caddy 500 swap with pics?

[Longhorn Man]

A Th350 can hold up to a stock caddy... for a while. If you have a fresh Th350, and toss some money at it, it can work.
*NOTE* to use a Th350, you'll have to get either an aftermarket flex plate, or toss a TH400's torque converter in it.

If you are starting with a truck with no engine in it, and your choices are 454 or a 500, the cost of obtaining a complete 454 alone will cover the cost of a 500 and almost cover a basic stock rebuild. Yes, parts are more expensive, but it takes a while to catch up to the cost of a BBC simply becouse a running 500 can be had for 200 bucks. A 454 BLOCK will cost more than that.
There are considerably more cad motors out and about than one usually thinks. I know of 6 here in town, and I don't even know many people.
My 4.10 gears don't help at al on my truck, they hurt. I am burning torque instead of useing it. You need gears like that as a torque multiplier... this thing would tug just as hard... and I'm talking truck tug here, not hot rod tug, if it had a 3.40 or maybe even a 3.07. Lloyd went from a 3.73 to a 2.73 (IIRC) in his C/10 powered by a stock 472, and he said off the line performance felt the same *seat of the pants... not 60 foot times* You don't need to rev when you can tug right over a tall ass gear like that.
Here's some testomonys on 1/4 mile times, including mods, vehicle, etc.
http://www.cadillacpower.com/forum/i...ic,2514.0.html

[ghetto_superman]

JameslovesJammie, ill get my email to ya as soon as i figure out how to do PM's.. (im sure its easy as pie.. just never tried it..:P)

so i definitely agree with everyones opinions, but Jayss109 has about the same mindset as what ive got.
the way i look at it.. my old 68 'grain truck' will never EVER be a drag truck, i just wouldnt want to beat it like that on the regular.. what its got now is a lame a$$ super tired 327, so i cant even dump much money into that block since its only 2 bolt main(i know everybodys got opinions about 327's..! haha) SO since i can get complete car with a 500 for FREE cause its already mine, then even if i overhaul the motor, throw on the usual things like alum. intake and get a hold of some salvage exhaust manifolds and some 73-87 truck motor mounts, then the major chunk of the spending is done.. and no matter how you look at it, that would be WAAY better than a wound out 327 anyday...
AND i think longhorn said it best in the geocities article about how this interesting setup WILL draw a small crowd and people will definitely ask questions (def. not a direct quote!)
to me, even if it is somewhat of a headache to get this thing figured out, in the long run, just the satisfaction of having something that people havent seen a thousand times will be way worth it.
and thats my $.02 !

[68GenIII]

Originally Posted by junkyardjohn

BIG BLOCK CADDY MOTORS & BIG BLOCK FORD MOTORS ARE REALLY PLENTIFUL. AT LEAST OUT WEST THEY WERE. I COULD GO INTO ANY PICK N PULL & GET 5 OF EACH FOR LESS THAN $200 EACH ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. THEY MAKE A CHEAP SWAP IF LEFT AS IS , BUT TO DO ANY HIGH PERFORMANCE UPGRADES THEY ARE EVEN MORE SPENDY THAN A 454 WITH NO WHERES NEAR THE RESULTS. (EVEN A STOCK REBUILD)THINK ABOUT IT... IF THEY WERE LOW LOW BUCK POWERHOUSES, ALL THE DRAG RACERS WOULD BE USING THEM & THEY WOULD BE AS HARD TO FIND IN JUNKYARDS AS THE 454s. THEY ARE A LOW RPM MOTOR WITH ALOT OF TORQUE. JUST LOOK AT THE VALVE TRAIN IN ONE OF THESE. BELIEVE ME.. I'M NOT KNOCKING THEM.... THEY'RE JUST NOT THE LOW BUCK , HIGH PERFORMANCE UPGRADE THAT EVERYONE IS MAKING THEM OUT TO BE. JOHN

Thank you. No doubt these motors can be made to run, anything can. When these motors came out the rating system for horse power and torque was different. With the way its done know I doubt these motors make the 365/500 they were rated at when they came out. I would love to see some dyno graphs for a stocker. I dont think there is a motor on the planet cheaper to build then a small block Chevrolet. To each there own, everybody has a small block, the caddy motor does add some cool points. Being able to say you have 500 cubes is cool too

[watahyahknow]

it woke up my interest
if i ever come across a caddy engine i might consider putting it in an old leftover pickup im bound to end up with at the end of my big(?) project , its not legal in my country to just chainge engines from one brand to the other so if i do this it will be purely for a unregistered fun truck to compete in burnoutshows (ever seen a dually smoke the tires ) and perhaps spank some riseburners on the straights of a private owned track.
the fact fuel here is 6 dollar the gallon makes me nudge more towarth the small block build up to a 383 for my daily use truck .

[ghetto_superman]

yea i dont think i could afford a caddy big block as daily driver material... got a 12cityMPG z71 for that.. haha gotta have a v8 truck!!

[Longhorn Man]

i get 10 MPG in mine, and that's with 4.10 gears and no overdrive.
Same thing I got in my old small block truck with 3.07 gears and no overdrive.

[68C15]

IIRC last year when Cadiac stopped by here he said he was getting around 17 MPG while pulling a trailer loaded with another complete truck on board.
I remember reading on another board where guys are getting close to 22 MPG with non-overdrive and 3.07 gears.

[ghetto_superman]

wow maybe the caddy should be the driver and the z71 should only come out on the nice days!!

[junkyardjohn]

[QUOTE=junkyardjohn;1819847: NOBODY EVER UNDERESTIMATES THEIR TRUCKS HP OR GAS MILEAGE. [/QUOTE] JOHN

[Jayss109]

I get a solid 17mpg on the highway with my 500cad, and I know its running too rich. Was my daily driver for 3 years, now shes just my cruiser/work truck.

Jason
________
Middle Eastern Cooking

[watahyahknow]

if you have that amound of tork you dont have to push the go pedal that mush .

[jodydewey]

[QUOTE=RSRXION;1819764]John, I've got to side with Longhorn on this one. These engines are TORQUE MONSTERS ! While you probably won't ever see one on the circle track and the drag strips are dominated by small block Chevys and asian import tuners cars ( pardon me while I go wash my mouth out ) , there was a time when 472-500 inch Cadillacs ruled many small race tracks around the country. They are indeed expensive to build and performance parts are a little harder to come by BUT, then again there aren't near as many big blocks of any manufacture on the drag strips any more.


Actually, if you compare costs of the 500 CAD build and a big block Chevy build, the 500 is cheaper overall. If you are interested in a serious, 900 hp rig the CAD can be brought out to 542, aluminum heads from Bulldog, aluminum intake from Edelbrock, roller cam and rockers from Caddillac motorsports, and headers from Sanderson Headers. You will need to run a 1050 Dominator carb to feed it though. I had a bone stock 500 in my 65 Chevy longbed and it made more torque at idle than the 350 it replaced did at peak!

[watahyahknow]

could you put some links on from those manufacturers the edelbrock one i got but the others i like to have

[JameslovesJammie]

Ghetto,

Email sent. Sorry it took almost a week to get it out! I've been getting ready for some vacation time and needed to get some stuff done around the house. Enjoy the article!

later,
James

[lloyd k]

I havnt really seen or heard of a big block chevy run over a hundred thou in any application, let alone pushing 6000 pounds. Ive acctually heard guys wanting their small block over the big block chev in stock form. I think running mid 13s with a 500 dollar motor sounds pretty cool to me, p.s. I get 15 mpg running 70-75 with 40 year old technollogy

[PanelDeland]

If you guys are talking performance,the article you are probably refering to is about a Chevette with a 500 Cad.They called the car "Bad Seed" and Frieburger still has it.I think LM is right,even stock cads will smoke the tires and they weigh 1 1/2 times or more than our trucks.

[watahyahknow]

yeah that must have been the article....... i remember how they did the rearaxle they used the fronthalf of the leafsprings and the frontmounting kindah like trackrods to keep the axle under the car and used coilsprings and schocks on top of the axle for the actual rearsuspension , still havent found the old magazinestack (the shed is still full of junk and it laying in there somewhere)

[JameslovesJammie]

The article I emailed was out of Car Craft and was titled "Torque Pig". They took a late 70's 500 and built it up. I'll gladly email it to anyone who wants it. I'd post it here but don't want to get in trouble for posting copywrited material.

[smbrouss70]

I'll take a copy of that! smbrouss@bellsouth.net

[watahyahknow]

i remember allso the used heads from another caddy motor.....could be another year to boost the compression not sure
i would like to have the article too please only seen the one in hot rod (rda_bakker@yahoomail.com)

[68GMC454]

welll lets see now...when your on a budget,,with a family and kids,,bills out the butt,,but you would like to have a little fun every now and then..grab the caddy..bone stock,,good horse power,,great torque,,and they are cheaper,,will last a long time,,unless you get really stupid...my first big block was a 500 caddy i put into my first chevelle...
now i had a baby on the way,,more bills than i could keep up with,,after buyign a couple gallons of,,well never mind,,i got the caddy for free...i went to drag racing..1/8 mile..dont remeber times,,wouldnt matter,,i slept on the light like granny sleeping in a rocking chair..but i had a blast..could smoke the tires at will,,could get up and run 95 down the interstate all day long..ad didnt get that bad mpg..what more could a family guy ask for...now i will SAY THANKS FOR REMINDING ME...I GUESS I KNOW WHAT ENGINE IM GOING TO BUY REAL SOON FOR MY 68 GMC...I the ol lady is going to have to work some over tie for the tires i will be useing....


longhorn man,,since its been awhile for me,,what yr caddy am i looking for to get the 500 out of...i know of a few caddy's that might have them..


billy

[Longhorn Man]

off the top of my head.... I wanna say 70 - 76. I know 76, they all had the 500.

[68GMC454]

Thanks Longhorn Man..now I Guess I Got To Get Busy Looking
Billy