Rebuilding a Cadillac 429 engine

Today I dropped all the lifters in with the cam to check lifter action. The sides of the lifters and cam bearing journals lightly oiled, but the toching surfaces between cam and lifters wiped and cleaned.


According to some, lifters should spin during these conditions when rotating the cam by hand. Some lifters did, very clearly. Others did not. Applied some pressure on the lifters by hand with a pushrod. Improved in some places. So seems there might be a trouble here? Maybe they would rotate when engine is running, but a bit of a hassle to get to that point just for a checkup...

Lifters moved easily in their bores and dropped back by gravity at least.

 

Thought about getting a new cam and lifters for moment, but that is not a guarantee anyway anymore it seems. Maybe proven lifters and cam is better. I know you should not reuse lifters on another cam. But seems sensible that a lifter could be broken in twice. Also many people have done it and gotten away just fine.

So, dropped the cam in again, lifters in random order from last time. For those lifters that did not rotate when turning the cam by hand, I tried the best looking lifters from the other used set I had. That seemed to make a difference. In the end I got them all to rotate some, alebit some not so much. Others went maybe 10 degrees per cam rotation without hesitation. Some required just a slight push by hand with a pushrod and they started to budge. I notices that the pushrod angle seemed to make a difference.

This article on the subject is great btw: https://www.hotrod.com/how-to/check-flat-tappet-lifter-crown-lobe-taper-lifter-bores/photos

So now a brand new sam driving set is in, fit like a glove. Tension on chain seems perfect.

 

I have a pet peeve about casting flash. I go over everything on the block, intake & timing cover (inside & out) before it goes to machine, smooth it all down. It's the carpenter in me.

 

Yes you got some real clean looking edges there, congratulations My ambition level is more that it should not look rusty.

Btw, the guys before me I found paint everywhere. On the valvesprings, on the sides inside the heads. And also, inside the oil filter housing and related tubing On top of that tons of hardened gasket glue. The crankshaft bearings looked a lot more scored on this engine than the other one. Maybe it was because this stuff chipped off and went pass the oil filter? Hard to know.

 

Not really attracting a massive crowd in this thread. But thinking that someone might find this thread some day and find it useful so will go on

Heads went on this weekend. The Fel Pro head gasket does not quiet match one coolant port on the head on this 1964 engine. However the other engine had the exact same gasket before so should be alright.



Right before assembly I discovered this real ugly machining mark on the seal surface right by the combustion chamber. It had some pitting in the bottom so has been there for a while. Cannot believe I missed that. A bad ding in the worst spot. It did not blow any head gasket before afaik so I put it on like this and hope for the best.



Then RTV on the oil pan, using Dirko HT. I will not ever be bothered by a too hard cork gasket, possibly with poor thickness matching, if I can help it. I wanted to RTV the whole thing. However, the ends required a 1/5" gap fill, at a pretty thin space. So put the rubber ends back.



Then the oil pick up. Used Aviation Form a Gasket 3 on the gasket for extra safety. Aviation form a gasket was used on all on all paper gaskets so far except for some pitted water ports that I thought needed RTV dressing.

 

Today I got the oil pump together. The oil pump is made according to the same principle as on Buick 455 so I could use some experience from that one. It seems most people aim to have 0.002"-0.004" axial clearance between the gears and the pocket. The supplied gasket would put me at around 0.007". I did not have any gasket material this thin. In the end I took a sheet from my notebook which would give me around 0.002". Cut it after the gaskets in the Fel Pro set and put Form A Gasket 3 on both sides to toughen it a bit. It is an experiment, will have to put have a close monitoring on oil pressure.




Here is the oil filter adapter with the bypass filter. It is as far as I can see undocumented in the shop manual so I am a bit in the dark on that one.



Starts to look like a proper engine now A little assembly left but the hardest parts are done. After final assembly there are some tests like pressure testing the cooling system, priming the oil pump etc to be done, then lets see if we can get this tiger roaring

 

Nice work, and documentation.

 

Thank you I know I take many shortcuts and don't aim for perfection, but I hope Ill get a decent engine for my goals in the end anyway Also if something goes south down the road, I have some condensed documentation of the process in this thread to go back to.

Seems I jinxed it when I said yesterday that the hard part was done. Today I put on the the pipe that goes between the cylinder heads and well it was an experience least to say.

Really pitted surfaces around the thermostat housing. It would seal with RTV because it did before I took it apart. I think maybe this engine ran without proper corrosion inhibition in the coolant for extended periods of time. At least it looks a lot worse than the other 1964 engine I took apart.



But, while at it I gave it a few strokes with my aluminium beam with sand paper glued on. I have come to really appreciate that tool. Originally I put it together for grinding guitar necks. Was quiet quick to cut through the worst pitting and give it at least some flat surface, so far so good.



I choose to use only RTV instead of RTV and gasket. I put some RTV under the thermostat as well. I am not sure what the point of using both RTV and a gasket is unless you need the gasket for aligning parts.




Then it turns out I needed to take off the oil filter adapter to get the pipe on. Had to scrape off the gasket again. Really dont like to do that so close to the oil galleries, especially not after the oil filter. Also not doing it twice. At least the water ports dont have those pesky through holes into the water jacks, like I had on the Buick 455.

Btw, the oil pump on 1964 Cadillac is primed by filling those vertical tubes with oil.



Then the highpoint of the day. Filled in the markers on the newly mounted balancer with Molotow Liquid chrome I had since the instrument cluster restoration on my Buick

 

Today I got the flex plate and starter on. One bolt for the flex plate was damaged so replaced it. It was ordered for this engine but a bit too long. Filed it down to the same weight as the others.



Then a little plot twist on the dipsticks. I have two, one from each engine, and the tubes were a bit different. Turns out one was homemade so I assume that one is incorrect.

Cranking then. Threaded an analog gauge directly where the pressure switch is otherwise. Reached 2 bars (30 PSI) pretty quickly. Seems like a reasonable value at cranking.




However, oiling of the valve train confuse me a bit. It is just gushing at cylinder 8, getting a little at cylinder 7, while the others still did not get any. I do not know if this is expected or not, have to study the lubrication system on this engine a bit more. Then, some lifters rotate a lot at cranking and some not at all. I cannot crank anymore to troubleshoot that without valve covers on, there is too much oil flowing.

 

There must be something fishy with the valve train lubrication... Assuming the below 1964 engine is ok apart from the lifter tick, it is flowing very differently compared to mine.

 

I enjoy watching you rebuild this Caddie, pretty big learning curve I’m sure, I certainly hope some of these shortcuts don’t add up and set you back very much. It’ll be interesting to see the finished product. I will say a lot of us when we were young and no money took many shortcuts like re-using marginal parts and used or no gaskets and not ideal clean conditions and it turned out fine, I can say however we always used new bearings and rings at minimum and new oil pumps because of how critical those parts are.

 

Thank you! Yes a very real but enjoyable learning curve, growing a bit every day on this project. I am above 200 hours already and still counting. But the majority of hours have been tons of fun and have to push myself a little now get past the finish line just

 

Mystery with the large oil flow solved. One single rocker had a groove on the inside, the one to the right below. That increased oil flow like crazy. Maybe that would not have mattered. But now I know there is not a crack or something leaking oil at least. Replaced this rocker with one without a groove. The grooved ones maybe emerged on later models.


Then there was rust and pitting on some bearing surfaces of the rockers, did grind them flat and clean. After putting it together I realized it was this rocker that was the issue. So decided to clean out the other rocker assembly from the other engine and use it. But that was even more worn and rusty. So took just a rocker from it. And yes that was almost a whole day... This stuff is crazy time demanding.

Then I did pressure testing with air. I put one good pressure meter to one nipple on the water pump. Then I have a homemade setup with a tire inflation nipple soldered to brass fittings that I put on another nipple. Sealed the large nipples on the water pump with a large hose. Then pressurizing to 1.3 bar and applying soapy water with a spraybottle.




There was one bad leak which was solved by just tightening a bolt on the water pump. But then there were some micro leaks on the water pump and also around the head gaskets



Lets just hope it seals with liquid, will not redo anything at this point. I think the composite head gasket is supposed to melt a bit on the surface to seal too. A learning is that I will use RTV and only RTV for the water pump next time, as long as clearance is ol.

Verified lifter rotation with the starter. All rotate but some very slowly. Lets hope it is enough.

Finally put the valve covers on for real. Some cleaned chrome at the end of the day is a nice way to finish it

 

Some great news today, took a compression test and got very consistent reads between cylinders. I almost thought there was something wrong with the gauge as it showed the same value within a few PSI for several cylinders. Bad news is that the battery seems quiet tired, but that is more easily fixable than poor compression readings.

Otherwise, left the steel shim gasket out and put the intake on with only RTV. If the gasket surface is scored and the gasket needs dressing anyway, why bother with a gasket also? Just another part to mess with. Maybe it will affect port matching a bit but probably not a big deal. I bought that expensive Permatex copper spray and have it in the drawer. Read on the can and it has lower temp rating then my RTV of choice. And would probably not seal as well. So why go that route. I welcome anyone to challenge this idea, I want to learn.

Put a thin bead that was juust on the money. Got a little tiny bead pressed out after mounting which is what I wanted to see.



Note the tube under the intake ports. Cadillac had one connection to the heating system go in this tube. Which is just a ridiculuous way to complicate things. But decided to keep it, want to preserve all original parts. This engine has so many weird things. Like studs that are UNC at the bottom and UNF at the top It is a little fun, but also a bit cumbersome.

 

So one thing I am very excited about. The exhaust manifold output side will get stainless grade A4 screw studs. I was thinking to put that on the cylinder heads as well. But skipped that because thought it might be a bit awkward to get the heads on/off when the engine is in the car. Screw studs here will probably make it easier to get the exhaust pipe on, will certainly be easier to get it off in a few years anyway.

 

The tensile strength of stainless bolts / all thread is not as high as a grade 8 bolt. Please use anti seize on the stainless threads to help prevent falling / seizing between the male to female thread fit.

I am very interested to see how the RTV only on the intake manifold to cylinder head works out. I hope this won’t be the cause of a vacuum leak later on.

Hope it works for you…

 

Thank you! I was thinking that if there is anytime I should do the RTV experiment it is now. My idea is that if the gasket surfaces are true, the RTV layer will be about as thick as the RTV dressing people put on steel shim gaskets often. So why bother with a gasket then? Maybe I am missing something. A gasket adds thickness and might accomodate better for parts changing shape/locations but that is the only thing that comes to mind. I will be happy regardless if it fails because in either case I have learned something.

Yes, lower tensile strength is certainly a drawback of stainless steel. I put anti seize instead of thread locking also on the part that goes in the manifold, so that they will be easier to replace when that day comes.

Other than that, I figured out of to get good coverage with Bill Hearsch Engine Enamel with a brush on one painting session. I just painted two layers in one session, with 15-30 minutes in between. Lets see if it holds up well also. Got the pulley fairly nice and shiny with just a brush.

 

Today was spent on cooling and ignition. Took my time to staighten all fins that were most badly bent on the cooler to provide better air flow.

Here is before



And after



Probably ups the cooling efficiency a few percent?

There is at least one coolant leak on the radiator I have to fix. Really hope to keep this original cooler. IMHO aftermarket aluminium radiators are just ugly on these cars. And rebuilding it was around 700 USD when I called a local business.


Then it was the inside. Degreased it using dishwasher detergent and after that akaline degreaser. Rinsed it and heard rattle. Was able fo fish this out using a magnet. Looks like a spring inside a hose made its way to the to upper tank, as well as a sizable portion of the cylinder heads or cylinder block.



Many cells are partially blocked by chunks of rust. So decided to let it soak with citric acid over night. There might be a risk it attacks solder etc but think that is a risk worth taking?

 

Random thoughts in no particular order:

Interesting how the 429 seems to almost be a mix of Nailhead and 430/455 design concepts. I'd always wanted to see inside of one. Are the 472/500's significantly different? (edit - NVM, I read up on it and it's a whole different generation of engine, related more to the 63 390)

I feel your pain on the water bridge, the nailhead can be just that much of a pain in the ass too.

I'd be willing to bet those head gaskets will seal, but I'd make a point of retorquing the heads after the first couple heat cycles.

I generally do what you do with the cam/lifter install and its a lesson in frustration cause they never actually all spin like you'd hope. But even if they dont, I've never lost a cam from that.

I dont know if you have anyone with this capabilty near you, but I'd have that radiator flow tested. It might be blocked enough to drive you nuts, but not an obvious issue. I do think you'll be ok with the acid soak though.

Great catch on the rocker, reminds us that LOTS has transpired since these cars were built and in regular service. That would have stacked oil in the valve cover like crazy.. leaks at best, sucking air at the pickup at worst.

Appreciate the time and effort to photo/write up and post your efforts.

 

Yes the engine is a fun mixture of technologies. Also keeps some details from the old Cadillac 365/390. It has many "design by comittee" vibes. Designed by people who had a large budget and did not actually work practically with it too much. I mean, for instance mixing UNF and UNC everywhere. Whyyyyyy The core parts of the engine (crank, piston, heads etc) appear quiet solid though.

Yes lets hope! You think a retorque makes a difference on composite head gaskets? Might take a stab at it after break in of the cam.

Thats a relief to read. Feels like stories about camshafts that dont end in catastrophic failure are rare online

There might be. But the test method will be to run it at the cruising in Lysekil (nearby town) next weekend (fingers crossed). If it does not over heat after half-idling up the hills there in a slow cortege this car is unstoppable at this latitude One of the slopes there usually looks like a battlefield with open hoods smoking by the side of the road and coolant trickling down the road

Aah air in the pickup tube, did not foresee that worst case scenario! Now that days labor feels more worthwile. Something I may not have mentioned is that I found metal debris inside the rocker shaft. I think it is from natural wear of the rockers. Because of the low oil flow they dont self clean I guess. Good to have that out. Did not find debris anywhere else. Btw, at this point I have taken apart everything that can be taken apart. And found something that required action on every section. Interesting.

Thank you, I am very happy you took the time to read it and also provide some inputs