68eldo

[Art#22010]

Generally, is a 472 a good motor. life expectancy before rebuild
assuming a well maintained 103 000 mile car.  Any general comments would be appreciated.  Art

[George]

I read somewhere, a NEW YORK cab driver got over 250K miles from a cadillac engine. When he was asked how he did it,  he put it all down to a good mechanic and regular maintenance. I guess no-one can answer your question accurately, but it depends on how the engine has been treated and are you lucky.

[Michael Stamps 19507]

I might be a little biased but I think that the 472/500 engines were the best ever built by not just Cadillac but anyone.  These engines are showing no cylinder wear at 100,000 plus miles.  They have only two weaknesses.  The stock timing gear has a nylon coating on the teeth and this falls off not only affecting timing but potentially causing low oil presure if it blocks the pickup in the pan.  The other weakness is the rocker design but that really only shows up at high rpms that a stock engine would never see.

Stampie

[Andrew 10642]

Did the 429 have the same problem w/nylon breaking off the gear teeth?  I seem to recall that issue on my former 67 ELdo with 110,000 miles.

If a 68 472 had a modern fuel management system, what do you think the mileage around town would be?  12-13?  (Too poor to actually install one, and my quadrajet runs well, why screw it up!)

Just curious

[Michael Stamps 19507]

I believe the 429s had the same problem as it was common in the mid 60s on to do that across various makes of cars.  Thats a stab and Ill stand down on it if others have better information.

A 472 set up correctly (not factory) can get decent mileage around town but I belong to the school that FI on the engine is not worth it for mileage alone.  Say you spend $1000 on the FI system and get 2 mpg more.  You would have to drive around 25,000 miles to break even on your investment.  I dont think you can get that much in the first place vs. a well tuned for mileage 472 with a QJet.

Stampie

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

The nylon covered timing gear teeth was fitted right across the General Motors lineup, apart from Trucks I believe, but the problem didnt rear its ugly head till all the vehicles  had reached high mileage, and thus were out of warranty.

Wasnt a problem with GM as the gears performed as they were meant to do.   The only reason they used them I think was that they were quiet, and that is what the new car buyer wanted.  

Now, if the problem appeared before the Warranty Period was up, then it would have been a problem, and something would have been done about it.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV.