hidden_hunter

Taking out the pistons and inspecting the crankshaft bearings

Isn't that the name of the scammer who posts on here via direct message?

Curves ahead transported my car from St Louis to LA as a non runner (no spares with it though) in cover, wasn't cheap but the car arrived in Australia with no damage (well except for the damage rocker gear that apparently happened long before I bought it)

You guys think shipping is bad in the U.S, try being international most things are usually at least USD$50 to post.

For Aussies, Shannons is normally a pretty safe bet https://www.shannons.com.au/insurance/car-insurance/overview my premium is about US$100 p/a for my 1922 Cadillac. I went with the cover that lets you use it for anything as long as it's not your daily driver

So the good news: Got the heads back yesterday, and they've come up fantastically. The original valves and springs were able to be reused and he believed that they were all original to the car - the bores showed some light pitting but nothing too bad once they had been honed and it didn't need to be bored out or new pistons. I also managed to track down a set of rings for it and a new old stock pair of head gaskets The bad news: Still haven't tracked down the broken top cover yet and I'm running out of leads. I did have a scammer contact me on the forums though yesterday

Yep got one before, but looks like you'd already dealt with it between me getting the email and checking the aaca. sure you have a top cover for a type 61 Cadillac....

I have received my copy of the CLC directory but unfortunately it's at my folks house so I don't have ready access to it until the weekend. It does look like the v63 was much more popular than the type 61 (or more survive at the least) I was thinking the most obvious way of lowering the intake would be to block off the fuel preheat from the carb Thanks again Carl, the head work has been finished and I pick it up on Thursday but he was worried about the availability of rings as well :|

The Holden Hurricane concept of the 60's had a very interesting precursor to GPS as well, it used magnets in the road to tell where it was http://motor.history.sa.gov.au/events/2013/holden-hurricane and it looked cool in the process.

Thanks for the kind words Carl, I'm definitely learning a lot and having fun! I definitely plan on inspecting them for wear, I just haven't had a chance to do it yet. There looks like there are a couple of places that do babbit bearings in Melbourne if they do need attention, no idea what sort of cost I would be looking at though.

Thanks Carl, always the gentleman! I've reached out to the Type 61 owners in the Australian CLC to see if anyone else has one. The type 61 does seem like quite a rare beast in Australia Also on the hunt for some new rings

Hi guys, Looking for the top cover (including rocker gear) for a Type 61 Cadillac (see pictures) Can probably piece together a good one if the casting and rods are in a good condition.

We have a 1926 buick that spent most of it's working life on a farm up in the Victorian high country, which would have had pretty much no developed roads at the time and temperatures ranging from 0-45c. The buicks were famed for their reliability and reviews back in the day commented on their dependability (you can use to http://trove.nla.gov.au/ search for old newspapers which contain reviews)

my heads off an being machined and my rockers are obliterated so they do still need some maintenance

Cadillac are an even worse offender for that, or tell you that you need to use a special cadiallac tool for every single job. E.g. just cut the rivet out and rerivet in place with your cadillac rivet tool

Hi Ivan, sorry for the delayed response been very busy with work and chasing down leads! I've always ogled your list of cars, so I'd love to visit sometime - I'm in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne so it wouldn't be too far Scott graciously pulled apart one of his v63 engines but unfortunately it turns out that they have corrected the design flaw in the v63 motors. The rockers are all offset rather than inline like they are on mine - so I suspect it was a known failure point on the earlier cars. I took the heads to a specialist in Ringwood, I suspect it's not going to be a cheap exercise - he's doing a full quote to refurb the head and check if the valves are still good. He believed that they were the original valves that came with the car so he would like to reuse them if possible but time will tell. He did say he could repair the rocker cover, but it's going to be pretty pricey so he recommended trying to find a replacement part if possible. It does seem like it's a part that's unique to the Type 61 as well unfortunately. I'm still reaching out to people that may have one lying around

A number of people were following my thread about the 1922 Cadillac 5 passenger coupe that I imported from the US into Australia and the progress about getting it back on the road. So the car was "ready to drive and enjoy" - when it got here I noticed a few very odd things after starting it up (which to its credit it did start right up even with old US gas). For instance one side of the engine took a very long time to get hot and when it did the two mid cylinders on one of the banks remained cold enough to touch with an unprotected hand. This was accompanied by the occasional pop back that sounded like something you'd here on a hit and miss engine. So with the help of the Cadillac yahoo group, I started taking the motor apart to see what the issue could be. The first thing I came across was a number of stuck and stiff valves which refused to budge, even after a healthy dose of ATF/Acetone. So then the question became, well what has that possibly damaged in the rest of the motor? Cadillac obviously did not think people would need to be inspecting the rockers or cam shaft very often, so you literally have to take pretty much the entire engine apart using a guide that tells you to use special cadillac tools for most jobs (like cut out a rivet in the timing chain and then reattach in situ using cadillac rivet tool) So what was the cause of the minor pop back and cold cylinder? A totally destroyed and snapped off rocker gear - I'm genuinely amazed that the thing actually ran and didn't even sound bad. The rocker gear looks like it has been repaired at some stage in its life (it looks like a really old repair) that has failed again (probably due to the stuck valves) and just totally snapped off the casting! The rockers themselves are in pretty good condition and it hasn't mangled up the block too badly but definitely a nasty surprise. So now I'm on the hunt for a a part that's only used on the Type 61 Cadillac, or trying to work out how to get someone to repair this so it actually lasts! It's amazing it even started let alone that it only had a small occasional backfire...

Maybe take some pictures of your current setup and it might provide some reference points for people to point out areas where it's right/wrong.

Do you have anything for 1922 Cadillac's (or Type 61)

Yeah it was supposed to run well, but I factored into the price I paid that they were totally lying about the running condition. There is a lot of commonality between the 59 and 61 (serial numbers for these cars actually start with the model number, so mine is 61U-489) - $700 isn't actually that unreasonable, but it's more the logistics (and cost) of getting it to Aus, so I'd be looking to see if someone wants to buddy up for parts

any idea what sort of condition the 20/21 caddy engine is in? or if it's a type 61 motor? I'd be willing to split costs with someone else that wants to part it out and send some bits and pieces

Car parks are the most confusing on the opposite side because they're kinda a free for all anyway

Seems very expensive for the condition it's in

There is plenty of nicer stuff than crown lager, if you're a whisky fan try to find some sullivans cove Australians' also tend to be a bit more direct than you might be used to in the U.S, so it's not just us being rude Also tipping is entirely optional here and not expected.

The war memorial in Canberra is worth a visit