A few weeks ago I bought another '81 Brougham. It's nowhere near as nice as my other one, but I got it for $800 and it's black. I've been wanting a triple black for a while, but this has the wine interior and the roof to match, now I'm over black interior, much happier with this. It's hasn't been on the road since '08 and needed brake lines, fuel lines, headliner and a windshield. I'm done the lines and have already done the front suspension and am waiting on rear shocks. I pulled the rear out today to swap it with the limited slip I've been holding on to. I'm sticking with the stock 2.41, the 3.23 I have is too snappy. I want to be able to cruise and drive the highway without topping out at 75 like the coupe was. I'm never going to race this car, but my mind changes like the wind. Either way, it should be on the ground by this weekend and ready to hit the road. The guy that owned it last painted something silver next to it and didn't bother covering the car, so it's covered in overspray. The fillers are busted of course and the tires are dryrotted. Where I'm confused is the route to go cosmetically. I've always wanted to do '90 exterior and make it look stock with the red center hubcaps, just lowered. Or, I've got a little collection of aftermarket accessories that I'm looking at. I've got a huge castle grill, 30 spoke Cragars, a sixth wheel and bumperettes. I'm leaning toward the '90 look because that's been a much longer desire of mine and I don't fit the style of the latter. Plus who needs the extra weight. I'll get pics up as soon as I can and keep updating. This is going to be a long project since I have limited time to work on it and a lot of work to do, I've only scratched the surface with what needs to get done. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Yeah, wasn't as good of an idea as I originally thought. My head felt like it was in a vise for about an hour after the trip, but here's the story. I made it up there fine, job went great. I bought some new mufflers that I don't even know the make, just happy to ditch the flowmasters. I'm riding home and I got a pop or two at the carb, keep in mind I haven't really messed with it and it's been on a shelf for 2+ years. I pulled over and turned the needles in a half turn, then pulled out and it stalled at about 30 mph. Hot start issues start, dead battery symptoms, ended up getting a tow home, fires right up as soon as it's off the tow truck of course. Now it has a very loud valve tap. How did that happen just from stalling and cranking? The oil level's good.
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Hopefully this link works, I never did this through my phone before.
I'm hoping it's just a sticky lifter, I was planning on dumping some tranny fluid down the carb to see if that fixes it. Neighbors are always smoking us out with the burn barrel anyway, this'll get them.
That car is looking great Matt! Man those exhaust guys did some clean exhaust work. What mufflers did you end up using? Do you run into any droning? When i'm cruising around 30mph and under a quarter throttle I get some droning. I'm thinking about adding some resonators.
Thanks for the kind words guys, and I'm honestly flattered about the screensaver. The exhaust was just under $300 for the collectors to the mufflers, I provided the tailpipes. They custom made the h-pipe. I only have driven it from the shop to about half way home, so I haven't had much time in it. It's nice and quiet at idle and opens up pretty good. It sounds like all the sound is out the back of the car, and I don't think there was any drone. As for the brand, I have no idea. I know they're stainless and you can see right through them with just a perforated pipe running through. They threw some names around, I just picked the ones I liked. I've got it all timed and the air/fuel set to the book, just waiting for a day without rain or kids to drive it. I had to remove the windshield wiper motor to clear the valve covers. I'm probably just going to tie a stick to one of the arms and reach out the window when it rains, unless somebody knows of a smaller motor? Maybe in another GM car that might work? Just a hope, I tried to angle it with no luck so far.
I think I may have smoked the starter. I just tried to fire it up cold and it doesn't want to crank with a "good" battery, more than heavy enough cable and freshly cleaned grounds. Anyone ever use a Powermaster starter? I'm going to switch back to stock this weekend and see what happens. The 368 starter should work, right?
I'm having the same issue with my wiper motor, I got the same valve covers. The 93-96 broughams have a lot smaller motor so I was gonna try one of then, just don't know if the bolt pattern is the same. I have been having the worst of luck with starters, I went with a high torque cheap starter off eBay for like 65 bucks. Seems to be working okay. Not sure about the 368 starter but I'd bet it does. Rockauto has a cross-reference chart on each part so might wanna double check. The exhaust will have to break in, it will take maybe a hundred miles for the fiber in the mufflers to settle and the metal to go through some heat cycles. It will sound better as you go.
I'm probably going to try to mount a remote solenoid for the starter tomorrow. I just hope the powermaster isn't shot. I've also got an old 472 starter somewhere in the garage I think. I just found a pair of chrome window visors that I didn't know I had. And I'm debating putting on bumperettes. Think I like it better without although my kid disagrees.
I'm so confused!! I've got two good starters, heavy gauge wire, a new solenoid and two good batteries and this thing won't start. For hours I tried, but didn't realize the S post makes the drive pop out. Got that figured out and it still won't engage. This is what I did: Hot to the large post on the remote solenoid that's mounted on the fenderwall, other main post to the starter. Accessories to the constant hot, keyed starter wire to the "S" post. I made a bridge from the two large posts on the starter and a jumper to the "S" on the starter solenoid, on the starter. Am I missing something? It just sounds like it's spinning. I tested the starter with jumper cables also when it was out.
Sounds like you have two solenoids. If there is one on the starter, you dont need the one on the fender. Run the small keyed coil wire(pink?) to the S terminal on the starter and the positive battery cable to the big post on the starter. Completely deleting the fender mounted solenoid. Unless I'm missing something.
Yeah, sorry, I just added the fender solenoid to stop the heat soak issue I've had. That's why I got towed home the other night, it stalled and that was it for that. I'm afraid to drive it because I can't stop for gas.
I just went out and removed the new solenoid. I couldn't get the bendix to pop out with the bridges I had made. It needs power to it before the starter motor or it stays in, that's why it was just spinning. I gave up on that for now. The current issue is, the headers sound like they are both leaking pretty well. I'm wondering if it's the gaskets, I used fel-pro manifold gaskets but I've read a lot of times that people don't use anything. I thought with the old heads it would be better. Anyone have any insight?
I use copper gasket maker. I couldn't get the regular gaskets to seal well so Marty told me to use copper gasket maker, been good for about a year. There is a pic on either my 84 thread or the cadillac 500 build thread. If the starter bendix doesn't pop out when you put constant power to the small terminal, it's probably bad. Probably went bad when you bridged it with the big terminal.
I rerouted the ignition wires under the starter with two layers of loom and (so far) that may be the solution to the hot start. I just took it out for about 15 minutes and it started right up when I got back. Granted that's not that long, but that would have caused the issue before, so knock on woodgrain..
I also went digging in the garage and pulled out two complete carbs and some parts ones. I've been wanting a new one since the one I've been using is a '79 California model. Don't know what separates them, but it can't be good. I got a '79 and a '77. I figure the '77's better due to the lack of vacuum ports that won't be used anyway. Less room for leak, I guess. That's the one on the left. I've never rebuilt a carb but have always wanted to, so with some books and some advise and help with the float setting from my neighbor, I got the '77 running. No stall or bog, but way too rich and I don't feel that kick from the secondaries. I've got a lot of adjusting to do, but at least it runs! I actually can't believe it. I literally plopped it on and set the idle and air/fuel needles. Need to do the choke yet and whatever else. The only one I'm having trouble with is the one that you have to adjust through the port at the top that sticks up higher than anything else. I can't even figure out what that does. I put it back in at the same amount of turns I took it out.
I also went to the yard yesterday and pulled out a wiper motor from a '97 Deville and that looks like, mounted upside down, will make a suitable replacement. I'll post more on that and the wiring if I can get it working incase anyone needs the info. It's the same motor as most the GM cars of that era used, so there was a whole bunch of them to choose from.
I mounted the wiper motor today. One hole lined up and I drilled for the other two and used lock nuts. After a lot of research on the web for wiring diagrams and some testing I got it to run at a nice medium pace. That's all I want out of it for now since this is only a weekend car and I don't drive it regularly. I'm not going to share the wiring yet since it kept running after I turned it off, but I know for sure my switch is bad. Once I get a new switch in there and make sure it works right I'll let you know, but I don't want anyone to fry anything on account of my bad advice.
I need some opinions, although it's probably too late for them. I picked these up last week for $100, I'm trying to decide if there's too much rust. The lips and spokes are presentable but the hubs are pretty far gone. I'm going to try to get them put on in the morning to see what they look like. I'm thinking (and I hate to do it but) maybe some chrome spraypaint on the hubs? They sit back and I don't think it would be all that obvious. I have nice looking hubcaps on there now, but I think the wires will make it look a lot better.
Also, I think the fuel bowl is emptying too quick and the flow can't keep up. I've got more than enough line, and a high flow fuel pump but it falls off after a few seconds of WOT. The carb filter is in good shape, but I don't know about the rear one, under the door seam on the frame. Do I even need that one now? I've got the in-tank and the in-carb. I'm leaning towards larger jets and a higher flowing needle seat. I've got 72's in there now, going up 2 seems to be the safest route. Anyone have any insight on the issue? Other than that it drives excellent.
I had a set that was waaaayyyy worse than that. I used Naval Jelly, steel wool, and a toothbrush on them. Then, pressure washed. Three out of the four were actually spray painted gold before I worked on them. They came out great. Get it cleaned up, then use a spray wax on it and buff the best you can. Keep them dry, and the work will last.
Mine would empty fast like yours also, my fuel pressure was at 4 and my rear float level was too high. Put fuel pressure to 6 and dropped the rear float level to correct the problem. I have a holley.
Does the holley have two floats? I'm using a robmc fuel pump which runs at about 7 since I'm lacking the vapor return. I bumped the float up a hair, but I think I just need more faster.
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