Hello, In my garage I've got an enginestand with a Cadillac 500 engine in it. Reason for the rebuild: The rebuild of my ( still fine running ) Olds 317 is already 13 years ago…. so I deceided to use some winterevenings for rebuilding an engine for ……...well, I don,t know yet….I don't have a car to put in in , but when rebuild is nearly done I will start searching. Any early GM 4 or 2 door 50's car with enough distance between the rail/ fenders is good….. an ugly rat-looking, original painting, no shine contest winner, that's for sure! Local I bought a scrap 472 Cadillac block, found a Eldorado 500 crank and now I'm rebuilding the engine with 10 to 1 compression KB pistons, heads and valvetrain stay original. Thinking about a Compcams Cl94 camshaft, use original 4b Rochester and weld headers. Found a edelbrock alu intake. At this moment block is completely machined, crank grinded, balanced and rods and pistons ready for mounting. Knowing that the block will be an torquehouse instead of a rpm maker the choice of a manual 4 speed will be a challenge, I know. Reason for the manual trans: Already have an automatic car ( Olds 58 ), and the gearbox that I found was cheap and happend to be an Super T10 instead of a normal T 10. Gearbox is from a 79 Firebird, bellhousing fits nice, boltpattern the same as the Cadillac. Made a Acad drawing and local machineshop cut a 10 mm thick steel plate between block and trans. Machined, drilled and balanced a Chevy smallblock flywheel for it. Crank has a hole, I think a trustbearing for the mainshaft of the gearbox will fit in. Gearbox now fits and will be rebuild soon to. Clutch will be a 10 inch, haven't thought about which type yet. The 10 mm steel plate between engine and trans can also be used later to weld some plates/ brackets for extra strength between block/ trans ( Bellhousing = aluminium ). Hope the rubber on the street will be the weakest point in the whole set up..... Question: Haven't seen of read any other example of this combination block/ trans. Are there? Thanks!
Always glad when someone wants to use a four speed over an automatic, what you are proposing is not common but completely doable, may not be as easy as the more common engine/transmission combos but very satisfying when it is finalized. Based on what you've done so far, you obviously are/have gathered information and are beyond the planning stages, that's very encouraging for any of us thay may have input. You seem to know what needs to be modified/adapted but you did not mention the starter, that should be considered along with the belhousing and flywheel choice. Looking forward to your further progress.
Sounds like a stump puller at least for a little while. 10" clutch seems wimpy..........................
Which Super T10 do you have. There are at least six different gear ratios. That will determine what rear gear you'll want to run. FWIW, there are scattershields available for the Cad, no adapter required. jack vines
I'd go bigger on the clutch too. I always use truck parts on my manual builds with the 168T flywheel and that will take a 12" clutch. I'm not sure what the size limit is on the smaller flywheel. If you ate stuck with the smaller one, just opt for something other than stock.
Does your crank have the rear flange drilled for a pilot bushing? I believe late model Cadillac did not drill for that and you need to get that done to run a pilot bushing/bearing. You are correct the bellhousing pattern B-O-P-Cad are all the same.
McCleod sold me a 10-1/2" clutch (not listed or shown online) which looked like a Borg&Beck style and the pedal pressure of a diaphragm. It has been behind my GMC 6 which has a 4" stroke for 6-7 years and has worked to perfection. I had trouble with just about everything I tried. There are independent or at least not normally used clutch guys out their that I'm sure a lot here on the HAMB can chime in with. I always put the trans on the bell with no clutch or TO bearing and look in to physically see the trans nose into the crank bushing. Sounds like you have the time to center it perfect and then drill 2 dowels to keep it that way.....I'm all for 3 petal cars...
There aren't any factory flywheels I bought aftermarket one in the 80s and it was $400 then BOP pattern bellhouseing will work.
I did this back in the early 90s..on my O/T 500 cad powered race car. Pontiac 400 , 455 manual transmission flywheel bolts right up to the cad. Same for the bellhousing. Only trick part needed was the custom pilot bushing.. Anyone can make that for you.. Make sure they use " bronze oillite " material ( available from McMaster carr ) Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I hope you aren't asking me for pics ! That was 28 + years ago... That race car has long since been recycled/ reincarnated as a toyota.. At the end of its life we were running a converterless powerglide behind the caddy.. Oval track crazyness.. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I thought I'd do the same thing a few years ago. I found a Lakewood scattershield for a chevy will work on the B-O-P engine if you weld 2 ears on the scattershield to use the top 2 bolts. The rest of the bolts and the dowels line up like they should . Then I found my caddy engine had a massive crack in it..scrapped the project.
I have a flywheel and bellhousing as well as a 500 inch engine that I am not using but sure would like to find Buick 401 flywheel and bellhousing.
I suppose I'll buy a ballbearing with a dustseal and mount that bearing tight in crank with speedysleef rings. ( bearing and sleefs glued, en mount frozen into the crank ). The hole in de crank seems to be machined right. A 15/ 43 mm bearing does the job I suppose. Once trans is in place bearing can't go anywhere. My brother gave the advice to measure crank axial clearance very proper because the clutch will push against crank, so that's what I will do. ( can't refuse…..he's a diesel engine mecanic, and I'm a carpenter....) Indeed, I measured, a 10.5 inch clutch will fit. Anyway, I'm not afraid for the clutch , more scared for worn trans. A clutch plate isn't that expensive to change, so I'll try with the 10 inch first. Clutch will be hydraulic, with a hydraulic cylinder from a modern car, when mounting the engine in en automatic car, clutch can be made easy. Gear ratio of the trans is another thing…..at this moment don't know which rearaxel and tyresize, so I don't bother about that for now. The 10 mm steel plate between the block and trans is width enough zo I can mount anything needed to it ( starter, enginemounts?, exhaustmounts, stabilizer studs between block and trans ) . It's a Chevy 168 tooth flywheel, which starter can be used best with the big compression?
The block has 2 bolt mounting. The best starter to use would be a good quality aftermarket " mini" starter for small block chevy. They are equipped with holes for both diameter chevy flywheels.. Pilot bushing ID is .590... Cant remember what the OD was. I know you have already done a bunch of work , making the 10mm plate , machining the Chevy flywheel etc... All I'm saying is ... It's very easy to do with factory parts.. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
If you would like to talk via phone , PM me for my #. I might be able to save you some work ... Dave Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You'll be okay with a hi-torque starter. I use them in everything GM. My bellhousing is a cast iron one from a '55 Chevy, C20 truck flywheel, Zoom 11" C30 truck application for the clutch, balanced with the flywheel. I know someone makes a steel bellhousing for the Caddy engine, I've seen them somewhere. If you have the 168T flywheel, will the larger clutch fit the bellhousing? It does on all of the truck and older iron pieces for passenger cars, ~ '55 to '62. The iron bellhousings, the starter bolts to that and not the engine plus the bottom is open. If it does make you sleep better, the 10" clutch is actually 10.375".
Happy newyear!! Thanks for all the replies, I know all the aftermarket parts are plenty for sale, but a little machining, grinding, cutting, scrap parts that are local available seem to be part of my hobby....A local machineshop has a nice waterjet cuttingmachine which makes the job easier also. Send them a Dwg file, and they cut it, think they can also make the header flans plates, future engine mounts and more. My garage is cold in winter but computer in my warm office.... Think a little bigger clutch can fit if nessesary, because of the 10 mm plate there's a enough space now inside the bellhousing, I'll measure that and make some photo's. Waithing for other engine parts to be delivered I can make a hi torque-starter fit. My brother has build a test stand for his rebuild Ford Y block 390, we can use that later for my Cad 500, so the complete setup can be tested without the need of a car.
I used ( if I remember correctly) the 74 Eldorado oil pan and pickup. Melling oil pump. We used a moroso accusump at first , but the piston kept getting stuck in the bore.... That's when we discovered Masterlube! Floating ball system works awesome. Added benefit with M/L , if you use it with a valve in the feed line you have a pre lube.. Dave Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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