I'm working on a 89 cadillac deville in my garage these past few days for a friend. He bought it off an old guy for 600 bux because the head gasket went. The car is BEAUTIFUL inside and out... Looking under the hood, it reminded me a hell of a lot about my car... So I started measuring. Its the same engine compartment!!!

Would the 4.5L V8 caddy engine fit in my car??? That'd be cool!

Lots of work though.

Anyways, the 4.5L is the worst engine to try and work on, NO ROOM IN THERE TO SPEAK OF. To get a valve cover off the front of the engine we had to remove the power steering pump, alternator and idler pulley and thier brackets! To make things worse, the intake is actually part of the head, the pushrods are part of the intake. So to get the head off, we've gotta remove the other valve cover, intake and everything to go with it. Good thing he's not in any hurry to drive this. I enjoy an unrushed project where I can learn a lot.

So far, I think I've determined what killed the head gasket. One of the valve pushrods is screwed, looks like it missed, and bent it to hell. It was one of the intake valves that stopped moving, and started to create a vacuum in the cylinder instead of compression, and it caved the head gasket inward, therefore filling the crankcase with anti freeze, and burning it all off when the car ran aswell. Should I be worried about main bearings being toast with that antifreeze in the crank case? We got it all out, and I dont think it's been in there more than a week or so. The car actually ran surprisingly well with a blown head gasket, it just smoked like a fog machine (uncle buck).

it'd be cool in theory, but those engines are terrible. i want to know who the genius was that put the oil filter on top of the engine. and whoever thought that an aluminum block and iron heads was good idea needs to be hit in the head with a hammer. also, you'd be giving up alot from a reliability standpoint. can't get much more reliable than a 3.8.

at domestic performance they offer V8 kits for h bodies and stuff.. before i had to get rid of mine i was thinking about a newer caddy northstar V8.. but then again... $$$$

I saw that oil filter on the back of the engine! I thought thats stupid, but I was more interested in getting the top off of it. This car was purposely designed to keep the average handyman from maintaining his/her car. The rear spark plugs are virtually impossible to get to.