car restoration tips?

[Brak]

some of you might know my story. i now own a 1971 cadillac el dorado, bought from my dads friend (who owns a gas station/shop) who has been maintaining it ever since it was new. ive put a hundred miles on it (now it has about 54150 miles on it! thats it!), and the only problem is a slight leak coming from the main cylinder, which isnt a big problem at all, but im getting it checked out tomorrow. this brake cylinder is a slight problem, as my home-made altoids container is catching the tiny amount of fluid leaking from it.

i really like this car (sure, id like to sell it and get a 67 mustang fastback, but that aint gonna happen), and i really want to restore it to the greatest extent that i can. heres what im planning on doing:

-smell: FIRST PRIORITY!!!!! it smells like mold/old people. and its AWFUL. we have tried febreeze, incense, baking soda, you name it. it still smells. i NEED to get rid of this smell! its killing me! help!

-sound system: it works intermittently, so ive bought speakers and a CD changer, and im in the process of installing them, but im running into problems. i cant get the rear deck off to get to the stock speaker (already removed the coping/whatever around it) to replace it. and i cant get the dash off to get to the radio. i might have to break down and get it installed by a professional, but id like to save $110. any help here is appreciated.

-rust: there is some surface rust that is going to be gona in the spring when we get it removed and painted. but theres a decent amount of rust in the wheel wells, and a few tiny rust holes in a couple of the wheel wells. im planning on using 'extend' (or this other naval jelly stuff i bought) to remove the rust, then primer and paint. for the holes, im leaning toward fiberglass. is fiberglassing holes hard to do right? im thinking all i gotta do is cut a sheet, put it in resin, and slap it on-- but i have a feeling it isnt that simple. any help on dealing with this rust is GREATlY appreciated!

-engine: heres where i have the least knowledge. id like to put a nice new air filer (thats the big round thing on top right?) and get rid of the old rusty one first off. is that hard to do? or can i just bolt a new one on? id also like to do anything possible to make the mileage better. right now i honestly think im getting 5mpg. i spent $20 in one night driving to a few people's houses with my friends. it sucks. is there a bolt-on kit or something i can do simply to get better gas mileage? later on id also like to add a little bit more power. im not sure whether this is the 472ci or 500ci, so its got either 365HP or 400HP, but more is always good. any suggestions on engine mods to get better reliability/gas mileage/power would be great.

id also like to know when you guys think i should take this baby on the highway and see what it can do. ive put a little over a hundred miles on it and the engine is running really well for a 33 year old, and id like to see what it can do, because it HATES turning and makes some funky sounds while doing so sometimes. it actually hates stopping too, and idles like an angry bull. but on a straight line i can haul pretty well. when can i start pushing it without taking a big risk?

heres a picture. its green with a black hardtop and all red interior. what color should we paint it this spring? photoshoppers, go to town.
http://www.libertysoftware.be/cml/mycars/1975/mycadillac/71EldoCoupe.jpg

[Brak]

please?

[PyRo]

Of course i'm the first idiot to answer :)

First off i'm not sure what a main cylinder is, do you mean the master cylinder (thing where the brake fluid goes)? That isn't a big thing to fix, at worst you have to replace the whole thing which will probably run you about an hour to an hour and a half in labor plus the parts. At best one of the lines came loose and they just have to tighten it, or maybie reflare the ends. You know that Dot 3 brake fluid is corrosive right? Get it on your paint and it will take it right off.

If fabreeze didn't beat the smell you have a problem :)
First did you use it librally and everywhere? I used almost an entire bottle of shower in a bottle I mean fabreeze in my car. Aside from that you could have it professionally cleaned for about $80. You could rent a carpet shampoer and give that a shot. Or you could do what I did and completley strip your interior and clean everything.

I don't know the car so I don't know what to tell you about the radio and speakers. I think in older cars you can slide the radio back into the dash and remove it from the underside cannot you? What is a rear deck and why are you trying to get it out? You just unscrew the speakers and pull them right out.

For the wheel wells are they welded in and part of the car or do they bolt in? If they bolt in pull them out and get replacements. If they are part of the car grind off all the rust, cut out the metal around the rust holes that is week, bend another piece of metal to fit in, weld it up, grind down your welds, use a bit of bondo to smooth things out. I would recommend using Por-15 (www.por15.com) to paint the wheel wells assuming you want them black. It can be sprayed or brushed on, obvously spraying is going to look better than brushing. Oh and the easiest way to remove rust is with a die grinder using roloc disks. A regular disk grinder works too but really isn't made for it and isn't a great choice.

Is the air cleaner in the car chrome? If it isn't you can slavage it by just cleaning all the rust off and giving it a nice coat of paint. Or if you are too lazy to do that you can probably just go to auto barn and pick up a 14X3 open element filter for $30. I cannot help you on weather you would need a drop or non-drop base though, maybie they have a list on their website. And air filters usually just pop right off, take the wingnut holding the cover on off, take off the cover, take out the filter, lift up on the base slowly checking to see if their are any sensors in it (I don't think their would be on your car) if their are just disconnect them then rip it out. If their are sensors you will have to drill a hole for it in the new air cleaner.

I cannot think of anything to really give you better gas milage. Make sure your car is tuned up, sparkplugs and wires are in good shape, fuel filter is clean, change your oil, o2 sensor is replaced (if you even have one, you probably don't), the carb is tuned right, the timing is right. You could probably get a few mpg by playing with the carb if you knew what you were doing. A complete exhaust, headers back might give you a little bit but for the cost of putting that in you arn't saving much. Don't fall for gimmics like the tornado either. Basically if you wern't prepared to pay out the backside for gas you shouldn't have bought the car, it comes with the territory. 9mpg or so around town is to be expected in somthing like that. Actually the biggest gas saver is your driving, accelerating quickly and beating on the car burns alot more gas than driving like grandma.

As for getting more power you would probably want to start with somthing like an exhaust, that is really as far as you can go without learning more about tuneing the carb and getting it running to it's max potential (their is alot of power right there). You can change the carb, intake manifold, heads and cam, then after that you could go even deeper into the motor.

What do you mean by see what it can do? Remember this is not a race car, it was never made to go fast and will probably handle poorly at high speeds. I'm not going to tell you to take it out racing :)

What kinds of sounds is it making while turning, clunking noises, rubbing noise, screetching? Whats wrong with stopping?

As for the idle, just make sure all the wear parts are in good shape, if they are then somthing with the carb is probably your culprit.

Keep it green so that the engine bay, door jams, trunk, etc match.