1966 CADILLAC FULL DRUM BRAKE JOB

22 | 11 | 25 | 15:51 | Filed in: 1966 Cadillac Coupe deVille | Restoration

Finally Road-Legal: The Brake Saga of My 1966 Cadillac

Owning a classic Cadillac is a dream—but getting it licensed in Austria is a challenge. My 1966 Coupe deVille had never been registered here, and the strict inspection standards meant a long checklist of modifications and upgrades.

The Austrian Inspection Checklist
To make my Cadillac road-legal, I had to:

Add rear orange directional lights
Replace T3 sealed beams with halogens (T3 sealed beams are prohibited)
Disconnect side marker lights
Ensure brake and fuel lines do not touch the frame
Pass a full brake test
Pass a full suspension test with zero play
Install a rear-lit license plate holder for oversized plates
Pass the emissions test

The Brake Test Nightmare

By June, I thought everything was ready. The inspector at the state station was friendly and helpful, but the brake test came as a shock—the brakes failed completely.
Back home, I started taking the brakes apart. At first, everything seemed fine, but I soon discovered the culprit: the wheel cylinders were stuck. Years of storage and old brake fluid had taken their toll.
Lesson learned:
READ MORE:

66brakes-2442
Front left before rebuilding
66brakes-2475
Lots of heat was needed to loosen the fittings

RATTLING REAR BRAKES ON THE 1978 ELDORADO

05 | 05 | 19 | 19:14 | Filed in: 1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz | Restoration

A couple of years ago, right after I got my 1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, I had to rebuild both rear brakes, as the emergency brake did not work at all - a very common problem on these cars btw. After the rebuild everything worked fine, but eventually I noticed a clunk whenever I drove the car over a road bump or railroad track. If I just lightly tapped the brakes, it would not make any noise at all. So I was sure that the noise came from the brakes, and that the new brake pads would be the reason for the problem somehow. Finally today it was time to fix the problem… Rebuild kits do come without anti rattle clips for some reason. When I took the brakes apart today, I found out that the inner and outer pads had some radial play and I think this caused the rattle. Click below to read more! 78rearbrakes-_MG_4163

The right rear brake of my 1978 Biarritz before I took it apart.