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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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#188 ·
Not exactly sure but he went through hell in 2008 when he was doing all this work. Marriage, bought a house, divorse, sold the house, no storage, issues with the frame, expensive parts lost in shipping and so on. Two years later, it was sold. He didn't have time for it I guess.
 
#192 ·
Coupe pics. Didnt get many good ones because I dont have the space to step back in the garage. Its set up for the euro trim but I only plan on using the header panel, no euro bumper or trim. Its coming out the garage tomorrow so I'll get some better pics.

Quarter window, not sure what he was doing but I guess there is a difference between the coupe and fleetwood. He didnt do much to the paint up top because he was planning on putting a top on it.


Inside quarter window.


Inside the wiring. Front clip is already wired for 90 header.


Decent paint job. I dont feel as bad about mine now. Not as smooth as I was planning to get mine.


Firewall area. Gotta find a way to get the wipers back in.


The best part, the undercarriage. A lot of work went into the belly.
 
#194 ·
Well, time to get this rusty a$$ body off the frame. Figured I'd start at the rear and move foward. Got the rear bumper and tank down but I'm stuck at the body mount bolts. The four that I've tried are all rusted and just spinning. Got lucky on two of them because the body around the bolt just collapsed. Any ideas on how to get them out?




Ever need to replace your back window or get the decklid off, you'll be replacing your top also.


Last year, I had the car on the lift but forgot I had a jack under the front suspension, went to lower it and almost dropped the car off the lift. Front corner stayed up while the rest went down. luckily it didnt drop but that was a scary moment. It slid off one pad but caught a few inches away...under the door/rocker molding. Luckily the arm locks were working right.
 
#202 ·
So I still havent messed with the four bolts that are giving me trouble. Having a friend come out tomorrow night to help with them. I got 6 of 12 out tonight and the front clip off.
Easy to see why I'm having trouble, lucky to get these ones out. Gonna have to get new ones made for a 96 Impala.

So much rust on this car, its a big project but cant wait to get rid of this rust.



Open wheel racing anybody?
 
#204 ·
I wonder if one of those Vintage Air systems would be somewhat invisible so you wouldn't have to cut up that smooth firewall. If not, or cost is out of budget, maybe a small heater box form a 70's Chevy nova/camaro or chevy truck can be grafted on there and still look fairly smooth unlike the huge stock system. I wonder if some hot rod shops sell some kind of basic generic stand alone windshield wiper system. Probably doubtful, probably easier to hook up a stock system.

That is going to be on nice Cad. It might be the holy grail of Caddys on this forum. I can't wait to follow the build. The previous owner sure did a lot of high quality work on it. Did you buy it with the stand too?

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I wonder if one of those Vintage Air systems would be somewhat invisible so you wouldn't have to cut up that smooth firewall. If not, or cost is out of budget, maybe a small heater box form a 70's Chevy nova/camaro or chevy truck can be grafted on there and still look fairly smooth unlike the huge stock system. I wonder if some hot rod shops sell some kind of basic generic stand alone windshield wiper system. Probably doubtful, probably easier to hook up a stock system.

That is going to be on nice Cad. It might be the holy grail of Caddys on this forum. I can't wait to follow the build. The previous owner sure did a lot of high quality work on it. Did you buy it with the stand too?
 
#206 ·
Thanks Al. I may take a look into some cheap systems. Its is crazy how much rust is on the car. I think this is the kind of rust you get when it sits in grass for a long time. Its been repainted but the rust is in different areas then a typical rusted car above the salt belt. The inner fender is pretty easy, just the bolts going along the fender, two at the battery tray and one at the engine bay brace. there might have been some push in fasteners along the bottom. Ill take a pic tonight.
 
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