Project #6 – Drop and Rolllllll

Now that that the Caddy stops, its time to drop and roll.

The 67 Cadillac Convertible is a heavy car weighing in at about 4500lbs. When you attempt to research a project, you can never research enough and if you do not stop researching, it will never happen. I looked at several kits and I’m going to go off and say that you really cant do intelligent air for a big car for under $5000. Though I did try to do it on a budget, the reality is that I fell forward and felt like I had to buy the rest.

As each car and its owners budget are different, most kits seem to be sold as a “part A” (the bags, hoses and brackets) and “part B” (the air management system, compressors, tanks and hoses). As a consumer, you pick the part A and part B that fits your car and your budget. My budget was artificially small, so I decided to only buy part A and plan to do the air management in the future. The writing assumes though what can happen if you do this and the catastrophic impact to someone that really does have a small budget that is taking this path.

I had looked at lots of kits, but where I was landing (good or bad) was with EZ Air which had a budget minded kit or with RideTech which had a great reputation and a solution that included parts that would seem to bolt in with minimal cutting. Ultimately, I chose RideTech only because they offered a non-pressure leveling system that I wanted to have in the future.

Purchasing only part A

(A is for “Assumptions”) and assumptions are never right.

Discussing my desire to keep costs down with RideTech, we came to agreement that I could install air ride with the addition of 2 x $35 airline kits that included schrader valves that I could fill the bags from an air compressor. At a glance, this seemed like a brilliant solution. I could install air ride, get the car riding better and simply set the ride height with my personal DeWalt air compressor. Set it and forget it.

Upon the delivery of the 1965-1970 Cadillac suspension kit from RideTech, I spend the next 4 weekends (I have kids) grinding away at the front spring pockets to provide clearance for the new ShockWave airbag/shock all in one that should bolt right in. 

New 1965-1970 Ride Tech Kit (Parts Bag A)

The instructions indicate that this needs to be clearance, but as a non-expert, I didn’t clearance enough and one of the Shockwave units had to be replaced. (add 2 more weeks) 

Torn Shockwave Airbag

On week 6, I finally had the bags installed and its time to air up. Keeping in mind that I am going for a static ride height; plugging my air compressor in and airing the car up, the front end was hardly 3 inches off the ground. (WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA) Ok, 6 weeks to install and deal with a scraped bag and the car is still too low to drive anywhere.

Calling RideTech, they inform me that sometimes you may need to inflate the bag to as much as 150psi. Ok, so most cars I read are running around 110psi on the front and my air compressor only puts out 120psi (even though the gauge says 200psi!) So now I need to figure out how to get the extra 30psi into the bags.

Luckily my neighbor has one of the 50,000 gallon air compressors and that should surely do the trick. Interestingly enough, it has a pressure regulator on it that pulls it back to 120psi. We were able to override that value and get the car up, but then we found leaks…..  After 4 trips to my neighbors house, I realized part B is not really an option.

Back on the phone with RideTech, I’m now starting to feel like someone whose back yard automotive skills are not up to the task, mind you that I just sectioned the oil pan and re-installed the engine. (Yea, so that was project 5.5 and we will come back to that one). Discussing the issue with RideTech, it now appears that maybe I need bigger bags on the front or I will need the means to easily get the air pressure up to 150psi through on board air compressors.

I’m a bit speechless as the kit is advertised as being designed for the 65-70 Cadillac DeVille. You might be able to argue that because my particular car has a Chevy 454 instead of the OEM 472, that maybe my car is heavier in the front end. Before you place an order for a kit from any vendor, have a clear understanding about your expectations such as how fast should the car raise (1 sec vs 120 sec) and clearly understand how much the car weighs. If the vendor cant tell you how fast the car will raise with the proposed set of parts and your stated weight; find a different vendor. (RideTech cant do this)

Purchasing part B

(B is not for “Bags”) its for the bullshit your going to tell your significant other when you get ready to drop another $3000 when you promised it would only cost $1800.

So bags are installed, air lines are run into bicycle tire tube valves in the trunk from the wheels and I have found a leak around a union I used towards one of the front wheels. Upon discussing the issue with RideTech (we are now pen pals), they make the suggestion that I remove all fittings that are not required as any fitting can create an opportunity for a leak. I’m now starting to understand why some folks say just go with springs.

Overall, installing the air management components was pretty easy outside of the wiring is a mess, I now need a battery or another 4AWG wire run from the battery in the front and I still need to clean up the hose mess that is the tank and compressors. I do read instructions, but I also like to try to get things to functionally work first and then clean it up later. After months of messing with the car, it does drop and roll, but easily has another 16 hours of work. Air ride not complex but should have an order of operations and so far I have done the last thing first and the first thing last. This is why installers want $3,000 to install air; because they know the order.

Recommendation to any fool that wants to do this themselves

The most exciting part of air bags are the action that the bags provide; but make no mistake that unless you’re a professional; the bags should be left for last.

Plan it big and deal with the cost.  Install the air management (tanks, compressors, etc first). Go big on the air lines and talk to the company about the bag size.  If the sales guy leads you to believe that you should probably go bigger, you probably should.

The size of your car matters.  Bigger cars either need bigger bags or more air pressure and high pressure results in crappier ride.

Big brands don’t always account for the right product.  They are like all companies trying to sell stuff and price them accordingly.

Lastly, if you have a big car; your going to need more than a 5 gallon tank.

The steps to install air…

1. Determine how much power needs to be delivered to your trunk. (eg: Air compressors, ECU, stereo amplifiers, etc)
2. Install a second battery in the location where your going to have air tanks and compressors (eg: trunk)
3. Figure out how big the valves and air lines need to be for the car.
4. Purchase your air management solution (tanks, compressors, valves, etc)
5. Assemble and fully test the tank for leaks with an air compressor prior to installing
6. Assemble tank, compressors, and ECO on a test board and again test for leaks
7. Install air management solution in the car (no air lines from valves to bags yet; you don’t have the bags yet)
8. Figure out what bags are needed for the car
   1. Identify how much your heaviest axle is that will be sitting on bags
   1. Identify how fast the heavy side of the car should inflate
   1. Identify what bags you are thinking about or are being recommended
   1. Identify exactly how much space (diameter) they need when inflated
   1. Make a template that can confirm that space + 1”
9. Identify where your going to install the lines and what fittings you will use
10. Purchase bags and air lines
11. Pre-inflate the bags and leave them in the trunk to make sure the fittings don’t leak
12. If cutting is required, do what ever is necessary to validate that it doesn’t scrub. Don’t be in a hurry here
13. Install air lines from the tank towards the wheels
14. Install air bags
15. Drop and Rollllllllllllllllll

Project #5 – Its time to stop!

That’s right, its time to stop and the car needs brakes!

I know, I know; the brakes are the most important. They are also expensive to replace, there are not many brake kits for a Cadillac, I’m not a brake expert, and it should stop better because John (the previous owner) converted it to disks right?

• 

Yes, I know; no excuses. (Sigh)

Ok; cause this is a long story, here is the TL;DR (To Long; Didn’t Read)

1. Found and purchased a brake kit for the Cadillac! YEAA
2. Kit showed up damaged and would require modifying. BOOO
3. Had to fight company to refund kit. More BOOO
4. Did some research and you can (with the help of some awesome websites) design your own brake kit. This does require some hours of study, but you can do it.
5. Ordered the parts, and they just arrived! YEAAA!
6. Time to install it! BAM!

Assessment

If your experiencing something like what I have, then your probably in one of a couple buckets

A) Your building a car from scratch and need to plan the brake system
B) You have bought a car where someone installed some random brake components and they don’t work well.

Both scenarios start with the need for you to assess some basic information.

• How much weight is under the rear wheels
• How much weight is under the front wheels
• What is the brake pedal ratio
• What size rotor do you plan to use
• What size caliper do you plan to use
• If the car already has brakes, what is the pressure at the caliper
• If the car already has brakes, what is the booster diaphragm size
• If the car already has brakes, what is the master cylinder bore

I know it sounds daunting, but if you have this information, the rest of it is easy. Similar to other projects, I have spent months trying to blead the brakes enough to make them work right, replaced the master cylinder more than once (original which was leaking) and pulled the booster a couple times. All of the questions could have been answered within an hour with a jack, some hand tools a measuring tape and a pressure gauge from SSBC.

For disk brakes, you need about 1200psi at the caliper with 70 lbs on the brake pedal. I measured 600psi when I put my whole body into it. Naturally, you want to understand what the problem is, but if you have done your homework from above, you would find that this is what the system design was capable of.

I had a pedal ratio of 2.6:1, 11″ single diaphragm booster, 1-1/8″ bore master cylinder and brake calipers that had a piston area of 6.28″. If you do the math, that is about 500psi with 70 lbs. How it got like that is not as important as understanding what the car needs and what will not change.

Picking the parts

We have a 4500lb car with a 2.6:1 pedal ratio and 12″ rotors to stop with 70lbs of force on the brake pedal. Kits are great, but know what’s in them prior to purchasing. I found several big name companies focused on the classic car industry that effectively admitted to selling parts and not owning the engineering behind the parts or kits. Companies like Wilwood, Jamco Suspension and SSBC are great resources and Wilwood is made in the USA!

From experiance, you pay the price for the experts and quality or you pay in time consumed and products that are not what they seem from the discount shops. As my Economics teacher told me, there is no free lunch. If you need more convincing on this, keep reading.

Using BrakePower.com’s online calculator, I plugged in the required variables along with altering the variable for the booster size and found that I could achieve the braking results I wanted by simply upgrading the booster from an 11″ single to a 8″ dual diaphragm. I did opt for a new master cylinder and calipers from Wilwood to assist in brake line routing as their M/C’s allow you to run lines from either side. Normally the M/C only supports left side.

Going the cheap route

Sometimes, the cheap route is going with the experts. Kits may contain everything, but they may also contain stuff you don’t need. They are a one size fits something. (Something that will likely need some drilling, modifying, zip ties, home depot machine screws and duct tape)

Here is an example. I purchased a kit without doing homework for $1400 that I returned. Prior to installation, I would need to disassemble some of the kit to refinish it (sand paper, paint, paint thinner, drill bits, steel for new mounting brackets, the list goes on an on). After doing the homework, I found the parts I needed were much fewer and from better resources for less than $700. I saved half, got better parts and will have a bolt on solution by doing my homework!

	Classic Car Store Kit	Premium Parts
Brake Kit	$1300 + $100 Shipping
Booster		$70
Master Cylinder		$260
Brake Calipers		$260
Proportioning Valve/bracket		$130
Brake Line & Fittings		$40
Master Cylinder fittings	$20	Included with M/C
Master Cylinder Blead kit	$15	Included with M/C
Stepper Drill Bit	$30	Not Needed
Paint to refinish scratched caliper	$20	Not Needed
Total	$1400	$760

Planning the install

Changing the position of the Master Cylinder with a new booster means moving the proportioning valve and requiring that I re-run all of the hard brake lines. With that in mind, time to plan the shopping/check list and plan the install process. I’m renting a lift for this and want to ensure I have everything ready.

Shopping/Check List

• Booster
• Master Cylinder
• Proportioning valve & mount
• 2x Brake Calipers
• Brake line
• Fittings
• Self bleading bleader screws (got em)
• Brake Fluid (probably should pick up)
• Empty clean container

Install Process

1. Lift the car and remove the front wheels
2. Disconnect the brake pedal from the booster
3. Remove the old M/C and proportioning valve
4. Remove the old booster
5. Remove the old brake calipers
6. Remove the hard lines from the M/C to the front wheels
7. Remove the hard lines from the M/C to the rear flex line
8. Prop the brake pedal up so that its in the normal resting position (if it had brakes)
9. Measure the distance from the firewall to the pin on the brake pedal where the booster will attach. (might need a small strait edge and a tape to do this)
10. Adjust fittings/cut rod on booster so that the booster rod is the right length
11. Install the new booster and connect it to the brake pedal
12. TEST the brake pedal and make sure it does not bottom out on the floor
13. Verify the booster pushrod distance by measuring how far it comes out when the pedal is applied. (quality M/C’s like Wilwood will state the distance the piston should push for full throw)
14. Install the new Master Cylinder
15. TEST the brake pedal again and make sure that the pedal does not bottom out on the floor
16. Bleed the M/C in the car. (I just prefer to do it this way. It works as long as you can push the M/C piston full length)
17. Install the proportioning valve
18. Install new calipers
19. Install new flex lines
20. Make and install hard lines between proportioning valve and calipers flex line
21. Make and install hard lines between proportioning valve and rear flex line
22. Fill and blead system
23. Find leaks and blead system again…..
24. Find a few more leaks and blead the system one last time.

Installing the new Brake System

Installing the parts pretty much went as planned. I have put new pads in a car, but I have never replaced the entire circuit. We did run into a few bumps along the way; but amazingly the planning paid off.

The only real hiccups we had were the spark plug wires had to be re-routed to clear the new M/C and we had the cut the booster rod way down which seemed a bit sketchy at the time. The reality may be (still not sure) is that this is normal and they just give you extra rod length to ensure you can get the job done.

We also ran into lots of leaks. I think this was simply due to new hard lines and getting them seated took more pressure than anticipated. We had the project done in 2 days with lots of bench racing and to many cooks in the kitchen. I don’t think I would recommend doing it any faster as you will probably start making mistakes. Lastly, I need to thank George. George was kind enough to let us use is amazing garage and lift which though not required made getting around the car much easier. Thanks George!

Oh, last comment. Wow, what a difference. The car stops and it stops like a modern day car. Hope this finds someone who is thinking about doing it and inspires them to pull the trigger. 🙂

Project #4 – Wacking the Mole

As I’m still writing stuff that brings us up to current (stay tuned for Project #5) and still ignoring the breaks

I have to reiterate, I’m still not hating on John (the guy I bought the car from), but there were a lot of little things that needed work. When I picked up the car, it had already been warmed up and being that it was a warm day, it stayed warm until I got it home and had to start it in the morning.

The Green Devil~le

As my family started to pour over the car and ask questions, I was quick to notice that the male (inside) sections of both rear seat belts were missing, misc light bulbs were burnt out, the dash lights didn’t work and the vacuum assist was not hooked up to the distributor. Most of these were easy fixes, though the dashboard will have to wait for a later update. (It was bigger than expected)

Though I had already installed the EFI (ordered it the day after purchasing the car), one of the reasons I had ordered it was that the car was cold to start, didn’t idle well all of the time and stalled for various reasons. I had receipts for getting the carburetor tuned 4 times within 24 months, so though I thought I was solving the problem with EFI, the fact that we still had issues was no surprise.

If you built the system or you knew the system, troubleshooting is pretty easy. You know where to look. If you don’t, sometimes its easier to simply unplug everything and start re-assembly. In a world of stepper motors and electrical connections, we forget that in the 1960s, many systems were controlled by vacuum. This includes the gear changes on the transmission, heater controls inside the car and the trunk release. Poor John paid a well known Kirkland company to adjust the carburetor 4 times in 2 years when all they really needed to do is find the vacuum leak. In this case it was everywhere.

Vacuum leak in the heater control

Though the transmission was not connected, this was an easy fix as the hose was still connected to the carburetor (and now my EFI throttle body (TB)) and just hanging next to the transmission. The more difficult one to find was the heater control. The TB had a small vacuum line T’ed with the one that was suppose to go to the transmission and ran into the firewall. Tracing the hose to the heater control switch and testing the diaphragms that open and close for heat, I decided to pull the heater control. What we found was that when the heat or the defrost was on, the system held vacuum. When the heater was OFF, there was a wide open vacuum leak. In other words, if you want the car to run right in the summer time, better turn on the heat! 😁 The switch has since been fixed, but is still sitting on the bench and so the vacuum line is just plugged off. The car now does not have a vacuum leak, but also has no heat on those cold days.

Heater Control

Measures ZERO on the Off position

The actual valve that failed

Don’t play Wack-A-Mole

Having fixed (temporarily) the vacuum leak, I started to look at the distributor vacuum advance. Like many things, this is a religious debate within the hot rodding world. The reality is that if your not drag racing and you understand what it does, you will hook it up. (learn more here)

Of course, once you hook it up, you realize that you need to adjust the timing. Then you look at your check list and see that you need to fix an oil leak and the heater core is leaking. That oil leak happens to be the intake manifold and now you have to tear the distributor back out so that you can remove the manifold. You get the manifold back in, re-install the distributor, start to time the car and realize you don’t understand timing well enough because everything you learned was based on initial time and not total timing. The car runs overly hot due to retarded ignition and pops a hole in your headers. This story goes on and on and on for a few more weeks.

I love project cars, bikes and the nature of it. I love to learn, but this hobby can be costly if this is how your learning. Thankfully I can afford some of it and I have not burned too much money, though I have burnt plenty of time.

If you do something like this, pay for a full inspection from someone that understands the type of project you want to undertake. This will give you the check list and ask the inspector for advice on the order in which to resolve the issues.

In a perfect world, order of operation might look something like this

1. Fluid leaks first! (this includes brakes)
2. Vacuum leaks
3. Ignition
4. Exhaust leaks
5. Brakes
6. Drive it and evaluate everything else
7. Fluid leaks first! (this includes brakes)
8. Vacuum leaks
9. Ignition
10. Exhaust leaks
11. Brakes
12. Drive it and evaluate everything else

On that note, we have pretty much caught up to the current day. Stay tuned for upcoming projects on the Green Devil~le (which may or may not include fixing the brakes) 😜

The ATS (All Terrain Stroller)

I started writing this 6 years ago when my son was 2 and for the life of me I cant find a higher res image, but thought it would be fund to post regardless.

Having your first child can be hard on your ego. My son born in a neighborhood full of little girls the same age wanted nothing more than to play with the girls and push baby strollers around. I didn’t really have a problem with the concept of my boy pushing a baby stroller around, but I also didn’t want to buy one being they only come in pink. (my EGO)

Then came the opportunity where one of the neighbor girls had an extra one, but the wheels were falling off (they drove them hard around our cul-de-sac like NASCAR was in season). Being a maker at heart, I took the worn out stroller, painted her red, but some aluminum nerf bars and 8 off road wheels from an old RC car and BAM!; my boy had the coolest stroller among his peers. Even the girls liked it. 🙂

Don’t let your ego get in the way of children having fun, but sometimes it can kick start your own creativity they can all celebrate.

Project #3 – Exhaust & Transmission Cross Member

Cause brakes and stopping the car is still not the priority yet

When you buy someone else’s hotrod, you should expect some poor design choices and feel lucky if there was any design in the choices made. When I looked under this car, I saw a few things that worried me other than the oil leaking on the headers. (yes; the Cadillac has headers)

1. The oil pan sits way to low to the ground
2. The drain plug in the oil pan is facing down so it can be ripped right out of the pan if it right
3. the transmission cross member looked like one off of JEGS designed for a Camaro, but slipped in upside down and 2″ from the street surface

Consequently, every time I drove into a parking lot or god forbid a speed bump, I would hear this horrible scaping only hoping that it was not the oil drain plug.

I’m pretty sure that one of Johns friends had made a decision to put a 3″ dual exhaust system on a car that was designed for a single exhaust and due to the size of the tubing and the design of the cross member, they would need to do something creative. While assessing the problem, I also discovered that the exhaust tubing was likely a tube kit as each joint was riddled with burn through holes. Don’t get me wrong, I could not have welded it any better, but this was a turning point.

First I located a original cross member from a junk yard in Spanaway (not a good idea either, but we will roll with it) and refinished it.

It seemed like a good idea at the time and I should have asked a couple more key questions like “why is there only one hump in the cross member?”.

I then proceeded to disconnect the exhaust system, install the new cross member and re-connect the 3″ exhaust…….oh F@#$. If you guessed it wouldn’t, fit; then you were spot on. The cross member being from a car with a single exhaust didn’t meld to well. On the other side, the exhaust was full of holes, so off to the exhaust shop to build me a new 2.5″ exhaust system that fit with the crossmember.

Sometimes you have the opportunity to spend a little more and do it right (like build a new cross member at the exhaust shop) and sometimes you say; “nope, I have spend enough”. The challenge of course is that you will likely go back and do it over to make it right.

It works well, there are no more holes and I can drive over speed bumps, but one day; I will take apart again and do it right.

Project #2 – The Stereo

Because yeah, tunes are more important than brakes (shaking head)

It was my understanding that John (the previous owner) was gifted the car from a close friend of his. Prior to dropping big horse power and wheels, I’m sure he just really wanted a nice sounding ride and went down to his local CarToys store (Seattle area stereo shop) to install some great tunes, but didn’t want to cut up the dash. It all makes sense, but the implementation made none.

Lets start with that the original car came with a AM/FM Amplified stereo. That’s right; in 1967, the car shipped from the factory with a stereo, dedicated amplifier and 4 speakers (2 under the dashboard and 2 under the convertible roof tray). On top of that, the car also had an electric antenna that was triggered by one of the knobs on the factory stereo.

So being that the tunes are lacking that desirable full sound and base that my other car has, lets take it down to CarToys……….🙈🙉🙊

What they (CarToys) did next was mind blowing. First they installed a marine stereo on its side (which the docs say don’t do) next to an amplifier in a trunk that has a rusted hole where water leaks into if your driving in the rain. To control the new stereo in the trunk, they created a box with a Bluetooth remote that they mounted between the dashboard and the front seats like a center console that prevented the electric seat from moving forward. Don’t dream of FM on this new deck as the antenna is still connected to the original stereo. To finish it off, they cut 4 fresh hole into the doors and rear interior quarter panels for new speakers only to leave the rears out as they interfered with the hydraulic convertible roof mechanism.

The result is 2 complete stereos, 8 speakers, 2 subs, 2 amplifiers, 2 head units, no FM/AM and a opportunity to burn the car to the ground if you get water in the trunk.

The Fix

Being that John had the Chevy V8 installed and I’m not much of a “Original Car” kind of guy, I understand where John wanted to go with this. Unfortunately, professional audio installers had no clue.

The first task was to remove all of the audio gear from the car and understand what was there (called out above). The challenge with new decks is that they will never be current or state of the art and will always be an old deck. On the other side, the original stereo will always be vintage, look cool and sound just ok. After removing all of the gear, my decision was to have the original stereo rebuilt internally so that it looked old, but sounded new. I would keep the speakers, but mount them in the original location and hide the sub using the newer amplifier. The end result would be a stock looking great sounding system that still enabled the electric antenna.

The stereo work was handled by a guy in Shelton WA called BillTheRadioGuy. Overall, I’m super happy with the results and I now have a 60’s deck with metal knobs (not plastic) that looks and feels like it did in the 60s, but is connected to modern amplifiers and speakers. In addition, it supports line in and Bluetooth which makes for a super experiance while streaming music.

Rebuilt Stereo just arrived

Antenna Fix

Nothing is ever easy, even when it should be. Getting it all hooked up was as easy as installing any other stereo (except probably harder for a professional 😁) However, though the antenna did receive reception, it did not go up and down very well.

In 1967, you could get what’s referred to as a “Shop Manual” and it has steps for disassembling the antenna!

The antenna really just had one problem and that it was bent. In order to fix it, you have to remove the antenna staff from the grey metal tube (which requires a bit of de-soldering) and roll it out between a couple wood 2x4s. That’s right, roll it out! This project took about 2 hours only because I didn’t know what I was doing. While reassembling, add some silicone lube and WAA~LAA! a working antenna.

Project #1 – Installing Holley EFI

We don’t think about how lucky we are today when driving a car. It could be a brand new Ford pickup or a late model Ford Fiesta. What we forget is that you can get into the car when it has been outside for 2 weeks in the freezing cold and it will start immediately. Upon starting, we don’t even think about letting it warm up; instead we instinctively throw it into reverse, back out of the drive way and head on down the road.

Old cars are not like that. They are hard to start, take time to warm up and die when you put them in reverse if they are not ready. There is not always a temperature gauge in the car to tell you when it is warm, you just kind of have to guess on that cold December morning.

Thankfully today, we in the Hot Rodding world are spoiled and we have companies such as Holley, Haltech and many others that produce EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) systems for older cars that traditionally ran a carburetor. You can watch videos online where folks will show you how do install (with a hoist and all the necessary tools and experience) un less than 8 hours.

You may ask your self (as I did), is this real, should I do this or is it worth the cost? After doing this, my answer is yes and no. Its not complicated and you can do it, but its going to take you more than 8 hours and the cost is significant

I don’t have many pictures from this event, but it also may not have warranted many outside of my father and I under a Seahawks canopy while it was snowing in Seattle during December.

This was by far the easiest project we had. It took my dad and I took 3 days to complete, 2 of which was getting a return line into the gas tank and running fuel lines. The kit came with rubber hoses, but I would recommend not to use those and to go steel. I now have a plan to replace them all, that that will have to wait. Once the return line was in place, it was really a processes of drilling holes, mounting the ECU and swapping out the carb for the EFI throttle body.

The results are amazing. The car cold starts well, drives better than it ever had previously and the amount of data you can get access to is mind blowing. It in it self is by far one of the best upgrades we completed. (Yes, still need to tend to the brakes)

The Purchase and new car blues

I picked up the Green Devil~le in September 2017, so just over year ago. When shes good, we call her Ivy; but shortly after brining her home, the evil side showed her smile. The car was fairly low mileage with 79k on the clock, a nice set of custom wheels installed, a new top, fresh paint and a 454 Chevy V8. Not to shabby for $15k.

Looking through the receipts, we quickly found the list of problems that we would need to sort out as well as discovering that the car was hard to start when cold, took for ever to warm up, major holes in the home built exhaust system, a transmission cross member that scraped on speed bumps and brakes that were simply scary to drive over 60MPH in the city.

A normal person would have sorted the brakes first, but I’m not normal

I had some plans when I first bought the car and so rather than inventory all the issues like a smart person would, I started with getting EFI installed in the car. I figured I would be a lot more motivated to get car sorted quickly if it was easy to start and didnt stall when going down a hill even if I should have brakes to stop it before I get to the bottom.

The Green Devil~le

In September 2017 which seems like yesterday, I purchased John’s 1967 hotrod Cadillac Deville. Like most hotrods, they are unfinished and this one was no different. The engine didn’t run well, it was hard to start and even harder to stop. When she runs well, we refer to her as Ivy; when she doesn’t, we call her the Green Devil.

This is the journey, feel free to ride along.