23 V8 engine Valve timing

[lemscar]

Would anyone have the valve timing data or a simple way of setting up the valve timing on this engine, Regards

[mlander]

What kind of car is it? !923 was the year that Cadillac might have changed to z 90 degree crankshaft from a 180 degree crankshaft.

And for 1923, Cadillac pioneered the dual-plane V8 crankshaft. This meant that the crankpins were set at 90° instead of 180 as in all previous V8s. The dual-plane crank plus the addition of counterweights eliminated most ?rocking couples? and resulted in infinitely better balance, thus a smoother-running engine.

Have you tried Detroit Iron?

M.L. Anderson

[Ivan Saxton]

You should not have any trouble with this. Inlet opens TDC, Exhaust closes TDC. Timing marks are visible on the flywheel when you open the little cover. Clearances are 4thou inlet, 6thou exhaust. Your precise point is when the gap just locks the feeler gauge. Firing order is 1L-4R-4L-2L-3R-3L-2R-1R. I can scan the pages from Radco and National service manuals for you if you need them, but not till I get a new scanner when I go to the city next in a week or so. (The old one has just died unfortunately.)

Ivan Saxton

[Ivan Saxton]

PS. Just a quick word of warning on these fork and blade conrod Cadillacs. I have seen them break conrod bolts or conrods where the rods and bolts have not been crack-tested, and usually the bolts have been stretched beyond the elastic limit for lack of a good torsion wrench. Sure you can weld-repair the crankcase, but it makes a mess and should never happen. Some of these cars did astronomical mileages when they were in use, particularly those that were hire cars. Do not neglect to crack-test the rods, and make new bolts of something like heat-treated En25 or 4340 steel if you need to. They are great cars. The later 314 I really like, particularly because one was my first car that I rebuilt under the wattle tree in the back yard when I was at university.

Ivan Saxton