Thread: 500 Caddy/G Body Swap

Tweet

Dave I've been kicking around different 2 tones, but the typical 2 tone for the Monte Carlo doesn't flow real well into the El Camino bed and I don’t feel the El Camino 2 tone works that well with the Monte nose.

At this point I've been leaning for something subtle like white with some pin stripping to enhance the Monte body lines and pick up the interior color.

I’m still waiting on the body shop to get back to me, so I went ahead and tore the 500 down today. I was a little apprehensive about what I was going find as it would not turn over when I got several years ago and had to oil the cylinders and work it a bit to get it free.

As it turns out one cylinder had gotten some water in it it’s kind of a shame as with the lack of cylinder wear it probably could have gotten by with a set of rings. The good news is the block and crank are both standard and will the block should clean up at .030 and the crank at .010.

I’ll get the freeze plugs out and the 4 soft plugs in the oil galleys (those I’ll tap for pipe plugs) and drill and tap for a heater hose nipple under the thermostat housing then send it out to the machine shop for cleaning and checking for cracks. Then the fun of ordering parts.

Any go fast goodies going with the build, Mike?

For right now just bit more cam and some better springs (the OE springs float the valves at about 4200 RPM).

There's a bunch of neat stuff out there now for these old dinosaurs but just about all the mods move the torque curve up the RPM range. I based all my gearing and tire size calculations on a 2200-2600 RPM cruise range where this combination should be making 500 Ft Lbs of torque.

That being said I am making provisions when I do the heads for even more cam and looking into raising the compression down the road when I start thinking it’s too tame.

Of course after I got the engine tore apart and arrangements to drop it off at the machine shop I talked to the body guy. He came out last night and gave me an estimate on relocating the El Camino body lines to match the Monte nose and doors, fixing the small rust issues making it straight, putting it in primer and blocking it. Basically when it comes back all I should have to do is final sanding and painting it.

The guy that will be doing the work is about my age and an old hot rodder running a 1 man hot rod shop. I’ve seen his work before and a couple of friends have had their cars thru there with good results and pretty quick turn around. Right now he doesn’t have anything else lined up right now so the El Camino is going in Tuesday with an estimate of getting it back to me in about a month.

I’m dealing with a both a new (to me) body shop and machine shop as the businesses I used to use have both gone out of business. If the time estimates on getting the body and engine back are close, it looks like I’ll be busy again in about a month.

Sounds good Mike! Going to be great seeing it all go back together. When the lines are all straightened out and shiny paint on the body it'll sure leave people scratching their heads and wondering what the heck it is they're lookin at!!!!

More progress on the El Camino .

I got all the engine parts back from the machine shop Thursday, so the weekend was spent building the 500 (technically a 507 now with the .030 overbore). It's pretty much a stock rebuild, 8.5 compression bit hotter cam and better valve springs that should let it wind a bit tighter.

As I mentioned I'm using a new machine shop so I checked everything when it went together, and everything was right on spec.

I also stopped by the body shop on Friday, progress is also being made there, so maybe in a few weeks that will be home.

I guess this week will be spent getting the TH400 ready to put behind the engine.

wow that really looks great

Looks good. With the rebuild what kind of HP are you expecting from this combo??

Ratty 46

Thanks Barb, I've been looking foward to this part of the project, when things actually start going together for the final time.

Regs there is a reason most Caddy owners don't talk to much about HP

In stock form the Caddys don't really wind that tight and the HP figures are not really all that impressive. There was an outfit that did some dyno builds on the 500s a few years back and the baseline on a stock 8:1 compression was only 302HP, but it made 500 Ft Lbs of torque at 2600 RPM. Although I'm running 8.5:1 and a bit more cam I really don't expect to be making much more HP than that but AM looking at above 500 Ft Lbs of torque between 2200 and 2600 RPM.

You can get some impressive HP numbers from the big inch Caddys but you are going to spend of bunch of money doing it. Like most people who are playing with these motors for the street, you just leave them fairly stock and play to the stregnth of all that low RPM torque

I figured they were torque monsters from what I'd read & figured about propelling the big caddy .... I just figured they packed a bit more punch in the hp department.

Either way ... nice work so far.

Ratty 46

A shop truck that can haul parts and @$$ at the same time

Mike, can you give me the name and paint code on that blue on the motor. I've seen it before, but never could find the data on it. Thanks....

mike as i was taught by some very wise people here torque is the seat of your pants feeling. i am hoping for whiplash.

"...... torque is the seat of your pants feeling. i am hoping for whiplash........."

I don't think you'll be disapointed.

".......Mike, can you give me the name and paint code on that blue on the motor. I've seen it before, but never could find the data on it........"

I wondered when someone would call me on the engine color

Richard I believe the can said Ford Blue. Between the body mods and that a lot of people don;t know what these big Caddy engines look like I figure it will leave more than one person scratching their heads

Of course you KNOW I will run into the guy somewhere who "had one just like it"