My buddy picked up a 500 big block caddy motor and we were thinking of throwing it into a thirdgen. What would we need to make it happen? I've seen 472s in chevelles before so i know its been done. Would we be better off with a second gen?

 

I have to ask: have you done a search yet?

ok, I've seen a couple pics of caddy's in the 3rd gens. One even had an external link to his sight where he cut away at the firewall to move the engine back some to for better weight distro.

 

yeah i searched i didnt find anything

 

Look again.

I haven't seen anyone post about a clean swap. The last one I recall was pretty sorry (cut a hole in the front of the hood for clearance).

 

Hey! I LIKED THAT ONE! hahaha

Anyway, he did have some good pictures of the engine mount setup and that is the hard part anyway. I think it was called cadmaro, but I don't remember.

Keep searching, dang near everything has been done here before at least once!

 

what did yous search for i tried 500 caddy motor 500 caddy swap didn't find nothin

 

Don't use "500" in your search. The only difference between the 472 and the 500 is the stroke. Externally, the engines are identical.

 

I have those pictures saved "somewhere", I just don't remember where I saved them though. His website had about 4 pages of pictures before he seized the buildup. It was a Blue '86 Trans Am w/T-Tops and LG4, and the owner gutted the entire car. He cut the firewall to move the engine back some, and he welded in a nice piece that he fabricated himself in it's place. I'll try to look for them when I get home from work....

 

do a search on: cadillac

 

watch for project dislexia

 

Good luck if you try this. I thought about it a while back but decided it would be too much of a hastle. These engines fit easily into G-Body's, but it might be tight in an F-Body. If you can get a 454 to fit in a 3rd gen, it's probably possible to get a 500 in since they aren't much wider...and they are actually lighter. Not sure about hacking up the firewall and all that...weight distribution shouldn't be much different than a big block swap. Again, not familiar with big block swaps, but you might want to check out the cadillac forums. They have forums dedicated to that engine so you might want to check them out if you are serious.

 

The Caddy engine is a torque motor, not a HP motor. In stock trim, it's only good to about 4500 rpm. The valve train doesn't like high rpms.

Swapping in a BBC is easier and cheaper.

 

Aftermarket k-member, modified pan, custom headers and exhaust, larger radiator, and some practice with torches and a mig..... There used to be one of these in Fort benning a couple years back. He ran without a hood, but had the sides smoothed off so it looked like it was meant to be that way. I wish I could remember everything he did to it.