So, my 1977 coupe deville is sitting in the back of the yard, again. All by herself, lonley, just waiting.

Im really not sure what to do with it. The CDV basically needs a full restoration. The interioir is pretty crappy, the paint on the outside has crackled, and faded bad. It did start to rust on the roof a bit, so I sanded that, prepped the metal, and sprayed down rustolium.

With gas being at $3.00 a gallon for 91 octaine, the cadillac needing a restoration, and me not knowing what I want to do... :thepan:

Ive been thinking, either a 500 or a cummings. 200-315Hp is what ive seen rated for the cummings, and around 600Ft-Lbs of torque. If that 6 cylinder engine can move a 7300Lbs truck around niceley, then it should be great for the 4800Lb cad.

Im not really looking for a fast zippy 1/4 mile time ricer-smoker engine to put in the cadillac. Im thinking of getting an Opel GT and fixing that up as my summer-time highway crusier, I have my diesel rabbit as my wintertime beater / summertime grocery getter.

I Really want the cadillac to be my boat-tower, tire roasting pimp-mobile (but without the spinners or thumpin stereo system).

I like diesels, but I really have no idea how a cummings would behave in the cadillac. Would the 600Ft-Lbs of torque bother the rear suspension, axle, or frame? would the straight-six 5.9L and its automatic transmission even fit in the cad? :bonkers:

See, in cadillacs, you are meant to cruise around in them, not haul ass. I think the cummings would be a great crusin' round the country while towing a boat kind of car.

anyone want to comment on this?

People seem to be stealing my ideas... I'd been considering putting a Cummins in a Cadillac for a while now... The 200-315 horse is the stock power you're finding for the Cummins, it actually can very easily produce a lot more. As for fitting, it might actually be a bit snug, since that motor is relatively tall. Also, you're going to a deisel, which will have some turbo lag, but it's not too bad on that motor. Upgraded programming can make that a lot faster and stronger. As for the frame, that should be ok, but if you have any welder friends, it might be worth it to add some additional support and rigidity. If you plan on doing it, I would reccomend taking most of the drivetrain from a truck, get the tougher axles, etc. If you're going to be towing, I'd beef the rear suspension too. The cummins is also rather loud, you might be able to set enough mufflers and resonaters to counter that, but I dunno. Also, if you drive it a lot, and its deisel, you might take a look at getting a biodeisel still at home, and talk local restaraunts into giving up their fryer oil. http://www.biodieselsolutions.com/products/fuelmeister.asp

Boy those 5.9's sure are good reliable engines for torque. At the Target distribution center I worked at for a while as a trailer mechanic, all the spotter trucks (the little yard trucks used to move trailers) had the 5.9. Pretty easy to work on, ran forever, but ShadowLvr is right, they're rather tall. I suppose if you took the whole drivetrain, you could put a pretty beefy axle in back, lol, a Coupe DeVille with a Dana 60! However, I think you should go for it. After all, that's 100 ft. lbs. better than a 500!

Brian

I have a 96 Suburban, and I have seen a 5.9L Cummins in a Sub. Tight fit due to length, but worked! Maybe find a 4cyl diesel from a truck that has some decent power, and that will get killer mileage!

Then again the 5.7L Olds Diesels did mid 30's in a 5000 lb car. Hard to beat that too. Maybe get a GM 6.5L TD.

Mercedes and volkswagon are making diesels. Neither of them are big enough to use in the cadillac. As for towing, I dont have anything big. I would just hate to to try an imagine towing something with a volkswagen rabbit or opel GT.

Yeah, the cummings is noisy, but I wonder with some fancy programming if it could be quieted down. I walked past a chevrolet diesel (2005) and it sounded no more noiser than my parents new 6L gas suburban. It made noises that sounded exactly like a high performace cam/lifters. Just a dull ticking noise. Just think of it this way. You have twice the low end torque (600Ft-Lbs) to squeal the tires, more than the cadillacs stock horsepower, a 5spd auto or a 6spd manual, and one bad-ass sounding engine.

The cummings is a straight-six, I wonder what it would take to run it as a slant six? Im sure anythings possible.

On horsepower Tv, didnt they bring that one cummings up to 400 horsepower with about 5,000 bucks of parts? The one truck I drove was rated at 217hp, I think the guy told me. But damn did that heavy truck move.

The rear suspension would have to be beefed up. My cadillac, stock motor, rocks over to one side hard when I do burnouts. The whole damn car just twists and rocks over to one side when I mash the gas in idle.

Ill keep thinking about that. Look on the positive side, you can always run old cooking oil in your caddy, drive around for free, and have the ehxaust smell like doughnuts or french fries.

Actually... VW has the V10 deisel available in the Toureg... But the Cummins is the best deisel I know of. Ford's Powerstroke has nowhere near the history of durability, and even the Duramax doesn't have the reputation yet. Get a hold of some Dodge fanatics and see what they say about the Cummins as a slant six... I think you might just have to figure out a way of raising the hood some and not have it look too out of place. As for noise, the cummins style is more brutal than Ford's or GM's, it's not going to be a very quiet motor. However, with some mufflers... like dual exhaust and 2 mufflers per pipe, you might be able to quiet it...