Camino LS6

Inching closer?

Maybe.

I replaced a fuel filter that looked to be original (painted black and no markings).

That seemed to help a little bit.

Then I "ran it in" at 2500rpm for a long while. The missing seemed to come and go during that and the oil pressure and temp were rock-steady. Also, there is zero sign of either coolant or oil smoke in the exhaust (both of which were gett6ing pretty bad before I dove into this). I've since driven it around on the property quite a bit, but it still hates to be under load. It pops and sputters, but you can feather the gas to prevent that. On level ground it behaves pretty well, but it hates the hills.

Overall, it feels like it wants to run strong, but can't quite get there (if that makes any sense to you). I'm wondering if another set of fresh plugs might help as the ones I'm using are new but went through this whole process and could be compromised.

Not there yet, but headed in the right direction.

Hmmm, locomotives?

Confirmed.

The distributer was off, and correcting it improved things somewhat. I was able to set the timing to factory spec which was not possible before. However, the engine still breaks-up under any load (a quick rev or putting it in gear will do it), and the idle is still a bit rough.

But I have an idea.

There are just so many familiar styling elements in this one car. There is the '68 Corvette, of course, but also Firebird, and Toronado that owe a styling debt or two to the Banshee. The more I look, the more I see this car as a milestone, and touchstone, of GM design.

Love this car - always have.

750k is a ton of money, but if I had an income like the slime on Wall St., I think I'd pop for it.

What would hurt Cadillac more is having a showroom with just CTS, SRX and Escalade for the next 24 months.

May be.

But it would have been better if something else had been greenlighted instead of this.

Yes and no.

The compression test is a good idea that I'd like to do in any case.

I pulled the pigtail so the ECU had no say in the timing - the problem exists with, or without, the computer's involvement.

I think I am ging to find two things when I mess with the distributer.

1) That it is, indeed off.

and

2) That the problem will persist after I deal with that.

But rest assured, I'm going to try everything I can before that engine comes apart again.

how do cams go bad but the engine still runs?

A lifter wipes out a lobe... and you're running on 7 and half cylinders or worse.

Over time, all of the cam lobes wear down... some more than others.

And this cam has alot of time on it.

I don't think ECU.

Most likely, this is a cam or distributer issue.

I will pursue the distributer possibility by starting from scratch and resetting it while at TDC.

If that doesn't get the job done, it pretty much has to be the cam - and I'm not going there right now.

I do find myself wondering if I might have changed the position of the oil pump rod when removing that plastic bit - that could have done it.

Yeah, that mistake I thought I made?

Didn't happen.

The timimg marks were perfectly in line when I got back in there. So I put it all back together again and ran it for quite a while.

Still not right.

At this point it almost has to be a bad cam.

This project is now on hiatus until I can exhaust all other possibilities.

Excellent!

Exhaust is in - it was the usual battle.

A quick meal, and I'm going for the finish.

Picked-up everything I need to finish this off yesterday. I hope to have this project completed by the end of today.

The car has a very clean look, and the road wheels compliment it nicely.

Would be one hell of a sleeper with a GN transplant...

Don't love that interior too much, but the price is just fine.

Quite cool.

I don't dream of Cadillacs, flagship or otherwise, but it is still easy to see that this car is misplaced at Cadillac.

As a Buick, it might nose into Caddy's territory a bit, but that would be a good thing for both brands.

Maybe it will sell ok, like the SRX does - we shall see.

But both of these vehicles muddy the brand waters at GM, and that is a familiar GM pitfall.

You know, I've been a huge detractor of this car from the moment I saw the concept. But I think that the level of dislike rose to a scream when whatever website it was that broke the story used the unfortunate term "flagship". If the headline had been " Cadillac debuts the XTS concept as its me too product for the FWD luxury crowd" , the objections might have been quieter.

Because, in truth, that's all the XTS is: a 'me too" product that competes with other "not really luxury" cars like the ES350 and the entire Acura lineup.

And that would be ok, except that this is GM we are talking about and that job belongs to Buick.

This car is the wrong car, at the wrong time, wearing the wrong badge. And the absence of a true flagship is made more obvious by putting the XTS into Caddy's lineup.

It hurts the brand.

I plan to take the "For Sale" pics this weekend and get the old girl listed.

Methinks Drew may be checking his finances...

Oh, and the wheels on the Q-porte are painted aluminum.

Khamsin:

The bodywork was actually very interesting - note the lack of many panel gaps (they were all leaded-in from the factory}. On my car, the roof, cowl, and front fenders all appeared to be a single piece with no panel gaps. The overall effect is pretty cool - even when you aren't sure what seems so different.

I think I'm still in the running with this:

I never heard a second anyway.

Yep, still hate it.

I'd use this nose even if you start with a GP - it really looks the part of a GTO much more than the 2+2 nose.