Modify an old 60s Cadillac for 4 or 6 cyl?

[whokilledthejams]

Originally Posted by amcpacer

Now that is an idea. The eldorado is front wheel drive! A 3.5V6 from a dodge intrepid has lots of power. Perhaps the GM 3.8 front wheel drive in the 90s regals would have even more power although I am not sure which engine is most efficient.

I think the swift 1.0, a nice comfortable hotel, and some extra spending money would be better than a comfortable car and no money for a hotel on a long trip. You certainly can not beat the coolness factor of a big old cadillac!

The 98-04 Mopar 3.5 made ~240hp. Pretty straightforward, and if you get a wrecked LH-sedan, you can probably get the matching 4 speed w/OD tranny, too. There was a column-shift version of that transmission, as well, though it's rare.
Chrysler SOHC V6 engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The GM 3.8 can be had in configurations ranging from the 110hp Carter-Administration Specials, to the 276hp turbo'd GNX, and everything from carbs to FI and supercharging in between. It's a versatile engine that came in about a hundred varieties:
Buick V6 engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Both excellent engines.

However, for the Caddy in question, a relatively simple fix would be to find a 6.2 or 6.5L GM Diesel, which can be bolted to a great number of GM transmissions. Then, befriend someone that runs a restaurant for fuel.

[dremd]

I know it has already been said, but Go Diesel!

How about a 12 valve Cummins? No electrical wiring to speak of (Starter, Alternator, Kill wire, and a/c compressor should do it). The 5.9 is Honestly not all that big, but you would need to add an intercooler.

Want more refinement? Look European or Toyota Hilux.

Then you can run it on BioDiesel and fly as super green in your Land Yacht!

[amcpacer]

A cadillac must be left as a luxury car and a cummins diesel would be quite a bit louder than a gasoline engine. A cummins would be impressively powerful running high boost!

[Frank Lee]

CBS Evening News with Katie just did a fluff piece on John Goodwin, the guy behind the Neil Young Linc-volt, among other things. "Linc-volt is 0 emissions, 2 1/2 tons, and can go 160 mph". No explanation on how this was accomplished, although Katie thought John should go work in Detroit because "they can only dream about performance like this".

[JMags]

6.5 turbo diesel from a 90's chevy truck would make adequate torque to get decent mileage and acceleration. transmission may be an issue though.

Second thought that would require alot of fabrication on the engine mounts but a good transmission would be an oldsmobile aurora 4.0 V8 or 4.6 northstar from a caddy.

[Coyote X]

the 76 Eldorado I picked up and built my kit car with got around 20mpg. I see no reason that a properly tuned and set up Eldorado would get bad mileage. The 500 in them was rated at some ridiculous thing like 210hp. I have no idea where they came up with a number like other than to help insurance be cheaper. A good 500 with the smog crap cleaned off and changed to fuel injection and well tuned would make an easy 450hp and get better mileage and lower emissions than stock. I think it would be possible to get 30mpg highway if you really built it up properly.

My kit car probably gets 25-30mpg but I never ran it regularly enough to know what it is really capable of. A 2000lb with me in it car with a well built rear engine 500 really isn't as fun to drive as you might think.

But really I don't see a problem with a 4000lb car with a 4 cylinder in it. The car won't be a speed demon but really look at the weight of some of the current made cars with 4 cyl engines. My Astro is 4,350 lbs factory, add in the real wood interior and all the other conversion van stuff and it is easily over 5000lbs with no passengers. It has a 165hp 4.3L engine and drives just fine. The caddys had a standard BOP bolt pattern so a motor swap to another GM is pretty simple but the FWD models you would have to mess with the oil pan shape to clear the axle tube. Also swapping to a turbo 325-4L (I think) transmission would get you a 4 speed lockup capable setup to really improve mileage, it is basically a 700-R4. That trans won't survive more than a few minutes behind the 472/500 engine though, the torque they put out is insane. There is a 40% overdrive gear set for the chain drive in the th425 trans so it can really give you some low highway rpms if you want to keep the stronger trans.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by Coyote X

A 2000lb with me in it car with a well built rear engine 500 really isn't as fun to drive as you might think.

Why not?

[Coyote X]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Why not?

Bad design mostly. I used the entire eldorado drivetrain so the weight balance for the car was 60% rear 40% front with me in it. Plus going over 400lb of torque at 1500 rpm makes for really scary launches. If you can manage to keep the front wheels close to the ground and get the power down smoothly it was super fast. Most of the time when you punch it the car just immediately wheelies and goes out of control. That is fun sometimes but doing an 80mph wheelie with an open diff doesn't feel that great really.

My eventual plan when I get back to the car is put the biggest cam made for it to kill some of the bottom end power and a few other odds and ends to try and get it to drive a bit better. I figure for a first try at building a car it came out pretty well. If it wasn't for building such an insane car the first time I never would have been able to build a metro like I did that worked out as good as it did.

[Frank Lee]

Sounds like if ya keep at it, it could be tamed a bit.

I kinda know what you mean. I have a V-Max, and whenever I feel the need for speed, a quick romp on that cures it! But sometimes it's hard to exercise restraint.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by Coyote X

Bad design mostly. I used the entire eldorado drivetrain so the weight balance for the car was 60% rear 40% front with me in it. Plus going over 400lb of torque at 1500 rpm makes for really scary launches. If you can manage to keep the front wheels close to the ground and get the power down smoothly it was super fast. Most of the time when you punch it the car just immediately wheelies and goes out of control. That is fun sometimes but doing an 80mph wheelie with an open diff doesn't feel that great really.

My eventual plan when I get back to the car is put the biggest cam made for it to kill some of the bottom end power and a few other odds and ends to try and get it to drive a bit better. I figure for a first try at building a car it came out pretty well. If it wasn't for building such an insane car the first time I never would have been able to build a metro like I did that worked out as good as it did.

I'm still in love with the 67-70 model year. If one ever fell into my lap with no engine, I'd want to put in a 4-cylinder with a turbo. That way, you get 4-cylinder cruising economy, but the turbo would kick in when you need the power.