I just purchased a 1976 caddy with only 69k miles. The engine and trans are in great condition. The car it self has been in a terrible accident, crushing the quarter panels on both sides. I am planning to take out the engine and trans. Can someone give me some tips on what car I can put both in with out having to do an enormous amount of remodeling. This is my first project and im trying to avoid to much hassel with making customized headers and also cramming the huge 500 engine in something thats going to take 4ever. Also if there is anyone who is also working on a 500 engine can you give me some pro's&con's with your project.
i believe you want to get a set of pre 71 cylinder heads, it should praise compression and power considerably. bit other than that the 500 bolts up to any BOP tranny, so i would say to buy a 1970 buick skylark project with no engine and put that sucker in there, add a set of decent meats and paint in some cool colour, yellow and black?? or red and black and go have fun
It should easily fit eng/trans in any mid size GM and probaly not to hard a fit into a Camaro/Firebird. If you want a Big car, it should be a virtual drop in for any big GM vehicle.
Was the 500 the biggest V8 caddy engine? Even so that would sweet to have in just about any car, not many people would suspect a caddy engine in a Camaro, thats something different and would rock
What car do you want to put the Caddy motor into? It fits into quite a few with minor "Do it your self" mods.
Someone mentioned a Camaro. A 70'-81' Camaro or Firebird would be a good choice. They come with an 8.5" 10 bolt rear that will take the Caddy torque without problems. Two small steel plates welded to the front of the cross member will allow the stock CDV mounts to be used. You will have steering shaft clearance problems that can be fixed by unbolting the column from the firewall and moving it as far to the driver side as possible. You then redrill holes to bolt it back down. Your main expence will be making an oil pan, or finding an Eldo pan with a rear sump.(I am assuming your car is a Coupe DeVille). The CDV manifolds will work. The right side will be tight against the front of the upper A-frame. You can use a 77'-79' 425 manifold that has a dimple to clear. The 425 manifold is a little more restrictive though. Headers on the stock motor will only net you 10 or 12 HP. More as the motor gets built up with speed parts.
In stock trim, your motor will make around 300 HP on a dyno. Stock compression is rated 8.2-1 with a 120cc head(Actual is around 7.9-1). A switch to a set of 425 heads, with 96cc chambers will give you 10-1 compression and a 45HP increase. The early 76cc heads found on 73' and older Cads will bump your compression to somewhere in the 12.5-1 range. Pontiac valves can be used in the 96 or 120cc heads. The 76cc heads use a longer valve. A 2.11" Pontiac intake valve will flow quite a bit more than a stock 2.000" Caddy valve. You can buy an Edelbrock Performer intake for around $250 or get nearly the same results from "Home Porting" your stock cast intake. An easy 25HP can be had by removing the webbing form under the carb and adding a 1" open spacer.
Expect a mid 14 sec pass from your first outing. Once you figure out how to hook all the torque the Caddy has to offer, it will run 13's in stock trim with a 2.56 gear. With a cam, compression, and intake mods, you will be knocking on the 12 sec mark. With a 3.08 gear and a 200 shot of spray, low 11's should be expected. To go faster, one should think about forged pistons and rods to replace the stock cast Caddy parts. 10's would be asking a bit much of the stock bottom end......Wouldn't it? Dan
My neighbor had a Caddy 502 in a '58 F-100 pickup years ago, tall enough gears for a top speed of about 80, pulling your house! (at 8mpg)
called that beast the "Fordillac"
Yea i droped one into a 76 ventura (Same frount clip as the camero) Replaced stock buick 350, bolted right up to the BOP turbo 350
the swap whent pretty smooth, the Caddy eng is wide so the exh.
manifolds hit the upper A-arms i ground the arms for clearance
but i still had to put the engine in at a very sliyt angle. I hung the engine with my hoist in the eng. bay and welded plate between caddy motor mounts and frame.
I biult my own dual exh.
The one thing i wish i had done was re-cam as the stock grind is pretty mild
Fuel econemy was acceptable, lots of torque.
once I get the pix uploaded you'll be able to see the humble beginnings of my project. I'm stuffing a 472 into an 80's s-10. I can't wait to get this thing running.
I saw a 455 Olds in a S-10. It did nothing but destroy the tiers:drool: If it ever would hook I bet the rear end would self detonate
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