The perfect example of a gas-guzzling land barge in the era of escalating fuel prices

Surfin' the 'net, found a couple of sites dealing with Eldorado history:

Last Great American Whale

Gas Guzzlers of the 70s

There isn't anything that says "pimp" quite like this car.

So, as you can see my current 8 mpg is a bit low. Some folks on Internet Cadillac enthusiast groups claim to get close to 20 mpg highway with these cars. Those cars are fastidiously maintained and well-tuned. I also assume they are driving with the top up and driving the speed limit (or the old 55 mph speed limit).

While my baby runs well, it is certainly not perfectly tuned; I don't drive it with the top up, and I drive fast - 70+++ mph.

Well, I guess that explains why I'm not getting 16 mpg...

Happy Birthday

Well, it's been over a year since I got the 'El Diablo', and it was built in April of 1971, so I think some (belated) birthday greetings are in order. Been delaying it, because I haven't had much to post about.

Still very happy to have bought this magnificent automobile. Still needs a lot of work...

But it is running well - I've been taking her out on weekends and to run errands in the evening, weather permitting. I couple of sounds have me concerned - one is a (no longer occasional) squeak that I've attributed (but not confirmed) to a sticky brake caliper. It was a lot louder and persistent this evening.

And, I've got to tighten up the belts. And look at the brakes, adjust the top. And it really needs to be painted.

Anyway, saw Pineapple Express on DVD and got a kick out of seeing the Cadillacs in that movie - they seem to be from the same era of Big Caddies that my car is from, though a little newer, perhaps mid-70's.

Also, my neighbor mentioned that Woody Allen drives an Eldorado in Annie Hall. I rented that, and sure enough, it is pretty funny seeing Woody try to get that massive car out of a parking space.

Casino also has some nice caddies, and I have been meaning to check out Soul Men for its Eldorado.

Wait a sec, I just found a website called Internet Movie Cars Database. I found this picture of the 71 Eldo from Soul Men. Oh yeah, I'm gonna be spending some time on this site...




Finally, driving home this evening, a guy leans out of his car window and tells me "Your car kicks ass!"

Yes it does. Yes it does.

zoom zoom

The weather forecast for the weekend was sunny & warm, so I really wanted to take the Caddy out.

Played hooky from work Friday afternoon in order to get the exhaust manifold back on. Long story short - baling wire.

While I was in there, I went ahead and put in new spark plugs and new ignition cables. I was hoping to get Kyra to help me with gapping the plugs, but she has been sick all week and wasn't in the mood to goof around with the Eldorado - or "El Diablo" as my brother calls it.

Anyway, cranked it up Saturday afternoon. Happily, the engine is quieter now with the new gaskets. Even Marcia said so, in a non-sarcastic manner, so it is not my imagination. So, the 6 or 8 weeks of pain was worth it. Somewhat.

Still not as quiet as I would like, though, but I am going to put off any more exhaust work for a while.

Okay, Kyra and I went cruising on Saturday afternoon. First to the car races at Turner Field, that's where the photo above is from. They have these events about once a month: http://www.southeastdrift.com/

Here is the obligatory photo of the Caddy:



Then to the auto parts place to get some power steering fluid. Then off to get some dinner and sweets for Kyra. Back home to pick up the dog, and off to the playground.

Today, I just went for a spin by myself. I always tell myself to take it easy and not go over 70 on the highway. But then something happens to my right foot and ZOOM. Car rides nice. There was a Porsche 911 zipping along too and we gave each other the car-guy nod of respect.

Snow

Well, I was gonna work on putting the exhaust manifold back on today, but it was snowing and cold.





Last weekend, I did manage to drill out and retap the holes. The holes on the number 6 cylinder are pretty ugly, but I think there are enough threads there to hold a bolt. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I did manage to fabricate the two bolts that the heat shield attaches to. I used JB Weld and the bond seems pretty sturdy. Again, keeping my fingers crossed...

Progress...

So, for the last couple of weekends I have been trying unsuccessfully to get those broken bolts out.

The last couple of weekends have seen me trying to get the bolts free by heating & cooling and soaking and soaking them with penetrating oil. And heating & cooling & soaking. And heating & cooling & soaking...

Anyway, the two that are sticking out ain't budging. I tried using an extractor to dislodge the one that broke off flat. That requires drilling a hole through the center of the bolt and twisting in the extractor. The extractor has left hand threads that are supposed to grab onto the bolt and twist the bolt out.

As you may have guessed, the extractor broke. Now, the extractor is made of really hard metal, and drilling that sucker out is a pain!

Okay, so I get fed up trying to unscrew the bolts and decided to just drill them out. After some trial and error, I found the best tool for that is a Dremel with a bit for cutting tile. It is a rough bit and is good at grinding the bolts out of the holes.

After that, I used a tap to clean out the threads on all the holes, starting with the ones the bolts actually came out of. One of those had threads that were crushed for some reason, but I think I have got it tapped so it will hold a bolt.

Then I managed to break the tap on one of holes with the stick bolt. Drilling that out sucked - took me most of the afternoon today, and that hole is pretty ugly now.

So, next weekend I am going to work on cleaning up the holes that had the stuck bolts. I'll see if I can retap them, but I think I'll probably have to install an insert to restore the threads.

Arrgh!

Quick note here - allocated some time this afternoon to pull off the exhaust manifolds in order to replace the gaskets.

The right side manifold came off easily - yay!

The left side - not so much.

Managed to break off three bolts; two of them are special - they have an extension that the heat shroud attaches to. One of the bolts broke clean off, the other two have part protruding, but they are good and stuck:



So, no driving until I figure out how to get those bolts out.

On the bright side, Kyra and I didn't have any trouble replacing the windshield fluid reservoir or the PCV valve & grommet.

Happy New Year!

I spent a bit of time right around New Year's cleaning the Eldorado - touching up flaking paint, cleaning the interior and washing & waxing the car.

The wash & wax was long overdue - the car definitely looks a lot better. Unfortunately, the only way the paint on the hood is ever going to look good is by repainting the entire car. The sides of the car shined up a little better than I expected.

What else? I put a clear vinyl window in the top and cemented it in place with contact cement. That seems to work pretty well, though there is one small leak that I'll have to work on patching. I prefer to leave the car cover off, if possible, as leaves and moisture tends to get trapped under there and make the finish look really cruddy.

I really have to schedule a weekend to take a good look and adjust the top. It is not opening and closing very smoothly at all. Since I have the manual, I'm hoping it won't be too hard to figure out, but I plan on it being time-consuming to make all the adjustments correctly.

I also washed & waxed my truck, and that came out really nice!

What did I leave out? Marcia's Bug! Yeah, the rain arrived so I couldn't do her car, thus giving her another reason to hate the Eldorado.

A side note regarding her Beetle - feeling cocky after replacing the springs, shocks, water & smog pumps and belts on the Caddy, and replacing the rear view mirror on the Dakota (got clipped when somebody drove by too close and too fast), I decided that replacing her burnt-out headlight bulb would be a cinch.

WRONG! Oi, what a pain. I searched the internet on how to do this and what I found is that some of the Beetles' light assemblies are easy to take apart and some are very hard. Guess which one Marcia's is. SNAP!!! "Did this just break off!? Oops!"

Oh well, the guys at the local shop got things pulled apart and back together okay and didn't charge Marcia for the work, but it is another in her growing list of resentments about the Caddy.

But damn, I look good in that car, and that can't be bad, can it?

And finally, I took the car to a body shop to see how much repainting the beast would cost. The guy I talked to was not interested in working on the Caddy - he had enough business and dealing with all the chrome is a pain - if you take it off then it bends really easy and won't fit back on. He did give some advice though. He thought it would cost about $3k to get a decent paint job, but he said I should take it to a place that specializes in restoring classic cars and spend about $8-10 thousand for a good paint job, then about another $5-10 grand for the interior.

Which is a nice thought, but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon unless I win the lottery. I guess I could take it to Maaco and get a crap job for $1000. Another option is to paint it myself, this would be cheaper, though time-consuming. It would be nice if I had a garage so I could set it up as a paint shop.

So, it looks like the goal for the next year is to keep the Eldorado running, keep it looking as good as possible, and enjoy driving it when I can.

Happy New Year!

Here are three photos after I waxed the car: