OK..so yesterday I picked up a running "Rebuilt" 1948 Caddy 346 with a Hydromatic on it. This thing is enormous! and HEAVY. Anyway, I know there are Burrell and Edmunds intakes out there. And Edmunds heads...and Cyclone new heads for this. I'll be looking to to that soon enough. I'd like some feedback if any can share regarding the HAMB's experience with these engines. I have seen some great old salt photos of these engines. Some of them utilizing a Model A Frame. Any suggestions about this? I'm sure boxing is an order. How about experience with this era of hydromatic? Anyway, here's the boat anchor. FEEDBACK PLEASE! We're pretty excited about it. Tim MBL
OK so to deal with this HEAVY engine...What do we think? Possible to run a Model A frame provided it is boxed? Tim MBL
we broke the chinese engine stand when we lifted mine haha your gotta way a ton more though with that hydramatic i have a set of these heads and a mallory dual point still lookin for an intake though
that is one hell of a shopping cart you got there.. how much food do people buy at one time where you live?
Ha! We marveled at the performance of the shopping cart stand. It also once held a 331 hemi with fluid drive ****** attached. Personally, I am expecting it to give out any day. Tim MBL
Any Model A frame suggestions? Boxed? maybe. Do we thinks this engine is too much for an A frame? Tim MBL
Well I went looking for comparisons and the Hemis and MEL 430s and such weigh around 740 and I've seen both of those in model A frames. But yours is likely to be near 900-1000 lbs. Also found this guy asking for a bid... lists it at 500 lbs.. HAHA http://www.uship.com/shipment/Cadillac-346-Flat-Head-V8-to-ship-from-CA-to-CO/813682057/
Rev head would be correct. Full dress (ironheads/intake, generator, and exhaust) with the 3 speed is right around 990. Or at least thats what my scale said. You can save some weight going Edmunds or Cyclone heads, and more with the intake, more if you go alternator over the stock generator. Ditching the cast headers and crossover will net you even more weight. You can search my name, and Cadillac Flathead, there is some good information out there. I did a comparison between the Edmunds and Cyclone heads a few years ago. My opinion, I would take the Edmunds intakes over the Burrells. I didn't like the quality of the Burrell I got to see and hold 1st hand. And then the Cyclone heads hands down over the edmunds. "Savage" on here makes a dualpoint dizzy that is very very nice. Hot Rod Ch***is & Cycle makes some high quality exhaust flanges for ditching your heavy manifolds. Cyclone, Savage, and HRCC are all alliance vendors.
go figure, as soon as i pick one up everyone else gets their hands on one...sheep finding parts for these is tough man, be glad yours is complete and running. mine is gonna take some serious work but it'll be worth it in the end
Ha....I meant 32 rails. Deuce rails would be much stronger than A rails I guess and still retain the "traditional" build I will be going for. Tim MBL
It would interesting and cool. But. Probably one of the worst driving cars of all time. How much does a model A weigh to start with? There is noway that adding nearly 1,000lbs to the nose is a good idea. But still cool.
how much different would it be from a hemi/olds?? not much really. your talking 150-200lbs more weight but 1/3rd the HP. probably less than half the torque as well. make some good crossmembers and a well made A frame should work ok. and like Truss says, the weight up front will be an issue. no tiny tiny front tires. heavy duty spring and try to get that front axle as far forward of the engine as possible. should help spread the weight out better.
So no spring in front set up? I guess that makes sence....Hmm I guess I can go with a spring over. Tim MBL
spring in front, spring over, spring behind, whatever! just make sure the axle position is far forward. also, I would suggest staying away from a suicide perch.
Kevin Sledge is running a stock type setup on his '32 roadster with the caddy flathead, you dont need to do anything special to accomodate the weight. It just lowers your frontend a schoosh.
Right on....do you know what his crossmember setup is like? Is the stock 32 K-member still in? Tim MBL
I'm not sure about the crossmembers, he's one of the Shifters if you want to try to track him down. Here's his car, its currently a blue color as this is a fairly old picture.
Yeah! How right does that look! I'll try an track him down. I'm thinking I might use a F1 crossmember. Tim MBL
I've got an extended bellhouse hemi, and "most" of a 727 in my model A, and it handles fine....I wouldn't try to autocross it, but nothing crazy ever happens. I think he will be fine on the weight as long as everything is heavy-duty, and "beefy".
Somehow I doubt that a 346 Caddy weighs in at 1000lbs. My 305V6E in my '65 GMC weighs about that, and it makes a Flatty Caddy look like a small block chevy. I know flattys have a lot of iron in them, but I would think something like 700-800 would be more like it, and then your talking Hemi weight. Plus you'll be ****canning those iron heads (Cyclones for sure if you have the scratch) and the iron exhaust manifolds maybe. So you'll be loosing around 100 lbs there. Wilcap makes an adapter for that motor too, so you can run a Gm based trans if you like to get an overdrive (stick or auto). We've got one of these in the shop, but I don't have a scale I could weigh it on, so I'm no help with actual weight, it's all just speculation from a farm kid.
only thing that gets me on there weight is it broke our engine crane . motor and ****** ive never seen that thing do the things it did haha.
The motor is all of that #1000 with the hydro on it. My engine hoist didn't like it either but it did move it around. It is a tank of a motor that is for sure.
the funny thing is, they used em in tanks in wwii. with the hydro's. supposedly the auto trannies with one motor running each side gave them wicked maneuverability and the motor and trannies were bullet proof
I have decided to put a lasalle side shift ****** in this hot rod. Trouble is that I need to get a clutch/flywheel,belhousing for the flathead Caddy...and No one seems to be able to turn me on to one for a reasonable price thus far. I'm still looking. Tim MBL
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