Glad everyone likes it! The restoration has been a long time coming and the engine build is one of the highlights for me. A car has a number of systems that have to work together and my car isn’t there yet, but is getting closer. Working on the charging system at the moment.
Awesome thread. I just got Brooklands 59-66 Cadillac (Road Tests) so was looking for 390 and 429 data, head flows, etc. Hard to find! This is the 1st head flow data I've seen. Nothing in the Weiss database on these, just 472-500 stuff. I try to Gonkulate every engine family I can, but have almost no dyno data on these old pre-68 Cadillacs. Near as I can tell from the thread here, Gonkulating it with 1-5/8 headers (a guess) 230 cam duration at .050 lobe (also a guess) and using just an iron 4bbl intake (not sure how to Gonkulate that log intake or what its dimensions & volume are), I get: Torq 476 at 3200 Powr 365 at 4500 That's SAE Gross flywheel power, open exhaust, no belts, no air cleaner, 60F 29.92 dry sea level air. (That's how the 1960s ratings were done) RWHP will of course be much lower but should still be ~250 RWHP give or take. Depends SO much on the chassis dyno & conditions as you could see. I'd say take it to the dragstrip to find out, but I'd be worried it would tear up that drivetrain. Beautiful car too!
I’m most worried about the axles in a drag racing situation. Still debugging the car, not many road miles yet. Would like to try another dyno run later but the place I used has since closed up. It seems like we’ve finally got the charging system in order. Going to a nearby show on Father’s Day so we’ll see how it does then. Considering the improved port flow and higher compression, I’m guessing 400-425 HP at the flywheel. Just my guess though.
Here is a 365/335hp-6v build from a few years back. Just a little bigger cam than stock but dyno Torque 428 at 3700, HP 328 at 4600. I wondered if they snuck a 390 crank in there, isnt that massive Torque for a 10.0cr 365cid? Or maybe dyno'd with long tube headers instead of the iron manifolds they show hung on it in the picture. https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/building-a-torquey-1958-cadillac-el-dorado-triple-carb-v-8 The Motor Trend article says stock valve lift is about .380 on the 1957-58 365. My Motors book says .451 valve lift. Do you have any specs on that?
From page 5 of this thread: "Cam is Steve Long Racing Cams 275T Hydraulic. Intake & exhaust .488 lift with 1.6 ratio rockers. Duration 280 I&E, intake 34 open 66 closed, exhaust 74 open 26 closed."
https://www.gofastmath.com/Horsepower_Calculators/Horsepower_Calculator 377 HP @ 4559 RPM for a "Dual Plane High-Rise" intake 408 HP @ 4945 RPM for a "Single Plane High-Rise" intake 424 HP @ 5137 RPM for a "Single Plane Single Carb Racing High-Rise Fully Ported/Dual Carb Tunnel Ram" I'm not sure where my custom dual log intake with 4 dual throat Webers fits into this intake manifold selection criteria but that is the real variable. The rotating assembly should be good to at least 6500 RPM so that doesn't present a limitation.
#1: The car now #2: The car in 1961 when my dad bought it #3: Me standing in front of the car when I was about 2 years old
WOW great pictures! For sure, a car with that much history, you HAD to revive it. I cant quite match that legacy, but we got our Model A back when I was 6 years old, still remember riding home in it. Still the stock 40hp, never rebuilt, but it did place 2nd at the 1978 MARC Nationals here, this is at Greenfield Village, by then I was driving it. Somewhere I have a pic of the car & me at 7yrs old with the car but that's as far back as it goes. WELL anyway, yes I found the duration/lift on YOUR cam, it's just that other article mentioned the STOCK lift at .380 or so & I've been hunting down old Cadillac specs. Near as I can find so far, lift was .330 or so, 1949-52 .365 or so, 1953-54 .411 1955-56 .451 1957-63 .440 1964-67 Do those sound right? That's just from Motors Manuals etc, hard to find totally trustable numbers. I hadnt seen that new little online HP calculator. I started writing the WerbyFord Gonkulator back in the 1970s-1980s, it's amazing the number of things that go into an engine. BTW I also found, reading the old Brooklands articles, Chassis Dyno RWHP of 120-122 on the 1953 & 54 Cad vs gross 210 & 230 ghp. Not uncommon for a nearly 50% horsepower drop from Gross Flywheel back to RWHP, especially on a stocker & of course with a big slushbox in the middle. One thing I thought of if you have doubts is, could you throw the stock 4bbl iron and an AFB carb back on there, leave the hood off for clearance, do the dyno, then compare it vs your current setup dyno'd with the hood up. Either way it's an engineering marvel what you did!
Here is my car pretty much done! Just a few small bugs to work out but it seems to run and drive OK now.
Just found your thread. Absolutely loved it!!! I am building a 40 Ford Standard coupe with a 429 Cad and Tremec TKX. Webers are definitely the way to go, spent over 20 years historic circuit racing, almost every car had webers, once tuned that was it!!! Back in the 80's and 90's ran a 34 Ford coupe hot rod with 4 downdraft Dellortos was brilliant on the road. Always loved those kit cars I used to see in Hot Rod back in the 60's, love the Bosley special. Great that you rebuilt the car especially with the family history. Now ENJOY!!!!
Hi C322348, it's been a while since I checked in on your build. Glad to see it all came together! The car looks great as well! Figured I'd ask if you repeated a Dyno pull where they got you strapped down for full traction and a true HP / Torque and RPM graph? I picked up a 49 Cadillac Series 61 and it still has the 331 still in it. I'm debating on what I'm going to do with the motor (waiting for the car to arrive to assess it). Hope the car is bringing a bunch of smiles! - Alex
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