What's this stuff on my cowl, and do I need it?

Thanks for all the great information. I halfway expected to get hazed some, and I didn't intend to imply that I would delete the throttle linkage or steering.

I just received a shop manual, on CD, which is great since I can print just what I need when I need it, but I still wanted to post the questions since there are things the manual won't tell me, like:

"#7 is a horn relay and for the older cars without fuse blocks (like yours), a lot of the supply power for the interior is connected to the pos terminal on the horn relay. Horn relays can withstand a lot of current, so that's why the run the main power to there and use it as a junction block."

That kind of info won't be in the manual. Also, I intend to replace the vacuum wiper with electric, but that's a future step.

Here's the deal with the car (a 50 caddy). It has no drivetrain, although I'm expecting to receive a 1953 331 complete from a fellow HAMBer soon. I decided to go with an original powerplant because I don't feel confident enough to modify the frame for anything else.

My goal is to get it driveable by the summer of 2009. Right now, I'm focusing on the brakes. I just bought a scarebird kit, and all the other parts to do the fronts. I'm going to attenpt to use the original master cylinder, and I'll let you know how that goes. I'll likely try to rebuild the rears as is.

By then I should have the motor, so I'll do what's needed to get that going.

After that, I'll focus on getting the boddy stabilized. It's rusted around the frame on the right side, and has sunk past the outriggers.

Other that that, the car is complete, a little rusty...fairly rusty. But it's all there, and the steering, suspension, etc is solid and seems to work as designed.

I have all the tools I need, and money is not really an issue considering the car is almost 60 years old and I'm not in any particular hurry, so I can wait for the best price either for parts or labor.

I intend to make lots of new friends, both locally and here. Thanks for all the input, and bear with some of the questions I'm going to have.

 

Thanks for the answer, good luck on your build, you must be fearless to want to try to save a rusty 50 Cadillac.

 

One thing I would strongly recommend is looking at putting in a dual master cylinder if your car only has a single master cylinder in it now!! Everyone has there own opinion on the thought but I look at it from the safety aspect. Just my humble opinion.

 

I'm not asking about your car nor do I really care. We were all giving him a little ribbing, no harm. Ok, so I'm an asshole. Matter of fact I've been called worse, by better.
If you must know I'm building 4 Model A's, a '57 Nomad and a '55 chevy gasser.

 

Man......I'm no good on tests. Can you make it multiple choice?

 

i moved most of the stuff off my firewall to give it a cleaner look. if your going to up grade stuff like the heater ,wipers you can .fill those holes .same with the electronics. hide it under the dash.

 

Keep us posted on the cad, ignore the keyboard badasses, they are everywhere and just a fact of life.

 

I was just looking at it today. I'll need to run the math, but I'm willing to wager the stock MC does not have the "push" to manage the big Eldorado calipers on Chevy pickup disks plus original the original rear drums. At least not within the margin for safety.

Any recommendations on a replacement upgrade?

 

Why don't you just grab the MC and booster from the Eldorado where you got the calipers? In any event, you do not want to use the original MC. Not a good plan.