500cid in a 1970 X-Body Nova ?'s

[J.C.]

I am going to put a 500cid in my 1970 Nova. I was wondering if anyone has tried this? I want about 525-600Hp with a strong emphasis on Torque. What are my chances this can be achieved on a low budget? :lol: Yeah, I know, "if you want to go fast your going to pay for it". See the thing is I got this bet that I could build a motor cheaper and produce more horsepower than my buddy who built a chevy 383 stroker for $5,000, I want to win. :evil: I am tubing the rear and using a Ford 9(was planning to) and I heard I needed a Buick or Oldsmobile TH400? Is there anything else I need? Thanks for the help.

[STDog]

I am going to put a 500cid in my 1970 Nova. I was wondering if anyone has tried this? I want about 525-600Hp with a strong emphasis on Torque. What are my chances this can be achieved on a low budget? :lol: Yeah, I know, "if you want to go fast your going to pay for it". See the thing is I got this bet that I could build a motor cheaper and produce more horsepower than my buddy who built a chevy 383 stroker for $5,000, I want to win. :evil: I am tubing the rear and using a Ford 9(was planning to) and I heard I needed a Buick or Oldsmobile TH400? Is there anything else I need? Thanks for the help.

The Ford 9" should be OK. what gears?
The un $5k budget should be easy enough, what's your "low" budget?

For the trans,a Buick, Olds, Pontiac, or Cadillac (BOP housing), 4" tail probably.
You can usuall get a TH400 from the same car as the engine, but it's a extra long tail. Probably could make it work, just a short drive shaft.

What year is the engine? You'll probably want 10:1 compression. New pistons will get you that. Cam, shaft rocker system, bigger valves, new intake, headers and some porting work will get you there.

How you gonna use it? You might not need 500HP to beat him.

[Nashalac]

The Cad makes so much torque down low that the average horsepower from 1500 to 5000 will be much more than the SBC. You probably won't need as moch horsepower as you think, as stated by STDog

[J.C.]

I haven't made the purchase of the motor as of yet. I am just doing the research. I am fortunate to have a few connections on getting one though. So, I think I got that covered. The ford 9 has 420 gears already. I am planning on using it for weekend street/strip. I am shooting for subframe extensions, a four link, panhard bar, and a cage. I was hoping that I could get the desired horsepower without NOS, and pump gas if possible? My friend's got roller rocker AFR aluminum heads(which I heard they make for a Cadillac now). He's running 475Hp he says at the rear wheels, I don't believe it. Looking at spending about $3k on the engine or under. I hear there is a particular year model of Cadillac I am looking for 75 Eldorado? for RWD and 10:1 compression is that right or are there others? Will I have enough clearance under the hood (firewall to radiator)? I am already using a cowl. Thanks for the help.

[Ted in Olympia WA]

If you are going to rebuild it anyways it does not matter what year. Eldorados are your best bet from 70-76 because they were all 500 engines and they have the rear sump pan needed for your swap. The best thing to do is pick up a whole car, keep the engine and part out the rest. I purchased two recently, one for $300 and one for $500. The $300 one I sold $1,300 worth of parts off of and still kept the engine.

The 1970 was rated the highest but is also the hardest to find. It had the highest compression of 10 to one but finding one in very good shape for your goal would be hard. 70 to 73 had the small chamber heads but the blocks are the same for all. It's pretty easy to pick up the early heads if this is what you want.

All years are good. If you get an Eldorado you will need a transmission, T-400 for a rear drive car. All BPO work.

TED

[J.C.]

Thanks for the info. My other friend told me two years ago about Cadillac motors. I had this vision of Uncle Buck out of that Movie where the Cadillac backfires like every five seconds. And then I saw this dyno test buildup somewhere and wondered how to get that beautiful Cadillac motor I saw on the MTS homepage under the hood of my Nova. Thank you all for the much needed information.

[Busguy71]

I have the trans you want, 1973 TH-400 from a deville, 80k original miles as far as I know. I've been trying to unload it for months. Its in CT

[J.C.]

Hey, thanks Busguy71. I think I am just going to hunt down a BOP TH-400 here local. Thanks for the offer.

[Muki]

There is a guy at the fordsix.com forum who has a 1970 Nova with a Cad 500 engine. See this thread

http://fordsix.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27677

he might be of some help.

[CadilaChris]

I am curently in the planing stages for a similar project. I am going to put a 425 in my 68.
A couple of years back, their was a lot of info on the main page of this site that talked about looking at the total package. MTS said that even the full race cadies only run between 350 and 373 gears. I read a posts from a gie with a model T, 10:1 472(a 69 I think), with 273 gears and he does 13s and he had to weigh the car down to 4000 lbs just to get the wheels to hook up on launch.

If I were you, I would use box tubing the same size as your sub fram and make it a solid fram first off. A Nova should only need a 350 rear for the strip. An MTS #10 cam with 9:1 will make around 500 lb/ft at 3000 with no special intake or headers or nothing. That will blow your budies 383 right out of the water.
You just have to remember that it isnt about the horse power, its all about the ft/lbs with a cady.
Best of luck, Chris

[Novillac]

I haven't posted in a couple of years. I had a "74 Nova with a 12:1 compression 500 ported heads,VT-15 cam, Edelbrock intake, headers. Basically the works. Had a healthy TH-400, 9inch with 3.50 gears and a spool. The car weighed in at 3325 with me in it. Subframe connecters are a must in these cars.Even when I had a mild 500 in the car it had taken on a permanent twist. The creaks and groans that came out of it when installing the connectors were unreal.
A few important notes from my original motor install are If the car has A/C the box will have to be removed even the no A/C heater box is a tad tight. The power brake booster on mine hit the valve cover.I had to use a booster from a pontiac sunbird for clearance. The stearing box is real close to the exhaust manifold mine(before the headers) would rub on occasion.
Unfortunatly I sold the car over a year ago, but I have lots of pics of it Including many engine shots. I could post some or a link If need be.

[Terrible One]

I'd love to see your pictures out of sheer curiousity and interest.