Projects Any 472 500 Cadillac Fans out there?

No big deal; I was just curious. For myself and 90% of the average, grass-roots racers, the factory iron castings are more than sufficient. With well over 300 cfm available, there's more than enough steam to get most 2600 - 3200 lb cars a visit from the track tech department.
Not knocking aluminum heads at all. Just something extra cool about walking over and starring into an engine bay and seeing factory cast iron heads after the car just knocked off a low 10 sec pass.
Maybe the new heads will have stud-mounted rocker arm provisions, that WOULD be a plus.

 

Love them. Building my 53 1 ton with a '68 472 now. They are relatively expensive to really hop up for high rpms, (compared to a sbc ,but not if you are looking at hemis or flat heads!). If 400+ hp and 450+ft.lbs torque are enough for you, they are very reasonable.
Way more of an engine than a big block chevy.
The biggest problem is the rocker system, not really expensive to upgrade, but if you keep it below 4 grand, you should be fine.

 

Im running a 425 Caddy in my 53 Chevy AD.

 

I have read a few places these are just a little heavier than a SBC. I am curious to how much bigger dimensionally to the SBC?

FYI the CAD company does sell aluminum heads and some are 30 lbs lighter per head than the cast heads. http://www.cad500parts.com/catalog/page17.htm

 

I was told the 472-500 was 50 pounds heavier than the sbc. Throwing in the aliminum intake kind of helped,which I was told was 30 pounds lighter---- but if you lose the steel heads, well then it may end up 40 pounds lighter than a sbc!


They will still be a bit bulkier than a bbc- but love makes ya do crazzzzy things.

 

Personally, I like the '71-73 Caddy 472-500 the best. Cheap pump gas works just fine on these.

My worn out 472 would scald the tires on my '60 Caddy much better than the rebuilt 500 i put in later. But, the 500 doesn't use oil as much and.......well......it is a 500 ya know.


I do suggest a Melling pump, cast iron of course, and avoid the 425 pumps like they are bedbugs!

 

Bulkier than a BBC! Thanks for the info. For some reason I thought they would be a little more compact since they aren't to heavy. They are however 500ci!!!

 

They use lighter steel to make them..

 

The other advantage with the caddys in an old car is the distributor in the front helps with firewall restrictions. It also makes tuning easier in vehicles that have fat fenders and hoods that don't open very far. The oil filter up front also helps mitigate the tight exhaust area with narrow frames. Because of this, I find they fit easier than a big Chevy. I plan to build a custom intake manifold, and being that there is no water in the manifold design simplifies this tremendously.


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Big Fan!
I have a 425 in my F-1 daily driver. This replaced a 472 which seized up 11 years ago. Really noticed very little difference in performance. Still quicker than necessary and has more torque than I'll ever need. Motor has over 180,000 miles on it and only puffs a little smoke when starting. It is only own less than a quart of oil at 2,000 miles. Highly recommend the use of these engines - 472, 500 and 425.

 

I have a 500 in a heavy bucket steet and drag racing Have mts heads and intake and stock bottom end so am limited in rpm 5000 still very tough stong motor and a good cam and intake will wake one up pretty good . the performer intake and a decent cam with a stock motor is a good combo make shure cam doesnt exceed valve lift limitations. rocker arm design is crappy but there are different options you can modify 454 headers with 500 cad flanges to fit.
run low rear gears 3.20 3.08 etc and let the motor do what it does best make gobs of tourque.