Hey guys,

Couple of quick questions. A friend of mine and I got this 1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Classic for free. The car was loaded. Never the less, the roof was completely rusted becuase of the landau roof. So.. we cut the roof off. Turns out, we found out that the Biarritz was one of only 1,800 ever made. On TOP of that, only 500 were ever made with the power moon roof. And of those, only 200 ever came with the automatic cruise system (car automatically adjusts it's cruise speed to the car in front of it).

So.. oh well.. heh.


Anyway, this car has a rebuild 425 in it. I was wondering if there were any cheap performance parts or whether or not this motor was a CHEVY engine or not. More than likely.. we'll only drive the car around for a year or so, but when the body is junk, I thought about maybe keeping the engine for something.

Is it worth anything?

How about the front wheel drive transmission? It's pretty badass, the motor is longitudinally mounted (like it would be in a RWD car), but it's still front wheel drive!


Thanks,

 

Its of the Cadillac V-8 family that includes the 368, 425, 472, and 500. They are as different from chevy as Olds and Pontiac V-8s. For more info, see here:

http://www.500cid.com

If its rebuilt and it runs good, I'd keep it if it was mine. Its inexpensive torque. There is an Edelbrock manifold and a bunch of cams for it out there to wake it up a bit for a reasonable price. This family of Cadillac motors are pretty reliable--heck, if you keep it for a year, you'll find out. I have a 500 waiting for a home and I'm itching to use it.

Hope this helps

 

I wonder if I could drop it in my 1981 TransAm???

Does it bolt up to a stock TH-350? I'd be scared though that I'd trash my transmission!

 

There's guys here that have dropped 500's into thirdgens, so I'd guess it'd be easier (fitwise) to do so into a 2nd gen. Motor mounts will be the tough part, be prepared for some fabrication. You should be fine with the Eldo oil pan in terms of cross member clearance, and the TH-350 will work if it is a BOP bolt pattern. If the trans is in good shape you should be fine. I personally will try to go with something more of a bolt in with mine (like a G or B body); I considered a thirdgen but had too many hassles (primarily emissions).

 

Or maybe... just find yourself a sweet looking Cadillac Eldorado Convertible?! hehe...

 

Ha Ha.

Actually, funny you should mention, I was considering getting an Eldo convertible for the 500, but the generation after yours (79-85). I LOVE those, except all the ones I've seen have the Hellishly Terrible 4100. I could use a trans from the 368 Seville/Eldo, but I am not a fan of wrong wheel drive. Of course, the engine is still longitudinally mounted, and I do have an extra 9 bolt... and a mig welder...

 

Cadillac 425. Lots of torque. No horspeower. No performance parts available. A TH350 would fit if it were from the BOC family, but might not take the abuse. Heavier than a BBC and WAY less potential.

BTW - I had a '78 CDV 2 door with the 425/TH400. What a friggin' tank. It was almost as heavy as an Impala...

 

No, no, no!!!

The Caddy 368, 425, 472, and 500 engines are the same engine family and only outweigh a SBC by about 70 LBS!!! With the Edelbrock aluminium intake, the difference drops to 35-40LBS.

Some of the numerious parts available are: many cams, an Edelbrock dual plane intake, an MTS dual quad tunnel ram, the Edelbrock intake converted for FI, forged pistons, aluminum heads, shaft rocker conversion kits, headers, and more. Most of this stuff is geared towards the 472/500, but work on the 425 & 368 as well (though I think the 368 is a lost cause). I think you can even use a 472 crank.

These engines have potentila for cheapest torque you can build. You can also get alot of horsepower out of them, however once you start using the fancier parts then cost is on par with building up other motors like BBC's.

Car Craft did a few articles on the 500 in the last few years; one was called 'Torque Pig.' They got incredible numbers out of the engine--they did several stages. The first stage was just with emmissions stuff off, through iron manifolds, driving water pump and alternator only--~300hp, over 400lb-ft. The last, with STOCK Eldo heads, Eldelbrock intake, headers, cam, (maybe a holley, but no major mods-article is at home now), they got ~468 hp and over 500 lb-ft.

I am NOT implying these are miracle motors that can do no wrong, but they have WAAAY more potential than people give them credit for.