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CadillacPimpinNOLA's 95 Fleetwood buildup 56K your computer will blow up

199K views 1K replies 54 participants last post by  CPN504 
#1 ·
since several people asked me too...ill start from the beginning, its in progress so as I do more work ill update it.

this is my 1st time seeing the car when a co-worker found it after i told him a few different models i was interested in. took a month to get in touch with him cuz no one lived at the house.





was really dirty from sitting all them years after the owner passed away. the uncle didnt want to fool with it and it wouldnt start. he said make an offer. I made an offer for $1000 how it sits with 16,495 miles on the odometer, he accepted and i towed it home a few days later. dropped the fuel tank and put a new fuel pump in, cleaned the injectors and it fired right up the first day i got it home.

then i gave it a good cleaning inside and out



started with the chrome rocker moldings


cleaned the factory dry-rotted tires and rolled them for a few months till i had a blow-out


carpet was kinda funky so i pulled it out and cleaned it, new jute and it put it back in, good time to run some wires for the radio and future stereo





cleaned up shortly after i got it, sitting next to my lil mini truck


still had the other guys handicap plate


looks pretty nice on the underside



not long after getting the car I had to change the tires and A/C compressor was leaking out the seal.

First Day of driving it i had to clean the engine. this is what it looks like 365 a year. gets a lil dusty but i just clean it again

 
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#161 ·
like i said everyone has there opinion, i let my work speak for itself...

still havent got around to pulling the rear seat out, might do that tomorrow if i dont have anything to do in the morning, i hate cold weather but i wanna get some progress done...

so, beside slow work and christmas coming up, i need wood glue, screws, another sheet of 3/4 MDF, and some fiberglass mat and about 2 gallons of resin to start....just more money

Then I cant put all the stuff in the trunk just yet, cuz i need to get at least the rear airbags on...one to hold all the extra weight, but also the upper bag mounts bolt through the trunk floor. so i have to get them in, then put the box in and go from there.
 
#162 ·
ok, didnt get the stuff done at work like id prefer to, i started it at home around 5:30, bad idea since darkness was right around the corner...the part i relocated was a lot more involved than id prefer to do in the dark but once i got started I didnt wanna stop so i finished it with minimal light...ended up breaking a piece of the brittle license plate surround and i stepped on the black trim that goes across the trunk, o well ill find another

this is the box i relocated, controls, lights, fuel pump ect


unbolted and pulled into car to observe


harness includes these wires to the marker lights and goes outside the car


seats and lights out, thats the green race truck in the works


hard to see but harness getting longer, license plate and housing removed also that black upper piece i broke



new location for that box, fits snug but i also put some 3m double stick tape so its going nowhere


where it use to be


then i reversed the process and in the process i guess i hit one of the lightbulbs hard enough to break a filament so tommorow iget to replace that...but its all done, one more thing out the way
 
#163 ·
ran into a few problems, still cold and its raining off and on so the box is still on hold. christmas out the way, still have bills but i made a few dollars so im upgrading a few things, as soon as paypal loads up the $300 i transfers to it, i will be scrapping those 2 gauges i planned to put in the sunglass/GDO spot for the dakota digital unit, wanted to do that from the start, might as well get it while I have the money...I want to redue my front and read dash, the front is fiberglassed but some cracks underneath are visable, didnt come through but you can see some marks, i dont like it and wanna change that also by not using fiberglass on the front dash at all, also gives me the airbag pad back. I also want to fiberglass the whole rear dash.

i was at the pull-a-part and managed to find a perfect uncracked blue dash pad and a rear dash pad, brake light and all. scooped that up and some parts for my brother for a cool $32

its going to be a while before i even mess with the rear dash but i did make a big blue mess sanding the dash pad getting it ready for adheasion promoter and primer.

im moving slowly but its getting there




top sanded, have a few hard to reach areas to get tommorow


not much texture left, high build primer will fill it in, then block it smooth and lay some paint on it, not filler of glass this time...I experimented with this method in my friends truck and so far so good
 
#165 ·
few problems, but solved them and proceeded...finished sanding, wiped it down with anti-static spray. then some people came to swap filters and lights in our prep station. they had our doors open and it got to cold in the prep station. i sprayed some adhesion promoter and it did whatever it wanted to do, puddled up and took extra long to dry all uneven. i let it dry, wiped it all off with some thinner, warmed the booth up and layed down 2 nice coats of adhesion promoter. came out perfect...5 minutes later primer was flying. i layed down 5 coats and went home, ill sand it tomorrow and lay some more primer down hopefully.

too cold adhesion promoter

much better

primed


you can see some texture in the primer, it will be sanded out mostly then ill fill it again and sand that, have it ready for sealer and paint.
 
#166 ·
got in this morning and sanded a lil bit, have a lot more to do and definatly have to reprime but somethings getting done.

quick pass with the sander shows the low spots

went through the primer to get it flat but was expecting that

few more passes, its getting smoother, my hand is vibrating from the sander so ill give it a rest for a lil while
 
#167 ·
That was a great buy. I paid almost 6K for my 1996, with 70,000 miles, but i was able to drive mine home from SC to FL that same day, and mine has no body damage. Heck, it looks new inside and out.

Yeah, and i have no pics to load at present, but it will soon...
 
#169 ·
been spending money like crazy, gotta slow down. anyway bit the bullet and ordered the dakota digital air gauge, came in today, now have to mount it and get some wire to wire it back to the pressure sensors on the tank and valves

displays readings of 4 airbags and tank pressure from 0-150psi


 
#170 ·
havent messed with the dash since we had a lil bit of work, still tons of sanding left though...my gauge came in and its warm today so i got a lil work done. no tape measure nothing i just eyed it up and layed some tape down for a guide, impressed myself with the cut...anyway got it mounted in the panel, had to trim the front mounting bracket on the panel. so im sure ill prolly have to fab something up to hold the front, i wont know till i trim the mounting bracket under the headliner. ill do that monday when i can use the dremel tool and the shop vac so i dont have a mess of black plastic all in the car.




 
#171 ·
no work so i got a lil bit of work in before it started raining...stopped at the stereo shop and grabbed a bunch of wire for several projects, some for the air gauge is just bought...i manage to make a mess with fine plastic after cutting the plastic bracket in the roof. it doesnt look great but its relieved and hidden. wire it up and pulled wires through the headliner...looks great, bright to. hook it up just to see the display...then it started to rain so this is all i got today

crude cut and wires waiting


dont need the dimmer feature or low pressure warning


view from head position, off


closeup off


closeup on


head view on, i can see it perfect and bright



im thinking about buying 10 red rocker switch extensions and removing all 10 switches from the cheap red lexan switch box and installing in the dash where the cigar tray is. i dont smoke and think it will look good
 
#172 ·
I would recommend building a high quality switch box if you can. I just went through an episode with a 66 Lincoln on airbags that had a bad switch box and no schrader valves. The connection would come out of the box and not go in without major problems. Moral of the story...install schrader valves!!!! Will save you 4 days of trying to trouble shoot a bad air ride system.

That is a nice cut on that panel, too
 
#174 ·
Lets say, like my case, the air ride stops working and the car is slammed. Now you cant drive it and have no way of getting air to the shocks/bags. You can put schrader valves(valves used at the tire to fill up with air) inline with the plumbing to each shock/bag. This way, if the controls go out for the air ride, you can manually fill each shock/bag with as much air as you want.
 
#175 ·
im not going through that extra trouble. if that happens ill have it towed. maybe in the future but right now i just want to get it installed

----------

no work again, im low on cash to, this sucks but ill get through it as always.

pulled the cigar try and cut the switch box out


expose the guts, id hate to have to wire these up all day, about 8 wires were not tight on the switch so i tightened them up


all marked and removed


some tape and used the holes in the switchbox for spacing


drilled holes and cut some bracing out, will need to glue it tomorrow hopefully


trying to capture the screwup but the flash is hiding it, on 4 holes the drill bit in and jerked and cracked a few peices of the plastic surface, thankfully i cleaned it up and with washer for the switches, it hides everything



switches in and tight



cigar tray out


still need to get and paint some switch extensions, the gap is from me cutting the internal bracing, when i glue it tommorow it should pull up and close the gap



dont have to reach far to hit the switches now. once i glue it together i can run the wire under the carpet and patch the harness back together.


 
#184 ·
im taking donations, I need to get to home depot and pic another piece of MDF up so i can have enough wood to finish the box...I wont lie im running on fumes with this slow work stuff. ill prolly go spend $30 today on the wood. the side panels of the box are going to be the hardest. once its done i can build it, modify it to get it in and out if need be and then i can check for proper airspace...im in your boat i dont know if i can get all i need but im going to try.

then I need 2 gallons of resin and some fiberglass mat. instead of using 3/4 MDF and loosing valuable airspace where the spare tire and jack goes, im going to glass the floor to get all the space i can..b/c of the metal floor it doesnt have to be thick, just seal the box

again, taking donations.

im also kinda stuck. i need the box done but i need the airbags for the weight. if i do the bags now i have to rip the lines out the valves and remove the tank to get the box in...soon, soon


if i feel strong later i may post pics of the subs
 
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