I have found a 390 cadillac to put in my 54 caddy. Will it bolt right in. From the info ive found it is the same block family as the original 331 but i noticed that the distributor is in the rear will it still clear the firewall? any help will be appreciated. Thanks
try searching on http://www.modifiedcadillac.org/forum/index.php/board,1.0.html I don't know the earlier caddy motors, but there should be something on there.
If you are intending on bolting up to the 54 Cadillac hydro, well there are issues you might want to think about. First, the 54 Cad hydro is for an extended bell housing of the 54 331. In 1955 Cadillac removed the extended bell housing from the block casting. So this is what you need to do: Get a 1955 Cadillac hydro bell housing, along with starter, flywheel, torus members. This is the ONLY year that will work! Remove the same components from the 54 hydro and replace with the 55 stuff. (You could always find a 55 hydro, complete with flywheel and starter and go from there) The bell pattern for the 55 to 63 are the same, so the 390 should bolt up just fine, given the above changes are made. BUT you will also need to have a pilot bushing installed in the 390 crank for the hydro's pilot shaft. Depending on whether or not the Cadillac 390 is internally or externally balanced will provide you with the information as to whether or not the hydro flywheel will have to be counterbalanced for the 390. You might want to check the 331 for balancing too. If both are internally balanced then you should be ok. If the 390 is externally balanced then flywheel needs counterbalancing to the 390 crank. (You will need to remove the crank to have the pilot bushing bore machining done anyway.) That pretty much goes through the mating of the engine transmission. One last thing: Not that I agree, but you could probably just swap the 390 and DC hydramatic it already has into the 54 Cadillac with a minimal amount of work. Of course you would not have the "P" position on the shift quadrant indicator, but that is a little nuisance. (I am not a fan of the DC hydramatic, (Cadillac used this from 56-64) Finally: It may be possible to find a TH400 from a 65-66 Cadillac that would bolt up to the 390. This would require possible moving of rear transmission mount crossmember (or some adapter plate), and of course driveshaft adaptation. Think I covered everything, at least what I could think of!
wow thanks found old pictures of engine and the 331 distributor was in the back so that is not a problem was thinking of my 70 with a 472 in it. As far as transmission goes i will be running a 4l60E found a company who makes and adapter and supplies all things needed for it. Also another cool fact i found out is that the 54 cadillac panamerica car is running a 390 in it also. Anyone have info to lead me to for rebuilding the engine will be doing this myself also. Thanks
Sounds like big time money for the 4l60e adaptation. I guess about 2k for the adapter, and electronics! Close?
The adapter cost under 1000.. and I do not know the gear ratio, going with overdrive because I use them in all the trucks I build and they do great in the g****vine.
Meee 2! I think I could bust a 700r4 in less than half an hour! Too many damn things to go wrong on that thing, and BTW: that 4l60e is the electronically controlled 700r4. Under 1k, ok, but how much is the transmission controller, the last time I checked on other forums the controller was about 1k! If I was going the 4l route, I would go with 4l80, mainly because some of them have removable bells.
The swap wont be bad i dont think the overdrive will help out and no problem for the controller it will be worth it. I am building this thing so it will last. You get what you pay for kind of thing. And everything i build up i drive it every where including many shows to LA so they have to be built to handle that g****vine.
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