Cadillac Flathead Tech Contributions

[Rhino]

Any engine with a Turbo Charger is dead quiet.   The turbo action kills the noise coming out.

Just imagine 4 Turbo's, with Twin Superchargers on a V16 Detroit Diesel - - - -  Well, not much noise.   More noise from the tyres than the exhaust pipes.

Bruce.

My Corvair with a turbo made quite a bit of noise, from the turbo itself. The exhaust was fairly quiet. Then I modified everything......
Earache my eye!

[Restomod 40]

I know all about the quieting action of turbo chargers, hence my curiosity about a turbo-ed flattie.  The 346 has such a distinct exhaust sound that I wonder how it would sound muffled by a turbo.  No if you were to go for broke with the turbo and use a Garrett 4046 or larger putting out 25 or 30 lbs of boost.....  I picture my 40 done up in full restoration appearance with a forged internal 346 turbo under the hood, replete with single exhaust, now that would be a sleeper!

[Rhino]

With that get up and go pack you would lose until about 22mph when the JATO kicked in and stomped the little rice rocket.

[CrazyDave]

Hi Guys,
Haven't been around for a while. My flathead experience is limited to Fords. I'd much rather turn wrenches than peck keyboards.
My '55 CDV sleeps as I work on this.
The latest Progress:

[The Tassie Devil (Bruce Reynolds)]

Very nice.

Bruce.

[Tom Beaver]

When I got down to installing the front cover on the engine I was rebuilding for my 38 LaSalle I finally figured out that there was no seal, just a glorified oil slinger.  I just hate oil dripped all over the garage floor so I did some looking and measuring and replaced the oil slinger with a modern seal.  The front seal I used is a NAPA 18548.  It is for a mid 90's Ford 302.  Shaft size listed for the seal is 1.875".  The Cadillac harmonic balancer I have measured 1.873" and the Ford measured 1.875", which is close enough I think.  Diameter of the hole for the seal in the Ford front cover measures 2.558" which is something like 0.010" smaller than the OD of the seal itself.  The seal is designed to be compressed a bit when driven in, so I milled the hole in the Cadillac front cover to be the same as the Ford.

Since the Cadillac front cover is positioned by dowel pins I assumed that the original crankshaft hole was concentric with the crank and so centered the new hole on the old one.  I am within 0.002" as there was a little eccentricity in the old hole.  When I installed the harmonic balancer on the crank with the front cover in place it fits into the seal well and visually appears to be centered.

Initially the rear face of the balancer appeared to be too close to the seal flange so I placed a spacer washer on the crankshaft between the end of the harmonic balancer and the timing chain drive gear.  I made the spacer approximately 0.040" which is the same thickness as the sheetmetal on the old Cadillac seal/wiper which I had removed.  This allowed all of the front pulleys to line up as before and gives plenty of clearance between the rear face of the harmonic balancer and seal flange.

When I started up the engine all worked well and not a hint of a leak.  Now I haven't very much time on the engine yet since the car isn't done yet but I have great hopes.

I have attached a couple of pictures of the installed seal.

[The Tassie Devil (Bruce Reynolds)]

I love these "Alterations" to improve engineering.

And, beautifully described.

One has to remember that the old days of "Total Loss" oiling are long gone, and where oil can get out, people forget that dirt and dust can also get in.

Bruce.

[STDog]

Cool mod Beav.

I'd have never guessed it wasn't original.

No seal on the front, wow. Bet that used a lot of oil.
I hope there's a seal on the rear already.

[CarFreak]

Beaver and all -

Thanks for the good info, I'm printing this thread and stashing it in a file for future reference.

Keep it coming!

CF

[fiftyv8]

Well guys I have been out of town for a few weekis and it is nice to come back and find that you all have done this thread proud.
I was losing faith there for a while but the ideas are still coming in which is just so great for this site and the tech on thiese old engines.
I just acquired a 1941 346 engine caddy flathead whilst I was away but have discovered one side exhaust manifold has a long crack length ways in it so any ideas about fixing it or where to get another? It is from a military vehicle I think since it has the twin exhaust style manifold with no cross over pipe like I am familiar with the cars.

Nice tech on the front seal Beaver.

Keep'm comin Russ.

[Rhino]

I just acquired a 1941 346 engine caddy flathead whilst I was away but have discovered one side exhaust manifold has a long crack length ways in it so any ideas about fixing it or where to get another?
Keep'm comin Russ.

According to the kid down the street who just welded my stainless steel sink cracks, the repair of cracked cast iron is a modern miracle. He says he can do it and he is just a student at the local Tech Community College. No, it isn't brazing, it's welding and it works. Call your local Community College.

http://www.locknstitch.com/

[The Tassie Devil (Bruce Reynolds)]

I have had great success in welding Cast Iron using the "Metal Spraying" technique.

Expensive, but worth it, especially when trying to resurect impossible to obtain parts, or doing conversions.

Bruce.

[fiftyv8]

Thanks for that email address, I have emailed Gary there and will post any useful info he may send me.
Cast iron sure sounds like a specialist area when it comes to welding and repairs.

[Rhino]

Thanks for that email address, I have emailed Gary there and will post any useful info he may send me.
Cast iron sure sounds like a specialist area when it comes to welding and repairs.

A brief description follows: First you drill a small hole just past the end of the crack, this stops the crack from spreading. Next you grind out some metal along the crack with a Dremel tool or its brethren. Now go back and fill with the rod material in the ad. Sounds like it should work just dandy. So says the clever kid.

[fiftyv8]

Well guys the Tassie Devil has got it right and probably the Kid down the road for some circumstances but the Guru Gary Reed replied to my email and below is as he sent it to me.

"Hello,

The best way to weld on an old exhaust manifold is to us a powder torch with a high nickel powder blended for cast iron. You can check with some automotive machine shops to see if you can find someone who has one. There was a misguided craze a few years ago about trying to repair cast iron cylinder heads by powder welding. It turned out to be a farce but the good thing is that the only thing the powder process is good for is exhaust manifolds. Old manifolds suffer from a phenomenon called graphitization and welding severly graphitized cast iron is nearly impossible because it won’t melt. The powder process does not require melting the base metal so it is similar to brazing but with an power that expands and contracts very close to the rate of the old cast iron.

Gary J. Reed"

CEO

LOCK-N-STITCH Inc.

1015 S. Soderquist Rd.

Turlock, CA 95380

800-736-8261

209-632-2345

Cell 209-614-4114

Fax 209-632-1740


I hope this was OK to post and not against any rules or policy of the forum.
Seems dealing with Cast Iron can be a little tricky at times especially once it has received heat which is my case being an exhaust manifold crack.