Cadillac Owners Forum banner

84 Coupe Deville Project

153K views 758 replies 45 participants last post by  jayoldschool 
#1 ·
Just picked up a new 84 Deville De'elegance. Blue on blue with the soft cloth seats. The outside looks good as does the inside. It has 142K with a bad tranny and a motor that wont idle down. I only had it running for 10 minutes but the temp light came on. I looked under the hood and saw some melted wiring and some small mods but it all looks intacked.



Completely stock interior looks to have survived very well with the only defect being the locks not working.

Then comes the bad parts. The rust on the drivers floor board, its the only part of the floor board with rust

There is a rust hole in this fender thats hard to see. You can see the tire, just not in the pic.

Never did a floor pan though, are they a pain to deal with? I havent had it on the lift yet but the rest of the frame looks good. The plan would be to switch over the complete drivetrain from the 90 to this 84, everything except the interior mods, I like the interior as is. I would need to put some gauges somewhere though, any ideas?
 
See less See more
6
#244 ·
Ive never did them with the head on the car but the tool they rent at autozone was pretty decent. I've always been sceptical about wether the air would hold the valve up. The tool that was pretty sturdy was black. The cheap tool I first used was silver and it kept slipping off. Ill try to find some links.
 
#246 ·
Yea, I usually do the lifters the same but they must have leaked down a little. I was talking to Marty about it and he thinks I may have had some air in the oil, maybe from filling it up with too much oil and the crank counterweight churning it. A couple other lifters are getting easy to push down on also.

I cant find the cheap flimsy one but here is the one that worked good for me:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-O..._Automotive_Tools&hash=item35c242b4d8&vxp=mtr
 
#250 ·
Got the new/old gears in. I originally had 3.08s in this rear and switched to 3.73s. Wrong move with a three speed tranny and a high torque motor. Switched back to 3.08s thanks to Mr. Oldschool.
The old 3.73s

the new 3.08s on the posi unit. The bolts shown are reverse thread.

I dont have the tools to measure backlash so we'll have to see if its right. The pattern on the teeth look good using the old shims.
 
#258 ·
..Giggidy..

Project looks great! What a shame about the shaved firewall though!

Ben
 
#259 ·
Got the holes drilled. I used the hole saw bit on a drill which was an experience because I had already drilled a pilot hole which turned out to be bigger then the arbor bit so the hole saw bit was dancing all over the place. Damn near worked my 500 year old craftsman drill to death. Worked out in the long run because the holes ended up a little bigger then needed so I have some wiggle room incase its not center. Also got the por 15 in today, hopefully do that tonight.
 
#260 · (Edited)
Brushed on the POR15 tonight. Pretty easy. I didnt use any etching stuff or any prep, I just wire wheeled the frame and painted it on pretty thick. I wore some latex gloves and laid a tarp to keep spills under control. Hopefully it looks this decent in the morning, I turned the heat down to 50.



As for the windshield removal, I got a tip from member Robin Banx, who is having trouble posting, about an easy way to take it out if you have time....
Hi Sam.......I can't seem to get a reply to stick to your 84 coupe thread but I have successfully removed the w/s glass from an 81 parts car. It was rather tricky and time-consuming. I cut about eight small wooden gradual-slope wedges. Then I pushed all of them under the lower edge of the glass through the butyl sealer. I left the wedges alone for a couple of days and then I gently tapped each wedge up under the glass just a little and evenly for all. Then I left it for a few more days and went at it again. As I recall it took me abut three weeks or more to get the windshield safely out but it worked. Have patience my son and you will win. Splitting that nice new glass will have you tearing your hair out. I know, I have tried to remove w/s glass quickly and it never worked. Any questions.......ask away.

Cheers......R.

I'm gonna use a combination of his method and a tool to get it out safely.
 
#261 · (Edited)
So I got the chassis done with everything I planned on doing. 3.08s in, coated frame the best I can, installed new rocker arms, readjusted rear axle alignment, installed higher stall converter and changed my flexplate. Just waiting on oriellys to get the body mounts in, about a week. I've got the blue interior stripped to the bone so this gives me some time to put it in the black car. Actually, I've got to get the glass out of the blue one.
 
#262 ·
Got some decent pics of the shell.









----------

Got another major issue...seatbelts! The previous owner planned on running 90-92 belts(its funny, only people that havent had them want them) so he cut out or plugged the original locations. Gotta do more cutting and welding but now I have to dry fit the sunroof to see if its even possible to use the stock location.
Stock location:


The black shell:


Plugged hole in floor pan, might just be the bolt head cut off:


Got all the glass out. Windshield came out easy with the tool below. Quarters were a little different, used the windshield tool on one corner and used heat to heat up the rest of the sealer and just pushed it out.

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top