Yeah I think it must be a combination of that and the coolant passages having some rust. Its just breathing heavy I guess.
Engines gotta be torn down and cleaned.
I did just drive it around the neighborhood some more though. The more often I do it the happier it acts. The more often I drive it the happier I act too! What a strange phenomenon!
Haha, just took it around the neighborhood a little and sure enough it died on me.
Anytime there was a slight incline and i went to give it a little gas itd die. Wait a few and pump the pedal and itd start up, but wasnt burning right when i gave it gas.
Got stuck in the middle of the road, luckily someone finally stopped to help me push and we couldnt budge it! So finally it started again and i was able to limp it home (dieing 2 more times on inclines).
Has gas but I think the carb has seen better days.
@Fender1325–Keep in mind that these vintage cars do not like the ethanol in the fuel. Check your fuel line from the tank, to the fuel pump, to the carburetor. I had a similar problem on my much newer 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass. It turned out that a neoprene section of the fuel line had deteriorated back by the fuel tank. It got to the point where I had to prime the carburetor to start the engine. Once started, it ran fine and the accelerator pump would pump in the fuel. It turned out that it was sucking more air than fuel. At any rate, check the fuel line before you tear into the carburetor.
@Fender1325
Personally, I think you did the right thing by buying the Cadillac. You bought it outright . . . by way of trade . . . knowing it wasn’t ever supposed to be a 10 point car or a daily driver, and you’re pretty happy about it.
If I was you, this is what I’d do
Remove the oil pan and valve cover (is it a flathead, or does it have overhead valves) and clean out that sludge, as best you can.
Replace the plugs, cap, rotor, points, condenser and wires, if you can even get your hands on that stuff. Then get the ignition timing in order, using a timing light.
If you’re concerned about the carb, I’d try to keep it relatively simple. Get yourself a rebuild kit. Take it apart, clean it and reassemble it using all new seals. Take lots of pictures, so that you can refer to them when it comes time to reassemble.
Make sure that mechanical fuel pump is okay. The diaphragm might not be in great shape anymore. Some of those older models can be taken apart and overhauled. I’m not sure if that applies to yours.
Concerning the fan, you don’t have fan clutch, correct? The fan is probably bolted directly to the water pump? I wonder if anybody makes an aftermarket fan, fan clutch and shroud setup for your vehicle.
By the way, is the Caddy still 6V, or has somebody already converted it to 12V?
Thanks. Yes its still 6v. I know eventually I’ll get around to the 12v conversion.
Tomorrow im going to pull a fuel line and see if the fuel pump still pumps strong.
I’ll take apart the carb for rebuilding. They still offer just about every mechanical part youd need for this car luckily. Everything has a core charge unfortunately!
What about adding an electric fan to the front of the radiator to work in conjunction with the mechanical fan?
That fan could be controlled with a simple ON/OFF switch or a thermoswitch to cycle the fan on when the temp reaches a certain point and would not be readily visible.
Maybe procuring a used Lincoln Mark fan from the salvage or eBay would really cool it down. I think those fans move something like 2700 cubic feet of air per minute.
I’d like to thank everybody who has participated in this thread. It has been both good fun and educational. Unlike many threads on old cars people have been full of helpful ideas instead of telling the OP he id an idiot for having bought it. Maybe it’s because so many of us would love to have a car something like that. It’s new enough to enjoy driving it regularly and for parts to be available, while looking nothing like any modern car. It has an extravagance of styling we seldom see now. Even though that kind of styling isn’t much to my tastes, I can’t help but enjoy it. Fender, when it’s fixed up a bit more you’ll be making many of your fellow motorists happy. Sort of like I got recently from seeing a Traction Avant. Coooool.
In retrospect and if you went this route, I might add one thing about the addition of an electric cooling fan in front of the radiator and which I forgot to mention previously.
Since the fan would be in front of the radiator you would need to reverse the polarity of the fan wiring pigtail so the motor will run backwards and allow the blades to push air instead of pull it.
Yes I really appreciate it guys.
Ive met neighbors I never met just simply working on the car. I get a lot of “what year is that? Its so cool”
Or driving past little kids “mommy look at that!”
Very cool too see how it strikes others.
Which engine do you have in it?
331 v8 OHV. Manual windows, locks, steering, has heat but no AC. Plain jane. Easier to restore that way though
At least you have the modern OHV engine. And with only 160 HP, maybe you don’t want A/C dragging the engine down.
Most 1950 Caddy’s had a 331" 160hp 2V overhead valve V8 engine which came out in 1949. This engine was frequently hot-rodded and installed in Fords and Studebakers. It was not until 1956 that it got punched out to 365 cu.in. and delivered 285hp. The Rochester 4-barrel debuted in 1953, boosting power to 210hp
I had a band director when I was in 8th grade that bought a 1951 Cadillac Model 61 in 1954. I thought it was the smoothest running, best riding vehicle I had ever been in. Interestingly, a 1951 Cadillac would get better gasoline mileage than a 1951 Chevrolet with its inefficient PowrGlide automatic transmission.
My dad had a colleague that was a real tightwad. This colleague owned a 1949 Nash Ambassador and a 1947 Willys Jeep station wagon. Near the end of the 1950s when he needed to replace these vehicles, he bought a used 1954 and a used 1955 Cadillac. He claimed, with everything considered, these Cadillacs were the most economical vehicles to own.
So i have determined that the fuel pump is really weak, barely pumping fuel when running the car with the line off the carb. So i took that off to rebuild it.
My problem right now is that I took the carburetor off for rebuild as well, and the front two studs, of the four total, snapped off in the intake manifold. I believe they can be drilled out.
The fun begins…Low fuel flow…Inside the fuel tank is some sort of filtered fuel pick-up which, if the tank is dirty, can plug up greatly restricting fuel flow…Also, the rubber hoses that connect the steel tubing fuel line here and there, they can be leaking air into the line making the pumps job impossible…Does the pump have a filter built into it?
Theres a small in line filter on the send line before the carburetor.
I didnt know whether or not a car this old had any kind of sock or filter inside the gas tank. But the gas that dribbles out is piss yellow so the whole system needs a good going through.
So frustrated. I soaked the broken studs in PB blaster, i wire wheeled them, soaked again. Filed them flat, used a punch i bought from harbor freight to make a centered divit to line the drill bit up. The punch bent. Luckily i had another for the other side. Bought a stud remover and drill bits from autozone. Well the drill bits spun in place and did nothing, even with all my weight on them. So I grabbed my old black oxide dewalt bits and they went in no problem. Then i slowly slowly started the stud remover and it snapped right off in the hole. Like the first three threads. So after cussing and throwing things I decided to try and drill THAT out and use the rest of the stud remover. Well that snapped my dewalt drill bit. Game over, intake manifold has to now come out. Joy. Made in China tools meant to be banged on or remove metal studs and theyd bend or break if I dipped them in hot butter. So so angry. It’ll be funny about 10 years from now, but right now im overwhelmed. Part of the process I know.
It’s all about attitude. That engine needs to come apart anyway and you need to find a local machine shop for this and future “adventures.”