herocomplex Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 I posted this in the Caddy forum, but nobody seems to go there.I honestly have no idea about this, so if you have to laugh, please do it quietly. I once heard of a subaru engine finding it's way into a Volkswagon Thing, so I thought I'd ask.Say there's a very nice little 56 caddy body out there on a farm somewhere. It's completely gutted with no real working parts. Can I take anything and theoretically put it under the hood to make it... you know... go?For example. If you found a nice say SUV hybrid engine.... (dreaming) could you make it work somehow?Is it impossible or just difficult?And can any of you direct me to a source of information about this... or name a book that might tell me more about my options? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuhner Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Theoretically, sure. Enough time, money, tools any thing is possible. Being practical is another matter. Theoretically, you could install a gas turbine or a steam engine. I've known people to install a 28V DC motor and a 12 HP Kohler into a Mazda pickup as an early hybrid, or a Mazda Rotary engine into a VW based kit car, (yea these two guys knew each other). I dont know of any books that would give you the specific 'caddy to hybrid swap but have seen books that outline general engine swaps. Take a look at books that deal with building street rods or customs, most all of these run a different engine than what they came with. Take a look at the latest Popular Mechanics, Jay Lenos' column. He built an early Oldsmobile Toranado on a late model 'vette running gear. Converted it to rear wheel drive, with like 600Hp, agree or not with what was done to that car it was very well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest De Soto Frank Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Folks down in Cuba have been doing this since the early 1960's...most of the 1940's & '50s American autos still running around Cuba have engines and other running gear from later model (and often European or Soviet) vehicles...Almost anything is possible; the only limits are creative genius, skills, and budget.Occasionally I've toyed with the concept of replacing the 105 hp flat head six in my '41 De Soto with a higher-powered modern fuel-injected four cylinder & 5 speed; couldn't be any worse than the stock engine, right?( And while I'm at it, I could put one of those brappy coffee-can exhausts on it too ! ) Actually, if I were to embark upon such "heresy", I would pick a car that was already missing its engine & tranny...it would be a neat experiment.Regarding a '56 Caddy, that is a big heavy car, and it is going to require a lot of power to move it around, so I don't know if Hybrid technology is the way to go...part of the success of modern hybrids has been achieved by designing the car body and chassis to be as light and aeordynamic as possible, minimzing the amount of energy required to push it around.The "easiest" and cheapest alternative engine for such a beast would probably be a small-block Chevy V-8 along with a TH-350 or 400 transmission...these are readily available, easily adaptable, and parts are very common and cheap; this is probably why it seems to be to most popular engine with the custom car crowd...The adaptation you suggest ('56 Caddy) definitely sounds like a "one of a kind" project, so you may very well be on your own, blazing a new trail... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillP Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Where some projects of this type run off the rails is in peripheral systems such as fuel, cooling, power transmission and chassis. A big requirement in retro-fitting a hybrid power-plant into anything would be the necessity to retrieve the entire electronics package; i.e., wiring harnesses, computers and auxiliary gear from the donor vehicle. This would probably even extend to such things as the fuel tank, including fill nozzle and cap. The above may partially explain the popularity of the 350/350 chevy engine/trans combination for re-powering a vehicle. A universe of aftermarket suppliers provide most of the bits involved in this sort of swap, making anyone's backyard capable of carrying it off; all you need is a shade tree.As long as you're dreaming, did you ever consider a Pratt&Whitney double row radial in the back seat of that Cadillac? It would make much better music than a bunch of batteries and a half-liter diesel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 We recently installed a Northstar V-8 into a '57 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible. Took MAJOR engineering to put a normally transverse mounted engine into a rear drive vehicle. Extensive modifications to the Caddy Frame and front end as well. You would think there would be plenty of room in a Caddy for a Northstar but it "ain't so". Relax all you purists (I consider myself one as well), this was a basically unrestorable hulk when we started. Now if the owner would just find the money to complete the thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Geez guys hold it down will ya? There's a good many folks around here that will pound the fist on the table demanding the rusting, half stripped parts car you find for sale be restored to 100% stock condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Skyking Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 I remember I was down in Old Town Florida at a car show and a guy came driving in with a 1939 Buick with two V6's in it.........It was done pretty neat too! So anything is possible with some imagination......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1937hd45 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Welcone to the Forum, get ready for the "Restoration Police" to correct you for thing outside the tunnel. There is a '56 Caddy under restoration at a shop up the road, has to be one of the biggest cars Detroit ever built, you may want to think about repowering something smaller. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25Buick25 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Having done some motor swaps myself in the past, anything is possible. But your the engineer now and you will have to come up with alot of solutions to problems you don't even nkow you have yet. All it takes it time, money and talent, and if your short in any of those areas, it will take more of the others. But anything is possible, be creative!The thing about hybrid drivetrains is the electroncis. I don't know how integrated they are into the rest of the car, but it would seem to me that putting that kind of drivetrain in a much heavier car could cause problems with the computer that controlls it. Plus I can't imagine how tuff it will be to rewwire everything! Hope your a computer programmer, too!How about a diesel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest carlnut50 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Hello,Putting a small block Chevy engine and transmission in the Caddy would be a piece of cake.It is smaller and lighter than the original and would probably perform ok even though the car is rather heavy.Every time anyone brings up a subject like this,I long for another opportunity to do some of this fun stuff one more time.We once shoehorned a 265 chevy engine and powerglide into a 1955 Austin 4 door sedan.It was called an Austin of England and was a really small car.Have a great day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 You know guys, it seems there should be an ongoing thread for modified car discussion. A fellow named Ray Green once querried about modifying one of his 20 classics into a real 75MPH car that could easily tour the country and wanted to put disc brakes on it- which he finally did do. Of course all the "Restoration Police" jumped in telling him what he couldn't do with one of HIS 20 cars. He was so taken aback I thought he'd ditch this place. A guy with many classic is a wealth of information to others. He is still around, thankfully. But that's the example of what happens. And the old, narrow minded pharts wonder why they can't attract younger members when they pounce on questions about what motive power could be used in a decaying piece of rust just for fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JT Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Did I miss something or was a post deleted?I haven't heard anyone here objecting to taking a gutted car, which seems to be the case, and putting it back on the road with any kind of modifications. Didn't objections in the past refer to cars that were complete restorable cars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuhner Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Must every topic somehow wonder into original versus modified, to getting new younger members!?I am not in favor of modifying orignal vehicles, but I am also aware other people like modified vehicles, to each his own. I'm guessing this person is a younger human who is maybe just dreaming a little. Asking a "what if question". Where else would you go to ask such a question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillP Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 You're off-base, Twitch. In fact, you were the first one to bring up the matter of whining about restoring this car; nearly everyone else had good suggestions or responses to the guy's original question. Hell, I even speculated he should put an aircraft engine in the back seat. Tongue-in-cheek to be sure, but this fellow said upfront he was dreaming and I've always been a big fan (pun intended) of aero-engined cars, from Chitty to Babs on forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herocomplex Posted May 11, 2005 Author Share Posted May 11, 2005 She. Not he.Thanks for the input. I fully expected to get chased away with pitchforks...As for the comment about being a computer scientist... I, personally, am not. I'm a violinist with a flare for fixing old things. I've done some big projects, but never anything as intricate as a car.I've got a little team together though composed of an engineer, a computer scientist, and a recently added hot rodder (do you guys have names for yourselves?). The four of us wanted a bit of an environmental experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R W Burgess Posted May 11, 2005 Share Posted May 11, 2005 They call us "old car nuts!", or sometimes, just "old nuts" as the case may be. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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