Roger Zimmermann

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.

Anyway, James, thanks for asking! This is a difficult question. My actual project is an assembly of many casting parts; cars from the fifties or sixties had similar parts which were just stamped sheet metal, therefore less spectacular. Those cars had also much less lines, rods and other external details. The time factor is also decisive about the part's quality: many ears ago, I had the propension to cut corners because it would require too much time to do it right. Now, I don't care. I'm building what I can, how long I can without having a deadline. If I have to redo something, I'll do it without too much regret...

Thanks Pat! Fortunately, there will be not much black paint: the engine crankcase and pan are staying aluminum color; many accessories, levers, and lines will be either nickel or chrome plated. I agree that the black paint on the main parts is hiding most details. This is why I painted the Avanti engine red metallic and not black as original engines are.

After 10 years of use, the accumulated dirt was acceptable...As the elements are made with PVC. As you noted, easy to unscrew. The number of accessories to this kind of engines is incredible... After the oil filter, it was time to do the construction holding the bracketry for the starter motor and the activation of the chokes. They are activated be a lever at each side of a long shaft supported by a tube. As drilling a hole of 1 mm in diameter into a piece about 30mm (1.2") long is not possible with my tools, I ordered a tube 1.5 OD/1.1 ID which will arrive next week. In between, the activating system for the starter motor kept me busy for some time. Thanks for the various pictures I have, I could evaluate the dimensions of all elements. Probably most of you don't know that the starter motor is activated by a pedal pushed by the driver; the pedal is located almost in the middle of the car. This pedal is not yet done; dimension wise, it's also a guess as I forgot to clearly photography it. As you can see on the first picture, the actuating lever is away from the motor's switch; on the second picture, it's pushing the round button. A spring will be added to hold back the actuating lever.

It's what I discovered yesterday...

The original oil filter holder is made with sheet metal and its shape is too complicated for my taste, therefore I simplified a bit and soft welded the braces and the bolts to the supports. The oil canister was a rather simple job. Yesterday, I had a funny adventure: a bit of brass was silver soldered to the holder's base. Usually, to clean the flux resulting from silver soldering, I'm putting for 1/2 hour the fresh soldered part into a glass jar containing vinegar. When finished, I'm purring the vinegar back into a bottle. Then, water is coming into the jar. After that, the water is dumped into the kitchen's sink taking care that the part(s) is staying into the jar. Yesterday, I had the impression that the tiny part went away with the water through my fingers. I saw nothing into the vinegar's bottle, nothing into the small glass jar. Where went that part? Most probably into the siphon trap...So, Christine and me began to remove the tubes under the sink, which is never easy. Next to the bad odor and accumulated dirt, we found nothing. Well, we thought, it was probably taken away with the water; it's time to do another part. When I wanted to store away the glass jar, I saw that damned part, not at the bottom, but near the top! All that trouble for almost nothing, except clean tubes in the kitchen!

Thanks for your comments. I did not search about that because I'm so far away! I will have to search locally for a solution, because importing something like that is not practical: US is still "enjoying" 110V when whole Europe has 220V. Liquids cannot be sent by regular shipping methods. Some chemical products cannot be bought in Switzerland by individuals like me, we have a very restrictive regulation. I know that some kits are available in France; I have the possibility to buy there, like I did for a tin solution. First I still have to build about 1000 components...

The rear engine supports are made with three element: the supports at the crankcase, another supports attached to the frame and a rubber bushing. I'm not sure why those engines (V8, V12 and V16) needed 3 sets of supports: at the front, at the rear of the engine and at the transmission's end. I see three possible reasons: - the middle supports help reducing the torsion of the frame (on the V-16, the distance between the first cross member and the second one is huge) - the second set avoid stress at the drivetrain by supporting it almost in the middle - it was maybe a precious help when the transmission had to be removed for repair, the engine had not to be supported In my case, I could do without that middle support set! There were some difficulties to fabricate those tiny supports: from design, the hole in the frame is not aligned with the engine flange; I had to be creative to find the correct location of the support's end towards the frame. While doing that, I noticed that the RH support has more offset than the LH one. Why? Obviously, my simple equipment does not allow a great precision... I don't know exactly how this intermediate supports are installed in real life. Most probably, the ones attached to the frame are installed; then the other support is going through the hole from the support to be attached finally to the engine. To complete the set-up, the bushing is pushed from the outside and is secured with a large nut. In my case, I have to attach the parts differently: the middle supports are screwed to the engine (because I cannot torque the screws when the engine is on the frame); the external supports are pushed on the internal one like shown on one picture; then the engine is installed on the frame with some rotating movements. When the engine is secured at the front crossmember and the rear, the external middle supports can be attached to the frame and the rubber bushing pushed in place. I will have to remember this curious method, the sole which is practical! For practical reasons both heads were removed for this task. Now I really can begin the oil filter. The holes for its support can be seen on the last picture.

Randy, thanks for your comments! Do you know what's funny? The camera! I still have the same, an (now) old Sony pocket camera! Some years ago, I bought a Canon reflex camera which was a bad decision: the pictures I did on the model were way not so good than with a small camera, no matter which setting I used. You are complaining that modern vehicles cannot be repaired like the much older ones. This is right, but what would cost a vehicle made like it was done 40 or more years ago? A fortune! After all, it would maybe not be so bad, there would be less cars on the road...

The bias-ply tires on my '56 Biarritz are almost 30 years old; I will replace them this Spring against radial tires. The tires on my 2011 Cadillac DTS are now 11 years old. I will replace them maybe this year because they are getting difficult to balance. I'm still driving them at 75 - 85 miles/hour without bad thinking. I have to say that the DTS is stored in a garage without light. It seems that UV are bad for tires.

Why do you want to replace the original parts? I'm not sure if that's wise...

As stated in my previous post, I intended to do the oil filter. Fine, but it is attached at the intermediate engine support! Due to the tight space between the calculated diameter of the filter and the frame, I have to do the engine supports first. As usual, it's a casting element and not in line with the hole into the frame...

Yes and no. I don't remember what I saw, but there are a number of chemical products I'm not comfortable with. In fact, I don't remember for what kind of plating I was searching. Due to the number of acorn nuts and bolts used on this engine, a nickel plating would be more realistic than paint. The difference between nickel and chrome plating is real, but on small parts it's negligible. The grille from the Mark II was nickel plated as it seems that its very difficult to let chrome a grille; a specific anode is needed. The front bumper and other elements for the grille were chrome plated; it's hard to see a difference. Anyway, thanks for your input. I may revise my opinion about that kind of plating and will search how and were it's available.

The coarse screen issue will be solved thanks to Gary. There are still element to be done to the engine. This time, I did the vacuum pump and the fitting for the oil lines. One is going to the oil filter and the other line to the oil pressure indicator. The fake screws to the vacuum pump will be "installed" during the final assembly. The pump will be black, the crews will be painted silver. Indeed they should be chromed; I'm sure silver paint will be OK. The studs at the fitting have not the same length on the picture. This will also be corrected during the final assembly. Next step: the oil filter.

Thanks, Barney! First I had to look in a dictionary for "elves"! Well...there are some which are kind and others which are nasty! I cannot count them, they move all the time!

It's not what another wiring supplier told me. Some car's wiring are not reproduced because nobody is willing to send that wiring to the supplier. By "good" wiring: I mean an harness which is complete but maybe was properly repaired if needed, however with hard or even split insulation. For 3 months, I had this experience with a 1957 Brougham front door.