Hi everyone. My name is John. I have a 429 cadillac I have to rebuild. I have never built a motor before, this one will be stock so I am hoping it will be a cinch. I have no idea what is wrong with it, but I suspect a spun rod bearing. Any help will be priceless. Came out of a '66 Fleetwood.
http://www.cadillacpower.com/forum/ More Cadillac engine information than you can shake a stick at. -W
I looked there, and there is a whole buttload of info, but I pretty much need to know how/ where to start. I can handle the teardown, and I can tell If the bearings are good or not. I was going to remove the main and rod endcaps. The valve covers came off the other day and the valvetrain seems just fine. I'm just worried about the cam and timing. Once I mess with that I can't fix it alone. Don't know how to degree a cam or anything like that. I don't see having to pull the top end apart, but will that have to happen to fix any bad journals on the crank? Man I've bitten off WAYYYY more than I can chew. . .
On the cam use the stock settings,The 429 you have is way ahead of it's time Do some research .The timing marks are different than a small block .On a 472 Dot for cam is up top and crank is up top ,Not dot. to dot . But in line.I also know that in 67 they used titanium rods ,These motors are screamer's and well worth the money.Truthfully Im jealous Good luck and find a reptible shop to do the machine work. Personally it's winter Don't take it apart if your not familiar with rebuilding a motor .Just pull it and have it done .Crank can be cut and new bearings can be installed .They probably make crank kits for these .If you need one.
Highly recommend buying a factory service manual for reference. Check your local yellow pages or ebay for literature vendors. The factory books have gobs of good info especially for a stock rebuild. .
Thanks for the info. I think I will just bite the bullet and ca a machine shop. I want to be a hot rodder so bad, but I think I will stick with my day job. I am a fabricator, but know nothing about motors, trannys, or car audio. My Caddy don't need no radio, it's gonna have cherry bombs on it! Carcrazyjohn, are you being fecetious (sp?)? People always talk down on the ol' 429. Your $.02???
No iwasn't being fecisious or however you spell it .My dad was into these motors He put them in his early 70's pickups and new guys that ran them in their rods .Some 429 ran and others didn't .Plus where is your distributor located. If I recall right the 70 eldorado 500 was the highest factory horse power at 375 and what is yours rated .See what I mean I just checked Your year motor is rated at 340 Horsepower . I think they are alot lighter than the 472 and 500 We also had a 66 convertible
Any other motor than a small block chevy is expensive to build Cadillac changed the cam in 67 .I would change this to the 67 grind .I was wrong on distributor Yours is in the front .They are lighter and they have titanium valves . Hollowed out crankshafts .Weight is almost the same as a smallblock chevy.Use the 67 cam when rebuilding What you have there is a real nice set up with tons of torque.
Thanks for the info. I will post some pics. I talked to the guys today at Total engine service and they will pick up my motor in the morning. I appreciate all the info. CCJ, Do you know the h.p. difference between the 66 and 67 cam? would it even be worth it.? I am going to use a wrapped set of Sanderson headers. They will be sweet. The machine shop said I was looking at $2,500 worst case scenario, so cross those fingers.
BS ALERT! Re: 429 Cadillac TITANIUM rods & valves! carcrazyjohn wrote in post number 4 [QUOTE="I also know that in 67 they used titanium rods" [/QUOTE] and further, in post number 11, he wrote
i still have my first caddy got it when i was 12 a 1966 fleetwood broham. drove it to highschool painted it satin black tinted the windows license tag said MAFIA ONE. that was from 1985 to 1989. it has the 429.that car was really handy.
Just rebuilt one of these about a month ago. I put an isky cam in and it seems to be great. Slightly better than stock. Watch when putting your crank bearings in, there are a couple 'skinny' and a couple 'wide' ones. On the bearings there is also a skinny and a wide tang on them. Make sure you pre-match your bearings to the caps first. I didn't know that until i attempted to put the crank in Also, for some reason the head gaskets were just a tad thicker than stock and this put my heads slightly higher than 'normal'. Therefore when i put my O ring in the top of the water pump and then put the cross over pipe on, it leaked at the connection where the O ring goes. I had to use 2 O rings and a flat rubber gasket to make up the difference. I also used some black RTV sealer in there, sparingly. Make sure also to put #2 permatex gasket sealer on the bolts that hold that cross over pipe on as they can potentially leak if your cross over gaskets don't seat well around the bolts. the manual is a helpful tool. even just a Chilton's manual with your year engine works just as well for torque specs, tolerances, etc. if you're boring yours out, as i did, our pistons were just a bit tight so we went just over .030 to give us some expansion room. pistons are from Egge. good luck!
========================== Right - no titanium parts of any kind. About the '66 versus '67 cam...who knows?? I've never looked at the cam specs and don't know what the differences - if any - actually are. But I'd be highly suspect of *ANY* information or advice coming from a self-appointed, keyboard "expert" who'd make up and spread such absolute nonsense (actually, and more correctly, outright lunatic-like lies and then passing this garbage off as "facts" and "information!) about '60's Cadillacs - or Cadillacs of any vintage for that matter - supposedly using titanium rods and valves etc. mart ===========================
Man, Mart- I hope you guys are friends and you are just razzing him, cuz you're on a tear. Thanks again for the info. It is nice how supportive y'all are. I will keep everyone posted on the caddy. . .
All the info I received was from my father. He's 67 years old and had a 472;500;425'429's And remember's What cadillac said about the 67's 31 results for cadillac valve covers found in 0.000 seconds ... cadillac cts-v it is built with several ... such as titanium rods and intake valves make the ... 1967-1989 cadillac fleetwood 1976-1989 cadillac seville 1995-2000 chevrolet ... www.who-sells-it.com/r/cadillac-valve-c Here's my proof I just don't like anybody that bad mouth's the 429 .Im no expert but Im giving you second hand information from someone who I respect .I searched and cadillac is very secretive. You need to find old service manuals ,Internet does not have alot of information on this.I looked up cam differences and came up with nothing. Can't find factory specs on cam. Keep us posted on build.
The factory did not recommend boring these engines. You will need to have it sleeved. I remember reading a Mitchell manual stating that Cadillac did not recommend boring the 429 block over ten thousandths! Go to the Cadillac LaSalle club website. There is an archival article ALL about the 390/429 engine and its evolution. Probably 2006 or so. Dr. Dave
Take your time and label everything and take a lot of pictures( digital camera's are your friend). Get a book you can understand and remember the Reference section of you Library has repair manuals. Don't be afraid to ask questions and don't proceed with any part of the rebuild without understanding what your doing. Remember we all put our pants on the same way in the morning---this means we all didn't know how to do any of this stuff until we asked questions and did what we were told, confidence in yourself is 99% of anything you do. You have to believe you can do it first.
I think I'll just buy a new one. The guy at the machine shop asked me who rebuilt the motor. I told him and he recommended I go down and kick his ass. aparently the dude didn't properly prep the block. I now have a bad crank and three fucked rods. Oh well. The first rebuild was a buddy deal, the guy owed me money. You can't rely on anyone but yourself. Most- not all people will stick it in you as soon as you turn away. Oh well. Thanks everyone. I'l keep posted.
Hey John go to the CadillacLasalle site like I did they can answer alot of stuff for you plus they have links to any and everything Cad. and if you need any 429 parts let me know I have 1 dissasembled that I am about to part out.
Just an update, I got a new short block and heads from a pretty nice dude on here. I am having the short block and my original heads put together for a motor. The old crank and three rods are trash. apparently, the guy who built the motor left a buncha junk in there and it wore a crank journal down and spun some bearings. Oh well. The car is pretty much done except for the motor. I am looking at about two weeks to get the thing running. The suspension is nearly percfect and the paint and interior, well, you can judge for yourself. I will post some pics soon.
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