Thread: Northstar engine

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Hi
Anybody out there using a Cadillac Northstar engine in a non-Cadillac car????

i did one of the first northstar conversions in a 55 nomad back in 94 , used a 700 r4 trans, designed a ring to mount to the flexplate and the converter to make up the space difference . it was no powerhouse , we had street and performance make a wiring harness .
the hardest part was hooking up the waterpump , because it was on the front side of the motor in the caddy ,then when you put it a rear wheel style the pump is on the back of the left head.
now there is a company in california selling performance products for them , so you can make some power .
good luck

There are bunches of sand car guys running the NorthStar now so headers, etc. are getting common. GM sells a crate motor now. Like Kenny said, it is pretty small in cubic inches.

mike in tucson

Double check the crate motor though. Seems to me these were out before the XLR and SLR so it's possible that these are set up for FWD. If it's RWD, it should work fine. As for the lack of cubic inches, it's still a 320 HP engine. About the same as an LS1.

I don't have an answer for your question but I do have a Northstar story. Kinda funny too.

We have a customer, one of those old cranky types, that hates everyone and everything. The guy is hard of hearing so it just adds to his misery. He comes in the store every so often to complain about something that he didn't buy from us, but he is funny to have around, and we really don't mind cause he's harmless. Anyway, he bought one of those Caddy's that had a Northstar engine, and came into the store one day to see if I could come out and tell him what the noise was in his car, and maybe tell him why it didn't have any power. He had me go with him for a quick run down the highway. Well, we're headed for the highway when I noticed that the car wasn't shifting out of first gear. This thing was taching about 4 grand by the time we got a little ways down the street. I kept telling him that it wasn't shifting, but I was on his "bad ear" side and he couldn't hear me. We enter the highway onramp, and he mashes the pedal to the floor, and says, see? this thing doesn't go very fast, and hear that noise? He had this motor up to about 7 grand! I screamed at him to get me back to the store and let me out! He told me it started this last week when he was driving up to New Hampshire! That was a 100 mile trip at 7000 rpm! The car was traded shortly after on a new F350 Dump truck, and now he's happy.