CADILLAC V8 ENGINE HISTORY

A LOOK AT THE CADILLAC V8 ENGINE THROUGH THE YEARS
Correction I called Cadillac Chrysler at one point also there is no 390 Flat head V8

[@unclesquirrel6951]

The 472/500 was originally designed to support 600 cubic inch . A Cadillac spokesman back in the mid 70s said the reason the 600 cubic inch program was cancelled was simply because of the gas wars and insurance companies complaining.

[@Texasmule]

Cadillacs are the geniuses, luxury in a muscle car

[@Myvintageiron7512]

Yes that is true I have read quite a bit of the engineer's notes from back then they did indeed plan on a 600 CID but like you said by the mid 70's everything changed for all of these engines They also had a limited edition V16 with 1000 HP but it never was a production car

[@brocka.stanley6072]

@@Myvintageiron7512 they also were looking into making a V12 in the 60’s but stayed with the big V8’s. Also, you didn’t speak on the new Blackwing V8’s that wouldn’t fit into the the bulk of their cars😂

[@glennoropeza3545]

That would make for one incredible airboat engine!

[@billybobbob3003]

@@Myvintageiron7512 liberal-19!

[@blackbuttecruizr]

For the 429, he said "Chrysler produced" 😮 so many videos, so many engines.... 😉😉😉 Can't wait for the International Video!

[@steverathwell2173]

I'm a Cadillac guy, you didn't butcher it too badly.. lol.. :)

[@jamesbosworth4191]

Oh yes he did. Way to many errors.

[@Marksracingengines]

Man I own an automotive machine shop and I've still learned a lot from your series of the "American V8's" videos. I enjoy all of them. Thank you for putting the time in to make these videos. Don't worry about the trolls and the keyboard experts, most of them have never turned a wrench. Take care Brother.....

[@Myvintageiron7512]

Right on!

[@GorillaCookies]

I have a high compression Cadillac 390 with Tri Power 3×2 Barrel carburetors in a old 16' flat bottom V drive boat. It runs really strong. Has a top speed of 67 mph which is pretty good considering its a fairly heavy mahogany boat .

[@jimkillen1065]

Yea thats pretty decent for sure .

[@jimkingk9597]

I just love all this content! So much to learn. You spoke of them reintroducing the 472....Ford did this with tractor engines through the years. Had 3 different iterations of a 233 ci. Two 4 cylinders and one 6 cylinder. I'm sure it could be a real hoot at a dealership parts counter back in the day! Awesome series!

[@tocsa120ls]

I remember someone build a 472 for Engine Masters, bored out to 500ci and made like 780hp on pump gas. Really really nice engine.

[@glennoropeza3545]

Engine Masters has connection with all the aftermarket companies! I love their show.

[@nathancarpenter7626]

Hopefully he does one on the international harvester SV engine family.

[@tmiklos4]

The 390 came out before 1963, i think it was out in 58 or 59.

[@Sundancer268]

Would love the IHC engines. In the 70s, they were a 300,000 mile engine when all other engine manufactures were end of life about 100,000 miles.

[@joejones4296]

I love your content. Can you turn your intro music down just a bit?

[@ronsmith7739]

I hate the CAFE and the EPA and the dam Democrats !!!!!!

[@williamboger7834]

😅p

[@A169KL]

You, me and probably 10000000 other people.

[@geoffmooregm]

That's cool. The EPA was brought in by a republican president (Nixon) in response to a string of environmental disasters, terrible air quality, and public concern. When you have little to no environmental protection, you end up with air quality warnings like China and India. Do you want to spend days on end sheltering indoors until the wind moves the pollution away? It used to happen in the US before CARB and the EPA were a thing. Maybe you would like leaded gas to come back and CFC's?

[@ronsmith7739]

@@geoffmooregm CARB and EPA may be good, but they have gone overboard. CARB has worked very good with the SEMA and that's great. I never was a big fan of Nixon and EPA wants to have 54 MPG on trucks with Obama that's nutz !!!

[@davekulman8195]

Sounds good I'm looking forward to the International v-8 engines you should also do the same for inline 6 engines. Great job on all the videos look forward to seeing some more

[@Bhughe4]

I as well would like to see an inline 6 video as well. Some that come to mind: the Ford 300ci Big Six, Chrysler slant six, GM stovebolt six....maybe possibly even do the Jaguar 4.2/4.0L that was produced for decades, also perhaps the BMW inlines of years past. Id be interested in knowing the backstory and linageages of any of those, especially the Ford 300 six and the details of what made it so good and long lived.

[@Herbert.molzan]

Yes worst ever made tell them about aluminum block pile of garbage that so hot that can't be rebuild what is it 90 to 98? Or was it 2006 I recommend don't by this shit.

[@adamcampbell8794]

I have owned over 20 Cadillacs. I'm addicted to the brand. Thank you for the video

[@davidgold5961]

14:49 The 425 V-8 was the last Cadillac engine where the alternator was mounted in the V, the valley in between cylinder banks, which reduced vibration. The last model year you could get this engine in was 1979.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

That's strange, the last Cadillac 425 I worked on had the alternator above, next the passenger side head.

[@Headbanger427]

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the series

[@harryharris4057]

I know England and Europe made some nice small V8's but please don't forget about GM's Australian arm, Holden, had a few top V8's. Kind of a SBC cross 400 Buick, that found there way into many drag and burnout cars. I race one myself, see my page.

[@Myvintageiron7512]

Thats very interesting I will look into that

[@harryharris4057]

@@Myvintageiron7512 you'll find a good rundown on wikipedia under Holden V8 engine

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

You couldn't buy gasoline and you had odd and even license plates to buy gas

[@kenchorney2724]

The modern version of the 4/6/8 concept is called AFM (active fuel management) on some current engines. It is theoretically better but it has introduced new failure modes. Early lifter failure is a big problem on a lot of these and it is a common practice to delete/disable it.

[@davidpowell3347]

Junk.

[@bparksiii6171]

Thanks on covering one of my favorite and fascinating engine families. One of the most fascinating Cadillac engines is not a V8, but the V-16, especially the 1938-40 design of the block cast angle 135 degrees, still keeping the firing pulses 22.5 degrees apart and still fit in the engine compartment, and the dual manifolding, water pumps, ignition coils and distributors with the pair of points in one of them. You are doing a great job on your engine histories, along with Jay on his What's it like channel. His channel has been doing a lot of the 6 cylinder engines, so both your channel's engine histories complement each other.

[@davidpowell3347]

Also some of the large gasoline engines that were used in American LaFrance fire trucks? I think some of more than 8 cylinders and had twined distributors and ignition coils? Was Cadillac's V16 used in an early fire truck or pumper?

[@bparksiii6171]

@@davidpowell3347 I have not heard or read anywhere of the Cadillac v-16 used in fire engines , or commercial vehicles outside the few hearses and ambulances built with those engines, La France and Seagrave fire engines used either, or patterned after the Pierce Arrow V-12 car engine for years with dual ignitions like the Nash Jay featured until the 60's when the big block V-8's and diesel engines were comparable in power the V12's were phased out. I read in an Hemmings article that Seagrave made some of their V-12's with 0ver 900 cubic inches. That is larger than the GMC 702 V-12 engine, which was used in some GMC fire truckc.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

@@davidpowell3347 The American LaFance rigs used the 472 version of the Auburn V12. That engine was never used in a production car due to the depressed demand for luxury cars during the depression, but AL used it, and the smaller 392 version for smaller rigs. Because this engine was used into the 60s, Auburn owners were always about to get parts for their engines.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

@@bparksiii6171 Wow! never heard of a 900 cube version of the Seagrave V12! What an engine that must be!

[@michaelwillette5738]

Good info! Observations. Not unique to Cadillac is GM's tendencies to introduce half baked designs. I wonder if, without proof, Corporate production pressure led the divisions to put out designs before working out the bugs? Direct experience: 472/500s used a high nickel/ high tin alloy that enhanced thermal performance & reduced bore wear. It is not uncommon to source a u-pull-it with little or no bore wear. In fact it was used in high stress small block Chevys & big block GM performance engines. On the ...010 Chevy blocks, if one looks behind the cam sprocket, there may be two 3 digit numbers cast there. 10 for hi tin & 30 for high nickel. I tore down one that had

[@jhoncho4x4]

Always wanted to see how the caddy 500 did in a pickup truck, towing a trailer up the mountain interstates; compared to the early turbo diesels with 4 speed automatic transmissions or older manual equivalent.

[@jimkillen1065]

I glad you brought this up as i remember hearing about a farmer who installed one in his truck. I dont know if it was 3/4 or a one ton dual. That was a long time ago. I was told it ran well ..i doubt it got the fuel economy of a first gen 12 valve but it was a good gasoline truck ..I heard of farmers installed some diesels also back then in there trucks . This is about the time chev tried the old diesel bomb ..

[@russellalbertson1670]

My observation is that the 500 cu in V8 was first offered in the Elderado models in 1970, then thru the 1976 model year. It follows that the 472 was in the De Ville models from 68 thru the 73 model year, the 74, 75 & 76 full sized Cadillacs all had the 500 cu in V8, I really enjoy your presentations.

[@Hopalong..75]

Back in high school I had a 51 shoebox Ford with a OHV Cadillac V8, I thought I was hot stuff.

[@Myvintageiron7512]

you were

[@casamequite]

I was a Goodwrench technician in the 80's and 90's. This was a good presentation. I have a little mop up or "who cares" info on the Northstar V8. The Genesis of it was the Quad 4 in the Cutlass Calais and Somerset Regals. An Olds creation that was so successful that Olds decided to take that technology and make a Quad 8. Quad meaning V8 with 4 valves per cylinder. They called it the Aurora 4.6 V8. I had classes at GM Training Center for it. It was supposed to be the best engine ever designed. (aren't they all?) Then desperate Cadillac scammed up on it through company politics and stretched the engine displacement out beyond its intended design. The original Olds version was pretty reliable.

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

Those engines had to move 6000 lb of car

[@sandhaug67]

1958 - 1962 Had a 390 cid version of the earlier 365. Bore 4" and stroke 3.875. It had 325 hp and 430 tq with a four barrel, and 345 hp and 435 tq with 3 x 2 barrel

[@joefreeman9733]

The 1949 Cad ohv engine was the premier engine of the time. It would move the hesvy Cadillac up beyond 110 mph. FAST FOR THE TIME. A common conversion was to transplant these engines into 1953 1954and 1955 light weight Studabaker voupes. These made very fast street rods.

[@SurferJoe46]

Had a buddy in high school in 1963-4 who was a Studebaker/Cadillac nut! He had a Golden Commando and a Silver Hawk with Cads in them ... I think he mentioned the name; "Kettering" all the time and how the Studes were designed to accept the Cad engines since Kettering worked for both companies. He called his hybrids: "Studellacs".

[@blogengeezer4507]

Restored, swapped engines, trans, several older Caddys. Heads cracked web between cyl, exhaust, intake valve. Leaked coolant into combustion if severe. Experience.. Studebakers, Hawks above 100 mph were barely controllable, felt like a basket of parts through the twisties on old two lanes, to say nothing for brakes.. ;/

[@dale116dot7]

The 4/6/8 engine probably would have done ok with multipoint sequential injection. You’d need a computer fast enough to phase the injector turnoff and the valve deactivation. Throttle body injection with a number of dead-end runners sounds like a fuel distribution disaster to me.

[@byronleatham1183]

The north star motor was an absolute piece of shit I should have recalled And paid the people to hold a piece of garbage to the dump big ripper

[@byronleatham1183]

Yeah, I have a 99 or maybe a 2 thousandnorth star motor absolute piece of s***And the electronics took this s***And I couldn't figure out how to fix. So I got it nice looking Cadillac. That's an absolute piece of s***Cadillac should go back and recall all of them and give some money to the people that they robbed while they were trying to some of this pieces. S*** up everybody's Ash dancing ran so much oil threatcouldn't drive it a 100 miles. And what kind of idiot makes it? So you gotta take the whole top of the motor off. Just to get to the starter. In my opinion, they quit making. Cadillacs in 1972 period there's no more Cadillac. After that the class style the Luxury are all gone even Even cars like osmobil and buick Are not anything like the luxury That they stood for. In my opinion they do not make A leash Carnot one where you can have 6 people in the car. With enough Leg room And have 6 adults with plenty of leg room. Or trunk space. Not to mention enough power to push him down the road. I think nineteen seventy two was last year anybody that built a decent Automobile And the carburetor and they set a pointis first superior to any of the electronics Trash, they put on Cars today. And it breaks my heart sing foreign built S*** putting America automobile industry out of business. I still think that people that buy foreign belt vehicles are traders. Because they put Americans out of work. Which takes money away from All American. They used to have Ace slogan by American be American. I still hold that to be a basic principle of america

[@Fryzss]

That’s weird my parents owned a 1959 Coupe De Ville 2 door hard top that had a 390 overhead valve engine I remember changing the fuel pump on it when I was 16 in 1966. They had bought the car used in 1963 or 1964. Dad and two of his co workers ran a AA/F dragster in 1964 at Santa Maria, CA.

[@tmiklos4]

You should have had noted about Cadillac engines that were marinized. The earliest were 331 then 354 and finally the 390 all converted by the company that became Crusader Marine. Originally DRE. Detroit Racing Engines, then Cal Connel Cadillac then Cadillac Crusader as and finally Crusader Marine. .the last year for Cadillac in (Crusader Marine) was 1963. Crusader went to Chevy blocks after that.

[@kdsboosted4954]

354 was chrysler the 365 was the mid cid cadillac engine started in 56

[@tmiklos4]

My bad. It was 331. I knew it was a match to a hemi. The hemi was also marinized. Both the 331 & 354. And maybe 392. (I haven't seen one of those). Cadillac were marinized 331, 365, and 390. Ranging from 230, 240, 250, 275, 275, 285,300, and 325. Depending on the year, carburetor , cid, and compression. There were two different 325 hp. one was the 365, one was the 390. The 365 was considered a racing engine. The earliest ones came out in 1953 ish. Basically custom built by DRE. There were between 30 & 36 of those. # 1200 thru 1230 & 1236. Cal Connell Cadillac name change started between 1231 and 1236. We believe the first DRE Marine engine was #1200. DRE, Cal Connell Cadillac & Crusader Marine built a 1000 + between 1953 & 1963. Working on figuring out exactly how many were built from boat manufacturers records. Crusader has no records from 1963 and earlier.

[@kdsboosted4954]

@tmiklos4 yes the popular hemi's were the 331,354,392 and some baby hemi's around 270 cid from trucks I believe. The 365 definitely was a popular swap as the 56 Eldorado had the dual quad intake all cool engines. I have a 56 4 dr hdtp sedan deville with the 365. I also picked up a pair of 354's that I'd like to use up in something. Have a good one 🤙

[@tmiklos4]

We ( my brothers and me) have several marine Cadillac engines. And several Chryslers .. as far as what engine can be run at WOT . Chryslers can be run WOT almost endlessly. Not so much with the Cadillac . Finding a boat with a good original engine today is about 80 times easier with a Chrysler. They are bulletproof. Cadillac engines tended to fail due to oil returns. This problem can be fixed in a rebuilt. Oil returns are enlarged. Also a higher volume oil pump helps. We have run 365 and 390 Cadillac. 354 hemis 413 and 440 Chryslers. Both dual 4 bbl and single , on both Cadillac and Chrysler. We have Also run big fords fe 352 390, 427. Also big block Chevy, 427 454. My favorite of all of these is the 413 Chrysler. I know im rambling.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

The 270 was the smallest -block version, for the Dodge. 4.1 inch bore centers. The DeSoto HEMI had 4.3 bore centers, the Chrysler had 4.5 inch bore centers. Three different blocks, that's the way Chrysler did it.

[@chrisroberts7638]

5 inch bore centers and 10.x inch deck height. If it was not for the smog and fuel crisis situation just think how large this engine could potentially become. If the Buicks and Olds V-8's with their closer bore spacing could get to 455 it is easy to imagine a 600+ ci stock Cadillac from the factory if there was the demand.

[@chrisroberts7638]

The 368 using that tiny bore when the block has 5 inch bore centers there must have been almost an inch of space between the bores. If the block used a lighter casting then lots of space between the cylinders for water to circulate. Must have been an easy engine to keep cool. The 425 has hidden potential - still about 7 liters and a lighter casting than the 472/500. Also the late 70's Coupe Devilles and Sevilles were smaller, lighter and very attractive cars. Build up the 425 and have a good sleeper rod for the street.

[@trentdawg2832]

My mother had a ‘92 sedan deville with the 4.9…that car was actually very nice and moved down the road quite well….my caddilac has a 556hp supercharged LS in it and my god it is a hoot to drive

[@TurnsWrenches]

This is the information we needed. No sponsor plugs, no fancy editing, just straightforward information.

[@tmiklos4]

The gold engine looks like an early DRE (Detroit Racing Engines) reworked engine.

[@starxlr7863]

I love Cadillac as I've been around them all my life. A few mistakes but that's ok. I have owned and worked on pretty much most of the engines listed after 1949. I know my grandfather worked and specialized on most of the early Cadillac V8's being very different and unique in design. Personally, my favorite classic V8 is the 390 from 1959-62 and my favorite modern Cadillac V8 is the 4.6L NorthStar. This engine does not receive the credit or recognition anymore it seems to me via these you tube videos. The early Northstar were actually very problem free than many think. Oil leaks will be common the gaskets that an engine uses. Oil problems and fuel injection problems is incorrect. Head gasket problems all stemmed from poorly maintained cooling systems and one major thing that happened with GM during the later 90s was the introduction of Dexcool antifreeze. This is still a great engine that doesn't get the recognition that is should be getting. My oldest is 1961 and my newest is 2005 and all of them have been excellent. It just takes the right person to know what they're doing.

[@StephenViola-ib8dq]

Pulled the HT 4100 out of my 83 Coupe De Ville swapped in a nice small block Chevy about 425 hp using all factory parts! What a screamer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jamesbosworth4191]

The Cadillac 341 was produced from 1928/29 for Cads, 1930 for the companion LaSalle, not 38 - 40. The 353 reached 115 horsepower in it's later years.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

The Hydramatic came out offor 1940 on Oldsmobiles, so it is impossible for 37 Cads to have it. Also, a 390 version of the 322/346 was never mass produced, possibly because of the sharp recession of 1938.

[@keno77]

I want to thank you man for this interesting series of the American V8:s amazing how much work you have done to give us all the information served with pictures and data on each and every engine.👍

[@Myvintageiron7512]

happy to do it I love V8 engines if you love what you do you won't work a day in your life

[@EricAkins-le9jj]

Watch your videos over and over...how about international info?? Thanks vintage

[@scootergeorge7089]

My 1954-1963 Chilton's specs for the 331 OHV say boar and stroke of 3 13/16 x 3 5/8 (3.8125 x 3.665) which are in conflict with the dimensions shown here. 6:30 So Cadillac went from an extremely undersquare engine to slightly oversquare. Advertised torque for 1954 330@2700 RPM. Advertised torque numbers are shown through 1963. I once owned a 1986 Fleetwood Brougham 4 door with the 4.9 engine. 19 MPG on the highway but GUTLESS. Had a 4 bbl carb. Reliable though.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

Yes, you can rebuild a smog engine to MOSTLY pre-smog specs, but you can't use double-digit compression ratios, as we no longer have 100 octane fuel. There were no such thing as knock sensors, and you can't add them to engines that never had them.

[@garthlundquist3623]

Basically every Cadillac engine after 1971 was poor and becoming worse. It didn’t help that the overall quality of the cars also declined. GM squandered decades of quality product and engineering, going from Standard of the World to running joke.

[@jesseduke694]

International would be interesting! Ok I have a question about Cadillac blocks such as the 472 & 500. I've heard some refer to them as weak, or just being puuny. Like main caps, skinny & light. But then others have said they used a special recipie for the metal the cast their blocks with, so they might look light but are actually very strong & durable? Is there any truth in any of this stuff???

[@geoffmooregm]

Yes, they were high nickel blocks and quite strong. The rods were relatively weak, and the oiling system was not meant for high RPM service. These things are easily corrected when hotrodding them, though.

[@Myvintageiron7512]

IHC is on my list

[@davidpowell3347]

V8- 6- 4 lives on today and it is still miserable. Even on some Japanese cars? GM,Dodge "displacement on demand" "MDS" ? Special valve lifters with a function that allows them to completely collapse rapidly upon an electric signal?

[@beaches2mountains230]

Well, I'll be, Never knew that me and CADILLAC had a 5" stroke in common. Jokes aside I love your engine history series and I hope you keep them coming !!

[@walnutmanor]

Very nice presentation. You didn't mention the 1957 dual quad 365 engine rated @325 HP. Straight linkage, bat wing air cleaner. I had one in a 53 Mercury, great memories. Thanks

[@TheMKEWERBY]

Very informative video. I had a '99 Seville with a Northstar 4.6 and it was an overheating nightmare!

[@papaloongie]

I absolutely love this series. I think the hydramatic was introduced in the 1940 model year I have a 46 and a 47 series 62 that both have hydramatics. Also have a 79 coupe de ville with the 425, great car, great engine. My 4100 leaked from everywhere. The factory fix I believe was to add stop leak to the radiator. It solved the leak, but the situation wasn’t really satisfactory. It’s refreshing to get great information from a grown up. Many many thanks.

[@Myvintageiron7512]

Very cool!

[@davidpowell3347]

Did the later HT engines get some kind of girdle that the head bolt threads or studs anchored into? Strange that Cadillac would make the same mistake again with the NorthStar (weak head bolt threads and/or undersized head bolts/studs that stretched,pulled or otherwise allowed the cylinder heads to "lift" Diesel engine makers such as Cummins solved a lot of these problems with cylinder head lift and head gasket sealing many years ago ? The round "pills" that were supplied by GM dealers for use in the coolant of HT engines? Did they help? Some sort of stopleak?

[@kevinlee3137]

I wish I saw Your video before I bought the ‘85 DeVille, (Short Stretch Limo), back in 2013.

[@RobertsAutomotive]

To be fair to the 500 Cadillac you should explain the difference between sae and net horsepower ratings. the later 500's were not that different than the early ones

[@goodfellasinc.5648]

Love what you bring to us viewers? I was wondering where you were at, don't know the reason I got unsdescribe. I Appreciate if you would stop using the bad words Starting with the letter f. Because I'm a General motors freak. And we don't copy nothing about ford ...lol see you on the nexts one..

[@CliffValentine-i4o]

Can you help have two complete Caddy V* flathead eng looking to ID these two with updraft carb

[@steveraus3495]

I'm a total Cadillac geek, when it comes to using the '49-79 V8 in HP applications. Yes, you made some errors and left some things out, but I'm not going to call you an idiot and correct you. Love your channel, watch most of your videos, and really appreciate you doing this V8 series! I've learned a lot from it.

[@5610winston]

13:40 It must be remembered that some (but not all) of the reduction in advertised horsepower ratings was due to the difference between the SAE gross ratings advertised prior to 1972 and the SAE net ratings advertised in later years.

[@jeffhopper3526]

Thank you for another interesting video. You can always take on six cylinders if you too bored. Awesome series. thanks again.

[@glennoropeza3545]

True! Hot Rod magazine tech editor ,Steve Mangante did built a budget 11 second car that was all motor! Of course it was just an oversized engine in an undersize car!

[@HoosierRooster]

That motor would sure look nice in a vintage street rod

[@byronleatham1183]

The four seventy and the five hundred five hundred was actually five hundred and ten cubic in the El dorado where's the best Snow machine ever made. That Front wheel drive was totally awesome

[@oldvsnew3400]

I had a 92 sedan DeVille with the 300 cady motor it got like 25 mpg. It wasnt fast but it moved.

[@mopardoctor9966]

The Cadillac OHV V-8 intake manifold would fit on a Studebaker V-8.

[@Dobberjones]

Wondering wud it make a good towing or pulling truck engine? And bolt up to a 400 turbo Chevy 🤔

[@raydar2630]

The 4.9 has become a favorite swap into Fieros. It fits with no cobbling of the spaceframe whatsoever. Some of us have added the intake and steel rocker supports from the 4.5 Allante. It runs out of breath before 5K, but it has enough torque to drag my house out into the road. (The 4.9 pictured in your video, with the two long tube intake runners and the TPI throttle body, was a Fiero installation.) It also doesn't hurt that the stock Fiero transaxles - even the manuals - bolt right up.

[@Myvintageiron7512]

very interesting I didn't know that

[@JoseRivera-io9qr]

Trump 2024

[@ernest5210]

Good info Teach! I would definitely watch a video on the history of international engines!

[@Myvintageiron7512]

Coming soon!

[@ernest5210]

@@Myvintageiron7512 I’m subscribed and got my bell 🔔 ready to let me know when it drops!

[@russellalbertson1670]

I understood you to say about 8 minutes into your presentation that Cadillac brought out the 390 V8 in 1963. Motor's repair manual shows this 390 V8 used for a 5 year span, 59 thru 63. Could Motor's be mistaken? In the late 70s and early 80s I owned & drove regularly a 70 Cad Couple DeVille w/ that 472 V8. I found it went thru starter motors one right after the other. Also the sloppy idle I later determined was due to a drain plug installed in the torque converter, thru it out of balance. The 390 V8 had fuel pump in front, not on the side.

[@SurferJoe46]

I owned both a 1959 Cadillac (SdV) and a 1963 Cadillac (CdV) and they had both the first and the last 390CI run for engines, IIFR. BTW ---> the 1959 could run circles around the 1963. >> I don't understand how you arrived at the unbalancing of the convertor from a drain plug or how it could happen. The balancing is done after the drain plug was installed during manufacture --- anything other then that would not be in general balance-engineering because the guys with slide-rules would NOT let that happen. >> But then again ... since I owned a transmission shop and worked at a few more --- I never saw a drain plug installed in anything GM offered --- unless some driveway wrench decided to put one in himself. >> Still though ---> drilling out some metal (for a hole) in the convertor --- and putting some metal back in (the plug) --- wouldn't go very far into an unbalanced situation anyway.

[@Myvintageiron7512]

59 to 63 is correct the 1963 version was a revised addition of the engine that was 52 Lbs lighter and uses different crankshaft and connecting rods, as well as being narrower and shorter

[@jamesbosworth4191]

You are correct, he is not, except that the 63 390 is different from the others

[@junit483]

The Aurora v8 was used in the Shelby series 1 and had a supercharged version.

[@WhoIsMr77]

Love ur knowledge!! Thx man.

[@angelo_giachetti]

Manufactures need their engines to last as long as the warrenty is long. After that its your problem.

[@im1sinfulman]

DIDN'T CADILLAC MAKE A V16 THE YEAR WAS 2003??? MAYBE???

[@gerryfinch2014]

I had a ‘99 Aurora that was rock solid reliable. It had over 200k miles and still going strong when my son hit a deer with it.

[@SurferJoe46]

The 5.7DX (Diesel) engines were not as bad as everybody thought. There were a couple of problems though ... not with the robustness of the block, which was bulletproof --- but the head bolts were a failure as there weren't enough of them and the Roosa-Master injection pump was better suited for a trash compactor or sewage pump that would run at a set RPM for days and not be required to constantly accelerate and idle for long periods of time. I worked on these D and DX engines exclusively in a diesel shop for a few years, and even owned a Canadian Calibrated version in a 1982 Pontiac Bonneville Grand Safari station wagon that towed a 36 foot RV Camping trailer for over 475,000 miles with one engine failure when a piston decided it would like to see what it was like outside of the block and (maybe) 5 sets of head bolts and FelPro "Purple" gaskets. I later on, studded this engine and never failed another head gasket - or bolt again. There were several levels of buildups for these engines --- 1. Canadian with higher 22:1 compression and camshaft indexed at 0° TDC, 2. the Federal version with an 8° RETARDED camshaft and lower, 19:1 compression and then the biggest mistake was the 3. CalEPA version with a 12° RETARDED cam and only 17:1 compression - which promoted a lot of smoke and ran a lot hotter while producing lower horsepower and torque. I got so fast at changing head gaskets and bolts on the Cadillac Sevilles, that I could get 2 done in a single work day. IIRC, the first D-engine in the Cadillacs was a 4.3L/D which was quickly jerked out and replaced with a 5.7L/DX because the first engine couldn't pull your hat off in a windstorm.

[@jimkillen1065]

Well i remember my friends who worked in the oil field drove them for a while . Head gaskets and of course heater cores blown up from that . Broken cranks and oil leaks . Seems that gm fix for the high blow by was to drill out the breather . When Ford came out with there diesel the chev diesel was dropped like a hot rock lol. I rode in a car once with the diesel and it did pretty good as i remember..That was a long time ago ..later on it thrashed to lol

[@SurferJoe46]

@@jimkillen1065 Most humbly, James, you are wrong on a lot of your "factoids" ... > Drilling out the KV Breather was a trick on the 6.2s, not the 5.7s. I know --- I had the TSB on that as a Smog Inspector in SoCal during that time. > That said --- there were two GM 5.7L Diesels (not to mention the 4.3L/D too) --- the D and the DX. The Ds were weak and had lower end troubles until the nodular crank was replaced with a forged version. > One could tell the "D" from the "DX" by both a head casting designation and that the "D" used the "pencil injectors" and the DX used the screw-in versions by both Bosch and Roosa-Master/Stanodyne. > Ford never "came out" with a diesel --- they got the GM v Ford corporate short straw and had to assume the 6.9 from IHC because Harvester dropped all their gasoline engines and ceased making both Diesel or gasoline-powered pickup trucks and Scouts so they didn't have to be in the same shark-infested waters with CAFE Standards. > The 6.9L IHC engine in original form was a tough engine and when Ford got it, their F-series pickup front ends couldn't support the weight so they lightened them about 125 lbs by taking out "spurious cast iron" in the block and heads --- and jacking up the front spring rates (remember the crazy tire wear on the front tires on F&E series trucks/vans? Uh huh! > I know this because I worked with Ford Assembly Line engineers at their Rosecrans Plaant where they were trying to find out how to keep the now unsupported "wings" on the heads - where they met the block - from rising up and you could stick a butterknive between the head and the block. > Remember the strange coolant leaks that LOOKED like the oil/heat exchanger was leaking but it turned out to be the head surface not staying flat? > FelPro came up with a new-designed head gasket with a "device" - (not my terminology - but Ford's) - that had a bellows in that to compensate for the badly weakened area where the crossover coolant flowed, to keep it from leaking when it cooled down and opened up. > The FekPro gaskets worked very well - I know --- I installed dozens if not a few hundred of them. > Ford however, refused to put another $3.00 each into those much better gaskets, staying with the cheaper Detroit or Victor gaskets - and the problem was there until the 6.9L was phased out for the 7.3L. Yeah --- Ford had a great engine .... not! Then they created the 7.3 from the original 6.9 by taking out MORE cast iron and somehow it worked.

[@davidpowell3347]

Sounds like some of the blame pointed at IH by the automobile press really should have been pointed at Ford ! @@SurferJoe46

[@taomicioli]

in 30yrs of automotive sales/wrenching i have only ever changed 1 starter on a northstar

[@kdsboosted4954]

Very cool 🤙 I have about 20 cadillac's at the moment

[@billyjoejimbob56]

Have been looking forward to the chapter on Cadillac. I think you transposed some digits on the 1949 OHV 331 V8. Bore was 3.8125 inches... It was an oversquare design. Although not widely publicized in brochures, the torque rating was ~288 lb.ft. SAE Gross at ~1800 rpm. The 429 cu.in. engine debutted concurrently with the new generation Turbo Hydra-matic transmission, aka THM400. MY 1964 cars produced with the earlier 390 cu.in. engine also used the earlier fluid coupling Hydra-matic transmission in its last year of production.

[@Myvintageiron7512]

You are correct

[@jamesbosworth4191]

The 1949 - 51 Cadillac 331 made 312 lbs ft of torque at 1800 RPM, not 288.

[@donhoffman3206]

I've owned 14 Cadillacs over the years. Cadillac is always the BEST! Of the 14 three of them are 1981 6-8-4s. Yeah, mine worked, shifting from 8 to 6 to 4 and back again but had their hesitations lugging etc. So I solved these issues by rewiring the rocker solenoids where now they are activated manually by toggle switches on the dash. Works for me!

[@davidpowell3347]

This should have been under manual driver control by the driver from the get-go. Did it require spooky low viscosity oil in order for the leakdown/pumpup function of the actuators not to take excessive time to complete?

[@kT-ob2jq]

really good content there were a few mistakes but hey I couldn't do any better

[@JosephCowen-ru7up]

The 331 Cadillac OHV motor was an Oldsmobile Design by Charles F Kettering, but in the GM chain Cadillac was the top brand and Oldsmobile was second , so Olds couldnt have a better motor , a deal was done that Cadillac would get a bigger version of the Oldsmobile V8 the same year as Oldsmobile, its the same reason we have 455 ci V8s at GM , the pecking order was Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Pontiac, Chev and GMC ( with GM Holden Australia between buick and pontiac) , since Chev was the lowest car producer it had the smallest motor at 454, but Olds , Pontiac and Buick campained for equal motors and got the go ahead , but their limit was 455 as that was one cubic inch bigger than chev a lower brand on GM scale , so we get three 455 ci V8s from the mid range GM brands , but Cadillac being the top GM brand got the biggest motors as always a 472 ci and just to prove a point a 500 ci V8 !

[@jamesbosworth4191]

Buick, not Oldsmobile, comes after Cadillac.

[@michaelsulkoske4373]

How do you get such few horsepower out of so many cubic inches?

[@PaulSchaub-p6d]

I would like to see a video on all of the Packard 6 and 8 cylinder engines. I know Packard has been out of business for almost 70 years but I like all of the automobiles and engines they produced.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

That 30s/early 40s 6 cylinder is what destroyed Packard.

[@linuxman0]

One thing about GM is that with all of those different divisions, they could probably have benefited from sharing parts and engineering efforts. If Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Buick & Chevrolet were all designing their own engines, they were wasting a lot of money. I'm pretty sure these divisions operated in their own silos and were, in effect, competing against each other (another GM management failure) which is probably the reason for all of this duplication of effort.

[@jesse75]

Makes sense why Chevy wasn't all that good in the research and development area. Where was Chevy during the hay day of NASCAR in the late 60's ?

[@t0mn8r35]

This was a very interesting video but the audio is very bad.

[@toddsutton5672]

I just watched your flat tappet video. Im in process of overhauling a a 4l jeep when i found out the cam and lifter problems. Can you recommend a roller set up for it. I was just going with an rv cam as its a driver. thanks. no other way to contact you.

[@Myvintageiron7512]

505performance.com/shop/ols/products/jeep-40-stage-1-roller-cam-plus-lifters

[@josephcopher6428]

I have a 1995 eldorado with 248 thousand miles on northstar best engine I ever had no problems at all and I owned allot of cars o ya and I ran it hard so the people that cut up northstar engines they don't know what ther talking about or they don't know how to take car of a engine I kind of know engines being I have been building race engines for 40 years

[@Myvintageiron7512]

judging the reliability of an Engine based on one engine is not how problems are gaged with any particular engine, the stats tell a very different story about the NorthStar However I personally think the NorthStar is a very good engine platform and in the later years most of the problems were Ironed out unfortunately it got a very bad reputation, and just didn't sell much like the 5.7L Olds Diesel in the last couple years it was actually a very reliable Diesel engine but sadly the problems that plagued it early on killed its reputation and it just would not sell. There is another side to the NorthStar story. That is that Technicians absolutely hated working on it allot of shops refused to work on them, many times, like I mentioned in the Video, the entire engine and FWD sub frame would need to remove from the car this made repairs hugely expensive and time consuming which in turn upset the owners and they would then complain and bad mouth the cars and engines. A simple head Gasket replacement on any other car would be routine and the customer would just accept it with the NorthStar a head gasket job and even several other simple normally routine jobs would require engine removal. and much more expense for the customer, quite frankly this really made allot of owners angry,

[@johnpublic168]

How about Cadillac v12 history

Those TBI units were HORRIBLE.

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

Still an eternal fan of the 472/500 blocks! \(^_^)/ OH HEY!!! I OWN A 392 I/C INTERNATIONAL!!! ITS SLOPPED OUT PRETTY BAD [hard to start] but it STILL pulls like a freight train in my 1974 200!!!

[@arffadailey8055]

Early WW2 Australia was desperate for armour. A tank called AC1 Sentinel was put into production powered by 3 Cadillac V8 engines.

[@3RTracing]

no mention of the fact that Charles Kettering was the principle mechanical engineer who designed the overhead valve Cadillac and Oldsmobile V8's who's design was also used by Studebaker, al be it, the Studebaker V8's were much stronger and more efficient.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

Dude, if you are going to make a video, get your facts straight. You made too many mistakes.

[@EricAkins-le9jj]

Compared to most he's ok...just a old head machinist

[@mikebrooka9395]

International v8... Yes, my favorite! Caddy and Olds are a close second. The I-H v8 will make you pull your hair out. Sv, mv, and I forget the designations of the 549. Mind that the mv404 IH became the 6.9 powerstroke for Ford. Two versions of the 6.9 happened. Mikel PS be careful turning up the 6.9 diesel and read the casting numbers. Same said with any International v8.

[@sheilaminardi1049]

Thank you have owned lots of the daddy's good and bad still one backed in garage enjoyed your work

[@Myvintageiron7512]

Thanks 👍

[@davidstuck2866]

my Dad had a 1972 Coupe de Ville with the 472 engine. that was hands down in the top 3 cars he ever owned. everything worked, all the time, with one exception. It would break the nose of the starter motor off around every 8-10k miles. after it happened the third time, we did a compression check. we were flabbergasted. it blew apart a 300 psi compression gauge! we took the head off, thinking there would be a lot of carbon build up, or a mis-casted head. but everything was normal. we even measured how far up the cylinder the piston traveled. thinking maybe a rod was stretched, or a piston mis-machined. nope, again, everything was normal. the only thing we could come up with was that that cylinder had perfect piston ring seal. we were not about to pull the bottom end apart. so Dad got a very small very fine triangle shaped file, and we filed a tiny groove from about an inch down from the top of the cylinder down to the top of the piston. we cleaned everything up, replaced the gaskets, and assembled the engine. that cylinder still had 40 more psi than any other cylinders. but it cured the starter breaking problem. and it never burned any appreciable amount of oil. it lasted dad another 4 or 5 years. until he wanted a newer car. it was a great car.

[@Airsally]

I worked on many of these engine up to 1986. I once worked on a 41 flat head. The 472-500 were my favoites ,biggest issue was weak and broken valve springs. If you did a 3 angle valve job ,and 2 angles on the valves it really woke them up. I always put new springs in too. The ht4100 was a piece of crap. No gaskets, almost everything was silicone...and they leaked real badif you mixed and matched flat top piston short bloke with a 70 head with small chambers that would make some power with high er compression. The 425 had a aluminum intake...and it always leaked at number#7 & give it a rough idle. They finally stapled a paper gasket to the metal "turkey pan" and that sloved it. I think the blocks were machined wrong or the manifold. Or maybe they warpped due to all the weight (metal) they removed from the blocks and head. We were told the rotating assembly was from the olds 425...???

[@Myvintageiron7512]

Thats Interesting I have never heard the rotating assembly was Olds but That does not mean it wasn't I'm curious now I'm gona look into that Thanks

[@StephenViola-ib8dq]

No mention of the use of the Chevy 350!!