Northstar motors...anyone thought about running one?!

Northsatrs are great engines I have one in my 99 El Dorado and goes pretty damn good for such a heavy car. Problem is the motor pictured on the first page of this post runs $18K. Now I have to ask myself for $18K is this motor I would get if that was my budget probably not but I still think it looks cool, foir $18K I could buy a couple of really nice projects.

 

There's probably something in the HAMB dogma (alongside the traditional bit) about NOT SPREADING DRAMA. You tools should learn to UNDERSTAND that.

Defining "traditional" is GAY. Get over it.

I'm sorry for contributing to this post, but....you guys need to pull ya friggin' heads in. Sorry Ryan.

BTW, you f#ckers are LUCKY you can even buy those engines. I guess nobody taught appreciation. Ingrates.

As for the Northstars, if we could readily get them here, I'd happily jam it into a Cad sedan or coupe, or maybe even a street machine. It'd look stupid in my T roadster.

 

This is exactly what i was thinking while reading this post. Also to police the traditional philosophy we're so trying to protect lets kick off all the bagged cars too.

 

doofus, it was what you get to see when you sign up here, if you didn't read it that's your fault... Here it is for your refresher...

Read This First!

 

I had a 92 Seville. It didn't have the Northstar and frankly I don't remember what it had, but whatever it was it was one strong motor. Frontwheel drive and no problem burning rubber.

The only problem I had was the computer causing it to run erratic once in awhile. I replaced it for less than $100 and it ran great ever since.

 

Yep, not trad and questionable about being on here.

Also, my dad has a tote the note lot and has to sell cars that are five to six years old and since he is not a scammer or a scum dealer he is really picky about the cars he sells because they are older and have high miles but it does him no good it they won't make it through the note and he really likes repeat biz.

That being said he won't touch Northstars anymore. High miles = poof. Also head gaskets and such are not cheap. It's an expensive motor to fix and get parts for.

I have not heard him bad mouth a mill as much since some of the six bangers the big three were putting out some years ago.

 

Build what you like.

 

Thanks for serving! it is something I hold dearly as I served, my dad served and my uncle(USN 30 yrs) served.

I had a longer reply but I am going to just let you slide..................

Merry Christmas

 

merry christmas back to ya, i agree on letting things slide, were not getting anywhere. maybe on another post we'll see eye to eye. -josh

 

Too expensive for my taste. Get a full size GM boat, extract 455 and tranny, plenty of power for a rod

 

i hadn't ever thought of running a northstar, but seeing that shot of the blown one at the top of this page makes me think it could look really cool AND fit a certain type of car..

thanks to this thread I now know:

that northstars are apparently expensive to fix,
they have the starter in a silly location,
and they apparently are prone to implosion at approximately 100K miles..

additionally I have been reminded once again that some of these "traditionalists" seem to be more like some of the restorers I know than the hotrodders I hang with..


-100 rocktastic greaser points for sawzall..

 

Fuck it. built one, show us what it can look like. (You won't get shit from me, I like post 64 Oldsmobile motors)

It's all aluminum. polish it and see who gives you shit then.

and it's reeeeal easy to get decent power out of. and probably still cheaper than a Hemi.

Goofy starter location? like under the damn car isn't goofy? I want to be able to get a decent swing at one with a hammer, personally.

 

Yeah - but a stocker (with low miles) with a stock supercharger out of a new XLR-V (the one based on the Corvette chassis that "starts at $100k") runs about $7k with a computer on eBay, etc - sometimes more.

For $18k you could run a blown hemi... hell, a 426 even...

Maybe you're buying mileage and power... for 100k miles, at least.

~Jason

 

I would have liked one in our Anglia, but with the 4 cams, it's too wide (if we wanted to keep the inner fenders and the cowl). If you had something with a larger engine bay (like a vintage Caddy maybe) it should work.

 

Yeah, but ANY Cadillac motor isn't cheap. I think the least expensive to run/build is the 500 (and variants).

But the gaskets (what ones you can get) are asininely expensive, and the fact that Cadillac themselves is hard pressed to do anything but a unit replacement on 'em due to their "throw away" nature at around 100k miles really gives me pause.

For about 2 months solid all I did is read about the things, especially with regards to hot rodding (as I mentioned above, I had wanted one in my '60 Cadillac). Unfortunately, the only benefits I came up with were that after the hellacious job of fitting it in was done you could buy Northstar equipped Cadillacs with running motors and not much else for $500 and keep replacing them as they blew. That didn't sound like an option for me.

And if I'm wrong on this info and just subscribing to urban myth, then by all means set me straight.

Here's some sites you should check out:

GM sells the XLR 4.6L Northstar as a crate engine (of course, from the whole "just swap out the whole thing at 100k" thing, this is not surprising):
http://www.gmperformanceparts.com/E....6%20Northstar V8&sku=12499468&engCat=rpo

Here's a huge technical discussion about just what performance mods you can do on a Cadillac board (it's like 100+ pages):
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/northstar-performance-technical-discussion/

These guys are the end-all, be-all when it comes to parts, mods, etc for the Northstar: Cadillac Hot Rod Fabricators (they did the Northstar in the pic at the beginning of this post).
http://www.chrfab.com/

Don't take my word for it though - here's a Popular Hot Rodding write-up on 'em:
http://www.popularhotrodding.com/enginemasters/articles/cadillac/0505em_cadillac/index.html

And finally, here's another list of performance products:
http://web2.iadfw.net/nunnally/sts/northstarperf.htm

~Jason

 

I would try one of these first:

 

The Ford Modulars have excellent reliability, and make copius amounts of power. They are shorter than a small block Chevy and you don't need to buy brakets and pullies because the accessories bolt directly to the block. They have been available in large numbers and have a huge aftermarket following. The vast majority are rear wheel drive. The starter is in a conventional location. They are rear sump and the pan is small and compact. They are wide which is often bitched about by the detractors. To which I say phooey no- one moans about how wide a 331 Hemi is, and they have a similar visual impact. The biggest reason to run a Ford Modular..... Bill Kenz, Roy Leslie, and Doane Spencer would all run one if they were building now.

 

We impound cars and I've seen many a beater caddy come through with a northstar at 150,000 plus miles running like a top.

Plus they're about 400 pounds dressed and wet. Not a bad choice for a motor, especially if weight is a consideration.

As far as not being a "tradional hot rod" engine? Give me break. There are all kinds of posts here about hiding your tattoos at work, dead country music stars, skateboards, and every other non-tradional hot rod related subject that happens to appeal to some kind of 50's "kustom kulture" whatever, and has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with hot rods (and I don't have a problem with it). These posts will routinely go 4 pages, and no one speaks up and says anything about them not being tradional enough. I'd say that talking about northstars is a lot more on-topic than that shit.

That being said, I think all of us have a different idea of what is traditional, and the only one's that count are those of the moderators. Some of you guys need to pull your panties out of your crack and quit trying to dictate to the rest of us what "tradional" is. If it's not traditional enough, the mods will shut it down. If they don't, well then maybe it's OK to discuss it and some of you should just shut up about it.

 

This is one of the main reasons I'd love for one of those Northstar guys to come on here and talk to us. I too, have seen the post-100k mi Northstars, and I've always wondered how common that was, or if they were just freaks, or mostly highway miles and never run hard, etc.

Surely 100k miles isn't the limit of their useable life, you know?

~Jason

 

Aren't they gasket less or something? Seems like at one time or another someone told me they were completely sealed together with that new strong bond stuff?

 

well said!

 

They're not completely gasketless, but do use good sealant in non pressure areas.
Also, YES, the starter is under the intake. It can be done in 45 minutes without getting under the car. They also last a long time, since they stay clean and dry.

I would use one if I had the right style car project going on.

 

I'm putting one in my Henry Ford steel '32 3 window that I have un-channelled and will not chop. I'm putting a carb on it and making it look like an old overweight underpowered Chrysler hemi. I could care less about whether anybody else likes it or thinks it unbecoming to this forum because I've been building and driving tradional type cars since before lots of you were being conceived in the back seat of Volkswagens. I would run a Northstar if I was a GM guy but I'm a Ford person. I also have a shiney black steel '32 roadster with a boring SBC. Its got drum brakes,manual transmission and wide whites because thats what I wanted for me, not you.

 

Hot rodding is about going fast...that's traditional. Apply proper power to weight ratios and bingo!
I probably violated tradition by putting a 68 caddy motor into my 60. I am going to lose so much sleep!
Old hot rodders hate tradition...you got somethin' that's gonna make my pile faster, and it's cheap? I'm goin' for it.
Nowadays it seems to be more about style and how you look in the mirror than plain old SPEED!
Young hot rodders seem much more concerned about a tradition they didn't initiate.
Restoration is so anal...hot rodding is supposed to be a release from the "it has to be like this" crowd.
Period hot rod?..cool but after a while it becomes restoration rather than true hot rodding.

 

The modular Fords are similar to the Northstar (32 V, DOHC) , but are more plentifull and pretty cheap. Also will run up to 200K miles easily. It's a pretty good design with O rings on the covers and silicone impregnatd gaskets so there are no leaks. Best part is I probably have no more than $3000 in this setup including the EFI and it runs 17 MPG all day.

I built this one to show they can be made to look OK when all the junk is removed (and an 6-71 plopped on top). I know it's not traditional so I don't bring it up around here, but since it came up.....

 

I shared this in another post, but it applies here as well-

In 1932, flatheads weren't exactly traditional, but tons of them wound up in engine bays. Why, because it made their car go faster, quicker, and better.

If this guy wants to use an engine, it's HIS choice- if you have a whorthwhile opinion that differs, then share it, otherwise stop showing others just what kind of a fool you can be by trying to set perameters on things you know little about.

Just my $.02

 

Oh,

I also wonder how many would share those narrow opinions with Gene Winfield?

 

Right on reproguy, I gotta agree, hot rodding has always about taking something and making FASTER and better.
As far as the goth meets the 50's crowd influence, what do "zoomie pipes" on anything but a drag car, out of proportion trucks that aren't even trucks anymore (can I say bobber here) because they don't have a bed big enough to carry a tool box or even a tissue box for that matter, "laying frame", flat or flattened paint on "finished customs", "patina" instead of getting off your lazy butt and doing the body and paint work, "tats", or having a ring in your nose to be lead around with, have to do with "traditional"?
Just because you're too young, too lazy, or too ignorant to do the research about how these cars were built "back in the day" and sign on to fads that haven't been around even a decade yet doesn't mean I have to sign on to them too. Do yourself a favor, buy one or more of the many books written about the pre and post WWII period and seek out one of the "old" guys on here that were building cars forty or fifty years ago before they die off and find out what they think a traditional car should be (I would have said 20 or 30, but I don't think the restorods of the 70's or the billet queens of the 80's are quite traditional yet).
I'll put my soapbox away now.

 

your close! gm used a type of block sealer that they recomended be added after x-amount of miles. there was no way in hell i would have bought a overheated cadilac until i saw how easy the fix was. tough units.

 

thanks for all the info! i was originally looking for something that was easily accessable and pretty cheap. obviously the northstar i posted a pic of is rediculously out of my price range and for that amount of money i could think of a million things i'd rather get. the ford modular motor looks interesting as well. i'm not really a die hard, GM or ford man, i could care less. if its fast i like it! while on a stroll thru the local scrapyard i found a 70's BMW rear wheel drive, 5 speed, hell i was tempted to take that motor and throw into a modified. just something a little different, and it would surely wind up quick!