Professor

Hi Eric! I have been working, and the Chrysler is waiting to go into paint. Things have been so busy for me that I have hardly had time to breathe. The Chrysler is running like a top and we are just waiting for the final step. Joe

@all, The fabricator I used is named Ryan (Moose) McCombs and can be reached at moose@manifoldsbymoose.com. At $540 (with shipping) this was an expensive piece to have manufactured, but it was so well done that it dropped right in as a perfect fit with no modifications. I could not be more pleased with Moose’s work. I have Moose’s permission to post his name and contact information. Joe

Greg, I have asked the guy who made it if I can release his name and any contact information. Stand by. Eric, I don’t think I need the heat riser here in southeastern North Carolina, so I told him to leave it off. No body work done yet since the restoration shop that will be working on it is not ready. I expect a January-ish 2024 date to take it to the restoration shop. All, I will be heading out today to install the new collector and test it. Wish me luck! Joe

Hi All, By way of a quick update, the new exhaust collector I had made arrived yesterday! I am going to sand blast it today, clean it up, paint it, and put it on! I will repair the original part again and put it on the shelf as a spare. I am a bit worried that with all the heat cycles, the cast iron is as brittle as can be, so the original part may never be installed again. Joe

Brief update: I am having a new exhaust collector made after discovering a new hole in the factory cast iron part. I removed the collector portion of the exhaust manifold and discovered that the “new” hole appears to be in an extremely thin portion of the collector, not too far from the section I welded. I used a small metal dental pick and started probing the area around the hole, and it is so thin that I could easily push through the casting in various areas. I am going to weld it up, but in the mean time, I am having a much stronger functional collector made that matches the original cast piece while I try to find a better original. I am not hopeful that I will find the part I need since it appears to be a flathead 8 only part, and does not appear to match later L head 8 cylinder engines. I am keeping my eye out in various online forums and of course, eBay. I have not driven it for a couple of weeks, and I am already missing it. Ugh. On another note, I purchased my first electric vehicle; a Tesla Model S Plaid. It took a couple of months for the factory to build and ship it to NC, but I am thrilled with it. 1,020 horsepower and silky smooth. This car is unlike anything I have ever experienced. This is my first new American made “car” (I have had lots of Jeeps and trucks) since 1983 ( a POS Buick Skylark)… and we have come a long way baby!. Joe

Hi Eric, I have been so busy at work this semester that all I have done is drive the Chrysler (when it is not raining). The shop that is going to do the paint is runnning behind, so they do not expect to be able to take the Chrysler before September. The shop is currently restoring Mrs. Taylor’s Auburn Boat Tail Speedster (reproduction) and I want them to finish her car before they start on mine. I am not in any rush. I have some small tasks to complete, but nothing pressing… so all I am doing is having fun driving her! Thanks so much for checking in, Eric. Joe

Relatively speaking, this is an easy and relatively inexpensive job, so I am glad to get it out of the way. Regardless of whether I kept this car or sold it, removing this potential weakness is a good thing.

@Roger Zimmermann, Here are a couple of snapshots for the front and back of the gear… I would say it is as close to perfect (15k miles) as it could be. I do not see any indications of pending failure. This said, I am happy to be rid of it, even though it is not the cause of my current failure to start / no compression /intermittent compression issue. Joe

@Roger Zimmermann I will take a couple of pictures of the cam gear and upload them shortly. Eric, I will definitely clean up the surface before I install the new gasket. As Roger noted, the alignment pins are in through holes and can be pushed through the block (and hopefully NOT down into the oil pan… LOL) and then the timing cover can be slid down the surface of the block into the oil pan seal. Once the timing cover is in place, simply punch the alignment pins back in… easy peasy. I purchased some Cadillac dark blue to repaint the timing cover, water pump, valve covers, and alternator bracket. I was hoping to get the timing cover painted today, but it is too cold for painting so I will be cleaning everything up and will paint it when the weather warms up a bit. Worst case, I can turn on my shop heater and paint indoors if I need to. Joe

All, I just merged my Cadillac timing chain thread with this thread and will bring everything up to date. I have replaced the factory timing chain and gears with a new timing chain and gears and am in the process of putting the front end of the engine back together so I can start troubleshooting the valves. If nothing else, I am learning the intricacies of the 500 CI engine. 🙂 Joe Here is an image of the new timing chain and gears installed.

I have removed the timing cover and the nylon gear is absolutely perfect. I am going to yank it out and replace it with a Cloyes timing gear and chain set… it will be one less thing to go wrong once I get it sorted. Joe

Thanks for the replies everyone. I read somewhere that the Cadillac 500 CI engine is a non-interference engine. Assuming this is true, shouldn’t the valves be protected from hitting the pistons or is there some dynamic involving a stuck lifter that could cause a non-interference engine’s valves to hit the pistons. Remembering that the car ran perfectly when I pulled it into the garage and has not run since, with any luck, there is no valve or piston damage. An intermittently stuck valve would cause the sometimes zero, sometimes not zero characteristic I see in certain cylinders. Once I install the timing chain and gear set and get the front end of the engine all buttoned up, I will pull the valve covers and report back here. Joe

Hi Gang, I am completely stumped by this. I have a 15,000 mile Cadillac Coupe Deville that was sitting for, let’s say, 30-ish years. I decide to try and bring it back to life. The story is in the projects section of this forum. I change the oil and filter, drain the fuel and put in new fuel with a visible inline filter, change the fuel pump, prime the carburetor, and presto! It fires right up. I drive it to the gas station to put new fuel in it, it runs perfectly. I drive home and park it. The next day, I try to start it and it will not start, so I change the ignition module, coil, plug wires, and plugs. It still will not start. I rebuild the carburetor since the accelerator pump wasn’t working. It will still not start. I have fuel, spark… it must be compression. I remove all the spark plugs and do a compression test: 1 - 170 2 - 0 3 - 170 4 - 0 5 - cranking it went to 50 (one compression pulse) and then I released the pressure and it was 0 after that. 6 - same as 5 7 - 0 8 - 0 5cc of oil in the zero cylinders does not increase compression. Compression gauge is fine, I tested the “dead” cylinders with my finger and they clearly have no compression except every once in awhile on cylinders 5 and 6. Okay… this car has a nylon toot cam gear… I suspect the timing chain is off timing somehow. I pull everything to get to the timing chain and it is absolutely perfect and the timing marks are lined up as they should be. There is no coolant in the oil and everything appears to be fine. So… what in the world could have happened. I am guessing I will have to pull the heads, but what could have happened “overnight” to cause a perfectly running car not to run and have such strange compression characteristics? I bought a new non nylon timing gear set (with chain) so I will change out the timing gear and chain and put all new gaskets in.

I have a spare grille that has the top tab broken off and will upload an image since it is the same as what is on my C8. I bet you are right and it is not aluminum… it weighs quite a bit now that I think about it.

I tried polishing it with a polish, and there is no way I can get it as bright as some I have seen. I suspect that the factory chrome plated these, which means I will need to remove it and take it in to be plated. Perhaps this is something I can do while the painter has the Chrysler apart. Charlotte, NC has some chrome platers with fairly high ratings so I would be comfortable having it plated there. I cringe at the thought of the cost. LOL.