Just trying to make it road worthy (1958 Cadillac Eureka)

[Dickey]

Apparently there is no lack of setbacks in the world and I have been tasked with handling the overage, hehe. The rocker shafts and pushrods have been soaking in kerosene overnight, and today when I put the sprayer to them all kinds of gunk started popping out. Definitely had a Quaker State owner in this engine's lifetime. For those unaware, quakerstate oil is nearly two steps above a sand and acid mixture so far as stuff to put in your crankcase goes. I have no idea what magic they brew in their product but I've personally witnessed it turn to stone inside a 150k mile 350 sbc. Thankfully, this engine appears to only have had an oil change or two of the garbage so its just a thick sludge that sticks to anything...which means I'll be draining all of the oil and putting in used oil out of something else before I get started with the oil changing goodness. Not the end of the world of course but another straw just the same. As it stands, I've got all the pushrods and both rockershafts cleaned up and drying, currently both cylinder heads soaking in the parts washer and tomorrow I'll let whatever god that wants to flick my ear think that I'm going to try and make real progress once again.

[spastic_chicken]

I've noticed there are several of the Penn based oils do that.

[Dickey]

Disappointing news this evening. Torqued the passenger head back on after cleaning it up, checked compression in number 2 cylinder and it had gone from 130 to 145 or so. Number 4 however went from 130 to 120. 6 and 8 were at 150 as expected. I must have a crack in the block that I'm unable to see leaning over the fender and laying down in the engine bay. So now I'm stuck deciding if I should cut my losses and put it up for sale (assuming it would bring anything at all as is) or just set it aside for several months and come back to it next year. I'm not making any decisions this evening but I'm less than pleased with recent events just the same as it is unlikely that I'll have the car ready in time for Halloween.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Sorry to hear that Dicky... I have just purchased a 58 M&M with no motor. If you decide to get a new motor other than a 365 or 390, I would be interested in buying some of the motor accessories from you. Intake and exhaust manifolds, oil and fuel pumps, pistons and connecting rods etc.
By the way, your car is BEAUTIFUL! I have a soft spot for Eurekas.
IMG_1956.jpg
Here's mine.
Also, after reading your master cylinder write up, I took the one I have apart to find rusty crystallized brake fluid. I was wondering if you could post a pic or two of the inside of the MC and booster. and how much in total was spent on the disc brake set up?

[travlinman]

I would not freak out just yet. Those are very runable numbers, Before I get slammed on the 10% rule, yes it's nice, but not always in the real world. 120 to 150 will still be strong enough that You probably wouldn't notice. Remember this is cold readings and should rise when hot. A compression test has a lot of variables. Ring condition, valve seats and guides, lifters and cam shaft wear, weak valve springs and more play a part. A compression test is just 1 tool. All My engines also get a leak test. This is a truer test as it indicates where the blowby is coming from. More or less oil in a cyl will change a compression reading. Put it together and run it to clean it up. As long as there is no cracks, this should run fine for now.

[Creepy Cruiser]

Yep, just run it, you have nothing to loose at this point, right? (if it is cracked, you can't really do any more damage now can you?)

Before I rebuilt the 429 in mine, I ran it for over 10 years with 5 lbs of oil pressure, 2 spun bearings, and a 3" long crack down one of the cylinder walls. It always ran great, started first try every time, never smoked, had plenty of power, and never left me stranded. These motors are crazy tough, lol. Even with all those issues, I still took it to the track and ran the crap out of it many times and never did kill it.

Especially this close to Halloween, just run it, what the hell.

[SmoothNlow]

Yea these guys are right. 120-150 wouldn't concern me just yet.... Like travelinman said, there's so many variables that can affect a comp test. If you put this thing together and run her a bit, I think you'll find you may be ok. And like creepy said, even if its not spot on, I guarantee you will be able to run her for a while.

Worst case scenerio, I'm not terribly far from SC. If you decide to part with it, id love to talk to you about it.

[Dickey]

Also, after reading your master cylinder write up, I took the one I have apart to find rusty crystallized brake fluid. I was wondering if you could post a pic or two of the inside of the MC and booster. and how much in total was spent on the disc brake set up?

I believe I saw that car sell on ebay just a few weeks ago if it is the same car I'm thinking of. As for the inside of the mc and booster request, I'm not following exactly. I posted some pictures I took in post #14 of the original setup and one of those had a shot down into the reservoir of the mc. The replacement master cylinder I put on and the disc brakes set me back in the neighborhood of $750. 180 for the scarebird brackets, 320 for the rest of the front brake details, 250 for the wilwood mc, brake line kit, and residual pressure valves (10 and 2 psi because I decided to keep the drums on the rear). I am not going to be able to use the wilwood mc with the hydrobooster I need though, so that will be on its way out if I get back around to redoing that. I'm told a vw beetle (original) has a remote reservoir setup and it would have a wide enough spacing to accomodate the hydroboost mounting studs. Do not buy their $65 mc like I did. One way or another, I'm going to have to replace it. Shortly after I bought mine, I discovered they sell a much shorter mc with the same remote reservoir capability.


My trouble with the low compression is that the reason I had it before was the cyliner head was leaking into the coolant system and blowing all my coolant out. If it is still doing that after I assemble the motor, I can't imagine I'd be able to drive the car very much at all.

[Dr.Feelgood]

My 58 is most definitely the one you saw on Ebay. It was 130 miles south of me near San Diego. I asked for the pics becaue my boosters piston head is stuck in the cylinder... I cant get the MC out without taking the booster apart, which needs to be cleaned anyway.the piston was siezed at first, but now it moves in and out and is still spring loaded, but I cant get it out! So im going through all the other parts i have and cleaning stuff.

[Dickey]

I see now. I haven't taken mine apart. I had decided to replace the master cylinder setup with modern equivalents after I discovered how hard it would be to find a replacement mc.

[Dickey]

Upon advice from Mr. Dickey (my father has forgotten more than I'll ever know about automotive details), I gave the compression check another look. This time I gave the engine five full seconds of cranking before checking the gauge. The compression was 130-135 as it had been before I touched anything; I must not have given it enough time the other night when I checked just after reassembly. I put two table spoons of 30 weight oil in the cylinder and did the check again, 155psi this time. So that's promising and after the week I've had at the office, it is right pleasant to see that something I touched may not have turned to shit. I'm going to begin assembling the driver's side tonight and hopefully by the weekend's finish, I'll have gotten the car back to mobile.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Hey Dickey, where did you get the brake fluid reservoir? my booster and MC were shot, but I found the booster and MC from a 56 Coupe DeVille. unfortunately that pair sit horizontally rather than vertically like our 58's... So my plan was to mount the 56 booster and MC anyway, but drill a hole in a flat side of the reservoir and run a line to a remote reservoir mounted on the firewall similar to yours.

If Belladonna is on here, i wouldn't mind seeing pics of her modern booster set-up!

[Dickey]

It's a generic remote mount reservoir MC kit from Wilwood. $65 or so from any of the mail order parts houses. I'm not happy with it though. It is adequate for now since I move the car out of the shop on occasion to get other work done but I will have replaced it before I put the hearse onto the street.

[Dr.Feelgood]

oh... are you not happy with the set-up or the lack of booster? whats the issue your having?

[Beladona_13]

I'll try to get some pics for you tomorrow, but I had to relocate my heater to the passenger side using a '59 Heater and A/C unit. It's going to fit nicely and it clears the hood hinge and the 472 I have shoved in there.