Brakes...

After I put in the new brake caliper, I still had the same problem with the brake sticking.

So, last Friday I finally got around to taking it into a shop. I hadn't been too happy with the shop I had used previously. While they are close to work and very friendly, they hadn't done the best job of diagnosing problems (with either the Caddy or my truck).

There was a new shop about 2 miles from home that opened about a year ago. I noticed they had a big old early 70's Fleetwood 75 for sale one weekend. They also seemed to be doing a good business lately.

I decided to try them out. It turns out they hadn't worked on that Fleetwood - just a friend of the shop owner's was selling it. I told them about the issue I was having with the Eldorado's brakes. The mechanic said it was probably the brake lines: they apparently can collapse with age, creating a sort of one-way valve that puts the brakes on, but doesn't let them release.

He suggested that I could probably just replace the brake hoses myself. But, since I have been sitting on this for four months now, and I don't feel so comfortable working on brakes, I decided to let them do the work.

Picked up the car today. Seemed to drive fine on the way home. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the brakes are fixed and I've found a decent mechanic.

For a photo, a few months ago I happened upon a '78 Eldorado. It was in kind of rough shape, but the owner was a nice guy. Claimed to have bought it used in 1980 and had it ever since.



Oh yeah, the High Museum is having a special exhibit, "The Allure of the Automobile". I checked it out and the cars were beautiful and immaculate.

This weekend, they are having a special "hoods-up" showing, so I am planning on taking my daughter there for Father's Day. One of the cars is a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham with a stainless steel roof.

Brake Caliper

Finally got some decent weather this weekend, so I got working on replacing the seized brake caliper. What took a bunch of time was putting yet another boot on the CV joint. I've really got to get around to putting in new axles...

Anyway, I got a late start and quit early because I was getting hungry and tired. So, though the caliper is in place, I've still got to bleed the brakes. I'll do that next weekend, as well as patch the flat tire.

Replacing the caliper hasn't been hard - we'll see what happens when I actually get to driving (and more importantly, stopping).

The above photo is Kyra directing me from the service manual.

The photo below is an original Mini, fortuitously parked next to a new mini, I saw while I was running errands yesterday. Not an Eldorado, but a pretty nice car. It was in great shape and a whole lot of people were looking at it.

Library, Part II

The second automotive book I got from the libray is "Classic American Cars" by Quentin Willson (1997, Dorling Kindersley Ltd.).

The above scans are from that book. This book has great photographs! Coincidentally, the calendar I bought this year is excerpted from this book. I didn't realize that 'til I flipped through the book at the library.

I know this is a '76, not a '71. But as I wrote previously, my fascination for these cars started when I was a kid and a neighbor bought one of these beautiful 76's (just like the one in the scan - white with red interior). The 71's and 76's are my favorite years for these Eldorados.

Maintenance...

Just an update: I've had the new brake caliper for a few weeks now, but haven't gotten around to putting it on yet. The major reason is that it has been so very cold - snow and very windy. Hope to get to it soon as the weather looks to be warming over the weekend.

No worries, though. It has been too cold to drive a convertible, so I haven't been in a rush to get this done.

Library

Went to the library today and happened to wander over to the automotive section and found a couple of neat books.

The first is "The Cadillac Story - The Postwar Years" by Thomas E. Bonsall (2004, Stanford University Press). At a glance, it looks to be a bit dry, but informative. It has some great photos, unfortunately they are all black & white.

This image is from that book - it is an advertisement from 1973 espousing the great gas mileage of Cadillacs (especially the Eldorado).

When I looked at this at first, I was happy that my mileage is inline with the EPA estimates in the add. I find it curious, though, that they used other GM vehicles in the comparison. It seems like they wouldn't want to trash their parent company.

Also, I thought (perhaps incorrectly) that the Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado shared a lot of components (both being front-wheel drive, though the Toronado used a smaller 425 ci engine). So, I'm very surprised that the Toronado only gets 6.8 mpg, significantly lower than the Eldorado.

Poor Baby

Oh! The neglect!

The neglect for this Blog!

The neglect for the Caddy!

We have had so much rain over the last few months. I've kept the Caddy covered and haven't driven much and haven't done much to it. When I have tried to fix stuff, then other stuff breaks so I am just barely treading water maintenance-wise.

For example, as I wrote previously, I had the brakes done. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago I noticed a bunch of smoke coming from the right-side front wheel. It looks like the brake has seized there - the pads are rubbing against the rotor.

Before that, I took the car for a vacuum and wash. After vacuuming, I try to put up the top for the wash. CRACK! Looks like one of the top bows has slipped out of its socket so I've really got to do the top adjustment I've been putting off (and putting off... and putting off...).

Woke up yesterday and noticed that the one of the wheels is flat... sigh.

Anyway, I am going to look through the shop manual this afternoon and see how hard it is to fix that front brake. And when I get around to doing that, I think I might as well replace the front axles. They don't really need to be replaced, but the replacement CV boots suck and I have to pretty much constantly check them and squirt grease in there.

That won't happen this weekend though - too much other stuff going on. And it won't happen over Thanksgiving either. The family will be out of town so it will be a good time to do some house maintenance - painting, redoing trim, throwing stuff out, etc.

Not a Garage, Part II

As I mentioned in a previous post, I haven't been working on the Eldorado much because I've been building a shed. Here is a photo:



This is actually the state it has been in for the last 6 or so weeks. It needs some finishing touches like door handles, second coat of paint, some trim work, etc., but it is a full functioning shed. By that, I mean it holds a bunch of crap!

I installed some shelves and pegboard in the shed last weekend to help me get things organized. I still need to build a lockable cabinet in there to hold some expensive tools. I was going to try and get around to that this upcoming weekend, but other obligations are creeping up.

I haven't driven the Caddy since the weekend I put the starter in. The car starts a lot quicker now, usually.

I had Caddy-appropriate errands to run last weekend, but things were hectic and I didn't have time to go through the checklist (oil, fluids, tire pressure, belts, etc.) before driving off, so I drove the truck.

So, what's a Caddy-appropriate errand? Grocery shopping, library, visiting friends, dinner, etc.

Not Caddy-appropriate? Going to the hardware/home improvement store for big things like shelves or lumber, getting landscape materials - those are jobs for the pickup. Also, driving in the rain is not Caddy-appropriate. I didn't buy a convertible to drive it with the top up.

Caddy-essential tasks? Cruisin' and lookin' good!