I was recently offered a 4.1L Cadillac V8 engine that came out of an 83 Eldorado. The engine itself has who know's how many miles and would be completely rebuilt (more as a project that i'm personally interested in doing) with a side result being that a perfectly sound and ready to run 250ci engine would become available to replace the old 2.5L in my YJ. My question is, as I can't seem to find anyone on this board that has done a swap with this type of engine, does anyone know if this is a good engine for the Wrangler? It's a GM engine but Cadillac has been making their own engines for a while so i'm not sure if it'll bolt up very well or not.
the engine is free and i'll probably rebuild it anyway (again, as a project) but I might do certain performance mods to it with the Wrangler in mind that I wouldn't do during a simple rebuild.
There's no replacement for displacement & if your swapping drivetrains anyway...
If you were talking about a 572ish cadi motor i'd beopCorn:
I don't know much about this particular engine but if it were me, i'd wait around for a 350 SBC (cheap, abundant, much aftermarket support, done many times, etc) or a 4.0L swap but i guess it all depends on what your end goals are and how much $$$ you want to spend, free motor or not. You will still need the rest of the drivetrain.. It would be different for sure and probably better than the stocker though. These are my personal thoughts as you asked. Good luck!! :wave:
I was recently offered a 4.1L Cadillac V8 engine that came out of an 83 Eldorado. The engine itself has who know's how many miles and would be completely rebuilt (more as a project that i'm personally interested in doing) with a side result being that a perfectly sound and ready to run 250ci engine would become available to replace the old 2.5L in my YJ. My question is, as I can't seem to find anyone on this board that has done a swap with this type of engine, does anyone know if this is a good engine for the Wrangler? It's a GM engine but Cadillac has been making their own engines for a while so i'm not sure if it'll bolt up very well or not.
the engine is free and i'll probably rebuild it anyway (again, as a project) but I might do certain performance mods to it with the Wrangler in mind that I wouldn't do during a simple rebuild.
If you have the time and ingenuity to make it work, I'm sure you can. I've never heard of this swap before.
i know free stuff is hard to pass up, but you might want to wait for an old 350 to come around. There's a lot more support for that swap, and they come around pretty cheap.
1. A cheap engine doesn't make it a cheap install.
2. As mentioned above, why go through alllll the troubles only to have marginably better power? The cost to hp ratio sucks in this one.
3. Look at the big picture....what tranny? What tcase? How many adapters would be required. Cooling, Wiring, Shifters.....the engine is the least of your worries in most engine swaps.
I've done two engine swaps on my rig now, and am doing another for a fellow jeeper. With that said.....being common is not a bad thing when it comes to swaps. The more common it is, the more aftermarket support there is. The more aftermarket support there is...the cheaper it will be.
Thanks for the comments! Good food for thought. The question here isn't whether or not i'm gonna rebuild the motor, it's whether or not it's going in the jeep. The more I look into it, the more it looks like NOT. The engine itself is just taking space in my dad's garage and, as a project for my two teenagers who are interested in engines, we're gonna take it apart and rebuild it. As a pure project, it'd be done (most likely) without replacing much, without really intending to get it running again, and most likely thrown away at the end. If I had the intention of putting it into another vehicle at some point, i'd actually rebuild it (the right way instead of simply as a learning tool). Free is free but free doesn't mean good...
I'd much prefer the thought of a 350 Chevy in the Wrangler when I find one that suits me (and the budget allows). Doesn't much sound like the Caddy engine is worth the trouble of installing. It really makes me with i hadn't gotten rid of the new 400 Pontiac motor I junked six or so years ago though....that thing was brand new it was just the Trans Am it was in that was useless....RATS!
to quote Novaks website...
" just because you have a motor laying around, does not make it a good candidate for a swap".
stick to chevy power for ease and LOTS of aftermarket support. nothing beats being able to pick up the fone and call a company regards an issue with a transplanted motor in a jeep, and being able to get accurate information!
That engine shared the buick,olds, pontiac bellhousing pattern, they were a POS and had major head gasket issues, they have aluminum heads that were prone to warping. They also had overheating issues that would certainly dampen any off-roading ability. On the bright side they were TBI and actually had a fair amount of power. I had an '83 Fleetwood (big boat) it weighed a couple of tons and that little 4.1 would actually light the tires up. Toss the boat anchor pick up a SBC and rebuild that with the kids.
Actually, it's my daughters, not my sons. I made a decision years ago that when they got to driving age, they weren't going to be those women who can't even change a tire or who don't know where a dipstick is. My little brother once destroyed a brand new Saturn by pouring engine oil into the transmission cause he didn't know the difference and my girls aren't going to be that ignorant.
Chevy 350 it will be...
As soon as I fix the suspension issues. Oh, and I found out yesterday that the third bolt holding the trans to the skid plate (the outrigger bolt?) isn't actually attached to anything. Explained at least one of the noises!
depends. The 81-85 Deville, Seville, Eldorado and Fleetwood all used the same engine but had different drive-train configurations. I think (if my memory is correct) that the Eldo and Fleetwood may have been front-wheel but the Deville and Seville were rear-wheel. My dad still has the Seville (he had originally intended on putting the "extra" engine in it) but the engine itself came out of an Eldo. Years ago he drove the Seville under the back of a semi and bought an Eldorado for the parts. It wasn't until we started taking it apart that we realized that the Eldo wasn't similiar enough to the Seville so we ended up buying a Deville as well (again, just for parts). The Eldo engine was good, the Deville engine was shot so we moved the Eldo engine parts over and the Deville body parts and ended up making the Seville like new again. We just still have the old Eldo engine on a lift in the garage.
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