Cadillac 500 Build for my 1984 Regal (LOTS OF PIX)

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Lay in the bath tub intake gasket and the composite versions.

Clock the distributor in 20* advanced, and prime the system. Plumb in radiator, carb, fuel pump, rear water cross over ports, gauges. Hook up the spaghetti of wiring, and fan. Add fuel, spark plug wires and distributor and its ready to start.

I also added some ehxaust dumps to direct heat and gases away from my oil pan and paint.

Prime the system and check for leaks and good pressure.


My sightplug (secondary dipstick) working just superbly.

 

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Now the moment we've been waiting for... NOISE!

VIDEOS!

Here are some vids. They are really crappy because the decebal rating for the camera wasnt high enough to capture the true sound of the engine. So you'll have to wait till I have it back in the car with some mufflers to really hear it.

Enjoy.


Four Videos total.
1) Boring 2300 rpm engine break in. Some timing adjustment.
2) This is the very first time I dialed down the idle to hear it! The video only seems to capture the drone though. I also gave it a tiny 1/8 throttle blip and it revved to 5500rpm and totally caught me off guard! Its gonna make some power. I tried to be MUCH more gentle with the revving after.
3) A slighyly better video that allows you to hear some of the idle "POTATO POTATO".
4) A quick start up so my Bro could hear engine in person. The engine dies off at the end (vacuum leaks) but thats kind of how it sounds in person, without the drone.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isqbSSval3A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oh2qRdBvPY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOfDuGhPo7Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm5lR5RmA_A

 

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Got my car out of the woodwork and gave it a quick bath! Havent seen it in probably a year.

 

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And that brings us to the current stage of the project. I had a very constant leak through the rear of the oil pan during break in. It was possibly the balance line, the oil pan or the rear main seal. I ruled out the balance line by removing it for the majority of the break in (if you look close in the vids you'll see it missing) and the leak stayed. So i drained the engine, and removed the oil pan and found the culprit.

I am 99% sure its the oil pan creating the leak, but while I am in there I am going to replace the rear main seal anyway since its a very big job to go back and try to do it later. I cant imagine its installed incorrectly, but maybe I nicked the back side on install. Oh well.

It allowd me to see the cam lobes though, which is incredibly comforting after a cam break in. Perfect wear pattern on all lobes.

 

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Thought id finish this up.


After the oil pan leak was found, I tore into it and replaced the pan gasket. While I was in there, I decided to replace the rear main seal as well. At the off chance that it was the RMS, I did not want to have to repeat this task. It challenging more than usual because the girdle must be removed to get the main caps off. While I was in there, I checked a couple of bearings, and all looked like they were just installed.

All in all this was a huge task, going from a running engine, to draining the fluids and disconnecting accessories to be able to tear into the oil pan, back to a running engine with fluids!

After it was buttoned up and full of fluids, I ran it for 10 minutes to check for leaks. 7 of those minutes it was up to full operating temp, and not a drop ran out! Great, it was time to drain the engine of the water, and disconnect the accessories and install in the car!

 

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At this point I had to work through a couple of minor issues.

The ministarter that I had bought (Powermaster 9600, nice unit) was not providing correct clearance (too much). I needed the opposite of a shim. So I ended up milling the starter block about 3 or 4 times before I was in the ball park. It didn't help that the instructions were total garbage, and had me headed in the wrong direction. I eventually got it figured out, but the cost was a badly chewed up flexplate.

When I went to install the oil balance line, as in my previous pix, it didn't quite fit. It was passing directly through the exhaust manifold. So I needed to correct this by taking the long way around with a slightly different routing and slightly longer line.

Not really engine related, but I also decided it was time for some GN wheels, because I don't like the look of the centerline type wheels.

Then I buttoned up the trans to the engine, and it was ready to go in!

 

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Then we lift up with the engine crane, and just slide it into the engine bay....... But not really.... Turned out, that my engine's oil pan hit the cross member in a pretty spectacular way. So no matter which angle we tried to go in from, it would not fit. Eventually I gave up, and decided to put them in one at a time which worked better.

 

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Once the engine was in, I had a few more house keeping issues to correct. Like replace the oil pump, and some lifters that were collapsing. Was able to get much better valve lash after this. And hopefully it would solve the misfire I was experiencing.

 

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Once I got the engine installed, I couldn't get the chain out, because the bolt was right up against the firewall. Luckily a once sided hacksaw saved the day.

Throw in a bunch of plumbing and wiring;

 

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And some more;