Another note; If you are looking at performance building at all, take all the articles and forum posts you read with a grain of salt. A HUGE grain of salt, and ignore the Dick Miller build..... The technology for the caddy's is coming a long way every day. I find just about every article, and every forum post is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY behind in the times. Better to call the company and see what they have come up with. Regrinding cams, saving on rods, fabbing oil pans, its not really the way to do it anymore. If you have fab skills and want to, sure that's a good route. But the aftermarket support is pretty decent, so you can get new products instead of rehashing old parts for a reasonable cost. Forged rods are available (direct fit, not olds), direct fit pistons, roller cams, aluminum heads, larger valves, cad specific rockers. etc etc... Here is a good representation of what you can do with a Caddy today. They made that horsepower number for a totally street able and well mannered engine. You could also substitute parts, and processes for more radical parts for almost the same cost. Example, pick a bigger cam, and run a more intense CNC operation for head porting. http://www.spike.com/episodes/rjbm3...er-the-caddy-500-other-engine-season-1-ep-248 As for cost difference between building a Caddy vs Buick, I'd have to disagree with George on that one. I will have a pretty radical engine built for about $6000. I could have gone more radical if I spent anoth $1500 on aluminum heads. The costs are probably in line with, if not cheaper than Buick builds. ---------- Post added at 01:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:57 PM ---------- Short answer, No. The 472 usually came with 76cc heads (except for in 1974, one year only 120cc heads). The 500 usually came with 120cc heads. Each with varying compression. Anywhere from 8 to 10.25 :1 (advertised). Kind of like the 430 was a "10:1" compression engine, but not really. Putting the 76cc heads on the 500, will give you 12+:1 compression depending on the pistons. There is no combination with factory parts that will give you a nice compression ratio. It'll either be below 7:1 or well over 12:1, needing race gas etc.. The stock parts are probably not the best to use this way. The common way to do it now, is to get a 500 with aftermarket forged pistons, and 76cc heads, for a perfect 10:1 compression ratio. Another cheater trick is to use later model 425 heads. They are kind of an in between head, and with a certain combination you can get about 9.5:1 compression. But the head is not the best design, and parts availability is low.
The Olds and Pontiac engines, I believe, have the starters on the driver's side whereas the 400/430 and 455 Buicks are on the passenger side. The battery trays follow the starters in terms of the relative sides. This can be overcome but it is a complicating factor for considering an Olds or Pontiac engine.
Yup, that's certainly true. I guess I'd consider that a non-issue since everything else can be had to drop one right into pretty much any A-body chassis and not have to use a single aftermarket item to do it. But if something that simple were to be a problem for someone considering an engine swap then I would think that going with an engine that has never been in an A-body chassis would be much more of a challenge, particularly if they're not up to swapping a battery cable and tray.
http://bringatrailer.com/2011/10/05/bat-exclusive-500-inch-cadillac-powered-1964-buick-skylark/ 64 instead of a 66 but it looks like it fits...
Did a little looking around about CPP/Potter Automotive.......looks like they joined forces with Cad Company/Flashcraft - the former started by Larry Kruzick. Hopefully, all of Richard's products will be available still....he sure developed a ton of performance parts for the BB Cadillac engine.
Im not sure what happened there. But none of the product engineering was lost. It was all bought out in some way and is still being produced by others in some fashion. Cadco has been around a long time. Mts is fairly new in the game. Both companies have an impressive list of parts.
Bit off topic but back in high school "1990" i knew two guys with early 80's Cutlass's. One had a worked 305chevy and the other had a 472caddy in it. I rode in the 305 powered cutlass one night while out drinking and that car was respectable, burned the tires with ease and would pull good off the line. We got on a straight away running that other cutlass and my friend cranked it up to about 110-120mph. That was about all that 305 had, i looked over and that 472 pulled up beside us, hung there for a few seconds and then just pulled away like he hit another gear. How fast that car was i do not know as all we saw was tail lights leaving us in the dark. We chatted with him later on and he stated he was just cruising along behind us with no effort, he only decided to pass us when we stopped accelerating. Even he did not know what the top speed was. Both cars eventually went to the junk yard but i know the fella yanked that 472 and still has it in storage for a firebird project.
Bringing this thread back up because I just discovered it. This is all about providing info for people that do searches like me. 2013 I got my hands on a 68 472 with 70k for $350. Center sump mated to a 400. I slapped on a 1/4" thick MTS adapter, bolted up the 3/16 block plate, opened up a 2006 lakewood bell to work with my sm465, and the thing has less then 1/8" of room between the flywheel and block protector. That was the original plan to go in the truck in 2015. Then this summer I found a 72 455 that had the hei and some other goodies already installed also for $350. High nickle blocks rock:beer Because the 455 is further along then the 472 I am going to run the Buick in stock form while making the Caddy into something stupid. My goal is 600lbs of reliable torque on 87 pump gas under 4,300 rpm. Once that's in the 455 will go under the knife in 2018 with the same goal. You all know that everything is different from one engine to the other. But, as far as dimensions go the Caddy does not look to be that much different dimension wise then the Buick once you rip all the accessories off. I will get some rough dimensions comparing the two engines including mount, center oil pans, manifold, carburetor, dizzy and other stuff within the next few days.
15yrs ago I missed out on a 71 caddy with the 500 in it, guy wanted $500.00 for it. Body was solid and the interior had been refinished a couple yrs before. White convertible with white interior. Car was in storage and it had to go. Went to the crusher that i know of. Back then i was broke, turning wrench, paying child support and tool payments while raising a family with a new wife and new home.
