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My 1973 Cadillac, Huggy Bear


eddyramrod

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I've just been looking at your thread about it.  I'd actually quite like the red one but the hotrod is very interesting too.  And as we all know, I can't take on a box of bits; black one being whole and running helps.  Let me give it a few coats of thinking about.

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So you've seen the trailer.  Now here's the show.  These first two pics show what I had to deal with, at the back edge of the bonnet (hood) and again at the back edge of the driver's door...

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Raggedy, as you can see!  So I attacked the two patches (one by one over a few days; bonnet first, then door) with a wire brush attached to my drill.  It did a fair job of cleaning up the holes...

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As you can see, I've Kurusted both sites too, after giving them a gentle tapping with the hammer.  Next step was the filler...

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Then it was just a matter of rubbing down each patch and aerosolling some red primer over the top.  I've now used all my red primer so for further repairs I'll either have to get some more, or use grey.

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You know something?  I quite like the primer patches.  I did actually buy a tin of Ford Tibetan Gold, which isn't a match but I've used it before on this car.  I'm thinking I might just ignore it though, and leave the primer.  The apron between rear screen and trunk lid is next in line (and pretty desperate tbh) but I think I need a few more Brave Pills before I get into that.  It's going to be messy.

This happened next, which was last Thursday...

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I'm checking oil levels etc here, ready to take the car for a shakedown run since it hasn't been out since March.  Engine churns freely and starts; good sign.  Put foot on brake ready to drop into Drive... and my foot goes to the floor.  Oops!  I did a couple of excessively careful and slow laps of the block, pumping the pedal in the hope of restoring some pressure, but to no avail.  So I've parked it up again.  Then I walked round the corner to my most local garage and asked them to give the system a bleed, and replace the fluid while they're at it.  That'll be happening next Tuesday.

Nothing's ever simple, is it?

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18 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Oh thanks Dan!   Cheer me up why don't you!  But I agree, it does look better and the primered style goes surprisingly well.  If I have him another couple of years he will be primer all over!

Fingers crossed it’s something much simpler than the master cylinder. I couldn’t get one here so had to order in from the US, which was expensive as it’s a big heavy lump of iron!! Bloody annoying having to wash all the brake fluid out of the engine bay too!

As you say, nothings ever simple. I split the brake line changing it too which complicated things, and caused some anger and poor language.

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Anger and poor language eh?  You'd have been right at home here today...

Took Huggy round to the garage to get the brakes bled.  Phone call comes back a couple of hours later, so I went to see the problem for myself.  Rear bleed nipples rounded off, and stuck fast anyway; and a split in the front-rear line, up under the rear seat pan somewhere.  They can make a new line but I have to order a pair of lovely new wheel cylinders.  So I brought the car home and did that.

Fucking marvellous.

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20 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Anger and poor language eh?  You'd have been right at home here today...

Took Huggy round to the garage to get the brakes bled.  Phone call comes back a couple of hours later, so I went to see the problem for myself.  Rear bleed nipples rounded off, and stuck fast anyway; and a split in the front-rear line, up under the rear seat pan somewhere.  They can make a new line but I have to order a pair of lovely new wheel cylinders.  So I brought the car home and did that.

Fucking marvellous.

Shit! Wonder how the line got damaged?

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You may remember that I said Huggy's shoulders were looking rough, particularly the apron between the rear screen and trunk lid...

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That's the left; you can take it for granted that the other side is at least as bad.  I did take a photo this morning but it's not very good, so use this as a baseline.

So, over the last few days I've been swallowing Brave Pills by the handful.  Today I started knocking out the old filler and fibreglass to see what there is left to work with.

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For my next dose of Brave Pills I'm going to need bigger hands.  No, scratch that; a shovel!

This is where I seriously regret never learning to weld.  Forget Hyacinth, forget Hairy Pussy, this is the Big Time.  I do have some industrial metal shelving that's pretty heavy gauge, probably almost as heavy as Cadillac used in the first place, so I'm going to have to cut chunks out of that and shape them to fit.  They won't be welded.  I don't have the ability, equipment or workspace, and of the people I know who could, I now know I can't trust any of them to do it before senility sets in.

Here's a chunk of fibreglass from an earlier repair...

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As you see, it came off in one piece, including the sculpted underside and the Laredo Tan top skin.

This afternoon I'm going to do some more prep on what's left.

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Cripes... There's bad and then there's bad...

I'm all for hopeless repairs on cars that are already the walking dead but I'd be fairly worried about the roof making a bid for freedom or the bootlid falling off. There really isn't anything left of at least two (possibly three?!) substantial panels there and I'd be seriously concerned about what lurks under more filler elsewhere...

Without welding it properly all this money/time/effort you're putting into it is really being wasted chap... What's the end goal with the car? If it's just to have it to cruise about in locally I'd stop poking ASAP - At the moment you're knocking big holes in your car with no way to repair them. Even if you don't want to sell it you're now in the position where if you desperately need to get rid of it I'd be surprised if anybody was going to shell out more than a grand for it because you're uncovering nightmare material...

Applying bits of shelving and filler isn't going to end up looking much better than what's already there and will take an age of applying/sanding. Hence my favouring of painted tape for garbage-spec "repairs", looks shit but is very nearly free and takes about 7 seconds to apply. Time and effort may as well be spent on actual repairs rather than bodgery.

 

 

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Fucking Nora!

The whole panel is gone!

Thank god for separate chassis. If that whole panel was made of rust, filler and fibreglass I’m surprised the rear screen hasn’t cracked, or fallen out. There must be quite a bit of flex in the shell without that panel in. I’d seriously consider using some of the modern automotive adhesives for this job, or even pop rivets would be better than nothing. A cheap pop rivet gun and set of rivets won’t cost you much off eBay. Welding it would be the best way but if you don’t have the kit or space it’s a no go. Is anyone local that could even just tack it in for you??

 

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41 minutes ago, chadders said:

Me as well unfortunately.

It reminds me of my VW T2 which didn't end well, mainly because I can't weld.

Eddy, for the love of all you hold dear please stop digging now. You are perilously close to a non-recoverable situation because the boot hinges are being held on by only a few rust particles holding hands. 

Being able to weld wouldn't save you here. Welding is in fact the easy bit. Making repair panels is a far more difficult part of the process although even that isn't too bad if your'e happy for the repairs to look a bit agricultural rather than factory original. The really hard parts are getting access and finding something solid to weld to both of which look to be a nightmare in this case. To do this properly would mean half the interior, the rear window and the vinyl on the roof all being removed just for starters.

All is not lost though as I think fibreglass can still save the day. Personally I wouldn't put any sheet metal in there if you can't weld it in. Big flat surfaces like that can slide around and allow the filler to crack and won't really add any structural strength. What you really need now is for every bit of metal that's left to be bonded onto a fibreglass lump for maximum strength. If it were me once I'd stopped crying and dragged myself away from the cooking sherry I'd do the following....

1. Remove any loose surface rust anywhere that the copious amounts of fibreglass and filler are likely to stick to. 

2. Create a mould underneath the whole area using polythene and parcel tape so that when you start to pack the filler in it doesn't all fall through the holes and into the boot. Fibreglass resin doesn't stick to the (non-sticky) side of parcel tape. I've successfully used it for lining moulds before when making a motorcycle mudguard out of mat and resin. Be very careful to make sure and cover up the hinges so that no filler can ooze through and jam them up.

3. Use 8mm and 6mm threaded rod and galvanised wire to make a rebar frame across the entire area to be filled in exactly the same way you would if you were going to pour concrete. Criss-cross the rods in both directions and wire every joint together. This will hopefully build a bit of fore/aft and side/side strength into what will become the big block of glass & resin that will be supporting the boot hinges. Extend the bars (and the mould) out to the side and under the wings  plus under the parcel shelf if you can go give the whole lot some anchor points .

4. Pack every nook and cranny with P40, the filler with the fibreglass strands in it taking it all up to within about 10mm of the finished surface.

5. Finish off with a "light skim" of P38 (the smooth stuff) then sand and paint.

I've used P40 successfully for some pretty heavy duty industrial repairs before so I'm sure it's possible for you to re-instate the "structural filler" in this car in such a way as the repair will last for many many years to come. Just please stop digging...............

Bonne Chance!

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Nothing worse than finding rampant rot. And it's in a twat of a location. I don't think fibreglass will be of any use.

If I was desperate I would make cardboard templates and then fashion them from scrap. Then offer beer money to somebody to weld in.

Does'nt matter if it is not aesthetically pleasing - you can put pud over the top. It's about saving the car.

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