Caddy Hearse Hits The Drag Strip To Prove Its Power

(Tommy)>> You're watching Powernation.

(Tommy)>> Today on Detroit Muscle our slow and hefty hearse gets a chance at redemption.

(Daniel)>> This Cadillac puts out on the dyno, and it's a hoot at the track. Now on Detroit Muscle! ♪ ♪ [ engines revving ] ♪ ♪

(Tommy)>> Hey guys, welcome to Detroit Muscle. Today is gonna be a pretty good day for us cause we finally get to reap the benefits of our hard work. We're gonna be taking our refined and rejuvenated grim sleeper out to the track.

(Daniel)>> That's right guys. This old Cadillac's first trip down the race track, well it wasn't nothing to write home about. It was so slow it would have been late to its own funeral, and at that moment we realized it was gonna take a few old school tricks to help boost its performance and lower the e-t.

(Tommy)>> When we drug this into the shop we jumped right on it. With this big body comes big cubic inches, 500 of them, and with an engine of this size it normally doesn't take much to make some good power. So with a few go fast parts our engine and trans was ready to go.

(Daniel)>> We didn't stop there. A great way to increase the sensation of flying by the seat of your pants is with gearing. So a rear axle swap was a must. We found an unusual candidate that had all the goods. A posi, a 3.73 gear ratio, and disc brakes. After a little fab work we were ready to go.

(Tommy)>> To add some style and performance we fashioned up some huge side pipes. We wanted these to make a statement just like our hearse. So with the help of some Magnaflow stainless tubing I believe they did. We crossed our "T's", dotted our "I's", and we're pretty much ready to fire off our Cadillac we just have a couple last things we need to do. I've got to dump some fuel in it and Daniel, well he's got one last thing.

(Daniel)>> Now since we're planning on spraying this old Cadillac with a hefty dose of throttle in a bottle there's a couple of precautionary measures that we need to address. The one we're gonna dive into today is spark plugs. What is a spark plug? Well it's a simple device that ignites air and fuel mixture by delivering voltage from the ignition system to the combustion chamber. Now there are many different types of spark plugs, and one thing they all have in common is their function. These aren't all created equal. There's hot plugs, cold plugs, and everything in between, and that's where the term heat range comes into play. So when you have an engine that's burning some oil what you can do is go up in heat range to help minimize fouling. Or if you're like us and you're gonna be running a healthy dose of nitrous, well that's gonna impact your decision. When you're running nitrous you always want to run a colder plug, and the more nitrous you run the colder your choice needs to be. Now I'm gonna show you how to read these things. Now let's look at these here. We've got some new ones, some used ones, and some dead ones. This one, this one's dead. It's covered in carbon. It's pretty much fouled completely out but it's telling a story. You just have to know how to read it. Now with this one you either have too much fuel, or you're burning some oil, or the plug's just too cold for your application. Now with this one it's almost completely white. Well that's not what you want either. Now the reason this porcelain is so white could be the result of a couple of things. Either one, the air/fuel mixture is too lean, two the timing's way off, or three the plug's just too hot. Now this is what you want. It looks like it's been washed in sweet tea. The amber color tells you that your engine is tuned for maximum efficiency.

(Tommy)>> You must have heard me come in talking about maximum efficiency.

(Daniel)>> Yeah that's you all over.

(Tommy)>> You ain't got all them plugs in yet?

(Daniel)>> Not done with that cheesecake yet?

(Tommy)>> I'm working on it. It was a big piece of like three of them.

(Daniel)>> What about the gas?

(Tommy)>> That probably comes later.

(Daniel)>> Okay! I'm gonna gap these plugs.

(Tommy)>> Coming up, with a little nitrous we test how far this Cadillac will go on the dyno. [ engine revving ]

♪ ♪

(Pat)>> Alright you're all programmed in, and this came in under its own power. So now the big question, what's been done to it?

(Tommy)>> We've done basically a head, cam, intake swap. You know it's 500 cubic inch. We didn't touch the bottom end. This thing from the factory made about 200 horsepower. So if we make more than that we've knocked it out of the park. And with that it shouldn't be all that hard to make some significant power from there. When I say significant, 50 percent gain with nitrous.

(Pat)>> That's right, we're gonna spray it!

(Tommy)>> Yeah, so it's all good. With this type of cubic inch it should be pretty easy to do.

(Pat)>> I think so. I mean everything looks like it's where it's supposed to be. It's got some nice parts on it with the nitrous kit on it. You got a new carb. You got a nice new intake manifold. I guess the first thing we've got to do is make sure everything is where it's supposed to be. So what I'd like to do is get it fired up. We'll check timing because I assume we want to make some naturally aspirated pulls?

(Tommy)>> Absolutely, we'll just see what it makes just all motor if you will, and then spray it with say 75, 100 shot, and then step it up cause I want to spray it as much as we can to get the biggest gain we can because look at this dude. It's a long wheel base Cadillac. We need all the help we can get.

(Pat)>> I like the way you think. So first thing is get it fired up, make sure we have tach signal. Let's check timing and we go from there. It'll be exciting. [ engine starting ]

(Daniel)>> We're not adjusting the timing here. We're just verifying where it's at from our previous tune, and yeah we'll be back in this department to adjust this to accommodate the amount of nitrous we'll be throwing at it. [ engine rumbling ] ♪ ♪ [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> Alright, it made 258 horse and 323 pound feet.

(Tommy)>> Well I know we're climbing. Let's go ahead and hook the nitrous up so we can climb a big jump.

(Pat)>> I'm all for it.

(Daniel)>> Probably not a bad idea. [ engine idling ]

(Daniel)>> For every 50 horse of nitrous you want to pull a degree of timing out. We're hitting this thing with a 100 shot. So that means we need to knock out two degrees of timing. ♪ ♪ Alright cousin don't forget that boogie button.

(Pat)>> Give her the purge man. [ air hissing ] ♪ ♪ [ engine revving ]

(Tommy)>> Didn't sound too bad.

(Daniel)>> It sounded good though.

(Pat)>> I would consider that a success! It made 326.99 for power at the wheel now, and torque is at 402.81.

(Daniel)>> Man that's awesome.

(Tommy)>> That's with the little one though. So we can go up from here.

(Pat)>> You have to go up from here. Now that you know it all works, now you've got to go up.

(Daniel)>> I'm gonna get 50 more and put in it.

(Pat)>> Nothing comes squirting out. Took it like a champ. You can tell when that nitrous came in that soft ramp and it was pretty cool.

(Tommy)>> I could tell too not even looking at or hearing the engine but with your smile it worked.

(Daniel)>> There's a long air cleaner stud in there.

(Tommy)>> You're all giddy!

(Daniel)>> I just want to put them bigger pills in there.

(Pat)>> Alright make her happen.

(Tommy)>> Dropping in the new jets just takes a little wrenching here on the front and rear of the plate. It's an easy task and don't forget to tweak your timing for that bigger hit. ♪ ♪

(Daniel)>> Alright I've got the little bit bigger pills in it, and you're gonna get in there and try it out.

(Tommy)>> Let's see what's up. [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> It keeps going up! 341 and 438.

(Tommy)>> Well I'm gonna call it a win. I wouldn't say it's like a win at the track but it's definitely a win for what we've done.

(Pat)>> This is success right here. You guys got it going on. I'm very impressed everything's still going. You had over 110 mile an hour wheel speed right there.

(Tommy)>> That's hauling...

(Daniel)>> Yes, a lot of it too.

(Pat)>> This particular engine, I'm sure, has never seen any sort of r-p-m like that in its entire life. Let alone making that kind of power. If this thing was actually what it's rated for, 190 or whatever, and now you're making 340's at the tire.

(Tommy)>> So we've doubled it essentially.

(Pat)>> That is 100 percent a win. Alright the next step is to what?

(Daniel)>> Race track!

(Tommy)>> And if we absolutely disintegrate this thing you may have to cut your teeth on some Cadillac.

(Pat)>> I may or may not have worked on one of these before. So if something needs to be done to it I think we can help you out.

(Tommy)>> We're gonna let this thing cool down, get it off the dyno, and go have some fun.

(Daniel)>> We're gonna go put the hood on it and see if we can't ride around and terrorize the neighborhood.

(Pat)>> Nice job guys!

(Daniel)>> Thank you Pat.

(Tommy)>> If we can't disturb the peace perhaps we can dig up some creeper peepers at the track. How this behemoth does on the eighth mile next on Detroit Muscle.

(Tommy)>> You know Daniel I'm pretty proud of the way this hearse turned out and I'm excited to see how all of our hard work and upgrades pay off. ♪ ♪ Are you even listening to me? You've been pretty quiet today. It's kinda like I'm talking to a previous passenger. ♪ ♪ Wake up sleeping beauty.

(Daniel)>> I'm up, I'm up!

(Tommy)>> How was the ride?

(Daniel)>> Well it ain't built for comfort. Last time I'm letting you talk me into riding back there down here.

(Tommy)>> Well we're back here at the dragstrip trying to redeem ourselves but either way I think we still succeeded. We've changed the personality drastically on this old hearse. Plus we've doubled the power output. You want to flip for who gets to drive first?

(Daniel)>> Absolutely hang on. I found a quarter back here in the back?

(Tommy)>> Get out of the way.

(Daniel)>> What, I thought we was flipping for it?

(Tommy)>> Yeah you lost. [ engine revving ]

(Tommy)>> We're lucky to have Etheridge Motorsports Park right down the road from us. It's got everything you want. Fast cars, cool pits, and that intoxicating aroma, burning rubber! Now before we head down the track let's talk about our goals with this thing. We wanted it to be a head turner, and as we're cruising it around through the pits I believe we got exactly the reaction we were looking for. ( )>> It's pretty neat. I like it! ( )>> I ain't never seen a hearse like that.

(Sam)>> I like what I call the lake pipes on the side of the car running underneath the side of it. I love that!

(Tommy)>> We were even able to grab the attention of a veteran racer who has spent a lot of his life on a race track. He's got a stunning door slammer with what some would call an unlucky number on the windshield.

(Sam)>> 13-13, I was born on Friday the 13th, and the 13th is my lucky number. It's a '55 Chevrolet. It's fiberglass. It's got a Shafiroff 565 engine with 1,040 horsepower, and it runs like 5.60's.

(Tommy)>> We know this thing won't be that fast. This old hearse won't run anywhere near that, but we did bring this thing here to stretch its legs out on the pavement. [ engine revving ]

(Tommy)>> This is ridiculous! [ engine rumbling ]

(Tommy)>> I ain't kidding, my face is kinda hurting.

(Daniel)>> Is that from the G-forces on launch?

(Tommy)>> Not exactly. It's more of the smiles that I got from driving this big goofy car.

(Daniel)>> That's awesome!

(Tommy)>> But I will say I didn't run the nitrous. I figured you've gotta crawl before you can walk and you're taller than me. So you should be able to have a longer stride. So maybe we'll cover ground a little better. Have your way with it.

(Daniel)>> I plan to thank you very much.

(Tommy)>> You go right ahead big guy. Just keep it in drive. No need to hold it in second, but if you have a helmet for your smile you might try that on cause this thing is epic.

(Daniel)>> That's awesome! [ engine rumbling ]

(Tommy)>> That's kinda like one of them Austin Power. It's a long wheel base Cadillac. [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪ [ engine rumbling ] [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪

(Tommy)>> So what do you think about it?

(Daniel)>> How about that sports fans!

(Tommy)>> I'll tell you you looked a lot better than I did out there.

(Daniel)>> I had the boogie button on though.

(Tommy)>> That nitrous definitely helped. Now with this old car guys we aren't the fastest by any means. We set the bar pretty high but sometimes you've got to set goals and try to achieve them. So man I have to say I think we knocked it out of the park.

(Daniel)>> You know what this means don't you?

(Tommy)>> What's that?

(Daniel)>> It means that we are now world record holders. We have the world's fastest 1976 Cadillac hearse in black paint with twice pipes down the sides and 150 shot powered by a 500 Cadillac.

(Tommy)>> I think you're right.

(Daniel)>> Let's go get a cheeseburger. If you'd like to take a look back at this build hit up Powernation TV dot com and check out the build page for Overtaker. [ engine revving ]

(Tommy)>> Up next, a lifter shifter tech for your four speed.

(Tommy)>> One of the most fun things to do while driving an old school muscle car if it had the option would have to be ripping through the four speed. Manufacturers even used them back in the day to give their rides a big more personality. Kinda like a Mopar for example. They have the famous piston grip. Dumping the clutch on one of these big blocks, watching the tach climb, then snatching on the next gear. Man it doesn't get much better than that. To do that power shift seamlessly there's a few things that have to play well together. Now you don't want to be that guy that's showing off a little bit and wind up missing a gear cause it kinda makes you look silly. Now obviously you're gonna have a transmission. This is an old school Muncie that is commonly found in a GM car. You have the shifter mechanism, the rods, and the levers. First step is to mount the shifter. On these old schools they all are basically the same. They attach to the transmission tail housing with a couple of bolts and possibly an adapter bracket or two. You want to make sure this is good and snug because you don't want it moving around and flexing on you. I've seen on what I'm gonna call more economical setups that the bracketry that mounts it to the transmission is made of lighter material. So whenever you go to pulling on the lever well this moves, and that leads you to chasing your tail whenever you go to adjust. Next up is the rods. Now these have to go in a certain way for them to work and move properly. If you try to put them in the wrong place it's kinda like the old saying, square peg, round hole. It just doesn't work. ♪ ♪ If you're using used items like we are there's a few things that you need to inspect, like the rod ends, linkages, and the bushings. What you're looking for is wear. Holes can become misshaped, like on this one. If the bolt ever became loose well it'll widen up on each side of the opening causing a sloppy shift. Also on this one there is a plastic bushing. Sometimes you'll find steel bushings in there, but those are designed to be the wear item and may need to be replaced. Ours is nice and tight. So we can get it on. ♪ ♪ [ ratchet clicking ] ♪ ♪

(Tommy)>> Now we're ready to attach our rods to the shifter mechanism. To do this properly the transmission needs to be in neutral. Now here on your reverse just cram it forward and then you're one, two, and three, four, put it in the middle. Just twist it around and you'll find that sweet spot. It's not really complicated but it's necessary. Now to attach the rods to your fingers these need to be lined up with the shifter, and on this setup there's a small hole that from the factory would have gave you a little plastic rod that you'd slide through there. That rod's long gone. So we're gonna be using an allen wrench. You just wiggle it and jiggle it. It gets all the way through. I promise you I can get it, and then that one. That's what you're looking for. Now you just need to attach your rod. Put the little plastic bushing in there, and whenever you attach these you don't want to be prying on it. Adjust this little screw here until it falls into place just like that. That's the perfect spot. Where's my keeper? Here it is. ♪ ♪ Well let's see how we did. First gear, second, third, fourth, that's what you're looking for. Now if you've got an old four speed that's kinda giving you the fit maybe you need to spend some time, adjust on those rods, and get it dialed in exactly where you need it. Now we've had a pretty good day today beating and abusing that old hearse, but that's what we'd tried to do from the beginning with that car. Build something that gets you plenty of attention and have a good time along with it. Now that ole car's had a pretty good following, and I'm not talking about the procession that you'd see normally behind one of those cars. So I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. Now our next build is gonna be a pretty big one. It's getting some pretty trick suspension, big power, and all the goodies. You want to know what it is? Well you're just gonna have to wait and see. If you'd like to know more about Overtaker go to Powernation TV dot com and check out its project page. You can check out the build status of all our projects, before and after picks, the links to parts used, and all the episodes are right there on one page.