My suicidal MARY KAY Caddy

[pOrk]

I'm not real great with the whole typing thing, so expect there to be lots of typos and all that good ****. Anyways, the vehicle is my 1962 Cadillac Coupe Deville, Mary Kay ed. Bout it stock, bagged the rear and was going to sell it as a tail dragger until my buddy started gettin on my about all the suicidedoor decals I have everywhere, and how I couldn't commit suicide if my life depended on it. So here goes.

First, its cold in Wisconsin during the winter so I needed a place to work. Lift, compressor, electricity, heat, $150 bones a month:

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/shopspace.jpg

I have a TON of room, although I am only paying for a 20X12, he stuck me back in that corner for now in my buddy Steve's stall and there is a TON of space, like I said.

Anyways, Steve ( LS1S10 ) here on the forum is helping me a great deal with this project. Day 1 we rolled the car in and did ****, that was a task in itself.

Next day we got into the shop the interior came out, everything. Door panels, half of the carpet ( I am still undecided what I want to do with that situation ), all the door mechanicals, handles, etc.

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/strippedexterior.jpg

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/strippedinterior.jpg

And then after some serious brainstorming, thinking, whatever you call the brain usage, came some measuring then cutting. Here are the stock foward swinging hinges as they were installed 43 years ago:

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/stockhinges.jpg

There was a piece of plastic in there to close it all off, we will be cutting some rather thick sheet metal pieces to fit in there that will bolt on, and also hold the new striker.

This is a photo of the inside of the door's door jamb. Unlike most vehicles, my suicide hinges will mount to the OUTSIDE side of the door, since the window will be in the way. The door is VERY WIDE, so we will be fabricating brackets that weld to the inner jamb and come in behind the window, or to the outside of the inside of the door. If that makes sence? Anyways, heres the photo:

*EDIT: I edited the photo to show where abouts I am talking about, you can see the window track in this photo

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/insidedoorjamb_598416.jpg

Then turning around, the other side of the jamb, We got the top hole cut and everything will clear the rear window, the lower is going to be a little higher then I wanted it but it needs to clear the window motor. Steve got the hole cut and now were ready to cut the second:

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/doorjamb1.jpg

And a close up of where it was cut a TINY bit too far, nothing the welder cat fix :p

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/hole1.jpg

Today Steve was working on his wifes van, so I helped him throw the intake back together, and a new tran pan gaskette. Good fun, f'ing minivans

So, thats it so far. Other winter plans include re-baggin the rear with 1/2" valves and 5/8" line ( right now its dual 3/8" valves and dual 1/2" line ), baggin the front ( I finished the bag cups last week ), fiberglassing all 6 interior panels and get um in primer, possibly get rid of the lame glass'd center console and take the radio and suspension gauges into a fiberglass dash pad of some sort, weld up all the trim / molding holes on the exterior, shave the handles, and get the bottom half of the car in primer. I might tint it pink, might run black. The roof will stay pink for next season though, for sure.

Any hints / tips / suggestions, lemme know.


Well, its been a few days and I have'nt been up there lately. Went up yesterday for a few hours and tonight for a few hours to play with Steves cheapy welder, 100 bucks brand new and its not too bad. Anyways, heres both hinge housings tacked in:

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/doorjamb2.jpghttp://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/doorjamb.jpg

Holes are now cut in the door, Steve came up with a simple yet effective way to mount the adjustable bracket with the kit to some rectangly tubing, same size as that of the hinge pocket. Here's the holes in the door as well as a photo of the rectangle un cut with the bracket how we think it should work ( we are cutting an inch off the tubing yet too, bear with me )

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/doorjambdoor.jpghttp://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/doorbrackets.jpg

To make sure the hinges would be parallel we did the ole rod through the hole dealie, here's teh access hole to pull the rod back out :rotf:

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/accesshole.jpg

And I started welding up the holes for the lame ass upper molding, I decided I am keeping the lower though. I dont think it will look right shaved ( edge has a 3/8" tall flat spot that looks horrible without the molding in place ).

http://www.glowersdistrict.com/gallery/files/1/9/weldeduphole.jpg

So far soo good, have a LONG ways ahead of us though :rant:

[Berettaspeed]

Damn car Cancer....rust sucks...

body work is fun :stare .......no its not

[DocDave]

Good to see that thing is getting some work done to it finally. LOL.

[jbiscuit]

thats an awesome garage.....I have been in there before. A guy named Phil was the one I knew that was in there. They have the 2-post lift and everything. Very cool

[pOrk]

Good to see that thing is getting some work done to it finally. LOL.

I've been working on it all summer trying to keep it running, what chu talkin bout willis? :banana1: