68 Cadillac MM Combo (Restore thread)

I figured rather than making a bunch of threads all over it would make more sense for me to create a master thread so I will be posting updates about my car here instead.

When I first got this car there was alot of nuts, bolts and miscellaneous stuff in the glove box banging and rattling around. It got annoying so I put it all in a big ziplock bag labeled "from hearse glovebox" and stored it away in my garage.

So this past weekend I thought I'd look through this stuff again and lo and behold I found several pieces I've been looking for, although broken. But broken or not they still give me a reference point. I also looked closer at the loose lower curtain rod on the passenger side and found that a headless screw was stuck in there.

Got it out with some pliers and drove down to ace hardware and matched it to a sheetmetal screw. Got the new one in and the metal stud in place. Now its tight and all good.

found the old ignition switch too, with some broken plastic. According to the previous owner, he says the owner before him lost the key and had the ignition replaced (likely with that cheap crappy ignition I have now). Not sure what that rectangular plate is for though, looks newer so may be useless to me.

Does anyone know how to tighten the side mirrors? The stalks are fine, but the mirrors mounted on the stalks are wobbly. I cant see any obvious way to tighten them. I do see a screw hole in the base of the stalk but I assume that affects the mounting to the door.
 

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Does anyone know how to tighten the side mirrors? The stalks are fine, but the mirrors mounted on the stalks are wobbly. I cant see any obvious way to tighten them. I do see a screw hole in the base of the stalk but I assume that affects the mounting to the door.

Same with my mirrors....
 
Two screws threw the center of the center. You need to remove. It to tighten the head. Use a little thread locker on the screws. Most of us have that bag of stuff in our cars.But
But its up to you to decide if the tip broken off the star is worse then the holes till you locate a complete on.
 
Two screws threw the center of the center. You need to remove. It to tighten the head. Use a little thread locker on the screws. Most of us have that bag of stuff in our cars.But
But its up to you to decide if the tip broken off the star is worse then the holes till you locate a complete on.

Good point about the star. Looks like I have to remove that panel and screw it on from the back. May do that for now.
 
Do you think that I could have a machine shop or something closely reproduce these accent stars? I mean I do have a partial example and I could bring the panel in for measurements.

I have no idea on CNC costs though, but i imagine a short run of 2 would be costly
 
the first one is the expensive one. you might get some one to whittle one out of aluminum.

If i can manage to find someone with a 3D scanner i will try to scan models of some of these rare pieces when i get them.

If i can get some 3d scans they can be used to make a CAD, which could be beneficial to everyone down the road
 
Hadnt driven it since Tuesday and I came out Saturday morning to take my son on our weekly cruise and the battery was dead. No lights on, accessory wasnt on, was stumped. Previous owner installed a battery meter on the pillar so I could clearly see it was dead.

Checked connections first and seemed fine, got out my maintainer and it gave a reading of 0.1% so I took the battery down to O'Reillys where I bought it several months ago. They tested and charged it, it passed as a good battery. Drove around and made sure the alternator was charging as it should.

Went in and later that evening I went out to check the battery level again. It was almost dead. But I did find the cause...

I noticed when I opened the drivers side door the dome light didnt come on. I thought "dead battery, great". But no, wasnt dead. I looked back and saw the interior coach lights were on, barely dimly lit. Went around to the passenger rear and opened the door and the lights came on full and bright. Closed the door and they were dim.

Felt the control panel in the back and it was HOT. I pressed the door jamb button for the lights and halfway in the lights flickered off, all the way down and they came back on.

Next I repeatedly pressed the button in and out quickly several times and it stayed off. After doing that now the front domelight works again. I have been checking everytime I am outside to make sure its off.

Sounds like I may have some kinda weird electrical issue. A friend said it sounded like the switch was going bad. But I will see if it reoccurs. More concerning than the dead battery was that panel was hot to the touch from being dimly lit all day. Last thing I want is a fire.

For now im going to play it by ear and see if it re-occurs.

I am thinking about very soon doing the 50/50 acetone and rustoleum treatment on the top as well.
 
Its a old coach it has electrical issues. The dome lights function by switching the ground. So if it has a hot panel it is a short most likely the rocker switch if playing around with it got it to work but a loose wire is just as likely. Got to look and see not just guess.
 
Its a old coach it has electrical issues. The dome lights function by switching the ground. So if it has a hot panel it is a short most likely the rocker switch if playing around with it got it to work but a loose wire is just as likely. Got to look and see not just guess.

Agree. Wires popped loose in the switch panel in my 1963 Pinner-Chrysler somewhere during the 500 mile round-trip drive it did to the Houston meet in 2015. I kept wondering why the fuses to the flasher kept popping for a couple days until I finally took it apart.

Don't risk a fire! Check it out.
 
That Chrysler had electrical gremlins from the day it was manufactured. I chased every wire till I found and corrected each of them all. There was one wire that was cut, so I reattached the ends, and then the interior lights wouldn't go off at all. I searched as far as possible, but in the end, I disconnected the wire and decided that it was miss wired at the factory.
 
Well yesterday I got up and realized I left the passenger vent window open overnight and it had rained, so I got rain all over the passenger side floor. More than a little upset at myself for that, but whats done is done. I soaked up 2 beach towels worth of water and once I got it mostly dried I laid another towel down across the floor to soak up any more. Unfortunately there seems to be a chance of rain for the next several days, so I cant really crack open the windows to let things evaporate without fear of more rain.

Aside from that mishap, I plan on rolling on the 50/50 rustoleum and acetone coat this Saturday, already have all the supplies ready to go. i may try to start applying my masking tape and frog tape tomorrow and friday though to reduce my setup time.

I assume I want to wash the crinkle paint first, but im afraid of chipping off the crinkle paint when washing it. Any particular recommendations for giving this a quick wash before painting? Common sense tells me to get some water on it and run a cloth over it very gently since this crinkle paint is not exactly glossy.
 
Soft bush light soap and rinse with open hose. But do days befor. As the paint will suck up water like a sponge. You want to dry to the base before you coat it. Best done on a sunny hot day.
 
Soft bush light soap and rinse with open hose. But do days befor. As the paint will suck up water like a sponge. You want to dry to the base before you coat it. Best done on a sunny hot day.

Thanks, I did just this yesterday evening so it has time to dry by saturday. I have removed the landau bars, but I could not get the side panels off (that the crosses mounted to). On each one there was a screw that was completely loose but would not come out. I'm guessing some stripped threads or something. Spent a long time pulling it with a flathead while turning but eventually decided I would have to paint around it.
 
I got it painted Saturday and it does look a bit better, although I did get it a little too thick in places on the top. I did have a major mishap during the painting. Originally I had the paint tray on top of the coach so I wouldnt be lifting a paint soaked roller over the body. Worked fine for awhile until I went to refill the tray and put it back up top. I didnt get it quite high up enough and it slid off the roof and all over the front of my wifes Subaru Impreza, all over the driveway, and also a bit on the body of the hearse.

Thankfully I was able to get it all cleaned off the vehicles without damaging any existing paint. I still need to clean off one of my wife's rims, and the driveway is proving difficult. I poured stripper on the driveway, then an hour later scraped up the goo and hosed it off. Helped a little bit I need to do it several more times.

Aside from all that here are the post-paint pictures (on the last one you can see the driveway paint):
 

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you only make that mistake once. Next time use a bush and a coffee can. My guess is the light spots are were the material got absorbed into the top. That paint they used was put on thick over bare metal. It will soak up like a sponge. The rustoliem takes a month to dry. If it doesn't even out by then recoat it. But it is a day and night difference in appearance. Don't worry about the drive way it will ware off.
 
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