Uhhhh...

Today...I have no cars that work. The 93 Eldo smokes like crazy if I drive it, the 67 has a bad battery cable, and the Porsche has a flat tire.

Taking the Month off

I'm taking the month of July off from any car restoration (unless it's neccesary or in credibly cheap). Our lease is up and we are expecting to move(hopefully to a place with a garage!), so my car restoration will resume in August.

last week

So on Sunday after the show, I thought “wouldn’t it be nice to listen to music on the way home?" so, I attempted to have the radio installed at a Circuit City in LA somewhere near El Segundo. They wanted to charge me $120 in labor (what happened to FREE Install?!) because I wanted it in the glove box. What a rip-off. The guy working there seemed kind of shady too so I skipped it. I'm at the point where I think I will just do the install myself. I just have to figure out where to buy a bezel (or maybe I can make one).

Also, on the ride down my car started to not start after I shut it off. I had it jumped twice before I discovered through the help of a couple other people that my battery cable was the problem. So I got a battery terminal cleaner (most awesome invention ever!) and cleaned and tightened the cable almost every time I wanted to start the car. On Sunday, the car over heated and spewed coolant all over the engine compartment, but mostly all over the battery. I sopped up all the coolant, and cleaned the battery terminals and after it was all dry it would start again. Though not very well. The last time I started it, it sparked a little, and I noticed the plate that holds the cables down was not tightened enough, the whole set up is kind of janky. I think I will go get a new battery cable as soon as I can.

GN was AWSOME!

I'm so tired... but the Grand National was a lot of fun. I should have taken another day off.

There were so many really nice Cadillacs. There were 5 Eldorado Birritz's (which are pretty rare).

I also went on a tour to the nethercutt museum that was really neat, but I lost most of my photos from the trip, because I lost my camera. That sucked. I tried to go with out one, but I couldn't, so I broke down and bought another one(luckily there was a BestBuy across the street.

I met one of the guys who designed the '67 Eldorado who later became GM's VP of design, who basically told me he didn't like the color of my car.

No radio yet, but running better

I tried to have my radio insatlled on Saturday, but the radio I had didn't have an ipod connection, and they didn't have the stereo I wanted that did have the ipod connection. So I had to skip the install.

On Sunday I was able to fiddle with the carberator and get it running smoothly(well much smoother... Of course, in the process the bit of the ratcheting screwdriver I was using fell off, and through a gap in the intake manifold to a place I could not get to it from. I had to go to the local hardware store to get one of those magnetic tool retriever things. I found one that was really perfect, it bends to whatever shape you need it to. I don't know how long it will last, but hopefully I won't have to use it much.

still to do:

1) get stereo installed (Sat. morning)
2) stop squeek (Sunday)
3) polish chrome and wax paint (Sunday)
4) replace muffler (Monday?)
5) get tires that match (may have to skip)
6) try to fix doors to headlights (may have to skip)

Opulence

So I've had this car for how long now, and a friend of mine just pointed this out to me... the doors on my eldorado have TWO door handles on the inside! one for the front seat passenger, and one for the rear seat passenger. How awesome is that?

Calling Cards

I made some calling cards for the show with photos of my cars and contact info, I made them mostly as a test to see if this printer would be good for another project I am working on. I picked them up today, and they came out frickin' awesome! I used the orange photo by the water from about 5 posts back, and then put small images of my other cadillacs on the back.

Compliments

Getting copliments on cars is always awesome, but when you get them from people you know are into cars, it's even better!

Duh... and Vette Racing

So, it appears as though I didn't need the radiator. One of the hoses on the back side of the radiator was not clamped tight enough and was dripping down, making it look as though it was leaking from the bottom of the radiator, if I had looked close enough, I would have noticed this. I think I'm just in a rush to get this car finished, and I'm not really paying attention.

My brother made a makeshift overflow tank (since I did not have one) for me out of a water bottle. It doesn't look too bad; it's hidden away in the battery compartment.

The guy on Ebay claims he's going to send me my parts (the bezel and whatnot) so I get them before my show...we'll see.

On a side note, I went to 'Vette Magic (yearly corvette-only drags) yesterday with my brother and dad, and did pretty well. I raced the '73 'vette and got to the semi-finals for my bracket before the tranny fluid started leaking out and I got disqualified. I think I got fourth place, but since I was disqualified, I don't know if I actually get fourth place (we didn't stick around to find out). Unfortunately, my brother did not get to race because the car was disqualified. Dad raced his 99 vette, and was eliminated the first round. Since the car is new I don't think he knows it well enough to pick a time.

Ordered Radiator

...Ordered it from Radiators.com which has a warehouse in Sac, they are delivering it to my parents house today. While I was on hold, they had as their hold music the comedians from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Gives you a little insight into the company. It cost $181 after tax with a lifetime warranty.

I also called d'Bears (cadillaville.com) about a dash board, bezel, and stereo, but they did not want to send me the stereo, and it would take two or three weeks to get the dash and bezel. I decided to skip it and wait until after the Grand National to order these parts, who knows, maybe I'll find some of them at the show.

New Carb in

Jim and I put the new carb in last night. Right on the side of the street, because we have no garage. It seems to work OK, starts right up! Though I'll have to adjust the idle a little, it's running a little fast.

Two problems we ran into, were the part that connects to the throttle linkage did not line up properly, (see the image above)so we had to swap that part off the old carb. It could have been bent, or maybe that's what's different on the deville version?

the other problem was while taking the old carb off, I sent the clip that holds the throttle linkage on flying and it (of course) fell between the radiators in the front. As I looked down to see if I could get it, I saw a big puddle of green staring up at me. It was pretty obvious that the radiator was leaking. So, that goes on the top of the "to fix" list.

Oh- yes Jim fished the clip out with a magnet off the refrigerator (thank you Affluent Travel!) and some string.

Things to do by next week:

- stop squeek
- get tires that match
- replace muffler
- put new carb on
- get stereo installed
- see if I can find a new dash bezel
- polish chrome

Car Back From A&A

Well, I was able to pick up the Eldo at A&A this weekend! It actually worked out perfectly! Some of the online Cadillac group was meeting to go to A&A and I got a ride from them to the yard. I hadn't called to let them know I was coming that day, luckily Nick, the mechanic working on my car, was there and was able to finish up a few last-minute things before we had to leave. The final cost on all the repairs was $2300. I usually would be pretty angry about spending over half the cost of the car on repairs (actually I did a quick calculation - to date I've spent $5240 which IS more than I paid for the car) But it's totally worth it. I love driving around in this car!

Here's a list of what was done:
-The engine was completely resealed
-new freeze plugs installed
-they fixed the power windows so I don't have to switch to "emergency" to use them
-they took the toggle switch out for the tail lights and made them work from the headlight switch again
-the power seat works now
-new heater core
-the defrost works (with a switch below the dash)
-new thermostat
-new hoses
-resurfaced the exhaust manifolds
-replaced the broken bolt on the exhaust manifold
-the headlights now make an attempt to work, so some of the vacuum system must have been fixed.
-New rear shocks with air hoses accessible from the rear near the gas tank instead of in the trunk
-

After I got it back I took it to the car wash(which I should probably not do again until I get it painted, as every time I wash it, more paint seems to come off). And took some photos, I will post a couple here.

Carb Here!

I got my carb in the mail today! It's so pretty and shiney...and smells like metal and acid :-)

I opened it as soon as I got it at work, and was promptly laughed at by my co-worker when I sqeeled "Oh! My carb is here!"

Caddy meet

Well it looks as though the Cadillac group is going to have a small meet and they will be going to A&A on Saturday morning! I'm trying to see if I can hitch a ride up there with another caddy club member, so I can drive my car home. Hopefully the car will be finished by then.

Cadillac close to being finished!

Today I called A&A, and they said they were waiting for a turn signal switch (which was not something on the list of things to fix, so I assume it is part of the electrical problem). They said it would definitely be done by early next week, but could possibly be done by the end of this week.

It would be great to get it back this week, because there is a small Cadillac meet on the East Bay this weekend, and it would be great to be able to show my car off this weekend! That also gives me more time to get the remaining things fixed.

I emailed the guy who I ordered the dash parts from last night, and I have not heard back. I may be screwed here because he just recently got two major negatives on Ebay for stuff similar to my problems (really late with ship and milking you for more money later). I'm going to hold off a few more days and see if I get anything from him. It sucks though, because it's been two months since my initial order and another month and a week since the second order. RRRRRR...

Only three weeks until the show!

Carb Done!

I called today to the place that I sent my carb to be rebuilt just to make sure they got it and my email, and they said they received it Friday and it was finished already! They are shipping it tonight so I should get it by the end of the week.

The lady I talked to also said that it was a good thing I put the number of the carb in my email because they got two carbs in the mail that day, both with no information on them, and they had to use the carb number to figure out which was mine.

I can't believe that it's already finished...I can't wait to try it out. I will call A&A tomorrow and see when they think they will be finished with my car.

other cars...

Here’s a quick update on my other cars while we are waiting for the 67 Eldo to come back.

'93 Eldo - I was going to try to drive this car to my parents house so I could leave it there for a while and not have to worry about it on the street (the tags are expired [I just got the new one in the mail this weekend so they are going on the car tonight] and I have to move it once a month for street cleaning) I got the car to the gas station about 2 miles down the road, and it was already smoking so badly from the coolant leak, that I turned around and left it at home. There was a lady who was interested in the car last week I told her I'd sell it to her for $2100, and listed the work it needed with my phone number. She never called back. I think I will see how much I can get either a used engine for, or see if a shop nearby can re-seal the engine for less than $2000.

'84 944 - I think it needs a new clutch. Which will cost me another $2000. It’s still running fine, but recently it's had a little bit of a hard time starting in the morning(this could be the starter, but it seems to start only when I push the clutch all the way into the floor), and the "clunk" sound that came with it when I bought it seems to be getting worse.

'67 Convertible - I am still trying to get this car officially insured so I can tow and or drive it around to mechanics in the upcoming year. The last notice from the insurance company told me they needed proof it had headlights. I put the headlights back on and took more photos, but wasn't able to turn the lights on (I will need to charge the battery to do that) so hopefully having the lights on the car will be enough. I would like to have this car finished for the 2007 Grand National in Savanna, Georgia. It needs engine work, a new top, and paint, but the cars listed above will also need to be fixed this year, so I'll have to budget wisely.

'79 DeVille - Still sitting under a car cover (which is almost disintegrated) and I'm sure there must be a major rust hole under the vinyl top, since there is now mold on the headliner inside the car. I would really love to work on this car this year too, but it's just not going to be possible. I really wish I had been able to garage this car years ago.

Carb

I just sent an email to the CarbsOnly guys letting them know that I sent them a carb that I'd like to have rebuilt.

I also just looked at the list on thecarburetorshop.com to verify that the number on the carb is right. it's not.

The carb AZ vintage sent was for a deVille with A.I.R.(California only emissions control) and A/C, which is slightly different than the Eldorado with A.I.R. and A/C. Luckily I have a '67 deVille (California car) as well, so this carb will probably end up on that car.

In the meantime, it will probably do a much better job that the Holley carb (aftermarket) that's on the Eldo now.