my poor dead engine

[richie49]

I got a question. Will a chevy thermostat housing fit on a caddy 500?I want to redo upper hose and I need the outlet to be 90* and a swivel to aim hose.
Richarde richie49

 

[5one9]

It didn’t work when I tried. Bolt pattern different

 

[richie49]

I had read somewhere that you have to grind the mounting hole longer .They sell the same gasket for both chevy and caddy with the holes in the gaskets being enlongated. I don't know which is wider the chevy or caddy.The thermostat housing that has the swivel head has the holes inset with hex key style. So I'm not sure if you can grind them longer and still use the hex. Maybe use regular bolts with washers?
Richard richie49

 

[5one9]

Richard, I bought and eBay 90 degree adjustable neck. There isn’t enough meat to elongate the holes. Maybe you can on a fixed one

 

[Darius]

THE FORMER MTS OFFERED TWO DIFFERENT STYLES - SO SOMEBODY MUST BE MAKING THEM.​

https://cadillachighperformance.com...oducts/chp-bl90-90-45-or-90-swivel-water-neck

(PICTURED) https://www.google.com/search?q=CAD...i57j69i60.11846j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

bro. d

CADILLAC 472 500 45* OR 90* SWIVEL WATER NECK-CHP-BL90-90​

• SALE
• $69.95
• Regular price$139.95

 

[richie49]

Can't buy from CHP (actually won't buy)maybe from Cadco in new mexico. I'll check with them.Thanks
Richard richie49

 

[Darius]

Can't buy from CHP (actually won't buy)maybe from Cadco in new mexico. I'll check with them.Thanks
Richard richie49

I've done some snooping to find out who the manufacturer of these swivel water necks are and have a couple of sources. Of course nobody is open on the weekend but I'll follow up on Monday.

bro. d

 

[richie49]

Darius
Thank you, I must be the worst person to looking for internet stuff.I can never find stuff when I'm
looking. After someone finds things then I can find them but I have lots of trouble looking things up.
Richard richie49

 

[Cadillac Kid 1]

This is what I used. There is enough meat on the base to elongate the holes to fit .

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-4818

Greg Surfas

 

[Darius]

This is what I used. There is enough meat on the base to elongate the holes to fit .

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-4818

Greg Surfas

Bro. Greg,

Nice find!

Since you were able to elongate the holes in the Chevy specific unit, I wonder is other designs and styles available for the SB and BB Chevys could be modified for use on our Cadillac engines?

There are lots of styles of choose from. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-4818/applications/year/1976

I'll still check with the two manufacturer to see if they can shed any light.

bro. d

 

[Caddylackn]

I have bought one just like the one posted above on Summit for my chev. 350 but it was a Jegs brand. The quality of the product was good but for whatever reason the o-ring did not mate up with the corresponding mating surface on the Edelbrock intake manifold that was completely flat, so it leaked bad. Obviously whoever made my filler neck never checked what it was going onto.

Make sure your block has the proper mating surface before buying. The o-ring fits into a groove at the base of the neck, and the groove (and o-ring) is really close to the coolant opening. If your coolant passage is more than 1/8" larger than a chevy Small Block, this is probably not going to work.

 

[richie49]

I looked at the necks at jegs and summit and none really state measurements and I hate to say it but I dont want to buy anything and argue with it.I dug in my pile of hoses and found a kinda sharp 90* and cut it down and angled itso I have the hose looking good for now. I'm going to pull radiator and put in the rubber flaps so when driving at speed the air can go thru the flaps for more cooling. I read that at speed the air can cause the air to build up and stop flowing some because there more air going in than what the fan can move.(with the taurus fan its hard to believe if that is happening ) can't hurt to try ,besides those flaps are put in areas that are a ways from the fan diameter. I have 10 or so inchs from fan to edge on one side and the fan is on the edge at the other. So I have a dead spot or maybe a slow spot. i will see.
Darius I Thank you for checking out stuff on the necks from the manufacturer. Others may want that info if you found it. Now for all the guys that were saying about jegs and summit I also thank you for your efforts.
Richard richie49

 

[5one9]

OK Richard, I went out in the garage and grabbed my eBay special which was the cheapest price to be found. It is good quality. O-ring fits the groove well and the neck can be turned 360 degrees. The Cadillac bolt pattern is 3" on the money. This one is 3-3/16" on the money, meaning each side will need to be moved in 3/32". Oh, but wait, since the holes in the neck are over 3/8" and the factory bolts are 5/16", you would only really need to remove around 1/16" or so from each side. There is a solid 1/8" of meat on the bottom side between the hole and the inside where the neck slides in. Working slow, it would be an easy job to not mess up. Of course the recessed Allen bolt head holes would need touched a bit on the inside, but only 'just enough'. You might want to grind a 5/16" flat washer oblong on the OD to fit the new Allen hole and give the bolt a nice solid seat. I'll grind this one and take some pics. It would help a lot on my '57 F100 build, although not a show stopper. Here are some initial pics. Notice the black marker that I drew on it which should be enough to get it bolted on. The third pic is the dinky restrictive hole inside of the turn, about 1" diameter or less. You are having enough issue without this thing being the restriction..................but the good news, it is very thick on the short turn radius, and thick enough on the sides, but not the top radius. Leaving the top alone, enlarging the sides about 1/8" each, and opening the short turn 1/4" would give you a nice 1-1/4" hole. I believe there is enough meat to be even bigger and still leave the walls 1/8" thick or more.

 

[5one9]

Mine is a 15 degree and cost about $17 shipped to the house

 

[Darius]

I looked at the necks at jegs and summit and none really state measurements and I hate to say it but I dont want to buy anything and argue with it.I dug in my pile of hoses and found a kinda sharp 90* and cut it down and angled itso I have the hose looking good for now. I'm going to pull radiator and put in the rubber flaps so when driving at speed the air can go thru the flaps for more cooling. I read that at speed the air can cause the air to build up and stop flowing some because there more air going in than what the fan can move.(with the taurus fan its hard to believe if that is happening ) can't hurt to try ,besides those flaps are put in areas that are a ways from the fan diameter. I have 10 or so inchs from fan to edge on one side and the fan is on the edge at the other. So I have a dead spot or maybe a slow spot. i will see.
Darius I Thank you for checking out stuff on the necks from the manufacturer. Others may want that info if you found it. Now for all the guys that were saying about jegs and summit I also thank you for your efforts.
Richard richie49

Maybe I'm just anal (no comment, Mario) but at times I'm like a dog with a bone (remembering when I was a guy with a b..... never mind). Anyway, there is potentially some good news regarding options for new thermostat housings.

5one9 you provided a major clue when you offered the bolt spacing on the stock Cadillac thermostat housing at 3.00 inches. The next step was to find if that spec matched anything else, and it did!

As was noted, the difference between the Cadillac and Chevy spacing was only a quarter of an inch, or 0.24. That make SB Chevy units (327-350) a real possibility for our engines.

However, there is an even closer match, 2.992117, or RCH close. The newer LS1 and LS2 engine family does the trick! Take a look at the illustrations:

bro. d

 

[5one9]

Very interesting. I’m heading to eBay to see what is available.

 

[5one9]

The only issue that I see is that the Ls housing has a deep recess that the thermostat and its rubber gasket go in.

 

[richie49]

Very little to report on the corvair.I pulled the radiator to put in the rubber flaps in the shroud .
My fan is located on the driver side as for as it would go in the shroud.This was for clearances
on the fan. This left a square area 17 by 9 inch(I remeasured the area) on the passager side. They say this can cause a stagnate area when cruising or just driving fast so this should allow air to pass thru the radiator and then thru the flaps. Who knows air moving at 50 to 70 mph should help cool. The radiator cools the engine down at idle and low speeds but higher speeds slowly builds up.
Richard richie49