tow truck torque

Hello to all & happy new year .Need some input from you guys ,my boys just bought anearly 80's chevy tow truck sans engine (but has 4 speed &duallys) . We also have a 69 472 cad elderado engine that is in very good shape , we have pulled it down and all it needs is basic overhaul . Wefigured that this would make a good hauler to keep us busy when s/d work slows down .The swap itself should not be to bad as we have most of the parts already. Now the issue we've fun into is compression , to much of it & the lack of really good gas , people i've talked to say that to get the 472 to run you have to back out the timing alot thus the engine doesn't run to its full potenial .Any ideas mods would include headers aluminum intake & possibly anew stock cam . Just like the bbb these engines are torque monsters and we think it would be neat to put some old iron to good use .Later Bake

 

Do you have the 76cc heads or 120cc?

I just got a cadillac engined car back in August, and the torque is very very nice.

I have a 1968 472 which is advertised at 10.25:1 compression, but it was more like 9.8ish in reality. You can get a 8.5:1 piston for the 76cc head.

The 472 ran OK on regular gas, but the timing wasnt where it should have been.

Check out MTS or CadCompany. They sell aftermarket parts for these engines.

 

thanks bud i do believe its 76 cc you had no problem with detonation ? I assume you were running 92 or 94 octane ? Later bake

 

Apparently the old owner was running it on 87... I was using 91.

 

Thanks for the input azeem i was talking to the kid & he had found some lower comp kb pistons on e-bay , also from what i can gather using a ford 460 intake and spacer plates is the way to go there's better direct flow into the heads as compared to the stock caddy intake ,Later Bake

 

Theres alot of fab work involved there! Go for an edelbrock intake intead, its a direct bolt on and corrects the problem significantly.

If youre looking for specific input give MTS a call, Marty is the guy to go to. Hes very helpful and knowledgeable.

They sell the KB's as well. Make sure you are getting pistons for a 472 and NOT a 500. They will both fit in the bore, but the compression distance is WAYYYY off.

 

Thanks everyone for the input i will pass the info on to my kids Later Bake

 

I would save the caddy for something cool. The tow truck probably has 4.11s or 4.56s, you'll spin the caddy too fast, and the caddy valvetrain sucks to begin with. Find a SBC and drop it in. find a fiat or something for the 472..

 

I suppose you could put the Caddy engine in there and have a unique tow rig. However, you can probably swap a caddy engine for a chevy engine with someone and not have the hastles. And think of all the BBC parts there are for you to choose from.

My cousin has several Caddy engines, 390,429, 472,500, and we discuss on occasion the pros and cons of adding performance to them. Maybe some day but they run so well as they are currently in stock form. However, there is a curiousity about the amount of fun that could be had with a bored and stroked big-block Caddy in the stoplight grand prix.

 

yes yes there is that's why we're going to use this engine come hell or high water . I have told the kids that you had better not mess up this nice piece of iron , if this had been 3-4 yrs ago we would of had serious words . They now have had to fix some of there own screw ups and now realize first you get good then you get fast . thanks for the info will post as the project proceeds. Later bake