Hello everyone. After having two pistons on my brand new 331 rebuild shatter and spending days half sick about it I just decided to get a 350 sbc motor off my buddy with a turbo 400 trans and forgot the "keep it original" thing. I got the motor in seems to fit. Tight, but fits. Anyone have pictures of the motor mounts they made for this swap and anytjing to help me out. The motor is hanging on the hoist. Need to come up with a way to mount it. Any help would be great thanks!
How do you "shatter" pistons on a new build? Sounds like you need to have a conversation with who ever did the machine work.... What car?
It would be helpful to know what car you are working with. If that 331 is a .030 over 327, the 350 should slide right in its place.
Yes....elaborate please. Obviously not a bored 327 Chevrolet.....assuming 331 hemi, and not a 331 Cadillac or a 331 Ford. If Hemi.........lets just put it back together please. Not just the cool factor, and the original deal....but just the amount of down time converting is a pain in the ass. Two pistons can be had......what else happened ? Who is helping ?? Machinist willing to compromise/help ?? Danville, PA is more of a hot zone for these engines then Texas is. Having said that....there is no way in hell a 350 Chevrolet is gonna' replace my 331 hemi....assuming I even had one. I take that as trying to replace my big boy willy with a toddler little boy willy. No offense to the chevy guys......but he is talking about a mf'ing hemi here.
If he rebuilt a Hemi or Caddy 331, a SBC is probably the only thing he could afford now! But, yeah, that would be bad.
It's a 331 caddy in a 1953 series 62 going off of moon mans post history. Also seems like he's been catching hell on every step. Id guess that Something form here would probably be your best quickest & easiest option it also can be done in a quite temporarily permanent fashion. The same type is available for the Trans. Th http://www.jegs.com/p/Trans-Dapt/Trans-Dapt-Universal-Cross-Member-Motor-Mounts/1088998/10002/-1
331 Cad is badass too. Yikes, and expensive. Sorry for your pain dude. That just sucks. Sure you are already aware of Egge, Kanter, Speedway, CadillacPower forum, and ModifiedCadillac forum. Whatever you do, I feel for ya'.......I hate being denied at every instance. Usually pisses me off enough to force feed that mutha'....but not all of us are as hard headed, and nasty stubborn to the point of taking them all with you......if going down. Arghhhh !!!!!!
Not any time soon but i think I am going to be dropping a SBC in my caddy when i get up and running. I was contemplating on rebuilding the 365, but parts availability and price, lead me to believe the SBC would be best. I will keep the caddy engine in case i ever need it, or for another hotrod project
Believe me, I understand your pain and reasoning. If my rpu wasn't already built around the 394 Olds engine I would be slipping in the 350 Chevy engine I have sitting on a stand. When you start rebuilding one of these Olds, Caddy, Buick, or early Hemi motors, get ready to clean out your savings account. You can build 2 or 3 sbc engines for what you spend doing one of these motors correctly. Yeah, I realize there is a certain "cool factor" to having one of these different motors, but sometimes you get tired of bleeding money. I have about $3K in the first rebuild of my Olds and it looks like I am about to spend that same amount correcting the mistakes of the first engine guy. The problem is that almost any machine shop can get a sbc engine right, but you really have to search to find one that remembers and knows how to properly do all the things to one of these odd ball motors that needs to be done to make them right. Don
He I Have a 331 caddy. 1953 series 62. Apparently the only thing i can come up with is i failed to file fit my ring gaps. So i was told. But eithrr way im $5000 out now and i only drove the car 15 mins. This was supposed to be my wedding car for october 4th. Now i only have a month to get it driving....
I checked out your link. Which kit would work for my caddy? There doesnt seem to be any bolt up kits to go from a 331 to a 350. It would be nice if someone had a kit or had pictures of something they fabricated that would give me an idea...
Not to rain on your parade (or your wedding) but it is tough to get an engine swap like this done in a month. My suggestion is to park it, get another car for the wedding, and work on it after you get the marriage out of the way. In the last month before a wedding there is a lot going on, and the last thing your fiance' wants or needs is you laying under a car every day and night till then. She needs you there to help and to get her through all the stuff that she has to do. I know it seems important for you to have the car there that day, but it really isn't. The wedding day has NOTHING to do with us guys, it is all about the Bride. All we do is show up in a tux and say "I do." The car will really not make or break the day, and will not play the important role you think it will. Think it over, you might see those TV shows building a car in a 4 day deadline, but that is BS. Any of us who have done engine swaps know the frustrations and setbacks that rear their ugly heads and how time consuming all the little stuff is. Rent a nice limo, show your Bride a nice day, and then fix the Caddy motor down the road sometime. Believe me, your life will be SO much easier if you do that. Don
Lol Lol i appreciate the emotional support! but limo is out of the question. Its a farm wedding. I just wanted the car running good enough to drive it up the farm road and back. Ill do my best
Hurst may have made a specific 1953 caddy mount to take a sbc. But it would be not easy to find one if they did. But that universal mount goes in like this. It's universal, so that means it can be adapted easily to fit anything but will not fit anything out of the box. It will require some measuring and cutting, some drilling or welding. All that should take you the better part of the day but no more to complete.
Not too mention, this was my grandfathers old car, and before that It was his father's who bought it new in the 50's. ... so its not just for my self. Its sentimental....
I can understand the sentimental factor, but I think you should pay heed to Don's advice above. It might be sentimental for you, but how about your Sweetie? Besides, great engine that they are, there's no way I'd consider putting a SBC in a Cadillac.
The motor is already in. Just need advice on motor mounts for it. Other than that I guess I'll figure it out and do my best...
31Vickywithahemi has the simplest answer. Bolt motor mount pads to the block. Bolt the tube adapter to the mounts and swing the motor into position, up-down, side-to-side. With the car level, put an angle finder on the intake manifold carb pad and nail the motor in at 3 degrees down-bubble.
Sucks. Hell maybe kickstarter or gofundme can help. Pictures of car, dad, granddad, and great.....all nostalgia shots. Pictures of bride and groom, and a very sympathetic story. Put the caddy all on your credit cards. Pray the machinist finds something simple wrong....nothing major. Get it fixed. Hopefully all donates from around the world.....fix it for $347.85.....donate the remaining 11 million dollars to the HAMB beer fund. Good luck to you, and all of us!! Yeeeeeha
my uncle has done tons of motor swaps over the years. he came over tonight and made up some templates. tomorrow hes gonna weld something up. ill let ya know how it works out. and using my stock caddy mounts that is! this makes it very easy to go back to stock if I ever get the 331 rebuilt.
Wow....I had my 365 short block built for $1000 about 5 months ago. Honestly....I don't see how you could "shatter 2 pistons" in 15 minutes of driving. I would get a second opinion. Pull the heads and take a look.
i did pull one head. one head has a hole punched thru it on the under side. the other side #3 cylinder has zero compression now as well. water blowing right out both exhaust pipes. im sure the other head is just as bad or worse. that's why im done screwing with it. just a plain disaster....the motor was running a bit hot, the water was running around 200 which isn't horrible. I even checked the radiator with a thermometer. the block would get soo hot I couldn't even touch the oil fill cap, so I started it up, drove up our farm road and back to the shed. wiped the windshield and the widows off they were pretty dusty. got back in to start the car and it started a littte sluggish. didn't I realize in my rear view a cloud of white smoke. its sucked my water completely dry from my radiator and blew it out both tail pipes within 30 seconds. and that's the end of story.....after hashing it over with some people the only thing I can come up with is the piston ring gaps were too tight and causing too much friction inside the bore. pistons got so hot they broke a chunk off which then slammed the bottom of the heads which exposed a crack right to the water jacket. ill post pictures
Damn I hate to see that. I was really thinking it was going to be something easier. Those engines were known for running long past their service expectations. I have no iota whatsoever what went wrong there. I'm guessing the engine is seized and perhaps ruined. Wish you had better circumstances brother. Above advice may get what you want faster......especially if you have a competent fabricator willing and able. Follow 31 Vicky's lead. He's been there done that so often.....he starts his threads with "hold my beer and watch this".....true story. These guys have great advice, regardless of what they're drinking. Sorry for your troubles.
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