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
#706 ·
Got a little more work done. The Dominator I bought doesnt work for some reason. It didn't work at the dyno either, we had to use the shop carb, another Dominator. So I haven't got my Dominator fixed, I used a carb adapter to get the 870 Holley back on instead. It runs good, nice and sharp. Still got some work to make it road worthy. First thing, gotta find a way to get the hood to close. I probably need 3 or 4" more of clearance.

 
#709 ·
it would be a pretty cool project to make your own fiberglass hood. You can use your existing hood as a buck/template. Cover it in something like aluminum foil so the fiberglass won't stick to the hood and give it a shot. What do you have to lose except some time and a little money for materials? :D
 
#710 ·
I think a 69 Camaro or 70 Chevelle scoop would look ok. Fiberglass is tough to work with, don't get someone to make a complete hood, just buy a scoop from Harwood/Summit/Jegs and stick it on. Easy to paint match, too.

I'm guessing you can't get enough clearance just by trimming the hood support framing?
 
#711 ·
I haven't looked a whole lot into the clearance issue because the dominator is not on. I have the old 870 holley with a two inch adapter(dominator to 4150). When I get the dominator on, I'll take a harder look. I'd love to have a fiberglass hood because of the weight savings and one person removal feature but it would be expensive. If I could find an aluminum hood, that would be cool too. I'm thinking a front facing hood scoop.
 
#713 ·
An update, got the dominator on and running good and it all fit under the hood without touching. Learning a lot about fine tuning and reading spark plugs. Got a lifter tick that comes after five minutes and gets quieter after its up to temp. Diagnosing this tick and making sure its just a lifter and not clearance issues. Also have a miss that I think is related to the old custom made wires from a few years ago. This thing is just an animal thought, I can do burnouts rolling at about 20/25 miles an hour.
 
#718 ·
Trying to figure what size slicks will fit and spent some quality time with the car. Not many options for putting a slick under the skirts. I can fit 29/10.5/15s with an 8" rim but can't find much for rim options since I want a skinny front tire. I found some smoothies, 15x8 for the rear and 15x6 for the front. anybody got any other ideas for getting a slick under there?

Just not sure of the look of a smoothie, here they are on ebay..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331363977626
 
#721 ·
Race season almost here!!!!

Too bad its in pieces right now. Had a noise that I was chasing, rocker assembly clearance issues. Also shaved the heads thirty thou to bring compression up a little bit.


Found a place in the head that I burned thru while porting. Tiny pinholes, putting paste behind it, should be no problem.



But it'll be together soon. I'm excited about this year's race season. Gotta lighten it up a little also.
 
#722 ·
So...got it running correctly a couple weeks ago and then went out and raced a Challenger R/T. We did four pulls from 60mph and I slowly pulled away each time...I was having the greatest day ever.

Then, on the last race, the alt/water pump belt comes off and the temp sky rockets. I couldn't get it pulled over for another 45 seconds. Fluid all over everything including the side of the car that I just washed 20 minutes before. Get another belt on and get it home where it took half a day to cool down.

Put another thermostat and radiator cap on it and it survived the incident. Been driving it for a week now with no problems, temp stays at 200-210 even in traffic. There was a few days when I thought it was a goner. These old high nickel blocks can take a serious beating. And this is with a .035 shave of the heads. Someone was looking after my car that day.
 
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