When I did the Cadi swap into my bus, I got lucky in several ways. First, the height from the rear face of the block to the crank flange happened to be the same between SBC and Cad. So after I had the flywheel machined to fit the Cadi crank, it sat the same distance from the factory flat adapter plate which mated SBC to round bellhousing. I was able to retain the factory heavy duty starter from the 327, bolted into the bellhousing. Was also able to simply drill the different BOPC upper holes in that metal plate and with a few judicious bolts and nuts, the Cadi bellhousing bolts are all occupied. Also I was lucky to have the hydraulic clutch option so no Z bar business. I got the heavy flat steel motor mount plates from MTS (Cadillac hop up parts purveyor Larry Kruzick, this was 1994 after all) and simply cut the bolted on factory engine mounting ears down. Moving them forward to the six cylinder holes in the frame, made 'em center perfectly with the more forward coordinated corporate mounts on the Cadi engine. Then neighbor welded on the plates after I fit the engine in. I had to make the throttle linkage, adapt various cooling fan system arrangements.. I actually ended up moving the whole engine and transmission assembly forward two inches, decades later in 2021. Had to have a longer front driveshaft segment made, but it then made the drivers side cylinder bank clear the firewall so much better, I wish I'd done it back in the '90s!!
Seems so simple now, but that was a lot of weekends back then, when I'd never done anything like it before (despite being a mechanic by trade) and there was sadly not a Stovebolt forum yet to help me. Just me and my Dad. I miss my Dad.
If someone had never done an engine swap before, I wouldn't advise them to expect it driving in less than a summer of weekends. And that's if things go pretty well. Just take your time and enjoy it :-)
Last edited by Tronman; 03/04/2026 10:54 PM.
