The Spousal Avoidance Unit build

[cad-kid]

It seems that I ended up with another car. This one from my uncle's estate. I inherited a 1964 Cadillac Coupe deVille with 38,662 miles that was stored in my uncle's basement family room for the last 40 years........it really is sweet !

I loved my 64 Cadillac Fleetwood. 429 with turbo hydramatic 3 speed and climate control. Crusing with that big hardtop styling was great! I don't know why but I find those 64 fins sexy.

Post a pic or two please

[hrm2k]

having some problems with size of photos....here is a link

http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii29 ... c687b2.jpg

[ncwitte]

Love that car. Awesome Caddy. I obviously love my Corvairs, but I can understand why you've been distracted.

[cad-kid]

Thanks for the link to you album. The Cad looks sweet!

[hrm2k]

I can certainly tell your not new at this.

Thank you. I was lucky enough to spend a great deal of time learning from one of our better chassis guys here in Baltimore. His name is Bob Nobile. He owns a shop called Advanced Automotive Concepts. He knows his stuff and he demands that things be done correctly. We did have a car go to Pebble Beach in 2010. We helped the owner Frank Morawski, rebuild and restore The Carrillo Roadster that ran in Bonneville in 1951.........178 MPH. My buddy frank is the guy in the blue baseball hat and dark blue shirt standing behind the car.

Just wanted to thank you for the nice compliment.

[Rick Calcitrant]

Hey John,
Thanks for the link to your photo album, I'm a fan of your Caddy too. Thanks also for the reference to AAC and Frank Morawski. Having his experience to draw inspiration and skills from is not only advantageous to you but to the rest of the automotive community when he shares the benefits of a seasoned hand.
Cheers,
Ted

[hrm2k]

In an effort to be honest on this build, I need to report we had an EPIC FAILURE with our original trailing arm design. As the car was moved around from the main garage to the storage garage, the rear tires cambered in and out at will. At first we thought it was no big deal figuring the mounting plates might not have been tight enough and were slipping. Once we got the car back into the garage and took a look, we found the use of the metal surrounding the original rubber bushing was not going to work. We had cut the rubber bushing out of the sleeve thinking that would be all that was needed.The sleeve which was a pressed fit broke loose and that was the end of that. You can see the sleeve in the main mounting hole in this previously posted picture. We never welded the sleeve in thinking the press fit would do the job.



Next was finding a solution. I found some 2 inch OD pipe with .250 wall. We took it to the machinist. He turned down the OD to match the trailing arm opening. He also turned down the aluminum bushing to fit inside the pipe. The piece of pipe ( about 2 inch long ) was tig welded to the arm itself after squaring up the entire assembly. Yesterday ( November 14th ) we brought the arms back to the garage and bolted them on. BINGO....we pushed the car out side, down the driveway, turned it around and around and around and around again........rear tires still standing straight up as planned. We were happy campers. To make sure we do not have this problem again, we got some pieces together to make a wishbone mount that will run from the main cross member to the original mounts for the control arms. There will be a hiem jointed bar running between the arms of the wishbone..........problem solved !!

Pictures to follow in the next couple of days

[cad-kid]

Thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing new posts on this thread.

[azdave]

Glad you got a solution quickly. Zipping around a corner at high G's is a real load on the parts trying to keep those tires from tilting. Don't forget to update us with pics!

You probably recall in my thread that I had fears about the same side loading so I added extra reinforcement above and beyond the boxed arm that was added by the owner before me. The stamped steel/spot welded assembly at the hub was badly cracked and I figured after the repair that adding another brace was not a bad idea since I could locate it to the outer strut rod mount and thus gain the advantage of being further away from the point that is trying to rotate during a heard cornering situation.

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1423

[hrm2k]

Thanks Dave......I have spent quite a bit of time in your build thread.

I spent about 5 hours at the garage today. I needed to have something of substance done to get me excited again. So I stole some wheel and tires ( borrowed actually from the guy whom I share the garage with but stole sounds much more cool ) and put them on the car.............way cool ....... They are 15 X 8 vette rally wheels with a 4 inch backspace........looks like this





Needless to say that the wheel and tires got me going. So I moved on to the radiator support. The top section was done but I had to make the bottom mounting bar with mounting tabs made and fitted. I found some hardware in the stock pie that would work. I made up a couple of bottom mounting plates along with rubber inserts to actually cradle the bottom of the radiator........some hot metal glue gun and 20 minutes of fitting, 5 minutes of tacking and it sits looking like this






The tall black tabs sticking up from the radiator belong to the fan mounting kit. Now that everything has a place, I will trim those back to a more reasonable height. I still need to do a final welding on the radiator mounts and pieces and then Captain rattlecan can do his job and make it all pretty.

So as I am getting ready to leave. I turn in my chair and see this sight. Getting really excited

[cad-kid]

[hrm2k]

I got a little work done this morning on the car. I had painted the radiator support frame yesterday so I could install it today. I was also able to place the radiator ( FOR THE LAST TIME ) in it's position. The final step was to add on a small spoiler just below the radiator to disturb the air flow and sling some of it straight into the radiator. Here is what we got........the spoiler still needs to be dressed up a little and painted but it is basically in place.



that is one shitty photo but it is better than nothing.


I would like to wish each and every one of the members a very Happy Thanksgiving. Please travel safe as you go.

John

[hrm2k]

Sorry I have been a little slow doing any updates. Things have been going on but not much to photograph. My buddy Frank and I got to talking about how and where to run the trans lines up to the radiator and back. We were both in agreement that it was worth while to add an additional cooler just for safety. I had a piece of wall art that I bought a few years ago to use on my hot rod and it simply did not fit...size or style.........hence........wall art. It only took a minute to figure out where and how to mount the cooler. Although this cooler is made to have the air move along the length, the placement made a lot of sense........here is the top view




here is the end near the radiator inputs for the trans fluid. The cooler will be in the return line getting blasted by the 2 1350 CFM fans.........should get the job done



When you see the final plumbing, you will really like this.

[hrm2k]

Big Day at the garage

This entire suspension thing has really been holding me down. After the first major failure, everything has been thought to death. We think about what to.........we talk about what to do......someone else gets in the conversation and we talk and think about it some more. I was just about ready to go up on the roof with a magnum and start picking off people in the neighborhood just to show my frustration ............We finally decided on what we were going to do. First we stocked up on some thick wall (.156 ) tubing. We cut a couple of small pieces of tubing to make spacers. We added some washers to the ends to make them 2.750 wide. These will be the basis for the Camber adjustment units on the bottom of the trailing arm. We got our heim joint and some brackets together to make our center pivot. We made our center pivot mount out of 3 nuts which we welded together.....more on this in a minute
Here are the bits and pieces



Next came the arms. We welded nuts to the end of the thick wall arms and used 1/2" X 1/2" heim joints as rod ends. Laying next to the arms is another piece which slides on the spacers. The tube and tab are chormemolly . The arms will bolt to the tabs.
Here are those pieces



Once we made sure the concentric was centered, we could start the assembly process. Here is how the arm bolts to the slider



REASONING !!!
As the trailing arm moves up and down, the length of arm will need to change. The slider over the bushing will allow the change to the needed rod length. We have only a small amount of travel ( 2 inches up, 3 inches down from ride height ) on the trailing arm. This slider should only need about 3/16 of an inch of total travel. We gave it a total of 5/8 inch of travel.

The arms attach to a center pivot. The pivot is attached to the main cross member. Even with the uneven mounts, we have no binding in the travel of the arm. If we had more travel in the arm, this might not have worked. Here is the center pivot mount






And of course from above



Once the final welding has been done and the mount brackets are fully welded, We can put the suspension to rest. We have toe in/out adjustment as well as full camber adjustment. Time to build the axles.......woohoo !!
Saturday will be the beginning of the header build as well as the trans cooler plumbing...............getting there

[hrm2k]

I have been doing a bunch of little stuff recently. Things that have to be done but are not very pretty. So here are some detail shots that probably do not need description but are part of the build









This is the piece that bolts to the camber concentric. I have had many discussions with a mechanical engineer friend over this part. He feels that since we are not going to be doing heavy cornering like on a road course, that this will serve the purpose fine. Time will tell !











This last picture should give you an idea as to how the cover panels are going to fit. We are still playing with the idea that the panel on top should be some type of glass ( lexan, plexiglass ) so the engine is visible through the windows

More to follow soon

[hrm2k]

I have been trying to get back into the swing of things with the car. A few weeks ago I posted this photo of the beginnings of the wishbone. This is what will allow camber in and out adjustments



So we rounded up some 1/2 inch bar stock and made some modifications. The new cross bracing is in and I am pleased as punch with the final product. We have the mount brackets on the cross member to be welded in.....a little paint and this piece is finished. I guess I should have turned the wire speed down as these are not my best looking stuff