Well, I got the 1968's engine overhauled back in 05 spring - summer. Then I went to egypt for a few months courtesy of the army. i actually got to use the car for a couple months in the spring og 06 - met the forum members from central FL at old town in late april 2006. On the way home that night the front axle melted off - that's another story,but at at least I didn't wreck the car!!! Then I went away for the summer, and got back in Oct 06. Now I'm finally getting the cars painted.

Here's some details of what I did:

Engine - compete teardown; found out that the cause of #7 being bad was a pushrod that pushed up and fell into the v-well!!!

Cast Iron, All ORIGINAL cast iron kept, verified S/N of block to be the original and I am sure the rest of the iron is also original. heads were not ported but valve seats were hardened.
Pistons - replaced with "hyper-eutenic" whatever the hell they are, supposed to be better than cast but quieter than forged.
Rods - replaced with recontitioned rods.
Crankshaft - refinished the original.
Camshaft - replaced with a comp-cam series 0 or 1. Idle quality does suffer a bit.
Valves - repalced with stainless steel - same size, valve seats hardened on the heads.
Distributer - original refinished - I do not want to change ignition to HEI - I'm a little too much of a purist.
Carberuator - original (verified) overhauled and the lean acceleration stumble is now GONE!
Exhaust - original manifolds kept - I didn't have the side port sealed in the intake manifold, that will cause poor cold weather warm-up. Converted to dual stainless steel. It's too loud for me but everyone else thnks its fine. I compare it to my 1995 Fleetwood though which is whisper quiet. But I can always change the mufflers or try and find bigger resonaters...
Radiator - original re-cored to 4 cores to try and keep the while thing from overheating! had a 1969-70 overflow tank fitted next to the wheel well.
Transmission - cleaned & flushed. It is the original and I left it alone because there was nothing wrong other than leaking seals, etc.
Driveshaft - cleaned & rebalanced with new bearings.
Rear axle - cleaned and re-sealed.
Rear axle control arms - cleaned and re-bushed.
Front axles & brakes - refit with actual GM 1968 front discs. This required new axles, etc. Then one of the axle bearings failed on the way home from Old-Town on 29 April 2006. I was fortunate to not have it wrecked. That's all fixed again.
I had the whole drivetrain painted Cadillac Dark Blue engine paint including the axle and control arms. It looks pretty nice with the new exhaust.
I haven't had it dyno'd yet, because it is now getting the much over due paint - body work needed to make it look as good as it runs.

I'll try to keep things posted a little better. and I'll try to load a few rebuild pictures here.

I also have the AIR pump removed and went to a three belt front setup like the 1970 models. It's cleaner up front with the pump, and hose fittings removed and it's simpler to change out the belts now as well. :)

Two different pulleys were all that was needed. I needed a different fan pulley with a single groove instead of a double groove. The 1970 main crank pulley still had three grooves, but had the fan-alternator pulley set further back towards the block to mate up with the alternator. No change needed to the alternator bracket!

Cadillac Mike, your car looks amazing. I want my engine comartment to look like that! It would be a lot more pleasurable to work on. Is getting rid of the AIR pump just that simple? Just remove it and change belts as necessary? One less thing under the hood would be nice.

split this out here, better than bumping a 2+ year old thread

Thanks urbanski for making the new thread.

BrotherB - there is a bit more to it.

The cylinder heads have two ports in them that have to be blocked off - don't know if they can be seen in the pictures above but next month when i get back I'll take a copule of close ups to show you. The ports were connected by a cross tube that connected to a big rubber hose that went over the alternator to the AIR pump below. Naturally there were a couple of vacuum hoses that had to be removed to. The port holes in the front of the heads can be blocked with mini freeze plugs which are then welded in place. Other than that, changing the crank and fan pulleys and getting the single 59.5" belt (I think that's the right length) for the fan and alternator is all you need to do. without that big ugly rubber hose, the chrome alternator can actually be seen in my car now.

Oh - the nice clean engine compartment was because while the engine was out I had the shop clean and re-paint the empty compartment. I also had the two strut arms installed - which my car never had - the prior owners must have removed them... all in all it's a lot nicer to look at and cleaner to work on. Just about every mechanical / electrical part in that engine compartment was overhauled or replaced. It was a costly endavour... I'll post a "before" picture later so you see the difference.

I also installed a decal kit later - i have a picture of that that i can post later, makes it loook even better

Neat car. Thanks for your service to Uncle. All you need now is a Royal Blue girlfriend.

I ran over my air cleaner while working on the car one day! So I got a replacement air cleaner, and found the Cadillac 472 decal on ebay. It looks awesome. Other than that, everything under the hood is pretty depressing to look at, but you've inspired me!

Mike, nice job! Where did you get the underhood padding? I found a few places that sells pieces but not a whole sheet, im assuming you cut that?

I see you mentioned you had a decal kit, what did yours include? If your missing any decals, I found a place that sells decals for EVERYTHING for our year.

Again, nice work, please check out my project if you havent seen it! http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/rwd-19xx-1985-deville-fleetwood-1985/105246-my-little-project.htm

BTW, how do you like those hypereuctic pistons? I have them installed on my engine obviously unused and am curious to the difference they make if any... did you make sure to gap the rings!!?

Hello JT,

I think I got the hood insulation from Ted Holcome Cadillac parts. He's a luddite - (no internet presence) but he still has a large amount of obsolete Cadillac parts. I'll have to check my records ewhen i eventually get home. It was precut to fut. I also boutght the complete underhood splash guards set. and a trunk cardboard relining kit. The splash guards are installed but the trunk kit is waiting on my in-progress body/ paint work.

I got the kit from McVeys, I think I have everything. Let me find a picture from the Forum Old-town meet last april.

I can't comment on the pistons, I've not had muvh timelast year to use my car - too mant deployments and time away from home and then the disaaster with the wheel.

when trying to link to your project forum I get the main menu. Can you bump it so I can find it in the rwd car section? Thanks.

Great car man, great pics. Thank you for your efforts in service. My son is in AF. We all appreciate the sacrifice you made and are making for the rest of us over here in the USA.

Stay safe.

God be with you.

Ok, McVeys is where I am getting my sticker set from too. I had this local guy come over to pick up an extra heat riser spacer I had. He looked at my car and rattled on and on about alot of things... I thought I knew alot about '68s .... holy cow he knew everything, he has a '68 Convertible also, its in the Adriatic torquoise like mine only its a new paint job. He was saying that our driver side mirror is a HIGHLY prized item, it is unique to '68 so make sure to take extra care of yours!

I was also wondering what kind of paint was used on the radiator support and wheel wells... that is the exact gloss I am looking for but has been difficult trying to find exactly what I want with the proper heat tolerance.

I will bump my thread in the RWD section, its labeled "My Little Project..."

Neat car. Thanks for your service to Uncle. All you need now is a Royal Blue girlfriend.

I already have a royal red white and blue wife of 20 years! :lildevil:

Ok, McVeys is where I am getting my sticker set from too. I had this local guy come over to pick up an extra heat riser spacer I had. He looked at my car and rattled on and on about alot of things... I thought I knew alot about '68s .... holy cow he knew everything, he has a '68 Convertible also, its in the Adriatic torquoise like mine only its a new paint job. He was saying that our driver side mirror is a HIGHLY prized item, it is unique to '68 so make sure to take extra care of yours!

I was also wondering what kind of paint was used on the radiator support and wheel wells... that is the exact gloss I am looking for but has been difficult trying to find exactly what I want with the proper heat tolerance.

I will bump my thread in the RWD section, its labeled "My Little Project..."

I'll check out your project.

Even more difficult to find is the Right side mirror!!! That costs twice what the left side costs ( I have an extra driver side but only the one right side mirror). It's so rare because it was standard equipment only on the Fleetwood 75s and dealer installed (NOT factory orderable) on all other models. 69-70 had different angles of the door sides which got progressively more vertical as the years went on so that NO other years will fit properly. Sure, you can bolt a 1973 right side mirror on a 1968 but it will be crooked and look "stupid" in my not so humble opinion. :mad2:

Semi gloss engine paint is the best for the wheel wells and radiator supports. not high gloss and not flat (or satin) finish.