Cadillac engine question.

[Scott8950]

I know we have some very knowledgeable guys on here who know about early Cadillacs. I have the Cadillac parts pack engine (yes I know 354 is incorrect) it shows the distributor in the rear but while searching for reference pictures I noticed some are in the front. Can some explain the difference? I also noticed many are a darker blue color is this a factory color?

The parts pack engine would be the 49-63 engine? 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Scott8950

[Mark]

Not sure when the distributor started appearing at the front of Cadillac engines, but the Revell parts pack version was tooled in 1962.   It is definitely an early engine that is correct in having it located at the rear.

[Scott8950]

33 minutes ago, Mark said:

Not sure when the distributor started appearing at the front of Cadillac engines, but the Revell parts pack version was tooled in 1962.   It is definitely an early engine that is correct in having it located at the rear.

From what little I can find I think the 49-63 engines had the distributors in the rear and 64 and later were located in the front. 

[Can-Con]

Scott, if you google "Cadillac for sale" with the year you're looking for you should be able to find loads of pics. 

I googles "63 Cadillac for sale" and found a few with good engine shots showing the distributor in the front.

Same thing for '62 showed it in the back.

[Scott8950]

14 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

Scott, if you google "Cadillac for sale" with the year you're looking for you should be able to find loads of pics. 

I googles "63 Cadillac for sale" and found a few with good engine shots showing the distributor in the front.

Same thing for '62 showed it in the back.

I'm using the engine in a 62 cutlass awb car so I'm not building a factory replica but when I googled 62 and 63 Cadillac it showed both ways. I'm gonna just put it in the rear as the parts pack shows and go with that. 

[Mark]

The vast majority of speed equipment for Cadillac engines, especially items like intake manifolds, was geared to the early, rear-distributor engines. 

There were items for the '63-'67 or so engines, not as much because fewer drag racers were using Cadillacs by then.  The Chrysler engine had taken over in the dragster classes especially when fuel classes returned, and with better drag slicks they were encroaching into the Gas classes as well.

For the '68 or so and later engines (472/500), all I have ever seen or heard about with intake manifolds is adapting units from other engines, mainly the Ford 429/460 series.

All of the decent Cadillac engines in kits are the early, rear-distributor units.  The only front-distributor engine is the one in Jo-Han DeVille annual kits, and it's not very well done.  The engine in their Eldorado annuals is an Oldsmobile unit with the distributor at the rear.

[Scott8950]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

The vast majority of speed equipment for Cadillac engines, especially items like intake manifolds, was geared to the early, rear-distributor engines. 

There were items for the '63-'67 or so engines, not as much because fewer drag racers were using Cadillacs by then.  The Chrysler engine had taken over in the dragster classes especially when fuel classes returned, and with better drag slicks they were encroaching into the Gas classes as well.

For the '68 or so and later engines (472/500), all I have ever seen or heard about with intake manifolds is adapting units from other engines, mainly the Ford 429/460 series.

All of the decent Cadillac engines in kits are the early, rear-distributor units.  The only front-distributor engine is the one in Jo-Han DeVille annual kits, and it's not very well done.  The engine in their Eldorado annuals is an Oldsmobile unit with the distributor at the rear.

I've never been into cadillac stuff so I have very little knowledge on anything cadillac. I also noticed this engine has only 3 exhaust ports which is kinda odd definitely not good for performance which is probably one reason Cadillac engines weren't more popular. 

[THarrison351]

For the 1963 model year Cadillac redesigned its V8 engine, modernizing the tooling used in the production line while optimizing the engine's design. Although it shared the same layout and architecture with the 1949-vintage engine, the revised engine had shorter connecting rods and was 1 in (25 mm) lower, 4 in (101.6 mm) narrower, and 1.25 in (32 mm) shorter. The accessories (water pump, power steering pump, distributor) mounted on a die-cast aluminum housing at the front of the engine for improved accessibility. An alternator replaced the former generator. The crankshaft was cored out to make it both lighter and stronger. The revised engine was 52 lb (24 kg) lighter than its predecessor, for a total dry weight of 595 lb (270 kg).

The revised engine shared the same 4 in × 3.875 in (101.6 mm × 98.4 mm) bore and stroke of its predecessor, for an unchanged displacement of 390 cu in (6.4 L). Power was unchanged at 325 hp (242 kW), as was torque at 430 lb⋅ft (583 N⋅m). (Wiki)