I'm b/n a rock and a hard place with my 55 cadillac right now and need some expert advice on what to do. My 55 transmission Hyrdromatic is currently locked up and needs to be rebuilt. The 331 is in the same boat..runs good,but needs to be rebuilt. burning oil etc. I hear that 331's are very costly to rebuild. My question is should I be looking for a replacement engine and tranny? I know the purists are going to give me hell for not keeping the original stuff in there. I was thinking about a 500 or 472 ci caddy motor.
The 472 and 500 with a Turbo 400 would pull the car better and finding parts more plentiful. You can pick them up very cheap and the only one thats not considered one of the "good" ones is the 1974 472. Huge chambers and too small a valve.High nickel content makes them lighter by far and only about 50 to 60 lbs heavier than a sbc. Edeldrock makes a good intake to replace the junk stock one (part number 2115) and really wakes it up. You can run HEI or go the points style dizzy and upgrade to electronic aftermarket kit and wake it up more.Not unusual to see 150 to 200 k miles on them if taken care of.