Customs *** 1961 Cadillac CDV Kustom build ***

Church on a Sunday! great pic...
Incredible skill, Ian, thanks for sharing with the pics...and all this for your wife!
Does she pay shop rates?

 

Couple of questions about the air ride........ first, any pictures of the air setup? Mainly, looking for front bag mounting. Is the rear linked or still running the factory links? Im about to pick up my 61 and after getting the drivetrain in, air ride is next on the list. Car is looking amazing so far!! Can't wait to see progress!

 

Sick.....

 

Considering the late "trend" wanting people to say that cars laying frame look like shit and all that nonsense, this statement of yours makes me appreciate you and your build a whole lot more.

 

Good job on the motor mounts....I was thinking that the IMCA solid mounts would probably set the engine too low in a 61 frame and from looking at the photo that looks to be the case...

Car's looking great....

Caddy-o

 

Thanx so much guys for the great feed back!!! I'm having a blast building my wife's Cadillac!!!

Here's where i'm at!!

Started the air ride so i can move the Cadillac to My new shop!!

So for the guys wanting to bag a 61 here's how i did it..... Not that i'm reinventing the wheel , but i think it's coming out clean and simple!!

First off, i got some rear upper cups from ridetech. Then i took the trailing arms off and took the spring mounts off( 4 little welds and they come right off)



Drilled a 1/8" x 6" round base to mount to the arm











Bolt the whole thing back together....DONE!!!

FRONT BAGS.

After wrestling the spindles and all that rusty old stuff, remove the bottom arm.





drill a hole for your upper bag cup, use the shock hole for the air line.



cut the spring mount off





and weld a bottom support for your bag





fill in the hole since you're at it





Upper front cup

Make a template of you bag bolt and air line pattern



transfer it to the round base



weld a nut

 

weld the cup to desire lenght, i started with a 6 1/2" and ended up with a 2 1/2" tube after a couple mock ups.











this is where the cup use to be



after mock ups





The other side tomorrow!!!

 

Damn brother, you're rollin on this thing. Looking good.

 

Great work man!! Bag setup looks clean and simple! Perfect! I've bagged quite a few cars and trucks, just wanted a. Second opinion. Mine has to be on the road in about 2 months so Im just trying to get a headstart on planning. Thanks again for the detailed write up!

 

Thanx SS!!

[ QUOTE=bmfcustoms;6562185]Great work man!! Bag setup looks clean and simple! Perfect! I've bagged quite a few cars and trucks, just wanted a. Second opinion. Mine has to be on the road in about 2 months so Im just trying to get a headstart on planning. Thanks again for the detailed write up![/QUOTE]

Right on man man!! Keep in mind that i raised the rear kick 3 inches.....Basically a NOTCH!

 

Gotcha. Ill wait on the notch for now. Ill be running shorter(not sure on height yet) tires on some supremes at first. Like to be able to run a taller tire later tho. Big issue with the deadline is that it has to be able to make a 10hr round trip drive for our wedding. She wants her low, she wont care if it lays out tho. Lol! Did you have to notch anything for the "struts" on the lower control arms up front? Or steering linkage. Sorry to pick your head so much. Thanks for the help tho!

 

How strange, the rear links are upside down compared to those ive seen in other cars, w/ the open part facing down....always learnin something new.

 

Congrats on the wedding man!!!
the front all works great without any mods, the steering Will have to be modified for sure!!! different dash, kustom firewall, channeled, Ya know?!?!

Yep!!

 

FUCK! Who does your welding? That CAN'T be you!!!!!!!!!! hahaha!
That's some really nice work buddy.....(like always,Ian) This thing better have a WILD paint job.....it deserves it!!!

 

fuck thats looking great! nice work on the front!

 

How's this look? This is my grandfathers 40,000 miler...

 

HAHA!!! The cadillac is gonna have a pretty classy paint job!! Not very wild but , it'll be something.....You wait MR.!!!!!

Thanx Omar!!

 

I've read this thread from the start, and I certainly agree with many others before me... You're creating an absolutely stunning piece, a true work of art... Thanks for sharing...

 

Man, this build is bad-ass!!! You're doing a great job, Ian. Dig the chop, the dash, and the fins. Very, very nice fab work!

Can't wait to see what's next!!!!!

 

Damn, Ian! The Caddy is looking fantastic. Just spent the past hour or so going thru all the posts! Your work is amazing, man!

 

Your welds look like they were done by a robot!

 

You guys are too damn nice!!!!! Makes my day man!!!!

Well, the Cadillac is roller now!!! i moved her out of the garage to see what she looks like, i gotta clean up the bottom now and i edited the skirt line out to see what it would look like , and My wife loves it, so i started the passenger side and the wheels come right off!!!!







Never mind the lead, i gotta file and finish still!!





Pulled some dings out with my low budget dent puller!!



did some more inside work.











And my friend Donnie from IMPERIAL KUSTOMS hooked me up with some ripple pipe for the kustom bellflowers.









More to come...........

 

Love the ripple pipe, one question though, are shaving the skirts like that going to make it difficult to change a tire, or will it not matter because of the air bags?

 

lookin good Ian,beautiful lines

 

i have soooo much travel with the car it's crazy, tire comes right off, i removed the bracket for mounting the skirt and that made an extra 3/4" space inside the wheel well!

 

Awesome thanks, love the picture of the car outside the garage, that car looks like a million dollars. The lines really flow and if you were not a car expert you probably couldn't tell it was chopped, as it is so subtle and nice. A BIG improvement from the factory. Most cars are over chopped nowadays, but this one is just right!

 

Thank you..... My wife is happy and a " HAPPY WIFE IS A HAPPY LIFE " LOL!!

 

WOW Ian....great work!

 

Look at that, look at that Cadillac. HOLY CRAP. Gorgeous ride dude! You have a lot of talent, I'll be following this one.

My dad just got a '64 Coupe DeVille. But he's not going to do all that crazy shit to it.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/64Cad/IMG_0115.jpg

 

Perfect height , chop, all proportions are right on

I love it man