Tech Info: Cadillac OHV V8's 1949-1962

Anyone Interested?You rebuild a Cad, you need the right gear.

 

Did you try Rocker Arm Specialist in Andersen,Ca?

 

Cheers for that,I will google them and see what they have.

 

Rocker Arm Specialist
(530) 378-1075
19841 Hirsch Ct, Anderson, CA

 

Thankyou very much,I hadn,t heard of them and have emailed them,hope to get a reply or I will ring them.I just did my cam timing and had to cut another keyway into the crank gear to get what I needed.the original keyway gave me 1degree retarded,I ended up with 5 advanced.
Once I get the shafts sorted I can finish this motor off.
thanks again

 

Here's a little something I did with a Summit electronic distributor for a Ford 351:

I machined a new lower body:

In situation on my 390:

I still need to do a little machining on the Ford shaft (same length as the Cad but different gear location) to fit the Cad gear and drill it for the pin.
What do you guys think about that? Any reason why it wouldn't work? Did I waste my time?

 

Do both dizzys rotate the same direction?

 

Yep, that's the first thing I checked. I have no clue what so ever about how close the curve between the 2 are though.

 

Does anyone know if Chevy rods will fit the cad crank?
Thanks.

 

Different big end diameters. Cad is 2.25, Chevy is 2.20. A crank grinder could grind the crank undersize, but the rod width and length might be a problem as well. I'm using BBC rods on my 390 and I'm making a lot of mods to do it. Look under my "New Skool 331 Caddy Build" thread for details.

 

am putting a 1955 331 in my 34 rdst. w/bw t-85 od trans, has anyone done this combo?? have a 175th flywheel, i need an adapter for the 55 cad eng. to 49-64 ford trans. anyone got one?? have 55 eng to 32-48 trans to trade or will just buy yours.

 

Thanks for that

 

This thread is really great, helped me a lot!
Does anybody know if a 429 crank can be used to stroke a 365/early 390 engine?

 

A 429 will not fit in a 331/365/390. I know the best you can do is 390 crank. You will need to do a lot of reading because there are so many threads. The subject needs to be gathered into a tech thread............

 

Subscribed!

 

What I found: The early Cad 331 1949/1952 piston wrist pin is 2" from top of piston and the 1953 is 2.0938 " and that is the difference in compression and HP. In 1953 they moved the wrist pin down and moved it closer to the top deck by 0.0938"
So when you tear down an engine in this series all you need to do is check the deck to top of piston and you will see with the quench is and go from there to raise the compression.
I am still working on determining what other changes there are and what will fit which years.

c322348 is building a 390 in a 331 block which is a 4" bore and a 390 crankshaft. This is a lot of work and there is a thread on here that he has listed all that has been involved. I have to give him a lot of credit for just doing it.

 

Bump. Reading all the old Caddy threads.

 

Yes this thread is definitely one of the good ones.
My 54 331 engine is currently at the machine shop. I just got a call from him telling me I need to find rod bearings to the tune of .030 to .040 over due to two spun bearings.
My CURRENT plan as of right now is to bore it out to the 4" bore of the 365/390 and go with a mildly hotter cam that would go with an engine rebuild kit. My question is.....would there be any hiccups in using a rebuild kit from a 365 since that is the bore I'd be going with? This is my FIRST engine rebuild and here I am breaking myself in with a rare vintage engine. OY!


Building a Torquey 1958 Cadillac El Dorado Triple-Carb V-8
Written by Steve Magnante on April 15, 2016

25. When Caddy grew the 365 to 390 cubes for 1959, a taller engine block was needed to contain the 4.00-inch stroke (up from 3.63). This pushed the heads farther apart, requiring a wider intake manifold.

UHHHHHH what??? First I heard OR read this. What of the guys who have stroked their 331s to the 390's stroke? My motors book says the stroke for 390 is 3.875 all the way to 62!???

 

You are correct, the stock stroke is 3.875. Also the intake manifold from '49 331- '62 390 is bolt on, 429 intakes will not interchange to '49-'62 Caddy.

I've seen this info pop up several times, and it confuses people. I think the OP of that paragraph was talking about the switch to a 429 in '64, then it all makes sense.

You'll want 390 heads and push rods. There's also a lot of info on CadillacPower.com regarding hopping up 331's.

 

I have an extra 331 crank at my engine builder I'll sell inexpensively. It is polished and ready to go. It is either Std. size or .010 under, I don't recall. PM me and I can ask the engine builder.

 

I

I PMd you, at least I think I did. It said I started a conversation with you.

 

How difficult is it to reverse the direction of a distributor? I had a Mallory Unilite housing and shaft, for a small block Chevy modified in the same way, along with using the Caddy dist. gear.

Was planning to use the guts out of a Unilite for a Pontiac to reverse the rotation. Couldn't really think of a reason why this would not work. But, then again???

 

I don't know the name of those things that look like hooks that move in the distributor but if it doesn't have the same rotation, they expand the other way no?

 

Advance weights.yes.

 

Well, my build isn't going to be anywhere near as creative. I have a 54 331 block, heads, and crank that I'm going to bore out to the 4" bore of the 365 to make it......well.....a 365. I'll check into what hydraulic cam I can use to step it up more without the use of adjustable rockers. Like I said, not much of a "formula" but I am new to engine building and I just want my car back on the road. Besides, I figure the worst that can happen is I find a set of the better breathing 59-62 390 heads at a swap meet or something and pop them on later.

Any advice as to how to make this a better build when I chose my parts, rebuild kit, or my machining choices? It is ok to use 331 heads with the 4" bore of the 365/390 right? What about milling the heads for higher compression? If so, how much would I want to go? I've read the other threads on this subject as well.

 

Does anyone on here know the TRW part number for main bearings for a 1949-54 engine? Im searching for NOS bearings.

 

Have you guys been sonic checking your blocks before going 4" on the 331s? My '51 block is already .125 over and we checked it. going to a 4" bore would only leave .065" on some of the cylinder walls and i think that is too thin