A little adventure... Road Trip... New Cadirat! :)

Interior looks great and underhood looks better....now go get the engine degreaser!

Little girl gonna borrow Daddy's Caddy?

Great pics! Neat car! good work Bud!

-Mike

Bill, it's a GM... Set your trip. These don't have gas gauges.

LOLz.

Thanks for the props, guys. I diggit!

So I spent a little time today on the outside, jut to make it presentable. Hit it by hand with some 3M swirl/oxidation remover. There's a lot of real estate to hand rub on that car! Here's a few shots before I cleaned up the stainless...










And then here are the same shots, albeit crappier quality (damn flash messing things up!), after an hour with the chrome polish and steel wool...










It doesn't look anywhere near perfect, but at least the haze is gone (for the most part) and it's got a little bit of a shine to it... I still can't wait for Chris to attack it!

time to sell it yet?

DBeaSSt wrote:

Bill. I've read as well that the sending unit is different. I don't know how exactly but it has to do with the FW's gauge being digital versus analog in the B cars. I've not compared them side by side to see exactly what is different though.

I'm tempted to just install a B body sender and see. Got the job down to less then an hour and a I can't be any worse off than I am now. I did measure it when I took it out the first time and it seems to be the same resistance but it may be designed to be more accurate, especially close to the empty mark with both the low fuel light and the warning bell. Don't really care either way. Just want to get it where it at least is predictable.

toomanytoyz wrote:

Bill, it's a GM... Set your trip. These don't have gas gauges. .

If my daily trips followed a set pattern thats exactly what I would do. The problem here is one day it sits in the driveway, the next into town and the next to Toronto. Maybe I could just fill it up every day and be done with it.

Bill

Quote :

Bill, it's a GM... Set your trip. These don't have gas gauges

Coming from the guy that fixed a hesitation by filling up an empty tank.

jayoldschool wrote:

Quote :

Bill, it's a GM... Set your trip. These don't have gas gauges

Coming from the guy that fixed a hesitation by filling up an empty tank.

LOL.

That kinda proves my point though, doesn't it? Before that test drive, I hadn't driven it any further than from the trailer to the garage.

The Fleetwood envy is STRONG over here dude. I was just saying tonight that I missed the root beer float and got INSTANTLY corrected that "You do NOT miss that damn root beer float POS. What you miss is having a fleetwood!"

She was totally right.

That looks TONS better!

Now yank out the Ajax and make the white walls white again!

Bewber wrote:

The Fleetwood envy is STRONG over here dude. I was just saying tonight that I missed the root beer float and got INSTANTLY corrected that "You do NOT miss that damn root beer float POS. What you miss is having a fleetwood!"

She was totally right.

Werd. But I was slapped right in theface with the stuff that drive me nuts about them, too... Mainly the climate control that thinks it's smarter than me so it gives me no option for control. Good thing I have a couple roadie head units kicking around...

And I don't think I'm going to bother cleaning these whitewalls... At least not until they are on their new rims... This week?

Just curious, when you filled the car up did the gauge show full?

Mine's goofy too, but usable. It goes overfull when I fill it up, but once it gets to E I've never been able to put more than 16 gallons in it...so when it says it's empty....it's really not.

Think I have solved the mystery. According to Alldata, the resistance at full is 88 ohms as opposed to 80. This may be the only difference as the other end is similar. If you want to use a B body sender it just means it will stay on full a little longer. For those interested, these are the resistance values for the gauge:

Full 88 ohms
3/4 60 ohms
1/2 50 ohms
1/4 56 ohms
Empty 1 ohm

My Roadmaster subscription has expired so I don't have the values for the B bodies but using a sender from the Roadmaster looks like it will work. The only really important value is empty anyways and if it remains predictable, all is well. The rest is only to give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Bill

81X11 wrote:

Just curious, when you filled the car up did the gauge show full?

Yup. All the bars were lit til I had 96 or 7 miles on the tank. Then one bar knocked off by the next time I looked at 98 miles to the tank. Digital gauge, remember. If I remember correctly, my old fleetwood would take forever to go from full to 3/4 and then drop like a rock to empty in like 20 miles...

I just fill all my cars at 300 miles of daily driving. I'll push it to 400 or so in the B/D's on the all highway tanks. Seems to be working out so far.

Ahh good deal.

I posted up a fuel sending unitrefurbish procedure over on the ISSF. B-body and F-body resistance range is 0-90 ohms. A good fuel system cleaner will get you part way there, then the rest of it is physically recalibrating that resistor thingy. 88 ohms is basically 90 ohms for all intents and purposes.

FWIW, I have NO IDEA why people make such a big deal about the needle going past the "full" mark on the dashboard. Who cares. All I want to know is when am I going to run out.

Did I make a big deal about that? Didn't mean too!

As for a fuel cleaner, does SeaFoam work? I use that in my motorcycles after storing them over the summer (our riding season is from mid-sept to mid-may).

Looks great Bill. I haven't had a Caddy since I was 19 and now I'm josin hard for one. really like the lack of fabric on the roof too.

It's coming along fabulously!!

sherlock9c1 wrote:

I posted up a fuel sending unitrefurbish procedure over on the ISSF. B-body and F-body resistance range is 0-90 ohms. A good fuel system cleaner will get you part way there, then the rest of it is physically recalibrating that resistor thingy. 88 ohms is basically 90 ohms for all intents and purposes.

FWIW, I have NO IDEA why people make such a big deal about the needle going past the "full" mark on the dashboard. Who cares. All I want to know is when am I going to run out.

Joel:

Followed your directions word for word. Everything worked out as advertised, including checking for full function with sender out of tank before installation. Re-installed everything and ran out at 1/2 a tank. Removed again, repositioned the float (hung up on side of baffle) re-installed and then car ran out at 1/4 tank, then 1/3 tank, then below 1/4. Absolutely no consistancy. At some point on our way to the East coast in September filled the tank and the gauge stuck at full and stayed there.

Now I just drive it till it starts to buck then use 5 gallon jerry can in trunk to get to the station. Somewhere between 250 and 450 miles depending on where I'm driving.

Can't agree with you more. The only important area is empty.

Bill

Nubbies!



Thanks to Steve's generosity, I had 3 15x6's and one 15x7... DOH! Luckily, my spare was a 15x7, so it's not a total fail. LOL!

Ordered my moon caps and trim rings yesterday. If the wheels end up looking as good dry as they did wet though, I may skip the trim rings. We'll see.

Okay - what did you spray those with? I'm intrigued.

Stingroo wrote:

Okay - what did you spray those with? I'm intrigued.

Duplicolor Med Garnet Red Metallic spray can.

Damn that looks so much better than my spray can job of my wheels. What gives?

Stingroo wrote:

Damn that looks so much better than my spray can job of my wheels. What gives?

Have you seen his other cars????

practice, pumpkin, practice.......

Krzdimond wrote:

Stingroo wrote:

Damn that looks so much better than my spray can job of my wheels. What gives?

Have you seen his other cars????

practice, pumpkin, practice.......

LOL!

Guilty as charged.

So Chris and I spent the entire day on the car today. Well, Chris did anyways... I was mostly in the way. I hit the deep scratches with some touch up paint. And he wetsanded it. Compounded it with the buffer. Jim stopped by to avoid working on his stuff at some point and hung around a bit, but I couldn't convince him to try wetsanding. Then we did some more wetsanding. Some more compounding. And some more. Then some compounding with a lighter something. Then he buffed the stainless. And even hit the taillights, came out good! Then we took it to the spray wash and cleaned it all off, creases, door jambs, trunk jamb, the works. And then back to the garage for another round of some polishing with the buffer. Then a hand applied Meguire's NXT and OMG.





Wow. Just... Wow.

Daylight pics to come.

Thanks so much, Chris! I cannot believe this is the same car. It is absolutely gorgeous. I am blown away. Wow. I can't tell you how many times today I heard "Man, this is a HUGE effin car!" And it is. A TON of work went into it today. He really knows what he's doing with that buffer!

Wow.

Looks beautiful!

AMAZING change! Way to go. Doesn't even look like the same car. NICE work!

Cmon Bill that cant be the same car.Man that thing looks great.Did you use a rotary or a random orbital?I already have a Porter Cable7424XP
and want a rotary but cant decide which one to get.I am thinking about the generic rotary from TCP Global>Its not a high dollar DeWalt or a
Makita but I think it will serve me well.That PC does some incredible work and now that I am more confident I want that rotary!
Looks like I am going to sell my 69000 mile OCC since I found this cherry garage kept 95 RMW lite blue with wood and loaded.Its got 122000
miles and was owned by a 84 year old man since new.
Looking Like a near new Caddy
Keep it up
Jim Gordon

Expect to see pics of the 95 RMW Jim!

KEEP the pics coming Bill!

He has a Dewalt high speed polisher. He's a detailer by trade at a local dealer. Does great work! And yeah, I can't believe it's the same car either!

And here are some overcast daylight pics...








A couple close ups...






Amazing.

I can't wait to see it in the sunlight!

And here's a couple before pics, for reference...




So stoked!

amazing what the right tools for the right job can do huh?

Bill, "thefleetwoodguy" (on the Cadillac forum) near you should have any parts like that grille that you need.

^ And he's close to you too. Probably driving distance.

Yeah, I've emailed him. Didn't realize he was on the big board though. I found him on craigslist. But he didn't have the things I needed most (rear bumper, dash pad, grill).

I'm striking out everywhere on those.

Good luck with the rear bumper. Those are hard to come by and fetch a pretty penny. I sold mine for $300 cash after listing the car on CL for 24 hours, and he was HAPPY to get it.

toomanytoyz wrote:

Yeah, I've emailed him. Didn't realize he was on the big board though. I found him on craigslist. But he didn't have the things I needed most (rear bumper, dash pad, grill).

I'm striking out everywhere on those.

Not promising anything, but we *might* finally be getting a new hearse to replace our '96 Fleetwood. If we do, my boss said its mine for "cheap" I just want the drivetrain, no use for the other bits

I would want the CAR.

That'd be the ultimate longroof.

Stingroo wrote:

I would want the CAR.

That'd be the ultimate longroof.

I'd drive it too, but there are too many things wrong with it. The car is better keeping other Fleetwoods alive.

Oh, really? Well boo.

Bill, without reading all 5 pages again..... did you say you needed a bumper? there is a 95/6 fleetwood here in a JY with both bumpers intact.

He did indeed say he needed a rear bumper, and a grille.

Stingroo wrote:

He did indeed say he needed a rear bumper, and a grille.

and a dashpad.

That it Crovo?

Yes I need a bumper, but there is a lot more, too...

Between Mike and the fleetwood guy, I can get all the stuff I want but neither of them have the need items... But supposedly there is a yard near me with a few FW's in it and I hope to stop there after work one day this week and see what they've got.

I will be going back to the BIG yard around here tomorrow.... PM me what you NEED and in what color and I'll see if they have it. PM me your # and I can call you with what they have.....


Same goes for everyone else..... NO wagons in there, but there are 4-5 cappys and 2 gray Roadmaster sedans (1 TBI, 1 LT) and a red Roadmaster sedan (LT1) with PERFECT gray drivers door panel that I will snag!!!!!

Hey Bill, didn't even think about it till I saw pics of the kiddo, but I've actually been considering the idea lately about the upside to the fitment of a carseat in the LWB of the D-body versus cramming one in the back of a B-car. I've carted my nephew around a bunch before, and now have my own on the way, but no access to a D-body just to check the fit...if its not too much trouble (and you still have one), could you check the fit a rear-facing carseat in the FW, with the front seat all the way back and tell me if it fits?? Thanks a lot man!!

-Jeremy

Hey J. Yeah, I have one. I'll try to remember to check it out today.

OK, so I have the baby moons on it. Not sure I like it yet. Will definately look a million times better with the front dropped about 3 inches.







I really want to like 'em. I really do. But... something's not right. I think it's the ride height. I NEED to drop it. Gonna cut the fronts at least one coil and throw the eibachs in the rear.

SShiftn6 wrote:

Hey Bill, didn't even think about it till I saw pics of the kiddo, but I've actually been considering the idea lately about the upside to the fitment of a carseat in the LWB of the D-body versus cramming one in the back of a B-car.
-Jeremy

FYI. It fits. Seat is all the way back, but the headrest just barely touches the baby seat. We kept her in the middle.





HTH!

Needs wider whites. Runway Enduro 75s are dirty cheap.

I think the ride height is good. Caddys ride so nice, it will be a shame to kill that by slamming it. Maybe I'm getting old. I'm not the one with the kid seat in the Caddy, though...

Not to be negative Bill but I really liked those stock wheels once you had them all cleaned up....but the dog-dish caps do make the car stand out. To each his own, if YOU like them, then good.

-Mike

.......a red Roadmaster sedan (LT1) with PERFECT gray drivers door panel that I will snag!!!!!

Dangit....I was excited for 2 secs! I need a RED drivers front RMW door panel.

Are there none left???

And back on topic, I've just almost got my 2-year-old out of baby seats....thank goodness. Come on booster seats! The sooner the better!

-Mike