you are right, SBC's are cheap and they are everywhere because they have stood the test of time. as far as horsepower, wasnt the sbc the first to give you 1hp per cubic inch? can you rev that caddy to 9000 rpm with very little investment relatively speaking? there is a reason why they are built and ran by so many car enthusiast and its just not cost, plenty of people use them that really dont concern themselves with cost. if you want to be different for the sake of being different that's cool by me. it doesnt change the fact that the sbc is the best thing that happened to hotrodders since it is about speed isnt it? not about how many miles you can put on it.
I had a pink (dusty rose metallic factory color) 57 Coupe de Ville with a 300 hp 365 and a 4 speed hydramatic. It weighed 4980 lbs. It was amazing how fast it would accelerate and how good that Caddy motor sounded. Everyone has an opinion that is valid, because it all boils down to personal preference. I would go with an earlier Caddy just because I like 'em, but it's all good, no matter which power plant you choose. Just have fun with it!
Well first of all a big caddy does not need to rev to 9000rpm, because it can make the same amount of power at 6000 rpm, but just to calm you down a bit there are big caddy's out there that rev to 8000 rpm, and make almost 850hp with a single 4 barrel carb and no super charging all that on 92 octane pump gas. On the other hand why should I rev the **** out of a engine if I can do with out? Check out www.cadillacperformanceparts.com or www.schraderspeedshop.com you might be suprised how affordable they are and how much more power you can make per dollar compared to a SBC. I have a buddy in kansas that took a bone stock 500cid caddy, ported the heads put a reasonable cam in it (.510 lift& 278* duration) added an edelbrock intake and a 1050cfm dominator carb, built the whole thing for under 3500 dollars put it in his model T ford stuck some big slicks on it for good tracktion and ran a 9.96 seconds in the 1/4 mile. Let's see somebody do that with a SBC! Sorry but I don't think so, not for that kinda money or that little amount of work!
Put a 390 Caddy in it. Wanna see how it performs in a model a coupe? Check out this post that Mike Zenor put up. That's my ride...390 cadillac bored 30 over, 510 310 cam, six strombergs (yes, they all work), and a Vertex magneto. Compression's 11:1. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121990 The thing about the old cadillac mills is the fact that hardly anybody makes any speed **** for them any more (intakes, valve covers, etc). Offy and Mooneyes still make valve covers for them, Mooneyes and a a few others still make valley pans, and Vertex still makes the mags for them, but everything else is what you can find. This adds to the coolness factor, cuz you and everybody else know that you're not running repop stuff or something that's new but made to "look" old...you're running the authentic old parts because that's all there is...Somethin about stuff like that...it has more of a soul to me I guess, plus I get to have my own story about each little thing that I had to hunt down, instead of just pickin up a catalog... Ah ****, watch the video and get your own opinion...At the very least, you get to see me beatin on some old parts...
actually i am calm. i just find it strange the SBC is such an undesireable engine by some. refered to as the belly ****on and wow....thats been done before. so i will defend it. i have a 283 in my car and i have no intentions of changing it because "so many are out there". I find your story about the T model hard to believe.
Find it hard to belive or not, it's true! You can find out more about the car on a nother forum that is all about caddy's, it's www.cowboyseven.us/forum/index , look for the posts by a guy named terry, his forum "name" is cadillac512. but all you have to do once you get to the forum is enter "9.96" in the search engine at the top of the page and it will take you right to the post where he writes all about his run and even posted a pic of the time slip, after that he goes on to say they would not let him race any more because after you go faster than 10.0 you need a NHRA license, any way go check it out you might be surprized! Hey, nobody is trying to get you to put a different engine in you car, heck I run a 350/350 combo in my dayly driver and it's a great combo and I will be installing one in my wifes truck once we get arround to it, but don't go tellin' me the SBC is a better engine! Belive me I've worked on enough engines to know the SBC is a good engine but there are not only better but far better engines out there!
My Caddy motor, which is for sale in the cl***ifieds right here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122759 is the perfect engine for you. Check it out. PM me.
Hey, there is one of those Toyota Hemis that I noticed everybody thought so much of , on E pay right now . All you have to do is give him 2500.00$ & get it here from Oz.
Thanks Tony. At the rate it is progressing, you better be a patient man if you want to see it finished. -Ryan
Well Here's the data on the model T I was refering to: 1926 Model T coupe 2480 lbs with driver 4 link rear, 9" ford with 3.5:1 gears 3000 rpm stall converter, TH 400 with manual valve body 29.5" tall 10.5" wide slicks stock 500 cid block bored .020 over with stock replacement pistons ported heads with 2.19/1.88 valves studmount rockers 1.7:1 ratio Cam has 263* duration @.050 with .550 lift installed 5* advanced edelbrock intake slightly deburred stock caddy crank stock caddy rods with ARP bolts stock oil pump MSD distributor, blaster SS coil 1050 cfm dominator carb Eldorado oilpan cloyes timing chain makes about 550hp Best 1/4 mile 9.96 seconds at 135.06 mph, 60 foot time 1.36 sec with a 850cfm holley double pumper it ran a 10.12 in the 1/4 at 132 mph Believe it or not, it's da damn truth!!!!! Let's see ya do that with a comparativley built SBC.
I'd go SBC on this if you're running it hoodless...If you're gonna have a hood on it, that Cad would shure be fun. I'm a total caddy fanatic, I've got several motors including a built 500, but I agree that they are better in a closed compartment. However, if you're not trying to build a traditional hot rod....it's hard to argue with HP.
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