Ok... I've pulled my tired old 390, outta my 60 sedan. Marked everything carefully, wires, vacuum lines, carb linkages, etc etc etc. Out it came with the trans. So... problem is, can't get trans off the engine. Also, bought an engine that was supposedly from a 60. Heard it run over internet, ran sweet, made the trip fine, towed great on my trailer, etc etc. Get it home, start cleanin it up, and block is a 61. Shouldn't be a problem, all the mounts look the same, bolt holes are in same place, yadda yadda. Carb is differnt though. I guess I"ve got the carter, and this is a rochester. So.. I wanna swap that out. Should just be as easy as puttin one where the other was right? HELP I dunno. Next question, intake is slightly different. Mine had a few extra holes in it for vacuum lines and sensors, where as the one on the 61 doesn't. Should I just put my 60 intake on the 61 block? Fits fine, just asking for input. Also, I wanna rebuild my carter carb... any suggestions. And... I'm upgrading to and electric fuel pump. I need info on what pump to get, how much pressure etc... and where to get a fuel pump block off plate for the mechanical one (Yes I know I need to take out the rod) So.. help is needed. I'd post pictures but my computer is down, and I'm at the library It'll be at least 24 hrs before I can check this again. Thanks in advance to all the pro's Peace Chris
Most hydros will unbolt from the engine and slide back a few inches. The fluid coupling must be split in half (unbolted from the flywheel) for the transmission to be removed.
The intake and carb should swap right over so you have all the same fittings for your 60, same up through 1962 block. You can also directly bolt on a new Edelbrock 600cfm carb, but you would have to block off the heat channel that runs under the carb PM me if you want more info on that. I'm running a Carter elec. fuel pump, all I remember is it's the green label one, I think it's pushing about 5psi, runs great although it's a tad noisy. And I think a SBC block off plate should fit, that's what the one on my car looks like. It was allready on it when I bought the car. Good luck, can't help you with the trans issue.
Need an A/C pump? Traded my 390 for a 472/400 combo some time ago and I keep finding stuff like this. It's heavy and I have been kicking it around for too long.
I think what you need is a big block chevy fuel pump block off plate (if its like my 365). I'm going to run a carter electric pump eventually. I bought the lower psi one and a relay kit from painless. I thought about running an edelbrock carb, but the linkage is way different than my stock stuff (1958 cadillac).
Ok.. finally got the trans off, thanks to the response bout splitting the fluid coupling. Did the trick, slid right off nice and easy. Now I got more questions. Did the replacing of valve covers, intake, carb, oil pan, distributor, plugs, wires, etc. Now I'm in trouble. Got everything back in place, re-installed and hooked up the engine, and the darn thing wont start. It cranked great, plenty of fuel, and I built oil pressure cuz the idiot light went out, but it just wont start. It went chugga chugga from the starter, and then BOOM, like a shotgun blast. I figures, SHIT, I got the distributor outta sink. So, took it out, turned the crankshaft one full turn, put the distributor back in. NO WAY. Cranked it and fuel was flyin out the carb. It was tryin to run backwards I think. Anyway. How the heck do I check timing on this sucker? I don't wanna remove the oil pan or valve covers if I can help it, as I finally got em sealed so they won't leak (not an easy task on a 390 cad). HELP!!!!! I really need to get this sucker runnin
Make sure you have your firing order right. 18436572. And I believe passenger bank is 2468. You can pull out a spark plug, and get the engine so that so that the number one cylinder is at top dead center on the compression stroke... and then pull off the distributor cap and see if the rotor is pointing where the number one plug wire is. If it's not, it's either 180 off, or the wires are off. If it still wont run, make sure everything is tightened down, make sure it has good points and coil in it. Make sure the points are set as they should be.
ok.. pulled the spark plug, got the number 1 set to top dead center, firing order is right, but the rotor wasn't pointing right. I pulled the distributor back out, and figured out that I was linin the damn thing up with my oil pump, instead of lining up the oil pump and then pushing the distributor down. Damn newbie mistake. So figured that out, got it in straight, and I managed to start it about 2 times. Then it idled up to about 6000rpm, so I figured I had to do some adjustments. Turned down the main on the carb, and turned the distributor a little bit. Damn thing wouldn't start again. Tried moving the distributor all damn day, and it never started again. After bout 50 tries I gave up, pulled it off, and tried to line it up again, and still no luck. I burned out my damn starter. Now I gotta get it rebuilt, and then try again. Guess it'd make good sense to get a timing light. Gosh darned it. Any other advice greatly appreciated, or if you have a starter you can guarantee me works, for less than the hundred I've been quoted for a rebuild. Oh.. and I'm still searchin for a cheap rebuild on my trans, or somebody who has one that they know works. I've already had the offers of "It worked when I pulled it 10 yrs ago, etc". I don't want one I gotta rebuild, as I've already got that to deal with. I want one that works. Peace always Thanks for the support yall Chris
You might wanna check your points and condensor again... if they were not adjusted correctly, they could have fried themselves in that small amount of time you ran it... I dont know what to tell you on the RPM jumping so suddenly.. maybe the motor got warm and it started sucking air around some of your intake gaskets... making it lean out or something?
johnnycola checked the intake, no leaks that I can tell. I used new gaskets, and torqued down the intake bolts to about 50 lbs.(short wrench by feel method). As for the rpm's, they didn't really jump. It was more a constant increase till I shut her down. I could get her to slow down a bit by stickin my hand under the gas pedal and pulling it up, something I had problems with before, but I thought I'd adjusted the linkage to stop that. I'm thinkin it may be a carb problem? too much fuel perhaps, causing the rpm's to increase? I dunno. First I gotta get the dough to rebuild my starter, and then I can start playin again. Man.. I gotta land a job or two fast. Wish me luck Peace Chris
HEY, my 52 Caddy book states the Distributor runs COUNTERCLOCKWISE, so you may want to double check your sparky wires... don't know if this applies to your engine but maybe worth a look.
Okey dokey. Here's the latest. Got the starter rebuilt, threw it on, checked for top dead center, set distributor right on, bolted it down, checked wiring for counter clockwise, fired her up. No problem, Started great the first crank. Yee hawwwww I was happy. But.... and here's the big but. Started idlin faster and faster again So... I got out quick, grabbed a screwdriver, and adjusted the main and secondary screws asap. Turned em all the way in. ALL THE WAY I said. Still idled, but at about 1200rpm. Then I noticed... the choke was STILL on. Got back in, revved it up a couple times. And she idled down nice, and quit on me. So... reset carb screws out two full turns each. Turned the key to start again, and I could hear the starter workin REALLY hard to start it. Didn't like that sound. Went to look at the carb again, and the choke was on again. Dumpin fuel in like crazy. I could smell and see it. Shit. Put a screwdriver in the carb, to open the choke, hopped back in the car, and turned the key. Started first crank. Removed the screwdriver, and the choke went on AGAIN. So.. I'm figuring, I need a new choke.... Got to wondering. Where does that gas that was dumpin in go to? So.. poured some oil down the carb (I know not a great idea, but I could see it). Took off the carb, took off the intake. Waddya know. Oil went right down the center intake ports, straight to the intake valves of the two that had shredded the rings and torn the pistons up. Well...holy shit. If all that gas kept goin into those two cylinders, no wonder they tore themselves up. No oil could possibly stick to the piston rings with all that gas in there. I'm thinkin that's what ruined my engine the first time, and again after the rebuild. Time for a new G.D. carb. Waddya all think about my diagnosis? makes sense to me... or could there be another reason? Either way.. time for a different choke, and maybe a new carb? Input greatly appreciated.
PM'd you on my thoughts about the choke causing things to burn up (I dont think so, as a choke stuck closed would cause a rich condition,) but also wanted to add my thoughts on carb replacement... If you can, slap a new Edelbrock on that baby. For a daily driver, dial it in and it'll run sweet. easy maintenance, etc. -scott noteboom
Another thing to look out for are the bushings in the dizzy. They tend to wear badly and then you can't get the timing right. It might start right up and then next time will drive you crazy trying to start it again. Uneven idle and sputtering are common.
Upgrading to an electric pump? There is nothing more foolproof and reliable as a stock mechanical fuel pump. They last virtually forever and troublefree. Electrics can be noisy, can die at any time with zero warning, can die from bad connections, dirty terminals, broken wires, etc. Upgrade? I don't think so. Nonetheless, enjoy the ride, those Caddy V8s are tough as nails.
pasadena... thanx. I guess I'm more interested in swapping to an electric pump cuz it'll clean up the look of the engine so much. What with the hoses running to the front of the engine now, and then a big pump, and a glass bowl filter, and all the connections, it just looks crappy to me. If I could route the hoses from the rear of the engine, and have it go straight to the carb, it'd clean things up a ton. But..I agree about electrics having negative sides, like wiring, noise, etc. Now.. as to the next problem. Got it running nice now, timing set, idle good. Still think a new carb would be good, but I managed to clean the choke pretty well, and it'll turn off when the engine is warm now. So.. now as to what is wrong. It's smokin. AGAIN. I see smoke from the breather tube, and downdraft tube. But NOT from the exhaust at all. This is what has started on the last engine before I started seeing smoke from everywhere. WTF? What do I do to fix this before things get worse. I mean I looked at this engine runnin, and it had no smoke before. All i've done is swap intake, oil pan, valve covers, distributor, carb, starter, trans, but all the parts I put on were CLEAN. Being as I've done NOTHING to the internals, valves, heads, pistons, crank, cam, etc... what the heck is making it smoke now? Could I possibly have damaged the rings trying to get the timing right? Does this sound like ring blowby? or valve probs? or???? help!!!
sounds like you're getting blowby off the rings. how bad is it smoking from the breather? is the motor new? if minor and/or motor is new-- perhaps you havent got a good seat on your rings yet. you can also run a compression test to see if you've got any issue on any particular sleeve. -scott noteboom
notebooms.... this is a 61 block, never rebuilt, bout 60k miles. I'm guessin bad rings too. It idles smooth, rev's great, sounds smooth w/ no exhaust. But as soon as it starts to warm up, it starts chuggin smoke pretty well from the breather and downdraft tube, and when I rev it.. holy crud.. smokescreen. I'm guessin the rings are toast, and I better replace em before I score the cylinders and tear up these pistons. Dang I hate that.
Hey man...I just thought I'd let you know that I designed up a new breather tube outta stainless that doesn't have the fuel pump provision...makes it really clean lookin if you're runnin' an electric fuel pump. Let me know if you're interested in one. Oh yeah...I had a mechanical pump take a crap on me four blocks from the Back to the Fifties car show in St. Paul a couple years ago...Fortunately I had a cadillac buddy up there with an extra pump in his shop...and my pump was only 1 year old...so mechanical pumps can take a crap without notice too. Carter 4070 electric pump is the one you need. I run two of 'em, both on 390 cadillacs...ordered mine from Summit cuz they had 'em the cheapest. I sent you a pm about the Wilcap adapter in my '59 coupe deville with the turbo 400 behind it. This REALLY woke that car up...it was one of the best upgrades I've ever done, and I run the same set-up in my model A. I'm now getting 16-17 miles per gallon out of that big '59. If you've got any other Caddy questions, just let me know. I'll be glad to help ya out.
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