Roger Zimmermann

There are some good and bad news. First the bad: despite 2 weeks without disturbing my bad mix, both preparations did not cure. Today, after one hour at 100°C, same result. I will have to bite the bullet and remove manually the sticky and almost liquid products. The good news: while in France in our vacation house, I ordered an electric vacuum pump. The on-line shop is French, the pump came from Germany after 3 days and the pump is made in...China. Bad luck as I try not to support this country...The same search done in Switzerland gave no result...with the exception of that French store! A quick test was done this afternoon: I can pull 25"Hg and the vacuum is slowly decreasing, like it was with the manual pump with which I could only get 15" Hg. It will be really a pleasant job to "cast" the various parts, but first I have to clean and maybe redo the marking on the white wall mold.

As usual, I'm amazed at your work and how bad the original sheet metal was manufactured.

It's exactly what I intend to do. With or without hole, as the sides will not be exact. I'll try with two products, one with a rather low viscosity and the other with higher viscosity. I'm however not that far!

Yes, I could, but it will not be acting as a damper...Or the springs into the shock absorbers must be so strong that they try to keep the actuating lever at curb height.

Thanks Paulie! Right now, I'm scratching my head; wondering with what I can continue because as they should really function, some planning is indeed necessary.

The tires are waiting for better days...and I began the shock absorbers. To give you an idea how they look like, I'm attaching two pictures from the real ones. At first glance, the shape is easy; a good look at the shape is revealing some interesting details. It would be one thing to replicate the shape as well as I can, but I want also that they are absorbing the suspension's movements. I will be use the same sticky fluid/paste as I did on my telescopic shock absorbers. Here, I still don't know exactly how I will do that. Certainly not like the original design as compression and rebound had probably different rates. The medium I will use is usually slowly leaking at joints without gasket; I will have to find a method to keep the medium inside the bodies. On one picture, you can see the end caps which will be soft soldered on the body. Can you imagine the shape of the wrench used to torque them on the body? I replicated the hexagon shape by punching the caps and soldering the inner side.

Nice, but now you have a 12 V battery...Or am I missing something? You also may have issue by connecting both cables; the recessed plots could be a problem.

Randy, I did those tire 12 years ago! If I have to loose the scripts, well, I can do them again. Annoying, but mistakes have always a cost! You are getting old? Me too!

Your are probably right. Anyway, the first piece I did has a subtle change in viscosity. I don't think it will be usable but maybe cured enough not to stick to the paint used for the letters. No change yet on the second part; after the shock absorbers will be done, who knows... I have also a funny story about another product. It's a Dow Corning RTV; the product is to be mixed 1:1. It takes a very long time to cure and, after 40 years, I still have some of it. When I'm doing grommets, I'm using that RTV; to shorten the curing time, I'm heating the product at about 100°C. It takes some minutes and the part is OK. Once, I had prepared too much material. I intended to use it some days later, therefore I put it in the freezer. To my surprise, it was cured when I took it out of the freezer!

Good luck with the restoration of that boat! Getting older does not mean getting wiser... The facts: I decided to make a mold for the white wall. From the Avanti/Mark II projects, I still had some RTV material; I prepare a batch to pour on the pattern. Usually, after two hours, the product begins to be very viscous; after 12 hours, the RTV is set. This time, after 2 hours there was no change at the viscosity. Same after 6 hours and again no difference after 12 hours. To me, it was obvious that the product was indeed too old. I heated a bit the whole; not too much because of the paint for the letters. There was a slight change at the viscosity so I let it in a corner because as the material is still sticking at the pattern, it could take away the scripts. I began the preparation to pour the first half-mold from the tire. This time, I used a fresh product, mixing 9 grams harder to 180 grams RTV silicone. After creating some vacuum with my hand pump, the material was poured into the form. This operation creating again trapped air, the vacuum pump came again in action. The most vacuum I can generate with this pump is 14 to 15" HG. Enough for the purpose, but very tiring for the hands. After one hour, I took the recipient out from the desiccator. After two hours, the viscosity did not change. I went to bed; the next morning, still no change. I was a bit upset and wanted to call the supplier. Just before that call, I had again a look at the syringe. The are two marks, 1 and 2 and 10 smaller lines in between. Suddenly, I saw my error: each mark is not 10 grams, but ONE gram! Therefore, the mix had just 1/10th of the necessary harder quantity! No wonder it cannot be set... I have a similar problem with the tire pattern: there will be no paint on the surface, but the product in the uncured state is sticky. How can I remove the remaining material on the surface and, more important in the tread? I will put it on side for some weeks; maybe the small quantity of harder will be sufficient to set the RTV. As I'm blocked with my own stupidity, I ordered some material to do the springs. Of course, it's not available right now. Therefore, I will begin the shock absorbers...

The next step was to put the name and dimension on the white wall pattern. The "Firestone" script is not an easy one; my attempt to sketch the characters on the tire went bad. Fortunately, I found in the net a script which was the size I wanted. The print I did with that was not very sharp; anyway, I could cut the letters with a cutter. I glued them on the brass with paint; once dry, I scratched the excess paint. The method for the dimension was different: I used thick paint and applied it on the brass with a thin brush. Once the paint dry, I scratched the excess paint to have a decent script. It's not perfect, but will be good enough on the rubber. Now, I can do the negative mold for the white wall elements.

Yes! And, without magnifier glass, I don't even think to sharpen those small drill bits.

Pat, this small machine can be sometimes not very cooperative! However, we are living since a long time; I know most of the time the tricks needed to "tame" it! My hands are not more as steady as they were 3-4 years ago, but it's not (yet) an issue. Patience, yes, I got a large dose many years ago! Yes, I'm sharpening my cutting tools with that small stone (I don't know if that the correct expression) and some machine oil. Manually, of course. I sometimes succeed to sharpen drill bits as small as 0.5mm in diameter (0.02"), usually by luck!

One key element was missing for the tires: the master for the white wall. As the manufacturer is on it, I could not just do a negative pattern: I cannot carve the letters for the name. Therefore, as with my other tires, I will do the name with paint. This time, I will write "Firestone". The shape of the characters is not easy; maybe I will have to come back with "Good Year"... On the picture, the master is just finished; that bit of brass is expensive: about $ 35.00. I'll have first to write the characters with a pencil and then apply the paint with a thin brush.

Even me I don't remember exactly all the steps, even if I was involved three times! Even if Switzerland is a small country, mail orders are taking time to arrive; the tires will begin later this week. In between, I finished what was still open: the rods going to the carbs. The rods themselves are not a big deal: a 0.8mm rod, bent more or less in the middle. But the small parts to attach the rods are taking time. As the carbs are not functional, I did a trunnion at each carb, soldered to the lever. The rods are just sliding through the trunnions, suppressing any length's adjustment. The pins at the other ends are not very large: the diameter is 0.8mm and a hole of 0.5mm was drilled for the cotter key (which will be just a rod). This does not let too much liberty, the hole must be in the middle! The red paint on the LH rod is used to differentiate both rods as they don't have exactly the same shape. There are also rods to operate the chokes. I will not do them now because the shaft to operate them is attached on the firewall. Maybe one day there will be one, maybe not...

No, the engine is not completely finished, I just need to do something else. As we are getting towards better outside temperatures, it's a good idea the continue with the tires. I ordered some silicone products for that. I also ordered a bit of brass stock to make the mold for the white walls. All should come next week. Fortunately for my, I did pictures when I did the tires for the Avanti and Mark II; it's easier to remember "how". And I spared some "tools": the cut can for the first stage and the plexiglass which will be used to separate both half-molds. This later element was used for the Mark II tires; as the Cadillac tires have a larger diameter, I will adapt it for this new usage.

Oh! it could be...Plus he wrote wheel and not wheels!

Well Pat, it seems that you are not following well this thread or your memory is fading: I did the wheels for more than two years; recently, I did the master tire but, for the moment, I did not order the necessary material. Another thing I must organize: steel for the springs...You see, there is something in the pipe line!

Even if this not the place to tell it, I have a deep concern about the situation in East Europe. How will that end? (this comment can be removed by a moderator; it had to come out. The ordered material arrived, so I could finish the starter motor's lever which is inside the car. He is probably not the exact replica, but I'm satisfied with it. Next to that, I did the levers going to the throttle levers, the lever for the hand throttle and the one which will actuated by the gas pedal. All those elements are free to rotate but, as the throttle levers at the carbs are fixes, everything from gas pedal to carbs will be static. I did also both knobs attaching the valley's cover. Unfortunately, these are too small; I cannot engrave the Cadillac emblem on them!

As a Swiss product, it have to be precise!

Are you sure that it's water vapor? With some blow-by, there is probably oil vapor from the crankcase.

The logical continuation was to do the valley's cover. This part is indeed just a styling element with the benefit to protect the spark plus and wiring from the dust or debris. Anyway, this part is a nice complement to the valve covers. The original part is stamped, a process I cannot do. The various elements are soft soldered on the main plate. The curious shape at the rear was probably necessary for the first V-16 generation, but not for this one. With so few cars sold with that engine, some cost cutting was a necessity!

Thanks to you also for coming back at the old pages!

Thank you for looking at the previous pages on a regular basis! Doing it that way, the build of the model is getting quicker...

We continue with the engine's accessories. One which is not in plain view is a tube or conduit for the spark plug wires. This conduit has 2 studs on top of it to attach the long cover hiding most of the ignition system. Two ignition wires are emerging at each oval holes; the four last wires are exiting at the rear of the tube.