Nefarious Northstar Overhaul

[csaba orosz]

I made a pretty cool video of the last Northstar I rebuilt. Thought you guys might enjoy it.

Topic

[Its me]

FWIW As a Northstar fan… (When they are fixed right)… I loved it… Eric and I have discussed Northstars before… I don’t think he is a fan of working on them! LOL

I actually have watched that video a couple of times….

Noticed you did not use studs…. Do you still you timeserts? Ever work with Jake?

BTW… How many of those do you have under your belt?

-Karl

[csaba orosz]

I hate working on them too. I’ve done 4 of them and will likely never do another. They are a tremendous waste of time and energy, and they always wind up costing more than the car is worth.
There are way too many variables and something always has to be special ordered that leaves the car in pieces for a week, rendering my shop useless.
I actually like the motors. They are a very clever design, but very badly packaged, and tethered to a 350lb relic of a transmission. The cars are more prone to corrosion than anything else I ever work on, and their overheating failures are a direct result of marketing.
Timeserts are a really good solution for this kind of failure, and they are relatively fool-proof. I still use them when needed, I put them in a BMW M54 recently.
Sorry, I don’t know Jake.
I like trying to find a better solution to a problem, but unfortunately this one doesn’t have one.
I’m glad you liked my video. Here is another Northstar I built: https://youtu.be/1YpLAKAeaDo

They make for interesting videos.

[Rereonehundred]

Do I see some type of wrench with a grounding strap?

What’s that all about?

Thanks.

[Its me]

Looks like a torque angle gauge to me.

[csaba orosz]

Ya, Its a torque angle hold down clamp.

[wafrederick]

Any Cadillac with the Northstar does not bring money at the dealer only auction.The threads pull out of the block removing the headbolts and a special tool made by Kent Moore has to be used to install inserts in the block.Have the well known oil leak as well.

[Lady DI]

I sold my 94 Seville in Dec 15. The car had 133k nice car but GM engineers should be ashamed of them selves for the numerous head gasket failures. Luckily the 94 was a good yr for the NS.

[Author]

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