Hot Rods Let's talk Cadillac 331's, 365 and 390's

We are talking about (if I have to use the timing chain set I have) possibly slotting the bolt holes and making an offset bushing for the cam gear.

 

That might be the easiest solution.

 

Did you convert to SBC springs and retainers? I thought about using a beehive style spring and a later style retainer to do away with the clunky Caddy ones.

 

No tech to add, other than if it hasn't been mentioned yet a fella can take the stock intake manifold and open up the 4 holes into a dual plane to gain some plenum volume. Makes a pretty big difference if you're on a budget and want to do something basically for free (except the price of intake gaskets, but you should have the heat crossover blocked anyway, so a good time to do that)....I also ground all the numbers and flash off my stock intake on this one, came out really clean, and obviously cleaned up the ports a bit....Air cleaner is from a '66-'67 Toronado that I metal finished the factory clearance dents out of. I felt it matched the Cadillac "V" pretty well, so I went with it for something different in my '60.

 

That makes a lot more sense than removing the crank snout and welding it on .

Tommy

 

Yes, Z/28 springs were very close to the recommended spring pressures Schneider cams called for. Had to get cups for the spring bases as the sbc springs are a little smaller diameter and I didn’t want them walking around.

 

I got the '62 390 for my '34 finished and I wanted to pile on some random information.

The slot in the rocker shaft goes to the bottom. Also as important, there is an oil hole in the shaft which goes to the REAR of the rocker. If you have your rockers backwards, the oil hole in the shaft and rocker will line up and it will lose all of your oil out the hole.



This is the hole all your oil runs out of if your rockers are on backwards.



And, if you look closely, the rocker shaft stands have a particular order. The stands have a thick side and a thin side and they go like this. If not, your rocker tips won't line up with your valve tips and hell comes to breakfast.



I don't have too many miles on her, but she runs great so far. You can definitely tell it makes 430 # of torque.



Here is the car.



See ya, -Abone.

 

^^^^^^ What he said about rocker arm shaft alignment.^^^^

Both of my Cad engines had been previously assembled by chevy boys. Ruined the rockers and shafts on both of them and bent some valves and pushrods on the 390.

 

I have a question on the timing chain issue so is the only big issue of using a sbc chain and gear set the crank diameter I’ve been following along here forever it seems and my plan is to have my 390 supercharged but I can’t seem to find a crank hub to buy that will fit also if I had to turn the crank snout down for a sbc timing gear that would solve two problems at the same time for my issue and yes mine will probly end up in my dragster with lots of boost and probly methanol for fuel

 

The problem isn't that the Cadillac crank snout is too large to fit the sbc crank sprocket, but that it is too small. You either have to Mickey Mouse a bushing to make up for the larger inside diameter of the sbc sprocket which probably wouldn't hold up too well, or put a larger diameter snout on the Cad. crankshaft.

 

Thanks for the info I was under the impression it was too big and so that just makes things even more difficult I guess I’ll just make everything like I do on all my builds all because I can’t leave well enough alone lol.

 

Since we are talking about rocker arms, this guy told me he would convert my factory rockers to adjustable. That way you don't have to put the bumps in the valve covers etc. They heat treat everything once done.

Contact Rocker Arms Unlimited

 

So, what lifters are you using? I am terrified of using an inferior lifter. I am looking into Johnson lifters for a sbc. From all the dimensions I gather, they look the same.

 

NOS sbc lifters. $200 from Ebay

 

Awesome. Thanks for answering all of my questions.

 

The rocker arm assemblies I’m using came from them. Nice quality

 

this is what we came up with as far as an offset bushing. It is within a couple degrees of the cam card now but this is the only bushing he had. We ordered a couple more different ones today to get it dead nuts. We are going to make some kind of retainer to hold the bushing from coming out. I’ll post pictures of that when it’s done.

 

It's a bit late but I want to make sure I ask this before I forget..

So if we swapped the crank snout to SBC.. we would have to :
1.get a different timing cover seal
2. a different timing set crank gear (cam gear still works or are we using all whole SBC timing set?)
3. new harmonic balancer (we COULD use an ATI balancer now for SBC as a bolt on roughly?)
4. Cut, adjust, shim, lower crank pulley to fit

I think this is all that would be needed? Am I missing something?

This path (if not too expensive to swap the crank snout), may actually get a quality balancer on the engine, with gilmer pulley / drive off of an ATI balancer hub I think..

 

1. Yes, depending upon the O.D. of the balancer you end up using. You may have to
modify the timing cover.
2. You'll have to use the sbc crank gear; and since you're doing this to get a roller type timing chain you'll also have to modify the sbc cam sprocket to fit the Cadillac camshaft. Use the complete sbc timing set.
3. Yes, you'll have to finger that out...
4. Yes, more fabrication...

Good luck with this, keep us posted

 

Here’s the info on my 390 pistons for those who have asked

 

Just checking, these were used on stock 390 rods?

 

Yes they are. With ARP rod bolts, floating pins and bushings