Have you thought of changing up the running gear? 350's and 400's are run of the mill, and so are the trannys... There's more aftermarket support for both as well, so long run it will save coin on maintenance

 

That sucks.....and after all the work that went in to it already.....

 

sorry to bring this up again, whynot switch the tranny over to a more conventional tranny and just custom driveshaft? cause there are adapter plates for cheap for the 390/429 to 700r4
Mating a Cadillac 390 and a 700R4 transmission
custom driveshaft balanced and built for a buddies Lexus build was around $460(it was modified from the original, extended and balanced)
Just a thought.

 

I have thought of an adapt-a-kit here and there but never really looked into it. It is probably the best idea really. A 700r4 would be the bomb but I'd likely just drop in a TH400. 6000lbs and 460lbft of torque...

RM - no self respecting Caddy owner would consider putting a Chevy mill in their ride. A 500Cad is the only real option

 

... are you a hearse owner or a Cadillac owner? gotta love that hearse ride and smooth shifting... makes you look forward to that final ride

this is the pitfall of classic lower production vehicles in general

 

I believe he is a caddy hearse owner.....1 of a kind guys....lol.


And Dukk check with these guys, they are top notch when it comes to the caddy world. It's where I usually get all my info from, and they will definately be able to help ya out.

http://www.cadillacpower.com/forum/index.php

http://www.cadillaclasalleclub.org/

Probably the most knowledgable caddy guys out there.

 

Bah! GM is GM... At least I'm not suggesting you make it Ford powered

 

See....thats where yer just wrong. A Gm is not a Gm. A cadillac motor can go in a chev....thats fine. You can put caddy power into any chassis. You do NOT put any other power into a caddy, thats not a caddy.

Swapping in the 472/500 is a great idea Dukk. I am dropping a 500 into my 81 chev shortbox. More power, more parts available, easier to work on. You should do it. For the price of fixing or replacing yer tranny you would be miles ahead to do the swap.

And I know a guy in Olympia Wash. That would be able to hook ya up with parts, for decent prices. Prolly has a good used 500 and tranny sitting around already.

 

^ I remember an article in the 90s in one of the car mags where dude took the motor/tranny combo out of an Eldorado and dropped it into an early 80s truck. FWD burnouts baby

GM may be GM now but not back in the day. Cadillac had it's own motors. Even now, I run a quadrajet with NO choke and I can start the car from cold and hop out. It idles immediately. No rocking or surging, just smoooooooooth. lol, it impresses my car buddies

 

Yeah I am doing the 500 and running a bop style turbo 400 (rwd), maybe get the adapter plate and run a 4l80. Still in the air, got the block stripped, just need to dump the cam bearings and freeze plugs then she goes in for machine work.