So brothers Cadillac 500 out of a 70'Calais blew a head gasket. Block is OK. Checking heads soon and this is NOT a stock engine build. Had some VR1 10w30 and some Napa 15w50 with a PureOne filter that's a 2012 build date. I'll cut er' open soon. What are some real, vintage Cadillac owners here using for oil??? We are debating some Valvoline VR1 10w30 regular or some Mobil 1 0w40
68' Cadillac DeVille with 500CI oil suggestions
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My brother bought a 73 Fleetwood from a Baptist circuit preacher. IIRC, it was the longest standard Cadillac made. It had a 500 also. What oil? just about anything 10wXX. These engines were severely limited in stock form due to emissions rules. What kinda mods does it have?
I know you won't follow my suggestion, but that 500 would love 20W-50.
I used to own a '78 DeVille with the baby brother 425. That engine ran the smoothest and got the best gas mileage with Exxon SuperFlo 20W-50. The car would lay a patch of rubber on the asphalt for twenty feet.
I used to own a '78 DeVille with the baby brother 425. That engine ran the smoothest and got the best gas mileage with Exxon SuperFlo 20W-50. The car would lay a patch of rubber on the asphalt for twenty feet.
Depends on the bearing clearances, but if it's a high lift flat tappet cam, Delvac 1300 15W40 or 10W30 would be hard to beat. The VR1 is decent too, fairly high ZDDP.
we do a fair amount of vintage Cadillac performance work here at the speed shop. we Reccomend with KNOWN good results; Brad Penn 15w40 or 20w-50...
Guys: this engine was rebuilt once due to brother hitting it with a 275 Nitrous shot this cracking the block. MTS aluminum heads are ordered as I can port a set it heads. Merkava: bearing clearances will be kinda tight so VR1 10w30 or 20w50 conventional will suffice. I have 2 70' blocks in my shed and a 68' 4dr Calais block and stock crank and Quadra Junk carb. These blocks are very, very high nickel content so hard to machine; ask my friend in Ephrata how he knows LOL!
I read an engine build up on the 500 C.I. Caddy engine in a magazine about 20 years ago. A Cady guru engine builder mentioned running 20W50 due to the width of the main bearings creating running very hot.
Well, we are using nitrous so yeah 20w50 VR1 syn that my bro has will work good
Either gonna get some VR1 10w30 conventional or some MaxLife 10w30 or 40 that I have some left that's SL and SM
We had thought of that but having a Napa and Wal mart less than 15 miles away is better. The Mobil 1 15w50 isn't at the Wal mart near the brother also. Where I live outside Pittsburgh; the Wal mart near my work has tons of 15w50 and Mobil 1 0w40
I would use ??w50 10w for a cold climate 15w for a mild climate and 20w for a really hot climate, just make sure to use something with a good amount of ZDDP and change it frequently Assuming its a Performance flat tappet cam , i'm not sure if you can get it in the US but 20w50 Valvoline VR1 Is a great oil with tons of ZDDP
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OK, so I don't build Caddy's... I mostly build BBCs
And I use old school flat tappets/cams. I use either new Delphi (GM) lifters or if going more aggressive, I use Crower Cam Saver or Howard's Direct Lube lifters.
But I got this message from a bud down under (Australia) and his experience in building V8 Sedan Race motors (flat tappet limited by rules)...
Broc,
If you want your new cam & lifters to last, then have a set of stock lifters re-faced.
In this country, because of the high cost of new FT lifters, we re-face them & have done for DECADES. I have personally used lifters that have been re-faced 2 or 3 times, zero problems, good as new. [ Contrary to popular belief, FT lifters are the same hardness right through ].
We found out about 15 years ago that the lobe/lifter failures were not oil related...............although the oil companies saw a marketing opportunity & the suckers came...& came.....& they're still coming!
The problem is the lifters. Soft metal, no radius, wrong radius, radius off centre. It makes no difference if they are brand name lifters or not, still off-shore rubbish. I had Comp & Crower lifters fail first time in nearly 40 yrs of engine building. Even trying the humble centre punch test on the bench & comparing it a stock lifter, you could SEE the soft metal displaced around the punch mark.
I send my lifters interstate for re-facing, as the bloke I use specialises in it. Because he does 000s of them, he quickly saw the problem arise years ago.
In your country, for lifter re-facing, you would probably need to find someone who specialises in re-cond of older engines, where old parts need to be re-used.
So if you want a reliable set of FT lifters, have your stock lifters [ or any made prior to about 1995 ] re-faced.
Cheers, Geoff.
So I'm trying to find a shop here in the USA that still does tappet refacing... If not I'll ship to OZ. It'll be a wash on price of new Crowers vs rebuilt pre-1995 OEM lifters. But it's a good source/idea cause you just can't trust modern flat tappets except a few ... Having a lifter failure will kill an engine. And there is too much of that going around
Point being as you tear these engines down, save the lifters and and either have them refaced, or sell them on eBay to someone who will
Keepin the old school stuff happy is cool
And for oil - I'd use Valvoline Maxlife 10W-40 (red bottle) year round. Cheap enough at WalMart and it's building a good reputation as a go-to lube for older flat tappet motors, even if freshly built
But I got this message from a bud down under (Australia) and his experience in building V8 Sedan Race motors (flat tappet limited by rules)...
Broc,
If you want your new cam & lifters to last, then have a set of stock lifters re-faced.
In this country, because of the high cost of new FT lifters, we re-face them & have done for DECADES. I have personally used lifters that have been re-faced 2 or 3 times, zero problems, good as new. [ Contrary to popular belief, FT lifters are the same hardness right through ].
We found out about 15 years ago that the lobe/lifter failures were not oil related...............although the oil companies saw a marketing opportunity & the suckers came...& came.....& they're still coming!
The problem is the lifters. Soft metal, no radius, wrong radius, radius off centre. It makes no difference if they are brand name lifters or not, still off-shore rubbish. I had Comp & Crower lifters fail first time in nearly 40 yrs of engine building. Even trying the humble centre punch test on the bench & comparing it a stock lifter, you could SEE the soft metal displaced around the punch mark.
I send my lifters interstate for re-facing, as the bloke I use specialises in it. Because he does 000s of them, he quickly saw the problem arise years ago.
In your country, for lifter re-facing, you would probably need to find someone who specialises in re-cond of older engines, where old parts need to be re-used.
So if you want a reliable set of FT lifters, have your stock lifters [ or any made prior to about 1995 ] re-faced.
Cheers, Geoff.
So I'm trying to find a shop here in the USA that still does tappet refacing... If not I'll ship to OZ. It'll be a wash on price of new Crowers vs rebuilt pre-1995 OEM lifters. But it's a good source/idea cause you just can't trust modern flat tappets except a few ... Having a lifter failure will kill an engine. And there is too much of that going around
Point being as you tear these engines down, save the lifters and and either have them refaced, or sell them on eBay to someone who will
Keepin the old school stuff happy is cool
And for oil - I'd use Valvoline Maxlife 10W-40 (red bottle) year round. Cheap enough at WalMart and it's building a good reputation as a go-to lube for older flat tappet motors, even if freshly built
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Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
OK, so I don't build Caddy's... I mostly build BBCs
And I use old school flat tappets/cams. I use either new Delphi (GM) lifters or if going more aggressive, I use Crower Cam Saver or Howard's Direct Lube lifters.
But I got this message from a bud down under (Australia) and his experience in building V8 Sedan Race motors (flat tappet limited by rules)...
Broc,
If you want your new cam & lifters to last, then have a set of stock lifters re-faced.
In this country, because of the high cost of new FT lifters, we re-face them & have done for DECADES. I have personally used lifters that have been re-faced 2 or 3 times, zero problems, good as new. [ Contrary to popular belief, FT lifters are the same hardness right through ].
We found out about 15 years ago that the lobe/lifter failures were not oil related...............although the oil companies saw a marketing opportunity & the suckers came...& came.....& they're still coming!
The problem is the lifters. Soft metal, no radius, wrong radius, radius off centre. It makes no difference if they are brand name lifters or not, still off-shore rubbish. I had Comp & Crower lifters fail first time in nearly 40 yrs of engine building. Even trying the humble centre punch test on the bench & comparing it a stock lifter, you could SEE the soft metal displaced around the punch mark.
I send my lifters interstate for re-facing, as the bloke I use specialises in it. Because he does 000s of them, he quickly saw the problem arise years ago.
In your country, for lifter re-facing, you would probably need to find someone who specialises in re-cond of older engines, where old parts need to be re-used.
So if you want a reliable set of FT lifters, have your stock lifters [ or any made prior to about 1995 ] re-faced.
Cheers, Geoff.
So I'm trying to find a shop here in the USA that still does tappet refacing... If not I'll ship to OZ. It'll be a wash on price of new Crowers vs rebuilt pre-1995 OEM lifters. But it's a good source/idea cause you just can't trust modern flat tappets except a few ... Having a lifter failure will kill an engine. And there is too much of that going around
Point being as you tear these engines down, save the lifters and and either have them refaced, or sell them on eBay to someone who will
Keepin the old school stuff happy is cool
And for oil - I'd use Valvoline Maxlife 10W-40 (red bottle) year round. Cheap enough at WalMart and it's building a good reputation as a go-to lube for older flat tappet motors, even if freshly built
Interesting-if you have this guy's company name & address, it would be good to know. GM engines have been munching cams since at least the '80s (I had 2 do it, a Buick 350 & Chevrolet SB 305), he might be on to something.
OK, so I don't build Caddy's... I mostly build BBCs
But I got this message from a bud down under (Australia) and his experience in building V8 Sedan Race motors (flat tappet limited by rules)...
Broc,
If you want your new cam & lifters to last, then have a set of stock lifters re-faced.
In this country, because of the high cost of new FT lifters, we re-face them & have done for DECADES. I have personally used lifters that have been re-faced 2 or 3 times, zero problems, good as new. [ Contrary to popular belief, FT lifters are the same hardness right through ].
We found out about 15 years ago that the lobe/lifter failures were not oil related...............although the oil companies saw a marketing opportunity & the suckers came...& came.....& they're still coming!
The problem is the lifters. Soft metal, no radius, wrong radius, radius off centre. It makes no difference if they are brand name lifters or not, still off-shore rubbish. I had Comp & Crower lifters fail first time in nearly 40 yrs of engine building. Even trying the humble centre punch test on the bench & comparing it a stock lifter, you could SEE the soft metal displaced around the punch mark.
I send my lifters interstate for re-facing, as the bloke I use specialises in it. Because he does 000s of them, he quickly saw the problem arise years ago.
In your country, for lifter re-facing, you would probably need to find someone who specialises in re-cond of older engines, where old parts need to be re-used.
So if you want a reliable set of FT lifters, have your stock lifters [ or any made prior to about 1995 ] re-faced.
Cheers, Geoff.
So I'm trying to find a shop here in the USA that still does tappet refacing... If not I'll ship to OZ. It'll be a wash on price of new Crowers vs rebuilt pre-1995 OEM lifters. But it's a good source/idea cause you just can't trust modern flat tappets except a few ... Having a lifter failure will kill an engine. And there is too much of that going around
Point being as you tear these engines down, save the lifters and and either have them refaced, or sell them on eBay to someone who will
Keepin the old school stuff happy is cool
And for oil - I'd use Valvoline Maxlife 10W-40 (red bottle) year round. Cheap enough at WalMart and it's building a good reputation as a go-to lube for older flat tappet motors, even if freshly built
Interesting-if you have this guy's company name & address, it would be good to know. GM engines have been munching cams since at least the '80s (I had 2 do it, a Buick 350 & Chevrolet SB 305), he might be on to something.
My brother uses MTS(Maximum Torque Specialists) or a local guy that makes his own cams and is good at re grinding cams.
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