Maybe off topic- his responses are in blue ,BUT I got a call last night a local guy got my number and wanted to know If i still bought "old speed stuff", yah, I says if its CHEAP "well he says are old Caddy motors worth anything?" not really, What year? "I have no idea" naw, i'm not into caddy's ,"I'll let it go ceap and they have 4 4 bbl carbs on em ,(they ?? IT ??) how many are there? "2 motors" he says , Ok Ok , now I'm interested , what are they (they???) "in a old boat" OK Ok , so now i'm losing interest fast , start over- you have 2 caddy motor's- BOTH w 2 4 bbls/ ??? "Yah " How old?? "hell, I don't know,OLD, 50's maybe, in a wood boat" WOOD BOAT! ?? How much "$1500.00 obo" ok, now I'm awake locked up and boats rotten right ?? "NO! they RUN and boats Water ready" Ok, I'll be over this week to take a look -your where again ?, "in ..... " (hell thats the next town over) got his number, name, etc and said goodbye whatcha think 57 motors maybe??? are BOAT motors usable in a CAR, Boats probably worth a lot as it is by itself pics to come this week, IF I like this thing its strictly to resell. but ya don't get calls like this everyday
carbs and intake are worth 500 each by them self. I would be all over it if it was near me. you want to hold it and ill come get it???
ya i figured at least one was going to be that way , I know ZILCH about caddy's and even less about marine V8 use, but i'm thinking a running 50's caddy 2 4 bbl motor in any case is worth something , intakes alone for sure or maybe being hauled around by my 57 chubby to the lake or BTT50's ,antique boats have gotten big here in the land of 10,000 lakes and a billion mosquito ponds
I'll get pics this next week ,this weekend I am headed up to Grady's to pick up that 48 tudor for a buddy here. it seems like a great deal NOW, but i'll withhold judgement til i SEE it , a lot of these calls turn out to be just junk or the wrong info
i wouls have to figure the boat is worth a little coin ...as is.....though those caddys would make a bitchin hot rod donation......or 2 .....hahah heres a little rod i saw last night.......same owner for 50 years.....was in hot rod in the early 60's waaaaaay bitchin.........and it has a caddy in it......
Some of those old wodden boats are worth $50,000 or more. Before you pull the motors check out a copy of Classic Boating magazine. You may have stumbled onto something worth a lot of $$$.
If its a V-Drive and probably is, the engines will be near identical and the rotation would be done in the gearbox('s). I can't figure anyone recasting a block or grinding a cam, different distrib, which is cam driven..etc: much less GM for use in a boat. Marine engines would or should have steel cranks, bigger cams, good heads, high compression and being two fours, they are probably 57 models, or at least GM made a 2x4 caddy that year. There is or was a 2x4 intake on ebay two days ago. Depending on the price, you could come out smelling like a rose on it.
Two fours came as early as '53 on the first Eldorado, i had them on a 331 '54 & also on a 365 '56 Eldo. Whatever they are can't wait to see pics! Kev.
Pick em up they are worth it. I've noticed a trend in old speed parts and boats for a while now. Good place to look for Olds stuff.
The boat is probably pretty nice if it came with caddy engines. Dad's "big wooden boat" had counter rotating chryslers. He said there were only minor differences between engines, but I never heard of one retrofitted to change direction. From the servicing dad's boat needed you better be three people if you want to launch and use this boat. Expect 5 gallons to the mile.
How ironic that Gas stove-bolt and I saw a '55 Eldo in the yard where I bought my '48 Olds from. It had two fours on it! I think Mick took a picture of it, maybe he can post it. The car is for sale but don't know the price, it is a convertable.
It is not unusual for onr of the boat motors to rotate the wrong way. They used to do this quite often in the 70's. All of them that I dealt with were v-8's. My dad had a boat with two four cyl. Chevy's and both of them rotated the correct way. The next one he bought had 351 Fords and one of them rotated the opposite way. The one difference was that the Chevy's were inboard/outboard and the Fords were inboards.
Yeah, opposite rotation engines balance out the torque steer. Lamar Walden has a pair of factory turbocharged 409 boat engines: one rotates right, one left. Had a friend with twin chrysler 440s in a big boat, too: same deal. Cams and distributor gears are the big differences. Blocks, heads, pistons, etc. should all be the same. Don't know about the crank though... -Brad
On the Chris Craft boats the right engine had opposite rotation (right hand) from standard car engines. Left engine was LH rotation, like a car. The transmissions (Paragon) were set up for different directions too. On a marine Ford 427 with RH rotation the camshaft, distributor drive gear, and starter were different. The crank was the same except the rear main seal surface had oil control groves cut in the opposite direction from LH rotation engines. A crank shop could take care of polishing them out, and then switch to a neoprene seal instead of the rope seal. On a Caddy engine the mods would be similar. Steve
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