Roadkill's 1958 Cadillac - PROJECT THREAD

[FUBAR]

That's epic

The sump has 2 drain plugs?  suppose its needed given the shape.

[Andy]

What a beast!

On the first page you say you're mounting it to a TH350, is there going to be an adaptor plate made up or is the bell housing bolt pattern on this the same as all SBC? Or is the TH350 designed for the Caddy engine?

[Incursus]

Awesome!  Really must get myself a V8 next year.

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

On the first page you say you're mounting it to a TH350

Read it again . . .  

Quoting: Roadkill

Transmission

TH400 (Cadillac / BOP) Long Tail, Gearbox,

Quoting: Andy

is the bell housing bolt pattern on this the same as all SBC?

No. Chevy is Chevy.

Cadillacs use the "BOP" pattern which is the Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac pattern.

Cadillac adapted to suit the BOP in the 60's IIRC . . . Some refer to BOP as BOP(C).

A TH350 wouldn't last 5 minutes behind a 472/500 Caddy . . . especially not a worked-over 512.

A SBC 350 / TH350 is a good combo . . . Once you begin to approach Big Block territory TH400's (and their later versions) are the only way forward.

[Cunning Plan]

DUDE!!

That looks like a beast!

I bet you cannot wait to make a start on the install?

Well done for organising it all. All your research obviously worked well!

[F Body]

That is a beast

How much does it weigh ?

[Andy]

545lbs I'm guessing

[Cunning Plan]

How did you get it in and out?

The roof on the Mondeo would restrict the use of an engine crane... ?

[F Body]

Quoting: Andy

545lbs I'm guessing

Sorry don't do pounds any more, so about 250kg

[Roadkill]

About 520lbs as it sits . . .

Quoting: Cunning Plan

How did you get it in and out?

Engine crane.



Put some strops around the motor, reduce the length of the chain / hook on the crane, then I used a bow shackle to hold the strops together.

There was enough clearance to get the motor in . . . It then had to be man-handled to get it further over the axle / and vice-versa for removal.

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Roadkill

I don't want to go into details too much, yet . . . .

I'm trying to be fairly transparent with this project so I'll fill-in some details regarding the intake.

Originally, I discussed the intake with Clive at Stromberg and he'd come up with a price of £400 to fabricate it (with me supplying the basic "kit"), plus supply the valley cover (required on Poncho and Caddy motors).

Good price, I thought, so that was how it started . . .

Although quickly it became apparent that he'd not got his head around the level of work involved in fish-mouthing all the pipes and the fettling needed to weld it up.

We originally discussed making it off of the engine, but he'd suggested - quite rightly - that it'd be best fabbing it on top of the motor . . . which was why the motor was sent to Stromberg in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, these things are a PITA to make from the "kit" (which is why I didn't want to do it) BUT this is not anything out of the ordinary when it comes to these "dual log" style manifolds . . they've been around since the late 40's and haven't changed at all in that time so I was surprised at some of the questions I was getting asked.

Clive then said he was nervous about fabricating over the motor in case anything contaminated it so asked for me to create a (fairly elaborate) jig.

I was also then left with designing and supplying the valley pan, too . . .

And also a new set of intake flanges as the ones in the kit were too small for the massive ports - this was nobody's fault but mine, really, but the list of things I was now having to sort was growing.

In the end I decided to scrap the "dual log" design.

I love the look of them, but in reality they don't flow that great and If I'm going to be left with loads of work I may as well design something truly unique.

So, I'm in the process of designing - from scratch - an all-aluminium intake and am now looking to increase the number of carbs from Six to an even Eight.



Yeah, yeah, I could buy an off-the-shelf 4BBL intake and be done with it . . . but I've got an idea in my head and that's that.

Unfortunately, with the delays on the manifold this has effectively pushed the actual start date of the project into next year, now.  I was planning to start taking her apart around now but it won't be until spring '15, at the earliest.

I'm a bit put out with Stromberg for the messing about BUT aren't holding any grudges.  

At the end of the day, they're a couple of guys running a small business that's in the U.K and in a very U.S based market.  That in itself is really cool but on top of this they're releasing multiple new products and a completely new "big" 97.

I could start throwing my toys out of the pram but what they're doing is cool.  

I can't argue with that . . .

[Roadkill]

Where are we ?

Oh, yeah, nowhere . . . !

Progress on the motor is on hold until I can get it on the stand and start taking measurements . . . The stand should be ready this weekend . . .

[Roadkill]

Not much of an update but I got the plate for the engine stand test fitted . . . a mini-victory as now I at least know I measured everything right.



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Here's where we are at the mo'.

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[ianjpage]

Quoting: Roadkill

got the plate for the engine stand test fitted

cool so engine be on teh stand this weekend then lol

[Roadkill]

As mentioned in the Engine Stand thread . . . The motor's now on the stand so once I've tidied up the garage I can start measuring up and detailing for the intake manifold drawings.

Slowly, slowly . . .

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[Cunning Plan]

Such a great looking engine. Still loving the heads!

You just need to knock through the wall on the right into the living room to give you space to work at the side

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Cunning Plan

You just need to knock through the wall on the right into the living room to give you space to work at the side

It's on a different level, plus part of it is actually the kitchen . . . and the kitchen is already pretty small.



Unfortunately, the "tidy up" has highlighted a list of other (non-auto) jobs that really need doing, so yesterday I stripped out the cupboard that was damaged in  the "flood" that happen a few winter's back so it can be re-modeled and repaired . . . I also finished doing the physical installation of an extractor in the bathroom (I had the fun job of drilling a 107mm wide hole in the wall up in the loft then fitting the outside vent by climbing up a ladder on top of the garage roof) !!

I've got some other jobs to do in both the front and back gardens before the weather cracks up too, but I'm hoping to be clear-ish in October.

[Andy]

Great to see it mounted on the stand.

Let me know when you know of any thing else I can do. At the moment we're up and down with work so I can try and give you lead times but as homework goes it's secondary to the main stuff unfortunately.

[Roadkill]

Andy, that's understandable, obviously.

It'll be ally tube for you, next.  I'll buy a length of each section and send you a drawing of what I need . . .

Before all of that I need to design the plenum(s) . . . I was going to go for a single but am now thinking that It'll end up being too large (in volume) so am probably going to do two plenums and use balancing tubes  . . .

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Roadkill

by climbing up a ladder on top of the garage roof)

[Roadkill]

Just my luck . . . I had a spare half-hour a couple of nights back so I goes out into my newly clean and cleared garage to start measuring up for designing the intake . .

Grab my digital vernier and - err - it's dead.  It's been messing about for a while but finally is toast.



So I popped round my parents last night to borrow my Dad's Mitutoyo . . . guess what, the battery's dead and he doesn't have any spares.



New batteries are on order . . . I've got a 4-day weekend this weekend so I'm hoping to have something ready to start fabricating by next week . . .

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Roadkill

4-day weekend

I'm going to get an hour in on the bus later

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Roadkill

4-day weekend

Well, it's now currently a 3-day weekend as I have to put in some hours tomorrow, but hey, still not bad.

[Roadkill]

It's beyond a joke, now.  I have the day off to measure and design the intake . . envelope arrives this morning from the seller I bought the batteries (for my vernier) from and . . . . . . . . . . . (wait for it) . . . the envelope is . . . . empty !

WTF !!??

I don't know whether the seller is an utter muppet and sent an empty envelope or Royal Mail has taken to stealing 50p batteries . . either way it's pi$$ed me off . . .

The seller's sending more, but, still -

[ianjpage]

oh not great then - did you get anything done on it at all or not really ?