I saw this link on a Cadillac board: http://www.mcnarry.com/ While it might not be your cup of tea, there's no denying that it's pre- '64. Opinions will be mixed on this one. Somehow, I find the junkyard scavenger hunt appealing... Plain-Jane '62 Series 62 on the outside: Home made fuel-injected goodness on the inside: There's lots more pics on the site. Here's a parts list (yes, he even built the computer): Throttle bodies and air cleaners: 91 GM 3.1 Liter Cavalier x 2 Fuel pumps: After market high volume boost pump near fuel tank, 1994 Ford F-150 high pressure up front Injectors: Ford Motorsports 30lb (Bosch) Intake: Home built, dual 4.5 inch x 16 " plenums, 2" O.D. runners (from http://www.lakeheaders.com/ ) Fuel injection computer and relay board: Megasquirt with components from Digi Key Fuel Rails: 1.25 x 1.25 square aluminum bar drilled through and tapped for fuel fittings Fuel pressure regulator: 1997 Ford Crown Victoria Fuel lines: 3/8 feed, 5/16 return Coolant and Intake temperature sending units: GM (early 80's to mid 90's will do) 02 sensor: OEM generic single wire, works just fine Throttle position sensor: using factory sensor in p***enger side throttle body Cooling: Stock 3 core radiator with dual Perma Cool 14" electric fans, 185 degree thermostat Ignition: Aftermarket breakerless conversion, Accel Cap and Super Stock coil
I can get into it. It's not a "correct" setup, but not everybody wants carbs and all that traditional wonderfulness that we love and appreciate. But in this case I do appreciate that the builder or owner felt strongly enough about keeping the factory engine and just retrofitting modern engine controls onto it. Looks to be good clean work that will allow the owner to enjoy many miles with the car, and driving it is what it's all about. I'm all for doing oddball motor swaps, but putting anything but a Caddy in a Caddy just seems wrong; like you've degraded the "standard of the world". I'd much rather see a modern EFI setup on an old Caddy mill than a Ram Jet 350 Chevy crate motor.
I agree. To go with anything but a Cadillac motor in a Cadillac really IS like defiling the "Standard of the World". Lots of folks think that this is beyond them, but it's really not. Lots of guys do it. Apparently you can buy the MegaSquirt computer either as a board with all the parts to solder onto it yourself, or already put together and tested. Just hook it up to a PC, install and run the program that comes with it, and type in your cam specs, injector specs, engine size and number of cylinders and you're on your way. Apparently you can run that computer on any motor from 2 to 12 cylinders, and with an add-on and a magnet on your crank somewhere you can have it control your ignition if you want, as well as have it squirt fuel into each intake runner at the right time in order, versus just squirting the right bank, then the left bank alternatingly. As much as I liked those Radio Shack "1001 Electronics Experiments" kits as a kid, I'd probably get one pre-***embled. They say that you can mix & match injectors & sensors at the auto parts store to make it work, then just get creative with the intake. Granted, I'm a huge fan of multi-carb setups, and have built numerous carbs over the years (all but one for free) for fun, but I've always wanted to play around with something like this. Bendtsen's Transmission Adapters has a 354 Hemi with a Cadillac Northstar injection unit on top as well as distributorless ignition: http://www.transmissionadapters.com/ I think their site's down though. I've met a guy on the 318 Poly board that has a 413 (I believe) with a 90's Mustang fuel injection setup (computer and all) on top of it. Granted, it seems like an awful lot of work when you could bolt on a good 4-bbl and go for a drive, but it would be a big ego boost to be able to point to a nest of electronic doo-dads you put together yourself and have folks look at you in amazement. Then again, that's a lot of wires and **** in the engine bay, and probably hard to get a "clean" look with it all. You'd probably get the same amount of oohs and aahs as a nice clean set of custom bent fuel lines on a multi-carb setup, but from a different sort of crowd. And God knows, it's not "traditional" traditional, but I do have to give the guy his props for only going as far as he did. On a daily driver or cruiser where no one really cared what was under the hood, or if you ran with the "function is beauty/duct tape is beautiful" crowd you'd probably be okay. In the end, I wonder how much this was... ~Jason
The Jalopy Journal
