500 cadillac in a 70 blazer????????????????

[outlawdan]

I am doing the 500/472 cadillac swap in my blazer. I have been looking and I thoght I had all the bases coverd but the mounts are giving me a problem on this 67-72 model 4x4 I have seen people make it look easy on a 2wd. I reworked the firewall , got an eldo pan and mounts that were used on a 79 3/4 ton. Do I need to make new perches or what? This motor has been done with new pistons, aftermarket cad company cam, everthing was gasket matched, edelbrock intake, 750 carb, I am sure my rebuilt th350 will last for a few weeks but o'well. I will see. I am going to run 3.73 gears with 35 or so tires. What should I do for mounts. motor is hanging on the hoist right now. Should I just make me some solid mounts, or make some new perches or use different perches?

[Jayss109]

I dont know about 4x4 and cad swaps, but even with the 2wd, I found it easier to just make my own plates/perches to bolt up the cad motor mounts.

Line everything up, and make some templates (cardboard) and then weld something up.

I would advise you call MTS for your parts. Cad Co is known for having the WORST service.

Good luck! You will love the cad, especially for 4wheelin!

Jason

[johndawelder]

Cad motor is a good choice. I've done two,a 2wd and a 4wd. I built mounts for both.IMO don't mount it solid.It WILL break things.I broke a turbo 400 almost in half with the 4x4.

[Longhorn Man]

in my 2 wheel drive, I took the 79-ish towers like you said you have, drilled a large hole for the cad motor mounts and then bolted it together, sat the motor down and drilled holes in the frame.
I think you may need another style motor mount on the cad. Do you have a photo of what you have for it?

[Hottrucks]

^^^^^^^^^^^ I agree ...I'm not sure why people are "tuning the firewall" I put mine in and never did I also reused the stock auto trans linkage and cooler lines......

mount the caddy against the stock trans mounting pins fab up your mounts...pull the motor out bolt down your mounts swap the trans to the th 400 and put themotor back on the new mounts and pull the trans up to it...move the trans X memeber up and call it done

Look at my build theres some pics on the last couple pages..... including the mounts and where you have to roll the frame lip down on the PS

[outlawdan]

thanks. I think I amgoing to make my own plates. I put the motor in today without the motor plates just he crossmeber and bolted it to my trans. the trans is going to have to come up about 2 inches I did work the firewall alittle. This motor should be a bear, offroad.

[Longhorn Man]

I had to ding my firewall a tick. I think in a 4X4 if you have a body lift, even only an inch, it should be doable with no hammer work on the firewall.
Moving the trans on a 4X4 can be a total pain since that would mean 2 driveshafts to have made, and the transfer shifter moving.
You said you were going with a TH350, did you get a custom flexplate with both bolt patterns, or are you stuffing a TH400 converter in the TH350? The 400 converter in the 350 will lower the stall speed a tick. So if you have a built up one that calles for a slightly higher than stock stall, then add a few hundred RPM to your requested stall speed when ordering.
I used a well used TH350 in my swap, and it only lasted a couple years. When it went, it went fast. I noticed some slipping between shifts on monday, and come thursday, I was looking for a ride to work. Had it rebuilt by a local tranny hero and ripped the mounting lugs off the converter a year later. He had never seen that happen in his 30+ years rebuilding trannys. (I gotta admit, that made me smile) When I drained the pan, there was more black clutch material in the pan than I cared to see. The tranny guy said not to worry about it too much. "It's not gonna crap out any time soon, but don't expect 150,000 miles out of it the way you drive" was his response. I run mobile one tranny fluid, which helps a lot in the heat department (and hurt my when I had to refill it after just a year)

[outlawdan]

My truck is not a daily driver. Just for off roding and a few cruises woth the kids. I have a homemade adapter plate I got with the motor. I bought a tci one but the homemade one was alot nicer 3/8 plate. I am going to run the 350 trans till it goes. I am looking for a 400 trans with a np205 case but if I find one with a np208 I will use it. 700r would be nice but I see it getting destroyed like the 350. I will use what I got and replace it with upgrades when it breaks. like some dana 60 axles. When I pull the front clip back off to make the motor plates I will take some good pics

[ERASER5]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought Caddy engines took BOP trannies. I have never heard of a BOP 700R4, but maybe there is. There are adapters I'm sure. I do know that all of the 2004R that I have heard of are universal mounting. A 200 should just as good a job for you as a 700. Either would have to be built to last against a 500 cad, so "weakness" is not an issue, money is. How tuff can you afford?

[Longhorn Man]

Your engine looks to be in roughly the same location as mine, and your motor mounts look to be the same too.
In this pic, the part of the frame that is turned up, bend it down with heat and a hammer, or maybe a real big crecent wrench. Then you can slip the motor mount stands in there, mark them, drill the hole for the motor mounts, (a slot would make it MUCH easier to install/remove the motor) then bolt them to the motor mounts, lower the engine into place and mark where the holes need to go.

[Hottrucks]

I agree again ^^^^^ I'm not sure how to bring the pics over from my build but if you look you will see that I used a combination of the Cresent wrench and then heat with a BFH under it they will lay down nice

And yes the Caddy is BOP and I dont know of an OD trans that will just bolt to it...and something like the gear venders one is way out of my price

[raycow]

Originally Posted by ERASER5

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought Caddy engines took BOP trannies.

They do, but the locating pins and bottom bolt holes are in the same location on both BOP and Chevy. This means you can bolt your existing Chevy tranny to the Caddy block to establish its mounting position.

Ray

[Hottrucks]

Exactly ^^^ thats what I did and didn't tune the fire wall?? and I reused the stock linkage and coolant lines

[Longhorn Man]

if the engine is mounted real low in the frame, then the drivers side valve cover isn't so close to the firewall.

[raycow]

Originally Posted by Hottrucks

And yes the Caddy is BOP and I dont know of an OD trans that will just bolt to it...and something like the gear venders one is way out of my price

There are a couple ways you can go on this. As already mentioned, a 200-4R will bolt up directly, but you would need a serious build on it to hold a 500 c.i. engine. A better choice might be the thin adaptor plate available from the aftermarket vendors. This will allow any Chevy transmission to bolt up. My choice would be a 4L80E, but you are looking at major $ for the controller unless you want to do a manual valve body conversion. A 700-R4 would also work, subject to the same build requirement as the 200.

Ray

[outlawdan]

Like I said I used a homade adapter plate the bolt my trans to my engine. The tci one seemed to flimsy.

[Hottrucks]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

if the engine is mounted real low in the frame, then the drivers side valve cover isn't so close to the firewall.

Mine must be pretty low than I had to pull the valve cover off mine and then the heads and I was able to do it with out issue ..I never even had to move the power brake booster

[outlawdan]

I gave up and sell ing the motor. already sold truck.

[low&slow]

Mine was very easy. Some people have a tendency to make it harder than it is or should be. All I did was take two 4x4 motor mounts off a later model 70 pick-up. I believe it was a 76. The height of those motor mounts gave me enough clearance of the chassis and I did not have to modify the firewall. As far as bolt holes I just drilled a bigger whole for the caddy mounts and bolted it on. Works just fine for me.

[outlawdan]

I did the same thing but I few person thing forced me to sell some projects.

[Hottrucks]

Originally Posted by outlawdan

I gave up and sell ing the motor. already sold truck.

Wish I was close I would take that motor off your hands I'm looking to make a fresh replacement with a few mods of course

[outlawdan]

I just put it on ebay.