What's an early 1950's Caddy engine that will turn over going for these days? I ask because i know of two in my area, one awsome one I found today earlier with a friend of mine,......found a smaller hemi also,...a 291? I think,...Chrysler......pretty cool. Thanks in advance guys! Hey anyone out there with a 38-39 Ford truck grill in solid shape they wanna part with?? Jason
Of course we're talking about the 331 engines,...and they are currently sitting in their cars, in a s**** yard,....yes they turn,...no idea if they will run, etc. What was the condition of yours???
Definatly get a good one ie one that most possibly runs.... I rebuilt the 331 that is going in my Model A...and it basically sent me to the poor house!
I paid 700 for the one I have now I got lucky and bought it off a Hamber it was rebuilt (motor and ******) and the guy died before he put it back into his 52..the other I paid 600 for witch I ended up giving to Von Franco for parts cause it was a mess when they took it apart...I do know that any thing with the Cadillac name on it is expensive...you just got to get lucky. usally a couple grand to rebuild,,like all unique old engines its all about spending money.
Where did you go for parts?? I'm seeing that guys that normally have issues spending a ton of cash end up going through the wrong people for parts, etc. or the mill they are rebuilding has issues,....thus more cash! Yeah the one I saw today, turned over by hand, stiff, but that of course can be a good thing!!!! dont know about price yet though,...lots of **** in the way of the car,....I'm gonna see what's what on the price. Then there's another,....might happen to get there tomorrow,.....we'll see what he wants for that engine.
well, a good friend can rebuild just about any engine you throw at him,....VERY knowledgable,....he said he'd trade services,....I weld for him,...he rebuilds stuff for me!!! we'll see how that works out!!!
well i origianlly bought the 55 cadillac off of him. it was a running car i just redid the brakes. i then got hard up fer cash, and sold him the car back and asked him if i could buy the motor, he said yes obviously. i was buying a 54 off of him and was going to put it in, but then decided not to buy the 54, the 54 motor turned over but didnt run i think the dizzy was ****ed up. anyway, YES i got a 331(but its the one year only 55 short block) and YES it ran like a champ, perfect dwell, timing, and compression. all i did was change the gaskets(felpro $90 at autozoo), degrease and paint, and chrome the valve covers. chips a good guy he will help you find a runner(if he has any in stock at the moment)
Aw that's great man,..nice engine,....looks great. I'm heading off to the junk yard in a little while to see that caddy engine again. j.
like this? the motor mounts are similer from like 54? to 58? i had a hard time finding 55 mounts, so i looked up 57s(autozoo), and what do you know... they were exactly the same! in fact, both sides are inner-changable(swap from side to side) i originally thought i got 2 of the same side, but i didnt. if yer doing a flat frame with no kick up, i would recamend the 49-53?(maybe even the flathead caddy ones) mounts, they lay flat like a flathead ford but have the same mounting points. ebay is a good source too. i think mine were 20 a piece at autozone.
heres a few i found. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Both...016QQitemZ260070062804QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW notice those are the ones i have on mine. they are the SAME as 55 and 56 dont let them fool you. but the other ones are like these pictured in TOP RIGHT corner. they flip around so the bolt is pointed DOWN. and would lay parallel with frame. the earlier 331s have ****** side mounts, and believe thats what the LOWER RIGHT is.
stock 4 speed hydromatic. best automatic you can get in my opinion. rolls royce apparently thought they were awesome too, cuz they put them in there cars too. real short first gears jumps pretty good. if i had the 49-54 block i woulda had an olds or lesalle stick behind it. but i got the one year only 331(55) with the short back like the later engines. remember, if you use the auto, theres a gasket between the flywheel and torque converter, because the flywheel is apart of the torque convertor. i got mine fer 15 dollers on ebay. just letting you know because its really thin and i barely noticed it and they rott out ect. theres 32 little bolts holding the two parts together.. it ****ing BLOWS bolting them together. theres also 2 ban adjustments on the top of the ****** that takes a special tool.(some old timer ****** shops might have one) lots of GM cars used this ******. mine happens to be a long tail open drive. they make a torque tube style also i believe. there was an article in hotrod mag that i posted a long time ago(lue sales- convert to 3 speed) its in the "best of hotrod mag 49-59".
On the Hemi, there should be a code on a flat in front of valley cover & a casting # between head & valley cover p***. side rear. If it's a DeSoto it's probably around 500, give or take a hundred or so.
I traded $340 in labor for a good running 55 331 Cad with 58 heads and tri-power hooked to a 4 speed stick, had to take the 54 GMC thats in my avatar. I don't feel like I got screwed to bad
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