Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8 - Jalopnik Comments

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

dohcspit — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:01:40 EDT

@Murdoc:
AFAIK the 500 is the largest in a production passenger car, but certainly not the largest V8 ever made.

The ford GAA V8 for example

dwarfs it at 1100 cid (for a mere 500hp!)

A bit of googling hasn't given me any hint at the largest V8 overall, but surely this knowledge shall be revealed on Jalopnik in due time!

dohcspit

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Brian B — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:42:52 EDT

@Kelly: My Dad's 500 put out 345hp. Not bad for stock. But, yeah, TONS of twist.

Brian B

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Kelly — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:53:34 EDT

The malaise-era 472-500 monsters might have put out barely 200 HP, but they had enormous torque.

And man, what a thirst...

The guy at the gas station closed for the day after I'd go there with the Sea-Doo's on the trailer...and empty tanks all-around.

Between the car, the watercraft, and the extra cans of fuel for said watercraft, it wasn't unusual to pump 70 gallons at one visit.

Ah...to have $1.29/gallon gasoline, again...which, at the time, was plenty painful.

Kelly

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

GianinaNerps — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:55:15 EDT

@TexanIdiot25:
Comment on Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8 The tanks used Cadillac flatheads, like the ones in the Cadillac and LaSalle cars in the late 30's and early 40's, not Ford flatheads. The flathead Caddy exhaust ports and manifolds were on the top of the cylinder banks. Glide to Live ... Live to Glide For All Your High Performance Lubrication Supplies. http://www.synthetic-oil-tech.com/1124190/ Nick's Performance Accessories 9608 Tiverton Way Louisville, Kentucky,40242 Independent Amsoil Dealer ZO# 1124190 Phone: 502-548-3023 Fax: 509-691-4313 amsoildealer@mac.com "Always do the right thing. It'll gratify some and astonish the rest."- Mark Twain

GianinaNerps

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Drujon — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:40:40 EDT

@P161911: The very first Cadillac AC units had the evaporator and fan in the trunk and two clear plastic tubes fan up from the package shelf to distribute the cooled air. There was no way to turn off the compressor so when winter came along you just removed the belt!

Drujon

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

13thfloorelevator — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:38:47 EDT

@Murdoc: "if you're interested in old hot rodding tech" Gah! For fuck's sake no! I have shit to do. Dont tell me things like that, I need sleep dammit!

13thfloorelevator

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Drujon — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:36:49 EDT

@TX Law:

I don't know it it was the Sherman, but Cadillac did make tanks for the war effort and equipped them with Cadillac V8s and TurboHydramatic transmissions.

Drujon

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

lascauxcaveman — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:21:52 EDT

I think my '65 Calais must have had the 429 version of this. And I think I remember an old fashioned mechanical fuel pump failure resulting in a crankcase full of leaded premium. This was back in the 80's, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details.

Can anyone here say with any authority that the phenomenon of which I speak could actually occur?

lascauxcaveman

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Spasticteapot — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:11:59 EDT

I wonder when the Oldsmobile/Rover/TVR/Morgan V8 is going to show up? It was in production even longer than the small-block chevy - in fact, I think it still is!

Spasticteapot

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Murdoc — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:38:32 EDT

@pedxing:

Umm, you're wrong about the 500 being the largest displacement v8 ever made.

On a side note about the ford flathead, there is some very interesting conversion kits from the 50s to give them overhead valves, worth looking up if you're interested in old hot rodding tech.

Murdoc

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

NovaloadMissesPolar — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:24:26 EDT

It's kind of a shame how Caddy had monster engines that grandpa didn't open up too often, if ever--but you know Junior did.

NovaloadMissesPolar

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

pedxing — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:12:46 EDT

@Murilee Martin: I see - there is attribution to Wikipedia. I suppose you might be right about that.

OBEngine: That 500 CID Caddy was the largest-displacement V8 ever made! Yeah boyee, torque!

pedxing

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

P161911 — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:58:27 EDT

@dculberson: I was thinking of the Packards that had the condensor and blowers in the trunk. I guess the compressor would have to be at the engine.

P161911

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Murilee Martin — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:58:04 EDT

@pedxing: Sorry, thought it was OK to skip the separate photo credit if the image itself was top in the Wikipedia page in the link. Fixed now.

Murilee Martin

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

DrJeffie — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:52:00 EDT

These did very well in '46 to '48 Fords with a Cad/LaSalle transmission behind it.

DrJeffie

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

poxpopulus — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:48:37 EDT

@Brian B:
My dad's 73' Eldorado with the 8.2 seemed to be pretty darn quick as well, all things considered. It was nearly four before we finally discovered it had only been running on 7 cylinders.

poxpopulus

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

pedxing — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:47:49 EDT

Once again, the Engine of the Day photo comes from my own camera! And once again (for the fourth time!) Jalopnik forgets to attribute it!

pedxing

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Brian B — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:45:32 EDT

@TexanIdiot25: The first ones were propelled by a Continental air-cooled(!!) radial(!!!) mill. Later versions had everything from GM diesels, to a DOHC Ford V8 with over 1000 c.i.!

Brian B

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Brian B — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:33:43 EDT

My Dad had a '72 Fleetwood when I was a kid. It had a 500, which I recall had to be specially-ordered, or something. Damn, that car could move - especially considering how heavy it was.

Brian B

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

TexanIdiot25 — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:27:51 EDT

@TX Law: I think it was a ford Flathead V8, not sure. But, it is easily possible for the Sherman's to have a few odd-ball engines... they were built on various auto-assembly lines.

TexanIdiot25

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

bruxell — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:23:36 EDT

DMX clearly needs one of these in his Nova 114mph is hardly scandal material...

bruxell

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

dculberson — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:00:34 EDT

@P161911: Were they powered by a PTO shaft or something?

dculberson

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

P161911 — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:47:23 EDT

@dfwguy: Some of the early cars had the whole A/C unit in the trunk.

P161911

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

Hot_Carl — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:32:07 EDT

This before the Northstar? I dunnooooo...

Hot_Carl

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

TX Law — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:31:31 EDT

Wasn't the Sherman tank powered by a Caddy V8?

TX Law

Engine of the Day: Cadillac OHV V8

dfwguy — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:26:59 EDT

A Cadillac without A/C? Blasphemy!

dfwguy