Would anyone want a practically new 4.1?

[akimball442]

Hi there.

I'm located in Upstate NY- here's the history of the engine.

A couple years ago I purchased a 1981 Cadillac Coupe Deville, with the 4.1 engine, from the second owner.

The car had sat since 1995. The guy I bought it from was given a truck by his children just a few months after he had the engine rebuilt.

The car only has 86,000 miles. When asked why the engine was rebuilt, he said that he said it never seemed to have much power (duh) and that it always ran sort of poorly. According to him, the original owner was a construction foreman who let the car spend most of it's life idling.

So the engine is freshly rebuilt. I towed the car home, and changed the fluids primed up the oil, and fired it up. It runs very well. The Cadillac has a 3.42 axle, and actually gets up and goes well with this little engine, but has no top end. I'm going to install 3.08 gears and my Olds 350 engine.

So the 4.1 is up for grabs. I used to be a real GM nerd (I'm more into restoring vintage Mercedes' now..) So I know you turbo guys sometimes want the 4.1 engine, and this rebuild probably does not have 5000 miles on it.

I will say that there were no receipts for the overhaul, this is just based on what I was told by the man that I purchased it from. He seemed like a very honest old farmer I had no intention of using the V6 anyway, the Cadillac needs a V8 in the front end to ride properly, and it would sound better and be more of a Cadillac with a V8.

If anyone is interested, or I can provide more info about the car (which I will be getting out of storage in the next month to begin restoring) please let me know.

I live in central Upstate NY.

Aaron-

 

[jerrad]

You might post the numbers on the block, some are more desirable than others.

 

[akimball442]

I see. I'll have to report back later on then. It's a 1981, if that's any help. The car is currently in storage, and I'm not getting it out until probably the end of next month.

I just don't have any use for the engine, and it runs very well. If I still had my 87 Regal, I'd probably put it in there. I think it'd move a lighter car around fairly well.

Aaron-

 

[79TurboCutlass]

deleted post

 

[pacecarta]

buick guys have no use for a caddy 4.1 V8

completely different motor than the 4.1 buick V6's

one case where havin more (pistons that is ) isnt better

 

[akimball442]

It's not a 4.1 V8. It's a Buick 252 V6 with a Quadrajet on it. The 252 was offered in 1981 and possibly up until 1983 in Full sized Cadillac Devilles as an option. I would have to check my Cadillac reference book to be exactly sure when the V6 option was offered. Cadillac used it to lower their CAFE numbers prior to offering the re-badged cavalier as a Cadillac in the 80s. It was an option that was rarely purchased. I've driven hundreds of D body Cadillacs, and have only seen 2 with the V6 in person.

The HT4100 V8 disaster did not happen until 1982. I would not have bought the car if it had that poor excuse for an engine.

I'm very familiar with engines, especially vintage GM's. Please don't insult my intelligence, I just thought somebody might be able to use the block since it's basically a bored out 231 and do a turbo mod to it. I know it's been done.

-Aaron

 

[V6UnderPressure]

Id be interested if you could get the production numbers off of it

 

[getchasum]

10# post down shows my #044 casting, caddy 4.1 block. They were years 81-82. Sounds like this one would make a good block to build if it's wasn't over bored during last rebuild.

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/engine-tech/269281-4-1-block.html

 

[V6UnderPressure]

Whats your price?

 

[akimball442]

Wow, this generated way more interest than I expected.

As I said, I have not gotten the car out of storage yet, it's stored about 15 miles from here in my friend's grandmother's barn.

The interest in this thread did inspire me to wander over to the gentleman's house where I bought the car. I was actually hoping he might have some paperwork on the 'rebuild,' because I thought this might come up.

As it turns out, the engine was NOT completely overhauled, as I previously thought. He removed the heads and took them to a machine shop to have them rebuilt. I do not know the extent of this. It could be a valve job or it could have been completely machined. And according to his recollection, he just reinstalled the heads, and replaced the push rods, and gaskets. He claims to have done this because the engine seemed to lack power and idled poorly.

So that's all the information I have. That, and that he's irritated that I'm putting a V8 in the rare V6 Cadillac, lol.

So I guess there's no worry of an overbore, since the engine was not even removed from the car.

The engine would only have 86000 miles on it. It does run very well. Even after sitting as long as it did, I primed it up with some new oil and fresh fuel, it fired right up and ran well in under a minute.

As for the price, that would be on a 'make me an offer' basis. I'm going to restore the old Cadillac. I have an engine that I want to put in it. I'm just going to put any proceeds from the engine back into the car project.

The engine will not be pulled from the car for a few months.

Thanks for all the interest, guys!

Aaron