Technical 500 Caddy ?s

Great engines
Super tough, the blocks have a high nickel content that makes them long wearing. You can get a rear sump oil pan. Look for the front wheel drive cars. The easiest rear sumps pans to find are the later 368 pans from the Eldo and Sevilles up through 1981. When you get the pan, remember to get the pick-up tube and the dipstick (actually you can reuse the front sump dipstick but have to move it to the other hole.

If you can find it, Doc Frohmader's book "Big Inch Cadillac: is an invaluable resource
Bobby

 

thats what I am looking for but may just make a rear sump due to wanting to install this thing quickly
31 Vicky posted a pic in a 500 thread where a guy use a BBC pan and grafted it to the caddy pan
I have also seen the pan reversed, the pick up tube for the rear sump is available online

 

I have several 500 and 472s for sale,i even have a stick shift flywheel.
all located in SW Ga.

 

This one did still run oké’ish...


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That's what you get when the plastic gets hard and cracks off and ends up in the pan. The chain then runs on an aluminum gear that should have plastic teeth on it.

 

Any rear sump pans
What’s the price on the flywheel. I like my th 400 but I also have a NV4500

 

The timing set will be replaced. I have cleaned up my share of gear plastic from pans

 

There was a 1970 Coupe Deville at an ECTA meet with a huge turbo that ran over 200 mph in the mile !

 

I had looked at a '65 Chevy years ago with a 500 Caddy in it. Bone stock, Quadrajet and all... smoking fast. I should have bought it. I saw another more recently in a '63 Chevy wagon, looked like a factory install.

 

Ran a 74 500 from a Cpe DeVille that had 50,000+ miles on it. Some new gaskets, always changed the oil, dropped it in an F-150 and put almost 200,000 trouble-free miles on it, with NO repairs ever except to fix the A/C once. Sold it for decent $$$ and that guy drove it for at least 3 years I knew of. We dragged many a heavy classic Packard on the open trailer with it. Funny anecdote, driving on I-80 in PA with a project Packard on the trailer and parts in the bed. That rise west of Muncy, PA where the sign says "Highest Elevation East of..."? We passed a guy pulling a camper in the right lane, he was probably at 45-50, we went by about 65. The look on his face was priceless. They like to breathe. Open air cleaner gave it a car length in a drag race against a bone stock Torino Talledega The 1st run had us dead even. The look on his face was priceless too! Enjoy your motor, you have a lot of life left in it. Keep the oil changed regularly, standard Q-Jet mods, dual exhaust, and you might as well change the timing chain, then don't look back. Oh yeah, empty we could net about 17-18 MPG at 70-75 MPH hiway cruising. I think it had a 3.23 rear axle. Big Caddy's rule...

 

I have a '71-'73 472. He just said that the heads are too restrictive in stock form for the intake to make a difference. Basically would have the ability to breathe in more air but not take advantage of it because of the restrictive nature of the heads.

My ‘29 A Sedan has the 472. It's a .030 over rebuild with headers and advance curve kit. Stock other than that. I have been abusing it since 2003 and it still screams down the 1320. It also has thousands of highway miles. Just never rev them past 4400 rpm in stock trim. The valve train doesn't like it and it's not making any more power anyway.

 

I cut the valve guide bosses down and used 440 Mopar valve springs. The rocker system is now available as a roller rocker setup. It was not available when I did mine so we modified some RB Mopar roller rockers to fit after the mods it made power to 5500 rpms. Usually shifted around 4800 to take advantage of the gobs of torque. I used to have a video on my phone of my Caddibu doing a 300 ft burn out, but my memory chip died and I lost my videos and about 250 photos.

 

A 368 Cad pan will also fit the big blocks. Some are mid sump, Eldos are rear sump.

 

The stock intake are a huge power drop in these engines as they set really low in the valley due to the super low hoods in those days. The high rise Edelbrock intakes are supposed to be a big improvement.
The 1970 Eldorado 500ci engines are the cream of the crop with the highest stock compression and HP ratings but all of the engines are good.
I took my 1972 500ci Caddy engine with 130K miles on it, replaced the timing chain and gears, stuffed a new oil pump on it and dropped it in my 49 Ford truck without any issues. I drive the snot out of this thing with frequent long distance road trips and have never had in issue. At higher RPM's on long road trips it will push oil out of the front and rear intake seals but, no biggie, the engine has tons of miles on it. I run lows 15's at the dragstrip with 2.75:1 rear gears and I can get about 17MPG on the road.
I love my big Caddy

Bobby

 

Thanks. The intake sounds like a good investment
The bus currently gets around 10/11 mpg with the 350. Ran this thing yesterday for about 7 hours on another parts run. 65 mph is around 2800rpm. Hopefully this 500 will do a little better. Should definitely not have to work as hard. I plan on changing the 410s to 373s This should drop the crusing rpm a little and the extra torque from the 500 should be able to handle it. I keep looking at motor homes that come up in scrap yards looking for a gear vendors OD

 

@anthony myrick did you ever progress this?

 

Slow progress.
Just about done building the 500
Picked up a Doug Nash overdrive too.

 

The engine ran great but i can’t leave well enough alone.
When we tore it down for a new gaskets, we inspected the bearings. The cam bearings had some dark spots.
The crank and bores were still well within specs. We had the block tanked and new cam bearings installed and freeze plugs. Honed the bores and polished the crank.
Had the heads worked and surfaced. New valve seals.
Decided to go with a mild cam as well.
And picked up a rear sump pan

 

Gold

 

An engine in good shape is at its cheapest point to build.

 

I completely agree with replacing the timing gears & chain.Why in heck do OEM cam gears have plastic teeth? The answer I get is that they are quieter. The only time I have ever heard a timing chain is when it was so loose that it slapped against the timing cover. Greg

 

Timing gears on these engines are usually trash. This one was no exception. We got a nice new one.
Picked up a 472 from a guy that tossed every part he could at it. Timing gears were gone and the chain was slipping.

 

i am building a '23 t altered for the drags and i am putting in a 500 cad. at first it will be completely stock, just to see what it will do. then it will get built a little bit. hahaha

 

It should do pretty good! Nothing like big cubes from a relatively light engine for a recipe for fun. the 23 altered should be cool.

My bone stock Caddy in my 49 Ford truck will do 15.4 in the quarter mile. I'm at a mile high in elevation and have 2.75:1 rear gears. I have to be careful how I roll into the throttle or I'll just spin tires and not go anywhere.
I took a road trip last summer up to Colorado for the dirt drags and managed to get 18 MPG with the truck. I love my Caddy

Bobby

 

I think it will be traction limited...........

 

you have to put big tires on it to get any traction since altered don't have much weight on the rear.

 

Later 368 and 425 intakes aren't "sunk" as far as 472/500, and 368/425 mounts/perches, and pan let you mount a 472/500 in a lot of rear sump chassis.

 

Yes, I expect big tires, but I still think traction will still be a problem. And if you get too much traction......that's a whole nother problem.

 

I have an aluminum factory 425 intake.
The ports are smaller than the 472:500.
The rear sump pan and pickup helps a bunch and the oil pump is clocked better.
I have seen BBC oil pans grafted to the front sump pans.

 

When you use the 368 rear sump pan you also need the dipstick and tube that go with it. The 368 rear sump dipstick gets installed in the other hole in the block as well.

Bobby