Hey guys,

My mechanic just finished with my engine swap last week. Its a 1980 Cadillac Eldorado with the original 368 engine. The smallest of the big block Caddy's. I swapped it out for an Oldsmobile 350, 3b engine. The car has a TH325 tranny. Originally wanted a Olds 350 or a Caddy 425 in it. I got a hold of the 350 first, so that's what I went with. Anyway the car is similar to the Oldsmobile Toronado.

I have a problem with my shifter, it seems to only go into two gears...Neutral, and what I believe to be Drive in lowest gear setting. My car says *P *R *N *D *L (Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive with two dots above it, and Low) Every position works except for Neutral and Drive positions. I mean, its like I have rock my shifter to get it in the position I want. But I can never really tell what position in Drive that I am. I don't know how many Drive positions these era cars have (1979-85 Toronados, Riviera's, and Eldorado's. I feel as though it only shifts into Drive-Low position. Why does the cars have two dots above the word Drive on the dash, and a seperate position called Low? is there three Drive positions? How can I fix my shifter so its tight and shows the correct position on the dash? I think all the bushings and stuff are deteriorated on the engine bay side of the shifter assembly. Can I buy aftermarket parts to fix this?

My engine is running poorly, not much power increase over the 368, although I heard that the 350 can be quite powerful, so I'm wondering what are the proper things to check for baseline performance? Is my quadrajet not working properly. I tried to burnout this morning and my wheels were locked (also its fwd), but when i hit the accelerator pedal the engine (in Drive) tried to go, but then almost immediately died...it did not die, but sounded like it was going to, then it just kind of roughly stayed running gurgling to try and give some rpm's, but was not able to. I think its a 1977-80 block, what are the most basic upgrades to be done? only looking for around 215-250 horsepower increase.

Thanks for all your help guys!

 

215-250 horsepower increase.

Thanks for all your help guys![/quote]

You're looking for an increase of that or thats your total? Either way maybe you should have done that before you installed it.

Start with a basic tune up to see what your bogging may be. Then go from there. You may have done this backwards.

 

Yeah Sorry,

I meant a total of 215-250 horsepower. Yea I guess I must have done things backwards, but my mechanic and I were trying to see if the engine would even work in there, we knew it ran, but didn't know if we could get the right parts to make it fit....anything on the shifter problem?

 

I'd ask some others on the shifter problem. As far as your target hp, a simple manifold and carb swap will take care of that. A Performer and 600 carb would work fine. Contact delta881972, he may have a carb for sale.

 

Those early 80's Eldorados were nice (if it didn't have the 4100). I missed out out a low milage olds powered eldo some time ago, I think it was fuel injected.

 

You can double check your shifter by removing the linkage at the transaxle. Then move the shifter lever at the transmission manually without the linkage. This will tell you if you have all the gears working correctly in the transmission. Make sure you double check which side Park is on before you remove the linkage. This way you can put the shifter lever on the transmission back in Park before reataching the linkage.

 

So the shifter problems started with the engine swap? If so, tell your mechanic to adjust it properly. I believe these cars have a cable from the steering column to the trans. It's possible the cable was either damaged during the swap or not reassembled correctly.

 

No Joe, it happened even before the swqp, but i will tell you this, we couldn't use the cable shift, its a different type of shift mechanism, my mechanic had to fabricate a bracket to hold the shifter in place. i believe its a rod or shaft type shifter.

 

Did you remove the linkage and see if the shifter worked properly at the transmission? There should 6 positions: Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Second, and Low

If the shifter works properly at the transmission then you know the problem is in your linkage. Perhaps the mechanic that fabricated your linkage needs to adjust it.

 

Searching who else is in my shoes but seeing dead ends .I wonder what happened to this guy . Or if there's any others like me with good stories . I can't believe he didn't go through the motor first to see what he had .could of been something wrong with it..
Well unlike him I'm going to build the motor correctly then put it in.. if he would have did research then he would have known that these motors do fit in these cars iv heard that they even came factory with olds motors? I don't know if that's true ..
Do y'all know anyone who has done this swap successfully? Joe or Olds?

 

I responded to your other thread