Cadillac Northstar

[mtuck]

Has anyone used a Cadillac Northstar engine as a starting point? I have a friend that has one that has a blown head gasket on it. I could get it for next to nothing. Any suggestion on if it is a good or bad idea? What would i need to change to fit my 67' Camaro?

Thanks
Matthew

[paul67]

There being fitted in street rods so there should be some kits out there type northstar into seach engines
paul67

[pdq67]

They are east/west motors unless brand new, not north/south motors so you will probably have to figure out how to mount it north/south if you want to use it??

pdq67

[Reckn8]

There are plenty of companies out there making kits to do what you want to do. The problem is.... the motor doesn't have the cubes to work with like an LS1 does. I do understand that you can get it for cheap and that does sound pretty tempting.

[OHCbird]

Not all Northstars are transverse; The XLR and STX both run the 'correct' way. Heck- if it was a new STS, it'd finally be the right way.

[Torbjorn]

check out www.chrfab.com
Lots of stuff for the northstar. Got A Northstar in my chevelle.
Guess the Camaro`s front end ìs not so different from the Chevelle, so if you want I Could make a list of what to do.

Torbjorn

[scottyz]

Wow! What are those two bullets doing on the side of the Chevelles engine? LOL. SHould make plenty of power. I really think that these are overlooked engines.

[PhillipM]

Torbjorn- What boost levels are you looking at running. I am starting to think about running a TT Northstar in my midengine corvair. I cant seem to find anybody that makes any internal beefy parts like billet cranks. Are these not nesecary for the N*?

[SStrokerAce]

GM makes a Forged crank for it. Eagle Has H Beam rods and the pistons would have to be custom.

The problem with most Northstars is that they are a trasverse block which you have to do some work on to make it fit a longitudinal driveline.

They really aren't super cheap to run even if you have the core motor, but they are a really nice motor.

Bret

[CFster]

I wish I didn't see so many of them blown up in my line of work.

[PhillipM]

Bret- thank you for the help. I was looking through the GMPP catalouge but didn't see the crank in there. I could have missed it though.. seems like every time I look in there I find something new.

[SStrokerAce]

Nah it's the one in the STS-V with the blower on it.... it's not a GMPP part but a Caddy part still.

Bret

[Duesey]

I had a new crate northstar that I got from work for free but I ended up buying 5.3 and still will have money in my pocket when it's done. The northstar stuff is so expensive. The 4l60/700r4 transmission patters pretty much bolt up. Two bolt housing bolts don't line up so have to weld a tab with a new hole and I think drill another out. The torque converter pattern also needs to be redone. That's about all their is to getting away from the transverse setup. Nice looking motor but the one I had was around 275 hp and more HP is expensive. The LS1 type motor is more universal and even though my truck motor is only 285hp I can get a magnacharger reasonable since I work at eaton. They don't offer anything for the northstar.