with 53k miles that is mechanically excellent. This litle car drives perfectly. Recently SMOGed, passed perfectly.

By the way, new brake calipers, rotors, pads, master cylinder, soft brake lines, new tires, new clutch master cylinder, new throttle cable, rebuilt front struts, new shift bushings, new hoses radiator, heater et all, re-core radiator, new fan sender switch, new shift bushings, new belts, re-built air pump, new Cat, new battery, new plugs, points, oil changed with filter.

Everything works except the old AC. Top, top straps, top hinged panel, latches all work smoothly, interior all superb, no cracks or tears in dash or door panels, carpet in car the trunk mat superb and original, no stains tears wear spots. Seats recovered.

Engine bay and engine are tidy and very correct: no leaks. It runs beautifully, idles nicely, pulls strong to 6500RPM, no smoke on acceleration or deceleration and 55 LBS of oil pressure. Trans and linkage shifts smoothly. So. Cal and AZ car.




http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/car/352879426.html

No Leak?

This morning as I was running out the door to go to work, I started the '95 Cadillac to see if pushing the line back onto the filter solved the gas leak. I started it and shut it off immediately in case there was a leak, but nothing came out, so I started it again and let it run a little, still no gas leaking out!

I still drove the 944 to work today though, because I'm concerned that there is no snap or other secure way the line stays on the filter. I wonder if this is correct?

Broken Fuel line?

Ugh...On my way home last night from Sears, I was driving the 1995 Eldorado, When a small car that I was following a little too closely ran over two pieces of wood, flinging one up into the front bumper of my car, and the other under the body of my car.

I thought "crap that sounded bad, it probably poked a hole in the bumper..." when I pulled into our driveway, about a mile from where the wood hit the car, Jim said he smelled gas. When I opened the door, the scent of gas hit me in the face. and there was gas dripping out from under the car like crazy. When I shut the car off it stopped, and luckily I did not have a full tank of gas, otherwise our driveway would be extremely flammable today, and I would be out the $60 it takes to fill up the tank.

After inspection, the first piece of wood left a nice scar on the bumper (fortunately, it looks like it can be buffed out). The second one that went under the car, and seems to have broken (or at least disconnected) the fuel line from what looks like the fuel filter(?). I moved the car in the spot reserved for cars that are not running and took the 944 to work today. When I moved it the gas started leaking again.

Plan for this week

I need to tackle the '67 eldo and get it into a running status again.

Things to do:
-locate the vacuum hose that is causing the tranny to not shift
-replace the bolt that is causing the exhaust leak
-replace the front brake pads
-change the oil

New Spark Plugs!

New Spark Plugs are in the 1995 Eldo. Did them today with Dad. The old ones were pretty fouled. and a couple of them had some oil leakage (not a good sign). The engine is aluminum so an anti-cease compound needs to be applied to the spark plugs where they screw into the block so they don't weld themsleves in.

Since the new dog bone mounts went in, it's become pretty obvious that I have a serious shimmy. I'm hoping it's just these mismatched and old tires, which I plan to replace next week. if not that, maybe it's the wheel, which I could swap with the other wheels I had from the '93 Eldo. if it's neither of those things, then there is something wrong with the suspention, which will cost some serious $$$.

Dogbone motor mounts installed!

The new dog bone Motor mounts are in. The old ones proved much more difficult to remove than the one's in my 1993 eldorado. not extreamy difficult, just had to pry them out with a hammer. and one of the new one had to be hit into place with a hammer as well.

the rubber on the old one's fell apart as soon as I took them out. I had to pick some pieces out from the fan belt.

New Brakes for the '95

New rotor


Old rotor

See the big old scar?

also, when I took the tires off, I discovered that I have 1 new tire. The rest are ready to go, who replace one tire? I'll have to get new ones before the trip to Savannah.

Parts in

Got a call from Kragen that the dog bone motor mounts have arrived. I will pick them up tomorrow after work.

Also, on thw way home tonight in the Porsche, I saw the faintest red light behind the battery indicator.

Parts!

Last night I stopped by Kragen and bought tons of parts. They price match, so I brought in the costs from RockAuto.com and I also had two gift certificates I've been forgetting to use, so I got out of there for only $83.

Parts purchased:
Rotors for '95
brake pads for '95
spark plugs for '95
anti cease compound
brake cleaner
brake tool kit

Parts Ordered and paid for:
dog bone motor mounts (2)

Rotors

I have not been driving the '95 because of the grinding sound last week, and today I looked at the rotors, again, because of the grinding sound, and decided to replace the front rotors. The passenger side is obviously scored(deeply) on the outside of the rotor, and the other is most likely scored on the inside, even if it's not, it's probably best to change them both out so they will wear evenly in the future.

Parts

OK so I kind of lied last week when I said I'd ordered the parts for the '95. I was ordering them , but then I found out that there is no way to redeem a gift card for Kragen on their website. So, I decided to go into the store armed with the online prices and order there, but I never did. So here's the list to bring into Kragen for the '95 after work today:

Brake pads
dog bones
spark plugs

Brakes for the '95

Uh, the 95 need brakes, Badly. They are grinding, which means I probably will need rotors as well. I may take the car in to have this done. I don't have any time to do it myself.

New Brakes on the '67 vert

My dad and I changed the rear drums on the '67 deVille. The one thing I'm not sure about is the drums. The new ones do not have the hole in them to attach to the wheel hub.

We did not get to bleed the brakes, so there is no pedal (and therefore no brakes). So next step is to bleed the brakes and check for leaks. The rear passenger side cylinder looked like it may have a leak, but it was hard to tell, since there were so many bugs and so much dirt and rust built up.

I also need to put some power steering fluid in the car, and change the oil and other fluids.

It starts, but only after charging the battery, which doesn't seem to want to hold a charge, so I may need a new battery as well. I suppose it could be the generator. Maybe I can bring the battery in to an auto parts store to test it? can they tell if it's still good?

parts for '95

ordering dog bone struts and spark plugs for the '95 today. Dog Bones are a special order part.

Porsche repair

Yesterday I called a couple of Porsche repair shops to get quotes on replacing the struts in the front (they've been shot for a while, the car bounces all over the place).

The first place I called quoted $195 per strut, and $350 labor and did not give me a price for alignment (because I forgot to ask)- $740.00 pre tax + $80-100 for alignment

the second place quoted me $268.52 for one side and $290.20 for the other plus $275 labor and $110 for alignment, and said "we only use genuine porsche parts, none of that cheap stuff here." - $943.72 pre tax

give me the cheap stuff!

All parts in

I had intended to do the brakes on the '67 convertible last weekend, it being a long weekend and all, but the weekend went by so fast.

Since we will not be going to 'vette magic this year, I decided to do the brakes this weekend. but this weekend is also the goodguys show, so I might need to make some room for that as well...

More Parts!

Today I got the brake Drums, and hardware kit for the '67 deville, and the brake pads for the '67 Eldo. Hopefully, I'll get the Brake shoes for the '67 deville by Thursday.

First Part arrives

It is the least urgently needed... the air filter for the 944

shipping confirmation!

I get the notice that my parts are shipping today! There are six parts and 5 packages. it seems a little wasteful on their part to ship so many packages.

Cleaned the 944

I washed the Porsche today, so it will look good for anyone who might like to buy it... I also started working on getting the tree sap off of it. I had tried this little hand held sap remover thing where you squeeze some goonk onto the sap and then scrape it off with a rubber scraper, but that didn't work so well. So today I tried this other stuff, which works better, but is a lot of scrubbing. I got about 7 spots done, but there are probably 20 more that need to be done. Sap is really a pain. My advice is to avoid it at all costs.

Ordered parts!

Today I got of my lazy ass (well, actually I didn't as I ordered online) and ordered a ton of parts from RockAuto.com

I got air and oil filters for the Porsche

Brake pads for the '67 Eldo

brake drums/shoes and hardware for the '67 deVille

YAY!

Why are the prices different online?

I find it incredibly annoying that I have to go online and search for the best price on a part so I can have it pricematched at the store. Kragen is so much more expensive in the store than parts america which is owned by Kragen. Why? why don't they just have the same prices? or why can't they at least offer to look it up in the store for you instead of sending you home to look it up and drive back to order it?

example: a drum for my 67 deville is $51.99 online at PartsAmerica (again, owned by Kragen) but it is $110 in the store. what on earth could possibly cause such a huge price difference?

I have let all this suspend my parts purchasing for another week.

Spark Plugs

I think I'm going to need new spark plugs in the 95. It's starting to feel sputtery, and the plugs that come in the car are supposed to last 100k miles, and I'm now at 100, 200.

OW!

While I was trying to see if there was a vacuum leak that was causing the transmission problem, I burned myself on the hot exhaust pipe.

new air filter for the 944

I put in the new air filter yesterday. I need to bring it to get the oil changed as well. I hope the place I've been going still has the oil filter in stock.

I also attempted to drive the Cadillac around the block, the car would shift but only after the engine was revving really high (since there is no tach, I can't say exactly how high)when I parked it in the driveway after going around the block, the carb was smoking. I have no clue what's wrong with it.

Turned 100,000

The odometer turned 100,000 miles last night on my way home from work on the 95 Eldo. So what was that? 2,000 miles in six weeks?

How did another week go by?

I had intended to buy some parts for a bunch of cars this week, but somehow is has gotten for Friday already and I haven't done it. I was even in a parts store last night picking up the air filter I ordered a month ago for the 944. I guess having a car that runs makes you forget about the cars that don't run...

new parts store

I need to check this place out, it's near where I live:

Walnut Creek Morgan's Auto Parts
1285 Parkside Drive
Walnut Creek, CA 94596

944 websites

http://www.clarks-garage.com/

no bites

I listed the 944 and the 93 cadillac on craigslist and got zero responses.

Here's a link to a company who rebuilds cadillac northstar engines. http://www.ae-engines.com/cadillac46northstar.html

Oil drips

I parked the 95 eldo in the garage over a long weekend to see if it leaked. It does but just a bit. There were three small drips of oil under the car after it was parked for 4.5 days.

traveling

I'm traveling a lot without cars last weekend and next, so there won't be much content here...

New Car for Me!

My Dad bought me a 1995 Eldorado Touring Coupe. it has 98000 miles on it (that's about 100k less than my '93)

It's super-clean, and has a moon roof!

No Power

When I drove down the street this morning, the Cadillac didn't want to come out of first gear. I turned around and parked it in the driveway, and drove the 944 into work. I hope this has something to do with a vacuum leak repalted to the new dash pot and NOT a failed transmission.

I keep draining the battery

On the way to work, there is a tunnel I turn my lights on through the tunnel, and I keep draining the battery after I get to work because I forget to shut them off. There is no dummy bell to let you know they are still on (or at least if there's supposed to be one, it doesn't work). I finally put the jumper cables in the car so the next time this happens I don't have to wait an hour for Jim to come back to Berkeley from home to give me a charge.

New Dash Pot

My Dad went and worked on my car this weekend while I was on a road trip. He installed a new Dash Pot, but I need to install a t-fitting to the vacuum hoses.

Brake Part Suppliers

These places makes brake line tube replacements:
http://www.classictube.com/
http://www.inlinetube.com/

Brakes parts kits can be found at:
http://www.rockauto.com

Plan...

OK, so here's the plan. I will allocate 4 weeks to fix one part on all my cars. This does not mean that I will not fix other parts that break as needed during this time, it just means that I am trying to focus my energy on getting my cars running well and on the road instead of buying more cars. I may throw in a specialty weekend here or there as well.

through April 20 - Brakes (this may go a bit longer since I have three weekend trips planned in this four week period)
April 28 - Timing checks
May 5 - compression testing (may combine with timing checks if time allows)
through May 25 - Shocks
May 19 - Lube all points
through June 22 - Tires
through July 20 - Suspension
through Aug 24 -
through Sept 21 -

Cadillac Stops again

Dad and I went armed with a new master cylider for the cadillac to where I left the car at my work this weekend (I was relieved that it was still there). the old one came off, but the new one wouldn't go on. Turned out there are two different kinds of master cylinder that year, a bendix and a Moraine. I, of course, have the one that no local parts houses carry. It's a special order only item. The old one went back on, and the fluid was a bit down (not much though, maybe 3/8") so we filled it, and then it seemed to have some pedal. Dad drove it home while I led in his car.

We went and got a brake adjusting tool at Kragen (I also returned an air filter I tried to make work in the 944 a few weeks ago, and ordered the correct one) then we adjusted the drum brakes in the rear. The brakes seem to be working without problem now, I drove it in to work with no brake problems.

No brake problems, but the red light came on partway through my ride to work, I almost didn't notice it, it's so small. When it came on I realized that it had been more than a week since I checked the oil(there is a pretty severe oil leak, A&A apparently missed a spot when they re-sealed the engine). I stopped and got gas and topped of the oil. The light went away after about a half block, so I can only assume it was down too low, I wonder why the oil light didn't come on first. I'll need to check the coolant before I leave work today.

No Brakes

Is there anything worse than the feeling you get when you depress the brake pedal on a 4,500lb car and get no response?

This morning on my way into work, the brakes went out in the Cadillac. Well, there was a little brake, so I suspect the master cylider went out (I think this was the first year they had that in the Cadillacs, but I may be mistaken - I'll look it up later...)

Luckily, it happened just down the street from work(and not on the steep, windy road I came down on the way to work) , so I parked it in the parking lot at work. I 'll probably have to get a lift home from Jim and leave the car here. Good thing April is brake fixing month!

Idea...

I had a new idea on how to handle to masses of automobiles I now have. Instead of trying to work on one car at a time, I thought maybe I would try working on one part at a time. For example April will be "Brake month" I will replace all brake parts that need replacing on all of my cars in the month of April. I will buy four new drum brakes for the convertible, new front disk pads for the '67 eldorado (and check the drums in the rear), check the pads on the 944(and fix the wheel lock on the rear driver side wheel), and check the pads on the 93 Eldo as well... I may skip this process on the '79, but If I have time and/or money, I may not.

No Cadillac...

Well, the Cadillac (converible) did not make it to my house this weekend. I called a tow guy off of craigslist who said he had a flatbed trailer and would tow it the 60+ miles for $150. My sisters Husband had charged the battery up and it started when I got down there, but had a very hard time moving it, the brakes seem to be frozen.

When the tow truck guys came by, it wouldn't start again. We tried jump starting it with another car, but that didn't work. The trailer they had was too low to make it down the steep driveway and I wasn't willing to let his tow it up the driveway with his truck to load it on the trailer in the street, so I sent them home with $20 in gas money for coming out.

After they left, we tried charging the battery again, and it did start again, I'm guessing the alternator is not working, or maybe some wiring to the alternator is corroded.

Hot Cadillac

The weather has been just gorgeous here in Nor cal the last couple of weeks, and I'm getting a taste of how hot the black interior of the Eldorado is going to be this summer. Air conditioning seems like it will be a must this summer.

I found an article explaingin the basics of air conditioning from of all places mother earth news.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Transportation/1987-07-01/Auto-Air-Conditioning.aspx

Gas price shock

I've been driving a 4-cylinder car to work for the last year or so, the last two weeks I've been driving my 67 Eldorado to work and back everyday. I just added up the amount of cash I've poured into the gas tank over the last two weeks - $151.15 - ugh.

Tires

http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html

anything and everything you could every want to know about tires. Including an awesome tire size conversion chart for those times when you need to replace the old bias-ply with radial.

also check out the other car bibles, Brakes, transmissions, anything you want...

http://www.carbibles.com

Trailers

I need to find a Trailer to tow the Cadillac to my house with. My Brother-in Law has volunteered to tow it up to my place with his truck, but I need to find a trailer. I'm not sure if the one's from Uhaul will work. My car is pretty big.

Too much 944 not enough Cad

I'm noticing that I'm doing a lot of work on the 944 and not nearly enough on the Convertible (meaning none). I'm also noticing that the show in Savannah is coming up pretty quick, and I've got to get rockin if I'm going to bring the 'vert...

battery light

Last night as I was driving home from work in the 944, it looked like the battery light was on ever so slightly, and I thought "oh shit." This morning the battery light was definitely on, and as I thought back over the last few days, it has been taking the car a little longer to start than normal. The last thing I want to deal with is a non-funtioning alternator or starter, so I took the Cadillac to work. It drove so beautifully today! Normally, it feels like I am really trying to coax the car up the mountain in the morning, but today it just shot up it like a rocket.

Porsche weekend

This weekend was spent on the Porsche. On friday one of my headlights went out, so I went to pep boys and got a new one. I was kind of suprised that they carried it, considering they don't even carry oil or air filters for this car. Sat I pulled it into the garage and ended up leaving it in there all day and night. The next day my dad came by, and that motivated me to finish the project. When I went to take the plastic housing off that goes around the lamp, I noticed something odd. it looked like leaves or something had gotten inside the housing. As I was pulling the housing off, I found a huge stash of nuts! The squirrels have been using my headlamp for storage.

Cadillac blog

Blog from the Cadillac division of GM

http://cadillac.gmblogs.com/

exhaust leak

I have a full-blown flu this weekend, so am doing nothing. This week, the '67 Eldo developed an exhaust leak, my dad came by and looked at it, and it turns out one of the bolts on the flange where the exhaust pipes connects to the exhaust manifold was slipping through the hole in the flange. My dad found a washer in the dirt on the side of my driveway (the previous renters left a lot of crap around the house). and used that to keep the bolt from slipping trough the flange. I need to go out and get a grade 8 bolt and washers to replace the one that's in there, which is not a proper automotive grade bolt. I wonder why they didn't use a correct one when it was at A&A.

Photo

I took the car out in the rain last night to get a photo.

these guys are offering 10% off

...on steel rubber products, I do need new weatherstripping on the Eldo, but I can't figure out how to actually order steel rubber products on this web site... I suppose they expect you to use a telephone or something. ;-)

http://www.fenenterprises.com/about_fen.html

Suprise fix

I got in the 67 Eldo last night to put some gas in it and go to the post office, and when I backed out of the driveway, I saw light in the dash! Granted, it was very dim light(you can barely see the instruments in the photo above), but light where there was none before. I guess the new switch also fixed my dash lights, bonus!

vacuum hoses

While taking off the negative battery cable from the frame, I discovered that the vacuum hoses that lead to the passenger side headlamp assembly was split. This might explain why the headlight covers do not go up and down (and why the car was dieseling so badly when I'd shut it off), so I picked up some new hose while we were at the parts store this weekend.

My dad installed the new hose, and also found some other hoses that were disconnected or improperly plugged. Now the passenger side headlamp cover kind of works. and it doesn't diesel nearly so bad when I shut it off. I will add "replace all vacuum hoses" to my list of things to do to this car.

New Battery Cables/Connectors

While working on this car over that last month or so, the battery had gone dead. We hooked up the trickle charger to it overnight hoping that would be enough to charge the battery, but it didn't start. It did however produce a spark coming off of the battery conections. It melted the back of the battery connection right off!

We went to the auto parts store and picked up a new negative battery cable, and new connector for the positive cable along with an auxillary connector for the second wire.

My dad also pointed out to me that I did not have the battery secured with the super-cool battery lock down bar.

Steering wheel Done!

The steering wheel is now on the car and all of the lights are working. Including brake lights! YAY! I can drive it again!

Bird crap

Today a flock of birds decided to hang out in the tree directly above where I park my cars. They left a mess. They wouldn't leave, even when I threw rocks at them. Stupid Birds.

bearing back together

Jim and I were trying to figure out how the bearing assembly went back together, it turns out it just needed to be pushed together really hard. neither of us could do it with our bare hands, so I stood on it. That worked.

caddy blog

http://www.caddyedge.com/

new springs!

Dad had some springs manufactured (four total). the one to the left of the bolt in the photo is one of the originals. To be honest, I was not expecting the springs to be as close to the original as they are. They seem to have the same springy-ness, length and circumference as the original. I'm impressed.

I'll try to put everything back together this week.

link to car photos

On this site, there are tons of cadillac photos just go to the "C" section...

http://www.seriouswheels.com/

from Yahoo Answers:

someone's opinion on a question which asked" should I buy a mustang or a cadillac?":


"PONY", It screams "COOOL" !!!!

"Cadillac" It's screams "Yo Hoe, where my dollar be at, I'll slap yo azz, if i finds yo been holen out on me"

I thought that was funny...

GM are you listening?

steering column update

My Dad is going to try to have a new spring machined to replace the one that is missing. I need to put the bearing assembly back together, since he also managed to disassemble it somehow. I am checking in with my Cadillac groups on the location of the lockplate since we can't remember how it was in there to begin with and it is not properly documented in the manuals. The 944 is operating on borrowed time, and I really need to get the cadillac moving before it fails...

I also want to take the '93 and bring it to a shop to rebuild the engine so I can bring the convertible to my house.

I think the convertible needs to have the suspension (at least in the front) replaced, so that will be the first thing I tackle on it.