According to the late great Johnny Cash, you can build a Cadillac 'One piece at a time'.... Of course Johnny's Caddy was a bit of a jalopy when it was finished. For this project we'll try and keep the car looking somewhat normal.
Let's take a look at the latest project....
Here we have a fully loaded 2003 Cadillac CTS. This car was very well kept and has only been exposed to limited winter driving. Overall this is a fine example of an early CTS. The price tag on this gem was a very reasonable $ 510.00.
If you look to the left of the Caddy, you will see another Caddy..... we'll get to that one in a moment.
Not too shabby .
Whelp, That engine is FUBAR.... and I have serious doubts about the automatic transmission. Apparently the early Cadillac 2.8L used timing belts and judging from the current state of affairs, I suspect the timing belt let go. So sad.
Ok, here we have a base model 2007 Cadillac CTS. This car has a lot of cosmetic damage including a smashed windshield. The good news is the car runs and drives just fine. Sad as it may sound, this car will be going to the crusher before the end of the summer. We will be harvesting the necessary parts from this car to repair the white car.... one piece at a time
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The doner car is fitted with a lowly 2.8 engine that is similar to the powerplant in the white car, however this engine uses timing chains. From what I gleaned from the Cadillac community, the timing chain engine isn't much better that the timing belt engine. What I mean to say is the timing chains don't last very long and when they fail, they destroy the engine. Just cant win....
I think just for giggles I'll be replacing the perfectly good timing chains and associated gizmos while I have the engine out of the car.
Oh, almost forgot.... the doner car will also be supplying the six speed manual transmission.... because nothing is more classy than a stick shift Caddy.
I think some famous guy once said ' a journey of a thousand fasteners begins with the first bolt... or something like that....
Stay tuned!
Where does the LS come in? 
In reply to cdeforrest :
A CTS-V with a T56 would be nice! Unfortunately they tend to cost a bit more than five hundred bucks.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
I have become addicted to boost in the Mercedes Turbo diesel. I reckon I could put an OM602 in the Caddy.
Nah. Should be able to take 6-8 lbs from a rotrex. I mean, whats the worst that can happen?
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
NOS would be a simpler way to throw a rod, probably cheaper too....
Intriguing! I’ve always liked these, especially with a manual. I hope this goes well for you.
So after some research, it was determined the best way to remove the dead engine was to drop it with the subframe. This is the first time I pulled an engine this way and it seemed so much easier than using a cherry pick.
I purchased a $15.00 subscription from alldataDIY for access to the online manual for this car. I'm not really impressed with the info, but evidently it was enough to guide me through the steps on dropping the engine. It took a few evenings of prep before the powertrain was ready to come out.
One of the steps I ignored during the engine removal process was to pull the lower motor mount bolts before the engine is dropped. Whelp, wont do that again. It too a few hours to separate the engine from the subframe by pulling all the upper motor mount bolts.
Once the engine was separated from the subframe, I went ahead and slipped the subframe back under the car and zipped it back in. This is just temporary so the car can be moved out of the garage.
The silver donor car was driven into the garage and the harvesting of its vital organs began.
This project is by no means an easy swap. Although both cars are 1st generation CTS's, the donor car is completely different under the skin. Everything from the powertrain, wire harness, control modules, steering column, and even the ABS brakes are different. Basically I will need to swap everything from the donor car to the white car.... even the lug pattern on the wheels are different.
At this point the powertrain is ready to drop...
This may be somewhat interesting to any future Cadillac CTS owners. The car has been dripping water from ?? for a few days now. Now, on my search for a clean CTS I noticed a bunch of cars had rusty floor pans/rocker panels just aft of the rear doors. The donor car doesn't have any rust but I still wonder where the water is coming from.
Stay tuned!
I was looking into getting one of these V6 1st Gens and couldn't figure out why there had to be so many different engines. And then they have entirely different front clips based on which engine they came with? Why? That's not very GM at all. That's even too far out in left field for Ford.
That UCA mount integrated into the upper spring perch is interesting! Never seen that before.
In reply to GCrites80s :
As I recall, GM went bankrupt.... there is a good chance it was because of all the insane differences in the first gen CTS.
Nothing makes me more sad than a big american sedan with a v6. I know they are all you really need for around town puttering, but the engines all seem so awful. Avoid any 2.7 or 3.5 dodges you come across because they either run forever with no maintenance or in most cases explode for no reason.
minivan_racer said:
Nothing makes me more sad than a big american sedan with a v6. I know they are all you really need for around town puttering, but the engines all seem so awful. Avoid any 2.7 or 3.5 dodges you come across because they either run forever with no maintenance or in most cases explode for no reason.
The same engine that goes bang at 120K miles in a sedan will last forever in a minivan.
cool build man! good luck
Following along here.......I've experienced the cradle on the floor myself ......long story your thread.....Isn't there CL calling you with a LS somewhere not to far away?
This will definitely cost you more than a dime.
It'ssssssss a 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007...
In reply to Scottah :
LOL! Yep, I reckon it will cost a bit more than a dime, but being a grassroots project it will be all about the labor.
The silver parts car actually yielded a surprisingly amount of cash and a genuine I-Phone. The cash was literally sprinkled throughout the car and jammed into every little crevice. I suspect there is a few more bucks yet to be recovered. I contacted the previous owner about the phone and it is apparently not his.
In reply to 759NRNG :
Its a shame, but once I'm done stripping the silver car, it will be a prime candidate for a big motor swap. Unfortunately I don't have the space for two Caddys.
Kerplunk! and the engine is out of the parts car. There is a lot of E36 M3 attached to this thing... but it comes out just like the book said it would.
IDK if it is obvious, but I have Cadillac parts all over the garage. I have also stashed some parts in the shed and in the house. Oh, and there are also parts behind the garage and parts stashed in the Mercedes. I am running out of space.
The inside of the parts car is looking a little baron.
Most of the interior is snap together. This cheapo tool kit was the trick to getting all the plastic panels out without damaging them. The plier looking device on the left is an awesome tool.
The overwhelming majority of the fasteners holding the car together are standard hex head bolts, however anything on the engine is female torx. As you can guess, I now own a set of female torx sockets.
Stay tuned!
More.....
The fuel system on the donor car is completely different than the target car... so out it came. According to Alldata, getting the fuel tank out of this beast requires dropping the rear sub frame 50 mm or about 2 inches.... turns out it was much easier to pull the frame completely out. Sometime short cuts are not worth the hassle.
The subframe is in really nice condition and is fairly easy to take out. Unfortunately I had to put the frame back under the car so I could move the parts car out of the garage. At some point during this build the clean rear subframe will find its way under the white car.
...of course the next problem is how the heck to move the car without the front subframe or suspension......
With the front subframe absent, it was a bit of a challenge to move the Caddy out of the garage. This rig worked pretty good and wasn't the train wreck I thought it would be. The pars car was temporally stashed behind the garage.
....and finally the white car is back in the garage. At this point the project begins as I assemble the Cadillac one piece at a time.
Stay tuned!
Put a coupler and tongue on the front of the donor car and make a "little" cargo trailer out of it! Just be careful of too much tongue weight, so shorten it what you can.
keithedwards said:
Put a coupler and tongue on the front of the donor car and make a "little" cargo trailer out of it! Just be careful of too much tongue weight, so shorten it what you can.
Hmmm.... A Cadillac camper.... would that make it a Caddy shack?
