L78 396/402

[Badazz55]

Hell everyone, I just bought an L78 402 for my '50 Cadillac Convertible. The engine is rebuilt stock and I am wondering if this will be a good engine to power my sled. It has closed chamber rectangular port heads, which I understand aren't optimum for a street cruiser. Any opinions would be apperciated.

[Keith Tedford]

The ideal engine for your Cad is one of the 500+ CID Cadillac engines. There is some aftermarket equipment for them and they produce the kind of torque that you are looking for. The L78 is more of an rpm engine and is more suited to a Camaro, Nova, or Chevelle.

[lowmile]

Your kidding..... Right???? m

[Keith Tedford]

Not kidding at all. Thinking in terms of street rods, I like to see the engine matching the line that it is going into. Check out what can be done to one of these big Cad engines. I'd put the L78 in a Chevy, where it belongs. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[lowmile]

Sorry Keith, my just kidding post was aimed toward the original poster. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif m

[Keith Tedford]

No apology needed. The beauty of building a street rod is that you can do what ever you want. I've had a couple of L78 cars and that engine is fine. I just think that the big Cad engine would really be neat. For a street car, there is nothing like a big inch, big torque engine. We have a '72 4 speed Lemans Sport with an over bored 455 with a mild cam and headers. It will actually run circles around our L78 Chevelle and has mild manners to boot. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[firstgenaddict]

Like they say "There is no substitue for Cubic Inches!"