Re: 500 Caddy into El Camino
Thanks Vern.
I picked up a “G” style oil pump from MTS, it’s still snug, but as the truck is currently up on stands and the suspension is unloaded I think I will pick up a little bit more room without having to space the sway bar down.
I spent the last week doing exhaust. Like everything else on this it’s tight too. On the passenger side I had to trim the flange a bit just to get it to fit and on the drivers side there is less than 1/2" clearance between the flange and frame. I’ll probably use a bit of heat and BFH to gain a little frame clearance once I get the engine back out……I don’t need a lot but a bit more would be nice.
When everything was fitted and tacked I pulled the pipe out and welded it all together. I used a couple of ball and socket joints at the mufflers to the whole head pipe can be dropped if I ever have to pull the crossmember and or transmission.
I was really kind of wondering how the tail pipes would fit. When I did the wife’s 84 El Camino last year I used 2 1/4" tail pipes over the stock 7.5 rear end and it was tight. The 2 1/2” flowmaster tailpipes actually fit very well, but I suspect that part of that is due to the Lakewwood upper control arms being a lot narrower than the stock stamped ones.
The tail pipes coming out behind the rear tires came out pretty good too. I still have a bit of welding to do and add one more hanger and some tail pipe tips but the exhaust is pretty much done.
Thanks Vern.
I picked up a “G” style oil pump from MTS, it’s still snug, but as the truck is currently up on stands and the suspension is unloaded I think I will pick up a little bit more room without having to space the sway bar down.
I spent the last week doing exhaust. Like everything else on this it’s tight too. On the passenger side I had to trim the flange a bit just to get it to fit and on the drivers side there is less than 1/2" clearance between the flange and frame. I’ll probably use a bit of heat and BFH to gain a little frame clearance once I get the engine back out……I don’t need a lot but a bit more would be nice.
When everything was fitted and tacked I pulled the pipe out and welded it all together. I used a couple of ball and socket joints at the mufflers to the whole head pipe can be dropped if I ever have to pull the crossmember and or transmission.
I was really kind of wondering how the tail pipes would fit. When I did the wife’s 84 El Camino last year I used 2 1/4" tail pipes over the stock 7.5 rear end and it was tight. The 2 1/2” flowmaster tailpipes actually fit very well, but I suspect that part of that is due to the Lakewwood upper control arms being a lot narrower than the stock stamped ones.
The tail pipes coming out behind the rear tires came out pretty good too. I still have a bit of welding to do and add one more hanger and some tail pipe tips but the exhaust is pretty much done.
Im putting a caddy in a Malibu wagon, mine doesn't fit quite so easy. I used headers and cadco's motor mounts. Im using a B&M floor shifter because my column shifter would never worked. I still need seats, exhaust, and a few other things but she's getting there. I left my car and the engine all rusted, with the paint flaking off, and greasy. I of course did a minor rebuild on it, but didn't really need to. Mine is a 500CI 10:1 motor, Im using a TH400, and will be building a 9". Something you might want to consider is a grand cherokee steering shaft. If you get one from a 95-98 it has U-joints at each end and helps a lot with clearance issues. Yours looks great, but eliminating the rag joint might be a good idea. I posted a few pix, it's almost exactly what I wanted.
