Perfect ....is this a mountain pass to the valley's beyond kinda cruiser.....or possibly a sleeper rocky mountain canyon carver with monster brakes and a honcho 5-6spd manual perhaps? 
Perfect ....is this a mountain pass to the valley's beyond kinda cruiser.....or possibly a sleeper rocky mountain canyon carver with monster brakes and a honcho 5-6spd manual perhaps?
Guys, I'm pretty sure a full rebuild on this engine is going to be cheaper and easier than stuffing an LS1 into an MGBGT. So...yeah. Easy is relative. Even if it goes wrong, it's still a V8 going where a V8 was ;)
759NRNG said:Perfect ....is this a mountain pass to the valley's beyond kinda cruiser.....or possibly a sleeper rocky mountain canyon carver with monster brakes and a honcho 5-6spd manual perhaps?
This is a "burble around and cruise majestically" car. Basically, exactly what it was built for in the first place.
I have to admit that the latter option may have occured to me.
Keith Tanner said:This is a "burble around and cruise majestically with six of my friends and all of their stuff" car.
FTFY. You could also be towing something with those friends and their stuff and also be correct, but that is for the bonus round.
Keith Tanner said:759NRNG said:Perfect ....is this a mountain pass to the valley's beyond kinda cruiser.....or possibly a sleeper rocky mountain canyon carver with monster brakes and a honcho 5-6spd manual perhaps?
This is a "burble around and cruise majestically" car. Basically, exactly what it was built for in the first place.
I have to admit that the latter option may have occured to me.
If it were white, and a two door, you'd have to paint "Billy" under the driver's door. Just because.
I'm going to assume you have seen this but just in case - please be my hero. https://youtu.be/NU1ZdjALmi0
Keith Tanner said:Good to know, Stampie.
As for the sled...
What happened to the paint? Last picture I saw had a lot more than that on it!
We have a lot of UV here. The clear failed and, well, patina city.
Keith Tanner said:We have a lot of UV here. The clear failed and, well, patina city.
Is it getting more paint as well as an engine? It needs to look like this photo again! :)
There’s a long road ahead. Time has not been kind. That picture is from...2004?
Keith Tanner said:759NRNG said:Perfect ....is this a mountain pass to the valley's beyond kinda cruiser.....or possibly a sleeper rocky mountain canyon carver with monster brakes and a honcho 5-6spd manual perhaps?
This is a "burble around and cruise majestically" car. Basically, exactly what it was built for in the first place.
I have to admit that the latter option may have occured to me.
Could be done...you could put it on air springs so it'll be soft and low for cruising, and then can be pumped up harder to a more functional ride height for performance driving.
Ah, air suspension. For when you need the spring rate and ride height to be wrong all the time :)
Engine has been retrieved. I'll put up some pictures in a bit.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I'm interested in the head numbers. Probably 250s.
Knurled. said:slowbird said:For a second, I thought you were going to cram that big boy into a Miata.
The Internet says they are about the same exterior dimensions and weight as a SBC.
The Internet, as you are no doubt aware, is full of E36 M3.
Not the same exterior dimensions by a long shot. It's the same block as the 500 which came with a 4.304" stroke. Easily 6 or more inches wider than an SBC.
But yes... the weights are very similar. If you swap the iron caddy intake for aluminum, you're within a few lbs of an all-iron SBC. I've built a few Caddys, all 500s, and all the later, low compression versions that I built for tow pigs.
So today I picked up a 50 year old engine for $200 and helped sell a V8 Miata for $84,000. Life of a gear head
The rocker covers are off so I can check the head casting and because I want to take a peek. They are 250s, for what that’s worth. But it’s also apparent that the breather on the passenger side allowed some moisture in.
Most of it appears to be flakes off the cover itself, so I’ll vacuum it up as best I can and also pull the pushrods to clean them. I will be pulling the oil pan to take a look inside. The sump is almost full of what looks like pretty nice oil, which is a good sign.
These engines are not just big SBCs.
Keith Tanner said:There’s a long road ahead. Time has not been kind. That picture is from...2004?
Now I feel old again. :) But the caddy needs to return to its former glory!
Original T rockers so most likely not a performance build. I give the Uncle credit for painting it the correct Cadillac blue color. Last I checked that paint was $25 a spray can.
Edit. I think I have factory manifolds if you need them.
There’s a Rustoleum color that’s really close, iirc.
Also, 429 covers (blue) are classier than 472 covers. I may have to get clever.
That 472 is a heck of a mill. Mom had a Fleetwood with a 472. Fairly astounding how fast that white whale was. Secondaries on the carb were ridiculously large. Surprisingly light for something with enough torque to alter the rotation of the Earth. I have heard they are only 50-75 pounds more than a SBC of similar vintage, which I think has to be an exaggeration.
Make sure the timing chain and gears are in good shape, sort of the Achilles heel
Oh, and the stock intake manifolds suck, carb sits too low, so it would clear the hood.
Talk to me/us if you want to modify anything.
Factory T-rocker shafts are OK for stock cams and revs. They do like to snap if you go bigger. The solid shaft setup from Cad500 is pricey, but worth it.
Caddys are one of the few GM blocks that actually DO have higher nickel content... up to .015 depending on the casting. As a result, they are stoopid hard. Porting heads can be so frustrating. The guy that ported mine went though what he described as "a box" of carbide bits, and he was just doing the exhaust and a light bowl cleanup on the intake.
The high nickel content makes them a little unsuited for high RPMs. Harmonics and hard/brittle things don't mix well. I have seen them boosted to 750 lb-ft without issue, as long as you don't go over about 6000 RPMs.
You'll also notice that they don't have harmonic balancers. They are a big heavy cast iron "flywheel" up front with no rubber or viscous anything. Just a chunk of iron. Low revs meant that dampers weren't needed. If you go any higher than stock, I might suggest an aftermarket damper for the health of your valvetrain/cam/timing chain.
Otherwise, the rotating assembly can take some serious abuse. As of the last one I built (probably 10 years now) no one made Hyp pistons for them. They came with cast, and the aftermarket has you covered with forged, but don't sweat it until you get over 450-500 hp.
I don't get the impression you plan on hot rodding it, I'm just trying to head off your questions as you discover these things. Nice torque can be found with an Edelbrock intake at the risk of hitting the hood. As Toebra said, to get hood clearance, factory intakes have the throttle sitting below the intake ports. The runners go down in the valley and make about a 270-degree turn to get to the valves. A better intake is always a good idea.
If you want headers, snag some caddy flanges from Cad500 and hack off the tubes from a BBC application. The spacing is close enough that you can just weld in the BBC tubes into a Caddy flange.
No plans to do anything other than "make it work". I have heavily modified cars. I just want the Caddy to burble around again on an engine with compression in all eight cylinders. I think the stock 525 lbs of torque will be sufficient. Apparently my '66 has some sort of two-stage torque converter that makes the engines feel even torquier than they really are. Yeah, like that's necessary...
I'll probably press the easy button and just pick up headers from Cad500. I'm okay with giving someone my business when they give me a bunch of tech support and have developed specific parts at a fair price. I'll keep my eyes open for a killer deal on some BBC headers just in case, but given the price of flanges and the potential amount of problems with them almost fitting, it's unlikely to be a game changer.
This engine does have a carb adapter of some sort on it. I've got a good Rochester (I think that's what it is) on the 429, so I might just transfer that over if I can.
This makes me happy. Love that Cadillac.
Keith Tanner said:I'll probably press the easy button and just pick up headers from Cad500. I'm okay with giving someone my business when they give me a bunch of tech support and have developed specific parts at a fair price.
Imagine that, guess you picked the right place to work
If'n you take a road trip, say you drove it out to California or something, carbs are not the best for up and down mountains.
How hard would a megasquirt be to set up for that? Cadillac sedan is the ultimate tool for US Interstate devouring.
I know , I know but an L88 hood on this ......not too high, with an appropriate intake, headers, quiet muffs, but some dumps would be killer....for those moments when cruising the DQ there in Grand J
Toebra said:Keith Tanner said:I'll probably press the easy button and just pick up headers from Cad500. I'm okay with giving someone my business when they give me a bunch of tech support and have developed specific parts at a fair price.
Imagine that, guess you picked the right place to work
Yeah, it's funny how I've developed that attitude...
I am not going to Megasquirt this thing. I might consider one of the EFI kits that replaces the carb, but I'll get it up and running on a carb first. I do not want to be responsible for every bit of behavior, I've been involved in aftermarket ECUs to know that it's the 10% that takes 75% of the time that will drive you nuts, and I'll accept that from a carb but not a computer. It's actually been from sea level to 10,000' without any real evil behavior on the 429, believe it or not. It'll happily do 75, but it feels like it's working just hard enough to make it feel fast. Great on the interstate.
If you guys want dumped Cadillacs with exhaust leaks, they're pretty cheap. Build your own :)
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