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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?
 
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#29 ·
Sam...... the long screw and block on the alternator is what I need. I actually need the one for the A/C pump but I believe they are both the same.
And don't try to screw a floor pan in. First step, find a rust free driver's floor pan. Cut it out way larger than what you will need. Then find a hand pull pop rivet gun and a box of 3/16" X1/2" deep pop rivets. Cut out the badness from your coupe's floor. Then trim and fit the replacement panel. Seal it with residential roof sealing tar, it is much more durable than the automotive sealers currently on the market. I also repaired a hole in my left rear wheel well which was identical to yours. Same plan. Except you can use a flat aluminum patch piece cut to fit over the hole leaving enough to rivet to solid metal in your car. As with the floor sheet repair, seal it well with roofing tar. Us C'najuns will make a Mickey Mouse repairman out of you yet.
Cheers........R.
 
#30 ·
Oh my bad man I read it wrong. I thought you were talking about the coupe at first. How come you're getting rid of the 90? Is it in pretty bad shape? I was reading my TH400 book the other day and it was talking about harmonic vibration after putting a rebuilt TH400 in. it said to rotate it 120 degrees and bolt the converter back up. I'm gonna take a photo of the page and upload it on your 500 swap page. I'll have it up in a few minutes.
 
#31 ·
The 90 is in good shape, it just has two more doors then neccessary. I just know I wont find one like this again.

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Hey Robin, a pic of the two. The AC is on the left. The bolt for each one go in opposite direction and the AC bolt is a little longer. PM the address and I put it out tomorrow.
 
#34 ·
Sam....... I should have asked you if your 90 car has a solid floor pan under the driver's feet. If so, you should cut the entire pan out and install it as per my previous rant about pop riveting in a good floor sheet section. It really is the answer.

Cheers...........R.
 
#36 ·
The rust:





I have to admit, I'm kinda intimidated by this. Never cut anything more then a stuburn bolt or line out. I have one of those air cut-off tools and an air hammer, will one of those work? I'm thinking I may have my friend come weld the new pan in, doesnt seem like there is a lot of room for rivets. On top of this, half the bolts that hold the seats in have broke off. Cant I just cut the bad stuff out and weld in some sheet metal or does it have to be another Caddy floor board?
 
#37 ·
Sam, it would be so much better to lay a solid factory-stamped floor panel over the hole and rivet it into place. There are reference points on both floor panels which will serve to guide the new panel to the right location. You will also get the factory accelerator pedal studs and mounts in the right place on the new panel.
To remove the rusted metal, I would use a die grinder (a tool rental place should have one you could use) and a thin carborundum cut-off wheel. Don't try to use an air chisel or a sawzall to cut the badness out. The die grinder method is time consuming but the finished hole is worth the effort.

Cheers..................R.
 
#40 ·




I thought we were gonna have to cut out everything that had rust. He told me that we only had to cut down to the solid metal that we can weld to. Surface rust is all thats left. If you hit it with a hammer, it sounds real solid. The back drivers floor was a suprise but thats the easy one to fix. Still got some work to do on the drivers front floor pan.
 
#45 ·
Yea, its a big difference between here and where I grew up at in Texas. $500 cars down there are $1000 cars up here. For us that live where salt is laid down, not having to deal with rusted bolts is $500 well spent. Luckily, the 90 came from Arizona. Thanks Matt, it wasnt hard really, cut out and weld in. It would have been easy to put rivets in also. I might pull the 500 tonight upon wifey approval.
 
#64 ·
I would check out lizard skin for the floors, good stuff, spray it on and it seals and deadons sound[COLOR="Silver"
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[/COLOR]Does that car happen to use the same cruise control servo as my 307? If so do you wanna sell it?
So I guess you have used Lizard Skin? I have wanted to use it for the roof on two of my black cars, which get very hot in the summer. I can't seem to find anyone who has actually used it. I would think Dynamat is too thick to use under a headliner, and the idea of no seams with the Lizard Skin seems smart to me. By the way, can you use Dynamat under a headliner? I'm thinking about it for my 97 Cutlass Supreme Coupe and my 78 Coupe De Ville.
 
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