MikeKnight

The guy told me he'd call back if he couldn't get the gearbox fault to clear and we could swap back over.
I was diplomatic, I told him "yeah I'm a decent fellow, I'd honour that".
Then blocked his number.

To go with the big stupid Toyota Supra. Which decided to drop one of its repeater lenses on a road somewhere.. after randomly losing its nose badge at 70mph.. which are £100 used. Fucksake.
ANYWAY, this is about another big stupid dumb white car with terrible MPG because I sure do love buying four hundred gallons of petrol at a time.
I put my Range Rover L322 Supercharged on eBay because I fucking hate the thing and its millions of computers that throw a fit if the battery drops below a perfect voltage. Got very little in the way of interest, I had it priced correctly but no one is buying expensive RR's right now.
Then some random bloke in Leeds messaged me with "you wouldn't happen to fancy a swap for a Cadillac would you?".
WHY YES, YES I WOULD. BECAUSE I'M AN IDIOT.
So, messaging happened, time arranged and off to Wetherby services I go as it's roughly a half way point and easy to get to, with plenty of parking since most of its services are closed. Met the bloke, we both liked each others vehicles so the V5's were filled out and we both went on our merry way in the swapped vehicles.
THEN the Cadillac overheated, when it had driven there flawlessly.
THEN he called me and told me the RR was throwing up gearbox faults, when it had driven there flawlessly.
THEN the services I was cooling down at (half way home) with its lovely quiet car park suddenly had four police interceptors in it boxing in a druggie VW Golf. Right next to me. I did not take pictures, I did not think the angry looking officers would appreciate it... and the caddy was on another persons insurance temporarily so I didn't want them looking too closely at me anyway.
THEN I got home, the radiator pin-holed and the rad cap failed. Explains the overheating at least. It's not a Northstar engine thank God so the HG's in this are pretty bullet proof. It's the 4.9L version of the wonderfully named "Cadillac High Technology Engine".
------------
So I left the gorgeous, hateful, wonderful, spiteful fucking thing in the workshop to be looked at another day. Will need a new radiator, may as well do the pump and thermostat and flush the tits off it too since the current coolant mix is 50/50 tap water/sand.
Oh I should probably tell you what it is.
It's a 1991 Cadillac Fleetwood, import so LHD, came from Florida and is pretty much rust free. Guy had young kids so it needs a deep clean, everything is sticky and disgusting.
I only have the pics he sent me as I'm a lazy bastard and didn't take any of my own. I probably should at some point.
My head tells me I need to sell it and recoup the money that was unwisely spent on the RR it replaced. But my heart tells me to keep it held in a death-grip and hiss like a xenomorph at anyone who tells me to sell it.

With some ingenuity you too can have Cadillac seats!

I am a child.

I am a child.

I am a child.

Looking closer at it, I'm assuming it's designed purely to be drilled and fitted to the boot, because I had a hilarious mental image of fitting it to the wings too.. then realising you can't open the boot anymore.

Looking closer at it, I'm assuming it's designed purely to be drilled and fitted to the boot, because I had a hilarious mental image of fitting it to the wings too.. then realising you can't open the boot anymore.

The guy told me he'd call back if he couldn't get the gearbox fault to clear and we could swap back over.
I was diplomatic, I told him "yeah I'm a decent fellow, I'd honour that".
Then blocked his number.

Renamed the topic as I'll be using this as the project thread.
Here are some recent pictures of it sitting at my work unit. Yes my unit is full of junk at the moment.. tried to get as many cars squeezed in as possible before closing up because of the virus. The cooker range is my dads, trying to sell it but no one wants a cooker range right now.






The engine is in surprisingly good condition, I need to change a few of the caps and maybe the rocker cover gaskets as they're all a bit leaky and dribbly.
Here's a picture of the inside of the radiator, it's chock full of rust and the "coolant" (it's mostly fucking water) turns brown almost instantly. I'm having trouble finding any parts inside the UK so I'll likely just get it re-cored once the place that does the re-coring for me has reopened.

It's difficult to see but this is the inside of the coolant bottle. Brown and awful. Poor baby hasn't had a good coolant service in forever.

I'm still pretty sure it's not a HGF on one or both of the heads, as there's no sludge in the oil and no sludge in the coolant bottle. The oil actually looks nice, clean, and pretty golden still. If I had to guess I'd say they'd kept losing coolant so just continually refilled the bottle with water, and since the block is cast iron that lead to a lot of rust.. blocked rad.. rad rusts out and holes because of pressure build up. I need to find a parts supplier still because I'll need a whole engine refresh kit (inlet manifold, thermostat, water pump, belts and tensioners, all liquids).
I'll still run a HGF sniff test when I'm back at work properly to rule out the heads. I'm not too worried even if it is HGF as the engine seems very accessible and easy to work on.
Below is a very rough to-do list for the car... and yes new speakers because the current ones are all original paper cones and utterly fucked.

With some ingenuity you too can have Cadillac seats!

With some ingenuity you too can have Cadillac seats!

With some ingenuity you too can have Cadillac seats!

That looks grea- *suddenly pauses as he sees the dash switch cluster in one pic and has Vietnam type flashbacks* ?

With some ingenuity you too can have Cadillac seats!

With some ingenuity you too can have Cadillac seats!

With some ingenuity you too can have Cadillac seats!

With some ingenuity you too can have Cadillac seats!

Renamed the topic as I'll be using this as the project thread.
Here are some recent pictures of it sitting at my work unit. Yes my unit is full of junk at the moment.. tried to get as many cars squeezed in as possible before closing up because of the virus. The cooker range is my dads, trying to sell it but no one wants a cooker range right now.






The engine is in surprisingly good condition, I need to change a few of the caps and maybe the rocker cover gaskets as they're all a bit leaky and dribbly.
Here's a picture of the inside of the radiator, it's chock full of rust and the "coolant" (it's mostly fucking water) turns brown almost instantly. I'm having trouble finding any parts inside the UK so I'll likely just get it re-cored once the place that does the re-coring for me has reopened.

It's difficult to see but this is the inside of the coolant bottle. Brown and awful. Poor baby hasn't had a good coolant service in forever.

I'm still pretty sure it's not a HGF on one or both of the heads, as there's no sludge in the oil and no sludge in the coolant bottle. The oil actually looks nice, clean, and pretty golden still. If I had to guess I'd say they'd kept losing coolant so just continually refilled the bottle with water, and since the block is cast iron that lead to a lot of rust.. blocked rad.. rad rusts out and holes because of pressure build up. I need to find a parts supplier still because I'll need a whole engine refresh kit (inlet manifold, thermostat, water pump, belts and tensioners, all liquids).
I'll still run a HGF sniff test when I'm back at work properly to rule out the heads. I'm not too worried even if it is HGF as the engine seems very accessible and easy to work on.
Below is a very rough to-do list for the car... and yes new speakers because the current ones are all original paper cones and utterly fucked.

Renamed the topic as I'll be using this as the project thread.
Here are some recent pictures of it sitting at my work unit. Yes my unit is full of junk at the moment.. tried to get as many cars squeezed in as possible before closing up because of the virus. The cooker range is my dads, trying to sell it but no one wants a cooker range right now.






The engine is in surprisingly good condition, I need to change a few of the caps and maybe the rocker cover gaskets as they're all a bit leaky and dribbly.
Here's a picture of the inside of the radiator, it's chock full of rust and the "coolant" (it's mostly fucking water) turns brown almost instantly. I'm having trouble finding any parts inside the UK so I'll likely just get it re-cored once the place that does the re-coring for me has reopened.

It's difficult to see but this is the inside of the coolant bottle. Brown and awful. Poor baby hasn't had a good coolant service in forever.

I'm still pretty sure it's not a HGF on one or both of the heads, as there's no sludge in the oil and no sludge in the coolant bottle. The oil actually looks nice, clean, and pretty golden still. If I had to guess I'd say they'd kept losing coolant so just continually refilled the bottle with water, and since the block is cast iron that lead to a lot of rust.. blocked rad.. rad rusts out and holes because of pressure build up. I need to find a parts supplier still because I'll need a whole engine refresh kit (inlet manifold, thermostat, water pump, belts and tensioners, all liquids).
I'll still run a HGF sniff test when I'm back at work properly to rule out the heads. I'm not too worried even if it is HGF as the engine seems very accessible and easy to work on.
Below is a very rough to-do list for the car... and yes new speakers because the current ones are all original paper cones and utterly fucked.

Thanks for the tips eddy, I'll try those.
Yes it is a 6 seater. The lap belt in the front really threw me at first. I can imagine getting stopped by the cops for having an unrestrained front seat passenger.. then they get very confused.
It gets a lot of attention, a lot more people looked at it on the drive back than even look at my Supra (and that's mostly just because of the noise).
I think it's pretty, but in an ugly and wonderful 90's way. There isn't an angle I don't like on it.

I keep having to chuckle at what the yanks thought "luxury" was.
Everything in the interior is plush, I'll give them that, but everything is also.. slightly off.. in a way that's very difficult to put into words. Like how the arm rests are nicely made.. but wobble all over the place when you shut the doors. Or how the controls on the arm rests are painted black, but underneath the paint is a lovely plain stainless steel piece of trim. Why the hell paint it?? The paint just ends up flaking off and looking awful.
Then there are the things are literally make no sense. You have indicator flashers on the dash, so why do you need a pinhole bulb above the back shelf that flashes too to tell you the indicator is on? Then MORE things that flash on the wings, pointed at you, to tell you the indicator is on. You know, just in case you didn't get the hint from the other two flashing things telling you that.
I'll have to get some more pictures of the handbook and repair book that came with the car, some parts of it are absolutely hilarious.


That's not counting the part of the book that tells you, in detail, how to wear a seatbelt. Or the part that shows a woman laying down on the drivers seat with a warning, "Do not operate the vehicle like this.", like yeah I wanted a nice nap while driving but whoops I better not because the book told me not to.

The guy told me he'd call back if he couldn't get the gearbox fault to clear and we could swap back over.
I was diplomatic, I told him "yeah I'm a decent fellow, I'd honour that".
Then blocked his number.

To go with the big stupid Toyota Supra. Which decided to drop one of its repeater lenses on a road somewhere.. after randomly losing its nose badge at 70mph.. which are £100 used. Fucksake.
ANYWAY, this is about another big stupid dumb white car with terrible MPG because I sure do love buying four hundred gallons of petrol at a time.
I put my Range Rover L322 Supercharged on eBay because I fucking hate the thing and its millions of computers that throw a fit if the battery drops below a perfect voltage. Got very little in the way of interest, I had it priced correctly but no one is buying expensive RR's right now.
Then some random bloke in Leeds messaged me with "you wouldn't happen to fancy a swap for a Cadillac would you?".
WHY YES, YES I WOULD. BECAUSE I'M AN IDIOT.
So, messaging happened, time arranged and off to Wetherby services I go as it's roughly a half way point and easy to get to, with plenty of parking since most of its services are closed. Met the bloke, we both liked each others vehicles so the V5's were filled out and we both went on our merry way in the swapped vehicles.
THEN the Cadillac overheated, when it had driven there flawlessly.
THEN he called me and told me the RR was throwing up gearbox faults, when it had driven there flawlessly.
THEN the services I was cooling down at (half way home) with its lovely quiet car park suddenly had four police interceptors in it boxing in a druggie VW Golf. Right next to me. I did not take pictures, I did not think the angry looking officers would appreciate it... and the caddy was on another persons insurance temporarily so I didn't want them looking too closely at me anyway.
THEN I got home, the radiator pin-holed and the rad cap failed. Explains the overheating at least. It's not a Northstar engine thank God so the HG's in this are pretty bullet proof. It's the 4.9L version of the wonderfully named "Cadillac High Technology Engine".
------------
So I left the gorgeous, hateful, wonderful, spiteful fucking thing in the workshop to be looked at another day. Will need a new radiator, may as well do the pump and thermostat and flush the tits off it too since the current coolant mix is 50/50 tap water/sand.
Oh I should probably tell you what it is.
It's a 1991 Cadillac Fleetwood, import so LHD, came from Florida and is pretty much rust free. Guy had young kids so it needs a deep clean, everything is sticky and disgusting.
I only have the pics he sent me as I'm a lazy bastard and didn't take any of my own. I probably should at some point.
My head tells me I need to sell it and recoup the money that was unwisely spent on the RR it replaced. But my heart tells me to keep it held in a death-grip and hiss like a xenomorph at anyone who tells me to sell it.

To go with the big stupid Toyota Supra. Which decided to drop one of its repeater lenses on a road somewhere.. after randomly losing its nose badge at 70mph.. which are £100 used. Fucksake.
ANYWAY, this is about another big stupid dumb white car with terrible MPG because I sure do love buying four hundred gallons of petrol at a time.
I put my Range Rover L322 Supercharged on eBay because I fucking hate the thing and its millions of computers that throw a fit if the battery drops below a perfect voltage. Got very little in the way of interest, I had it priced correctly but no one is buying expensive RR's right now.
Then some random bloke in Leeds messaged me with "you wouldn't happen to fancy a swap for a Cadillac would you?".
WHY YES, YES I WOULD. BECAUSE I'M AN IDIOT.
So, messaging happened, time arranged and off to Wetherby services I go as it's roughly a half way point and easy to get to, with plenty of parking since most of its services are closed. Met the bloke, we both liked each others vehicles so the V5's were filled out and we both went on our merry way in the swapped vehicles.
THEN the Cadillac overheated, when it had driven there flawlessly.
THEN he called me and told me the RR was throwing up gearbox faults, when it had driven there flawlessly.
THEN the services I was cooling down at (half way home) with its lovely quiet car park suddenly had four police interceptors in it boxing in a druggie VW Golf. Right next to me. I did not take pictures, I did not think the angry looking officers would appreciate it... and the caddy was on another persons insurance temporarily so I didn't want them looking too closely at me anyway.
THEN I got home, the radiator pin-holed and the rad cap failed. Explains the overheating at least. It's not a Northstar engine thank God so the HG's in this are pretty bullet proof. It's the 4.9L version of the wonderfully named "Cadillac High Technology Engine".
------------
So I left the gorgeous, hateful, wonderful, spiteful fucking thing in the workshop to be looked at another day. Will need a new radiator, may as well do the pump and thermostat and flush the tits off it too since the current coolant mix is 50/50 tap water/sand.
Oh I should probably tell you what it is.
It's a 1991 Cadillac Fleetwood, import so LHD, came from Florida and is pretty much rust free. Guy had young kids so it needs a deep clean, everything is sticky and disgusting.
I only have the pics he sent me as I'm a lazy bastard and didn't take any of my own. I probably should at some point.
My head tells me I need to sell it and recoup the money that was unwisely spent on the RR it replaced. But my heart tells me to keep it held in a death-grip and hiss like a xenomorph at anyone who tells me to sell it.