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Jan 11, 2011 19:16:45 GMT
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I suppose I aught to offer up a readers rides thread on the Cadillac as, well, why not? Nothing too exciting in here as I just intend driving this one and carrying out the repairs and improvements as we go so its going to be more of a running report blog thing than a build thread I guess. The car itself is a 1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. This is the last generation of the full frame RWD Cadillacs. After trying a RWD version of the FWD 4100 engine and finding this to be an utter FAIL Cadillac raided the corporate parts bin and found the 307 Oldsmobile motor languishing there. From 1985-1990 the 307 Oldsmobile engine with a 4 barrel carburettor was the standard fit in the RWD Cadillacs. This was a better deal than the 4100, having owned both, the 4100 is desperately underpowered whereas the 307 is just “not that quick”. But in a big comfy cruiser like this that's no real hardship. Its V8 powered and it does reasonable burnouts. What more do you need? I got the car as a good deal off eBay, it needs a bit of this and that (more on this later) but is basically sound as far as I can tell. The car has full leather, AC, electric everything, and a built in gun safe. Its showing 62000 miles which could well be genuine. Quite apart from repairs and so forth I do need to get the car onto LPG. The 307 is supposed to be the most economical iteration of the full size full frame cars and I clocked a point off 17 MPG on my first tank full with the car. That’s good for a big heavy old school V8 car but its dreadful for a daily commuter with petrol now at £1.25 a litre. I plan to upgrade the audio. The exterior is pretty tidy but has a few minor rust issues to deal with. I also have a snagging list: • Electric aerial does not go up • Rear electric windows don't work • Central locking sometimes does not unlock all the doors off the button • General service is needed (occasionally hard to start from cold) • Cruise control does not work • Heater works but its not that hot • Car has a few creaks and squeaks which would be nice to resolve • Exhaust appears to be leaking somewhere about the back axle area. And that is about it as far as introductions to the Cadillac go.
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Last Edit: Dec 7, 2011 15:48:28 GMT by akku
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Jan 11, 2011 20:36:06 GMT
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plain nice!!
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Retro VW Service, Restoration and Kustom Bodyworks
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Jan 11, 2011 20:41:01 GMT
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Nice....although 2 words spring to mind....." CAPTAIN SLOW"!!!!!
Remember the top gear american roadtrip =p
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will
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,023
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Jan 11, 2011 21:55:09 GMT
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I now officially feel I need one of these in my life ;D
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Jan 12, 2011 18:49:11 GMT
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i had one of these a few years ago , the same colour and interior but a f reg , a film company bought it and it was used in mid somers murders but had been painted black and dumped in a swimming pool . Crying shame i loved it
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bmw e23 728ise bmw e23 732i now sold to mates mum bmw e23 735i bmw e28 m535i now sold lancia dedra 1.6ie daily driver lancia thema turbo 16v lancia thema V6
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conrad
Posted a lot
Here to fix your cabin.......
Posts: 1,678
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Jan 13, 2011 18:37:41 GMT
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That is very nice!
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stueyt
Posted a lot
Saving cars from the scrapyard.
Posts: 1,682
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Jan 13, 2011 18:45:53 GMT
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Everyone has to have a Cadillac in their lives at some point. I had a '78 Seville D'elegance, top of the range with everything electric, it drove like and armchair and cornered like the same, but the grin factor was amazing. I even got waves off a group of Hairy Bikers driving to a show Cheers, Stu.
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Always looking for the next project!
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Jan 13, 2011 18:46:20 GMT
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Lovely yank!
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1987 Opel manta GT 2.0 16v 1976 Opel manta s project 1985 Opel Rekord E 2.2i 1992 Vauxhall Carlton 2.3TD 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis 2005 Landrover discovery 3
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Jan 17, 2011 22:23:28 GMT
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Well I thought I aught to start looking into the Cadillac's little foibles. I don't like to use the word “fault”. The fault is that it can be hard to start (motor turns over for maybe 10 seconds before it catches and fires) and then it runs with a misfire and a general lack of joie de vivre for a little while. Its not a huge problem but it spoils my enjoyment of what should be a spot-on luxury experience. It only does it when it is started from dead cold. My initial suspicions were dirt in the carb from it running out of fuel but I'm not sure why it would do it only from a dead cold start. Once again I start looking at the electrical elements and the chaps over at CadillacForums.com concur. Apparently its a “classic” sign of condensation in the distributor cap, and it has been damp as hell, and it didn't do it when it was mega cold freezing weather, so I'm happy to start there. I got on the phone to US Automotive and got all the bits for a service anyway. I've started this (but not yet finished the job due to celebration of MrsKu's birthday over the weekend leaving me not entirely focused on the job at hand. Rock Karaoke what more do I need to say?). So far I have attended to that distributor cap business. Now I shall apologise that many of the photos here are taken by phone-cam not a proper camera and are thus a little shonky. The HEI cap is supplied bare and the completed cap contains the ignition coil and hookups for the computer to advance and retard the timing or whatever. All of this needs to be transferred over to the new cap. Its a faf compared to a “normal” cap but its good to see some “you thought about that” features like the ring which holds the HT leads so you don't have to remember (or mark) which lead goes where when you refit them. Neat. old complete cap old and new that's the coil Part of the problem could have been caused by the fact that the cap hold down clips were not all, well, holding it down. The centre contact in the cap is toast. The rotor has seen better days Check the size of the rotor compared to my hand. This stuff is huge. (although I guess you'd expect that) Anyway, upon refitting the cap, while wiggling it to check it was seated nicely I noticed the distributor was free to turn. This isn't right. OK, that could also explain some stuff. While the ECU will make adjustments the base timing has to be set right in the usual way for it to do so. I set it right by ear and hoped for the best as I was running out of time and day light. Also it was by now throwing it down with rain and if you are working on a car ignition where you think part of the problem may be damp related then its probably not for the best to be doing it outside in the throwing down rain. This morning I took it to work and it started much better and while it didn't run 100% smooth as I would like initially it seemed much better. I have adjusted the distributor again since to see if a little less timing helps. I need to set it up properly on a light. This can wait, in fact, this will have to wait. Also. my EGR doesn't appear to be connected up
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Last Edit: Jan 17, 2011 22:24:12 GMT by akku
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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relating to your starting problem , on mine you had to pump the accelerator pedal 3 times before starting if engine cold to set system for cold start. If you didnt it just refused to start. Think mine had same engine as yours
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bmw e23 728ise bmw e23 732i now sold to mates mum bmw e23 735i bmw e28 m535i now sold lancia dedra 1.6ie daily driver lancia thema turbo 16v lancia thema V6
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Jan 18, 2011 11:15:03 GMT
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Its only supposed to need the one pump. Which I do, and it starts well enough now, it just stumbles as it runs. What we always used to call "running fluffy".
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Jan 18, 2011 21:14:32 GMT
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Erm, OK, this was caused by nothing more complex than a badly seated HT lead. Me a fool not to spot it first off but at least that was an easy fix...
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Jan 18, 2011 21:20:05 GMT
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Ah I love simple fixes! Never seems to pan out that way with my cars though.
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stefan
Posted a lot
If it isn't broken fix it till it is
Posts: 1,598
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Jan 19, 2011 12:22:42 GMT
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putting a v8 in a 4 pot merc was never a simple fix though was it
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POWER IS EVERYTHING WITHOUT CONTROL
1985 Honda jazz 1997 Saab 93 convertible 2010 transit 280
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Jan 19, 2011 14:31:35 GMT
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putting a v8 in a 4 pot merc was never a simple fix though was it Very true! ;D
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Jan 29, 2011 17:10:16 GMT
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good news, after driving around on 7 cylinders for a couple of weeks I finally got chance to change the plugs and leads and boy what a transformation. Also I have to say the GM habit of marking the cylinder numbers on the retaining ring for the plug leads is frikkin genius. Makes that job 100 easier.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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May 15, 2011 16:29:56 GMT
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OK, been having some electrical gremlins with one indicator which is now not working. rear is fine after swapping a bulb, ended up swapping front to back to check the new bulb was OK I'm getting used to stripping this corner down as I seem to be on it daily now LOL One set of experts and then another have looked at it and Seems this is the culprit. Power is present and the earth is good yet the bulb won't flash. Rock Auto have them at £2.61 but the P&P is £17.75 or so before you even add duty and VAT! Ouch. TeamBlitz to the rescue.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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May 15, 2011 16:56:03 GMT
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It was very baffling! At least we know it has a fusebox now! ;D
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May 15, 2011 16:58:01 GMT
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Ha, I had to send Rysz up there to find it again after he blew the front lights out...
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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May 15, 2011 17:06:16 GMT
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Its V8 powered and it does reasonable burnouts. What more do you need? Great quote ;D I would love a big yank tank to waft around in, something like this or a towncar. Very cool
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Sierra - here we go again! He has an illness, it's not his fault.
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