1983 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz rebuilt engine, trans, suspension, like new!

1983 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Additional Info:

This was a car I bought strictly to drive and enjoy. Unfortunately the previous owners from Craigslist lied. How unusual right!! Anyway, once I got the car I had a CarFax report done and everything was in order. In 2009 the car fail smog and instead of fixing it, they registered the car at their grandfathers house in Mn. The car has always been a Washington and Oregon car but due to smog regulations, it had to be illegally registered. Here is where the story begins.I went to the Pick Your part and found a 1984 Seville with Touring suspension and took every single electronicand suspension part, I could get my hands on. I also took everything I thought I needed and more. Since I know these cars like the back of my hand, I knew what I was getting myself into. I started this project in 120* temps., the worst in many years of living in the desert. All while trying to make this car what It was supposed to have been when I bought it.I started with replacing all the emissions parts with original NOS parts, that I had stored away in my NOS room. I replaced everything (sensors, EGR, ECM, EGR solenoid, ACT, CTS you name it, I replaced it but the car still had such a strong smell coming from the exhaust and I knew it wouldn't pass Ca's stringent emissions laws.I wasn't worried about the miles because the paint, body and interior were almost perfect.
I proceeded to then replace the aftermarket suspension with the original one, I obtained from the junk yard. I ran the new lines back to the compressor and to the shocks and lucky for me, it worked and held air! Now, I was excited because it was really coming along. So I thought! Well, I decided, why don't I go ahead and put the correct 1.3" white walls on, make it look all original. On my way to the tire store, I heard this knocking, well we all know what that means, the dreaded "crank or cam knock". URGH!!!! I found this to amazing shop and this mechanic was as picky as I am.
So, he took the entire engine apart and allowed me to clean everything before reassembly. I bought everything NOS for the car including the only GM 1628822 Cam and lifter set ( i had bought many years before). We found after taking the engine a part, nothing was wrong except the timing chain had stretched out allowing the cam to walk back and fourth its housing . Once we got the cam out it was literally smooth on the #1 exhaust and intake lobes. The lifters looked like someone had put them in the disposal. He put in all my NOS GM parts and I detailed all the outer parts as he was about to install them. We then proceeded to check for any other issues and of coarse, the pitman and idler arm were bad. Lucky for me, Rock auto had the GM parts in stock! Before we put everything back together I thought it would be a good idea to re-sealed the final drive (as it was weeping) and it was already out. Who ever had this car had the transmission rebuilt at 90K miles, as it had a sticker on the pan of date, miles and warranty.
After I finished with the engine, I went straight to the muffler shop where Midas was nice enough to put in my NOS upper and lower factory catalytic converterbead kit. Now, the only smell that comes out of the tail pipe is fresh warm air. It now will pass any States emissions requirements without any troubles, that I will guarantee. Now, that I had all the mechanical, emission, drive train and suspension was dialed in. It was time to tackle the HVAC.
I am a purist, so I only use NOS compressors and R-12 refrigerant. I do all the work myself and have done over 10 in the two past years. Nothing and I mean nothing worked, not even the fan blower motor. So, I changed out the compressor (which was an aftermarket unit with R-134) and put on a new double Teflon double lip front shaft seal on the NOS compressor (which came with a ceramic one that always leaks). I changed out the aftermarket receiver dryer with an NOS GM one (which I had in my NOS parts room) and put a draw on the system for over an hour and it held vacuum at 28 pounds. I filled the system with 56 oz of Freon and 6 oz of 525 weight mineral oil and NOTHING. The compressor didn't even turn on. I put in a new resistor blower relay ( the one in the engine compartmen, on the plenum, the 295.00 one) and everything came to life. Now, the AC gets down to 33*, I was so excited. I worked on this car for 3 full months 12 to 16 hours each day and I was finally seeing the light.
Well, as much as I love Ebay I can't stay away from it or Craigslist. I wondered upon a documented 6,800 mile 1983 Biarritz in Maple Firemist, white top and white leather with its original tires!!!!!! I hit the mother load!!!! It had every option but a sunroof and that was fine with me. My decision was made. Fix the white car to correct standards and keep the red and white one.
So, I kept going at this car with several long months ahead of me. I decided I better replace the master cylinder because I saw a drip on the outside of the brake booster. After that was changed, I noticed the smog pump was making a little noise, so I found and NOS one on Ebay and replaced it myself.
Now, that I got all the mechanical issues out of the way it was time to set fourth on making the car look as good as it ran. I started with rebuilding the antenna, once that was done. I focused on putting in the NOS front body fillers. I actually have a source who will sell me single stage PPG acrylic lacquer. So, I painted them myself and had to remove the entire front end just to get to the two bolts on each front fender cap. Once those were on, I though I better take the rear fillers and have them fixed, so they don't look "ghetto" as most do. My body man glued them as one piece and filled in the holes and smoothed over the seams. Now, that they looked original, I painted them and put the entire rear filler sections on myself. They fit almost as well as the originals but not quite. I'd say they are at least a 9 out of 10 for fitment. There is one thing I cant stand and that is when people just do the bare minimum.
Once the fillers were replaced I focused on the headliner. Since this is a sunroof car, it is EXPENSIVE and a hard job to do and not everyone can do a good job. Thankfully, there is a guy in Palm Desert who only does RR, Bentley and the like. He did an amazing job and I couldn't be more please!
After I had address all the interior trim issues, I sent the radio out to Precision Radio in TX where he went though the entire radio and repaired all the amps.
Now, that all the interior and mechanical items were all corrected, I proceeded to dry clean the carpets and the mats and clean the leather with saddle soap. The interior is AMAZING!!!! It turned out better than I could have hoped for. I know most people would have done the least amount needed to pass the car off but that isn't how I do things, it wasn't how I was brought up. In for a penny, in for a pound, I say.I wasn't going to screw over anyone like was. I feel that people spend their hard earned money on something they love and all they want to do is enjoy their new purchase. I don't feel people should have to pay for others mistakes. It isn't fair to the buyer and not ethical of a seller!
I went through this car with a fine tooth comb and after I was almost done. I touched up all the little rock chip. 8 solid hours, what was I thinking, OMG! I will tell you the car is 95% original, the rear passenger quarter has been repainted but the texture looks correct as does the color. The lower parts of each door has been repainted but doesn't appear to have been in an accident and matches perfectly. I think instead of having a "dentless" repair man fix the dents, they decided to repair them. I think most likely it was done before "dentless" repair was around. The rest of the paint is extremely nice. There is one spot on the trunk that you look in just the right light, you can see a little grey coming though, it's about 2 inches long and 1/4 wide. You would actually have to be looking for it to find it.
These are the things I would do, If I were going to keep the car: 1) I would replace the outer window belt sweeps ( as the drivers side has some cracking)and 2) there is a slight dent in the rear bumper right at the center crease.
I think I have told you everything you need to know, if you have any questions. Please feel free to contact me through Ebay and I'll be more than happy to answer any and all questions, you may have.
The last two pictures will show, what I had to do to fix the car to get it to show quality. Thank for looking and good luck on bidding.
One last thing, I am in the car at a little over 13K, I know my loss is someone else's gain but hey if you are in the business of trying to make money on a car, your in the wrong business. Lucky for me it's a passion of love and a hobby.
Good luck and who ever gets this car will be the winner on the show field! FYI, this would make for an amazing daily driver that you could enjoy many years of trouble free driving!
Enjoy!!!