Eagle has forged h beam rods for $650 Its cheap insurance so you don't window the block and you will also be able to let her really shine under boost..
That oil system is INCREDIBLE! I've never seen mains passages that were actually shaped to aid flow. Usually it's a bunch of straight drilled holes at 90deg angles flowing off hopes and dreams. Don't forget, they raced the 4.0l Aurora version of this engine at Indy. I don't know how similar the Indy version is, but I could see that high quality oil system really helping it endure and handle the rpms necessary (probably 10k?)
I always heard a rumor that the Northstar was theoretically designed as a racing engine and then redesigned for road car use, I don't think that's a true thing, but I have heard it multiple times from multiple sources at Cadillac dealerships. Still fairly certain that's not how it went, but I always thought it was a funny backstory for an engine in granny's car.
Well this engine failed because of horrible engineering. Mounting the starter underneath the intake was HORRIFIC. GM voided warranties on these cars so insurance would total them when starters failed. It was an endless money pit for gm
@@steverebuilds152 Starter under the intake is a very normal thing on DOHC V8s, the Toyota 1UZ is the same way and legendary in reliability. Way easier to change on a transverse car than screwing around underneath most likely. But yeah a timing belt V8 transverse is not something GM dealers were used to dealing with yet.
@@steverebuilds152 Let's see what you have engineered. The common points of failure are correctable on this engine and I see amazing engineering at every point, the exceptional attention to mains oiling passages is most impressive. I'm a Ford guy but I really like this engine as well as the new Gemini engine on the Corvette except I am not a fan of flat cranks which is why they limited the displacement to 5.5 liters. These two engines have something in common with the Porsche 928 engine, an upper and lower block and bottom-end stability. I call bullshit on GM voiding warranties, even the most suicidal automaker would never want their cars being totaled over one part. I never in my life saw any cars with this engine that had a salvage title and just needed a starter. You also are not giving insurance companies any credit. Nobody would declare a total loss over a warranty and a starter.
In the 60s, Pontiac invented a 3valve engine. GM... We can't have anything faster than a Corvette. Also, the Northstar engine originated from the indy car series.
'We can't have anything faster than the Corvette' is why the Cadillac 472-500 got the agricultural valvetrain that it did. 150lbs lighter than period BBCs, as well as actually being designed for 500cid, versus the 348 derived big blocks that couldn't really handle 427cid in anything but a Corvette. With about 600lbs/ft available at 2200RPM, the big Cadillac V8 would have been the hot rod of choice versus the overheating, valve sucking, bearing spinning big block Chevy.. so GM made sure it couldn't build the RPM in stock form to really show its true potential. FWIW I have a 500 Cadillac V8 in my 15,000lb RV converted school bus, and I never have to downshift at less than a 6 percent grade. Not a high RPM unit, but reliable and doesn't use oil. And I can turn the key, feather the clutch, and idle this bus out of the driveway at 600 RPM.
There is a lot of aftermarket parts for these engines. I’ve seen these engines have blowers on them. CH fab in California use to put these engines in sandrails. I built A 1997 Oldsmobile Aurora and it was the funnest car I’ve ever owned
Don't care what you swap it into, I just want to see the results of the Northstar potential. I was actually asking my chevy friend the other day about the northstar issues and viability of aftermarket use, he didn't care much for it based on the historically common issues seen with this motor platform. But I'm interested to see what you can make of it.
Ran into this issue back in the '90s when I was building my Cadillac 500cid V8 into a school bus engine. Chevy based shops don't care about anything that isn't a Chevy. Finally found a shop that spoke my language and said Cadillac engine still powers my 1965 Chevy C60 school bus today.
Have a lot of experience with Cadillac Northstar engines from the time I worked at the dealer. The oil distribution plate that you pulled off is the main source of oil leaks. Using Pirma Tex, right stuff on the outer perimeter seal will help that a lot. Use an impact to remove the main bolts instead of a breaker bar you’ll break less of them. The last generation of Northstar engines was really great ran really strong. The Northstar engine had some popularity in the Sandrail world for a brief time might still be some performance parts out there.
@@ericmartin2470 if you’re a modern engine mechanic, not particularly hard, probably 5 or 6 middle of the road there’s nothing uniquely special about it. The later versions got much easier to work on than the early versions like in the El Dorado, Deville, Seville. There was a lot of stupid stuff on those.
Actually Ford came out with the 4.6L OHC 16V Modular engine in 1991 with the 32V coming two years later in the Lincoln Mk VIII. With that aside I have seen the Northstar swapped into both the MR2 and Fiero. I've been mostly a Ford guy during my life but have also owned Chevy and Mopar. At one point I had all three at the same time and I know from experience that parts for the Ford and Mopar were roughly double what the same thing for the Chevy cost. That's because unlike Ford and Mopar, Chevy put the SBC in all of its iterations in millions of vehicles from 1955 until the release of the LS. That economy of scale made parts cheap and led to the development of massive aftermarket support. While there is a large amount of aftermarket support for the others it is nothing compared to the amount for the GM platforms which leads to higher prices. The Coyote unfortunately has been shown to be a very capable platform which due to the somewhat limited availability has driven the prices up. I really enjoy seeing you make power with engines that aren't the norm. Anybody can swap an LS into a Fox body and make it go fast. The 4200 is what brought me to your channel and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you can accomplish with the Northstar.
Those "InTech" modulars that came in the Lincolns have a lot of potential from the factory, block and crank are good for 1000 horse, and have six main cap bolts with heat treated aluminum block made in fiats teksid plant, only main weak points are cooling, and connecting rods
It seems like common sense to me🤷 that’s why I was born into a ford family and went to Chevy the second I started having to fix them. Why Ford has to design so many things from scratch is beyond me, they seem to like spending R&D money, let’s make a new bellhousing pattern for each engine and share zero info with the guy designing the body and the guys designing other engines. They finally went modular with the 4.6/5.4 but even those have a ton of different parts.
Are you complimenting Nivlac for finding out these things or GM for being smart enough to share engineering and make things simpler? Either way I agree 😂
People forget that a modified version of the N*/Aurora engine was used in the Indy Racing League. Granted, it was pretty heavily modified, but it was the same architecture.
I sure hope it didn't have an internal head gasket leak due to tty head bolts that pull out the threads due to them Not being coarse thread bolts. Either way long story short unless you use the North Star performance headstud kit, dont do it. The motor is only worth it If you choose to use the kit to drill and tap out the headstuds to Ls7 size bolts.
Or...... you could use a ford 4.6 4v. Which is better in every conceivable way. Reliable. Proven to be able to make as much power as you'd want.... and will straight bolt in to a Fairmont with the right combo of oem parts.
NICE teardown analysis!! As a Chrysler tech in the '80s and '90s, even with our K-cars we used to laugh at the Cadillac 4100s and later 4.5/4.9 versions. The Quad4 and Northstar/Aurora (4.6/4.0) engines started to get our attention, for power output anyway. Those first few Quads with 5spd manuals were really little rockets! Then they detuned them (warranty concerns I'm thinking), and they were still high output per liter, but not such a big deal. Your work with the 4200 Vortec has really impressed me, and I'm sure you'll master the Northstar V8 as well. Put it in the Fairmont and blow all the minds you can!!
@@allenl9031 I remember driving a 1988 Cutlass Calais 5spd and being really impressed. Then in the mid '90s my (now ex-)wife wanted a sporty car and we went and looked at Sunfire Pontiacs. I was excited to see the Quad available in the "GT" model, but it was lackluster. We ended up getting her a well maintained, used, Dodge Stealth instead.
@@rodneybyrd9516I absolutely lov the cutlass Calais quad 4. My uncle worked for Oldsmobile and gm for over 40 years and I remember him telling me about how great the Calais is and the quad 4. I got to see the Olds Aurora engine before it came out in production. Basically a 4.0 Northstar
What was it about Chrysler turbo cars back then? I never knew anyone that could keep one running. My neighbor had a brand new turbo Dodge Colt and it stayed broke.
@@BruceLee-xn3nn A Colt is technically a Mitsubishi product, evolving into the successful Eclipse/Talon twins, but the domestic turbos were pretty good. The 2.2L cars (even non-turbo) had head gasket problems, leaking externally mostly. The main problem we saw at the dealership level was vacuum leaks at the plastic vacuum harness which ran behind the valve cover, right over the exhaust/turbo heat. We kept the plastic harness and all the rubber elbows in stock and it was usually an easy fix. Replaced a few bad wastegate solenoids (ask a Grand National owner about his) and a few oil/coolant feed hoses over the years.
For the open deck, devcon is a budget alternative that can be used to close it up. The Boostedboiz have used this process a couple times, if I recall correctly.
Why use Devcon when you got stuff like Hardblok or Embecco 885 that are machinable, and you can still use the sugar method… or could just weld aluminum support blocks in place?
Very excited for this. In the late 90s these got a little bit of attention for their 8500-rpm potential but then LS happened and these weren't worth the effort. In the meantime GM fixed the old Northstar issues, paired them with rwd 6l80e's, people figured out how to make SBE engines live at insane power levels, and the Cadillacs that got these engines depreciated to scrap prices. Perfect setup for some good, cheap fun!
The reason for the Cadillacs being reduced to scrap prices was the FWD setup with a starter that was mounted under the intake and got hot and failed. To replace it.... It cost less for insurance to total these vehicles after GM purposefully voided warranties on all these cars to avoid recalls
@@steverebuilds152- Yes, thank you! Between the porosity of the blocks/heads, the short life transmissions, and having to remove half a days worth of parts to R&R the starter-motor. That's a hard NO for me! 💩💩💩
I liked the idea of the Northstar when I was younger, but the issues with the Northstar seem to be sealing issues, only commenting at the start of the video of course. And you've covered it quickly. Edit: one of the first alloy engine? The vega in the 70s and the Buick 215 in the 60s? The 1uz cost $1b to design so the Northstar was no doubt done on a budget compared to that. Exciting stuff!
@Low760 that 215 buick engine became the Rover V8 after Land Rover bought thw rights and tooling to that engine. It was used all the way up to the 2004 Land Rover Discovery II. Started as a 3.5 then punched to a 4.0, and finally to a 4.6 in the P38 Range Rover and the 03-04 Discovery II.
The 4.9 pushrod caddy was aluminum block and iron head's, they came a long way from the h t 4100, the one in my coupe DeVille is a good runner but then they ditched em for the Northstar, went through all the stuff again and quit on them just when they were getting good. GM....
The Saturn 1.9 both SOHC and DOHC were aluminum block and heads. Had a reputation for oil consumption but also slotted into the cheap car category where maintenance is rare. Also the cars were so bad that the engines never had a chance to prove or disprove longevity.thanks for this video I’ve had 2 Northstars (still have an ‘02 Eldorado) and a 4.2 Olds Bravada. Never occurred to me how similar they are, I’ve always revered the Northstar and loathed the 4.2.
You're right. However, let me list the similarities. Dual VVT DOHC Aluminum block Roller cam followers Similar bore size Similar bore spacing The major thing that separates them is this has an open deck and no one has given it a chance.
@@Calvin-Nelson that's just incorrect I can list a dozen other engine same specs yet didn't appear in your vid calling it a coyote an I live next door to a guy with a built Northstar it's flaw was that front wheel drive transmission that seems to limit him most I'm an ls fan but I can't help but to give credit when it's due an power per liter an power made on stock bottom end is unreal ford nor anybody else has made the impact that the coyote an voodoo engines have. I never thought I'd give credit to a mustang that motor use to have a 500 hp limit before splitting the block now they come stock with over 450 it's just leaps an bounds from what use to be a 5.0 I like your content I guess I'm just a bit of a mechanic snob I don't know to many folks that know as much or love them as much as me.. I built my first 10 sec bracket car at 14 had already performed motor swaps before I can drive an I love em all from American to Japan if it revs I'm all over it.. I'm also really into bikes that supercharged ninja is my latest venture
He probably got that engine for 400 bucks with most of the same tech have fun with your oil pump gears, you probably spent 4 grand on your rabid coyote let him cook!!!!!!
It is possible to close the deck. If you REALLY wanted to. Also, I say go COMPLETELY off the rails an put it in a 32 Ford hotrod. Like Milners car from American Graffiti
Became a fan of the Northstar/Aurora engines when I stumbled across some old IMSA racing footage from the early 90s a while back. There were so many manufacturers apart of it, but one that stuck out (& kind of blew my mind) was the Oldsmobile running in the series AND with the Cutlass of all things. It was racing with the Northstar/Aurora engine under the hood. Pulling 9000+ rpm & I think the power was in the 600 range (going off of memory so I could be wrong about that horsepower number). Knowing the reputation of these engines I was shocked to see they had a racing program!
I been saying for YEARS the potential of the Northstar has not been realized. I loved those things back when they were new. I’ve done probably 60-70+ complete reseal jobs. Even the older ones, you timesert the block and update the seals and you’re golden.
@@Flitzer514 the bad thing is that you really don't see them at the drag strip very often. I would love to swap one into a fox body, or a s14 240sx but that would require some real chasis work to get it low enough
@marktilley388 helped swap a 13 with a vk, great package but it's a monster to get placed right, and low enough. Plus the starter intake thing is killing me.
Love all the content and all the obscure, dare to be different paths!! In our shop it’s much of the same, oddball combos are always more interesting. We are HUGE fans of propane power. Would you be able to dive a little deeper into the option of deleting the VVT in a follow up video? I’d like to try running this with an LS MSD6014 box, turbo/propane.
Way back in the early 1980s one of my older sisters dated a guy who had a '79 or '80 Chevy short bed 4x4 that ran dual fuel, gasoline and it had a big propane tank in the bed. I was only about 14 years old and just getting into cars and I always thought propane was a great alternative to gas especially if you could run dual fuel system.
@@13_13k I'm from Utah and there dwelled a lot of Mexicans. Since propane was literally eight cents a gallon in Mexico during the '80s, lots of rigs down there ran it, and we saw them fairly regularly in a small shop where I worked. It was a pretty simple system but it seemed to work pretty well.
@@Bolton115 --- I agree with you about running propane and it being a pretty simple straightforward system. The only drawback I could see is the size of the tank and either losing bed space in a pick up truck or trunk space (if that is even allowed) in a regular passenger vehicle. You being from Utah and myself from Los Angeles, there is a large market for propane use all over our states, not just for rural residential, mobile homes, small businesses, farms but in the city also. If you go to Baja, or mainland Mexico, the use of propane is large everywhere. It is cheaper South of the border than here in the states because of regulations, taxes, the usual government extortion tactics to profit off our hard earned pay as many times as they can possibly get us to hand over our money. I'm curious about what hoops they have for us to jump through if we wanted to install and use a propane system in a vehicle these days. Especially here in California.
I’m a Honda guy. But i love watching your stuff. If the open deck proves to be an issue on the Northstar, I’m sure a block guard could be machined pretty easily. Definitely helps the Honda B/H series guys out with bore rigidity. I’m sure it would do the same for you
True but I've seen block guards (mostly the cheap stuff, why do people skimp on parts inside an engine?) Cause overheating issues under high loads and high rpm too, my understanding is CSS I think is the only brand that is proven so far not to cause that, at least in D stuff, but seeing as you didn't note D along with B and H I assume youre not a fan of the single jingles lol
@@DrewLSsix agreed, my point was merely to point out the fact that Northstar are already prone to overheating and adding something that will increase those chances feels like a bad idea
@@DrewLSsix so, I guess what I was trying to say is... Duh, tell me something I don't already know, I was obviously trying to point out the flawed logic.
Very cool. The part in particular that I was interested in was the VVT. That wasn't introduced until the Coyote, and is wone of the reasons it is so great.
I was thinking a helicoil would help as well. Aviation use them for aluminum parts which increases strength and metal compatibility since bolts are a certain grade of steel
Calvin, put it in the '57 for GM-ness! Have you looked at the Toyota UZ family of quad-cam V8's? Popular swap in Australia and NZ for off-road trucks and performance vehicles...
Since you seem to be knowledgeable about the K model, you probably know about the upper cylinder epoxy reinforcement that's done over the sugar that's then dissolved out.
Yeah, 4 valves does flow better, but....... 2 valve V8's have proved themselves to be still extremely successful in today's world, especially in racing GT machines in the likes of the Corvette C6/C7 era. The C8 is massively successful too, creating one of the most powerful V8 Quad cam engines ever, but it lacks 30% torque, the size and weight is larger too. The C8 has stacked on 200kgs over a C6, that is huge. A new LT6 will also not fit under the bonnet in a front engine layout. Be very careful of saying a 4 valve engine is better than a 2 valve, there are a tonne of benefits for a 2 valve other than the flow limits (which can be well and truly flow nearly as much as a 4 valve variant with the correct modifications. I am very much a weight oriented type of guy, when it comes to quad cam V8's, I am more of a fan of the Cosworth/Judd type of engine in very lightweight racing machines.
I had almost completely forgotten about the Northstar engines until a while back seeing the Car Wizard channel pulling a Northstar apart and making some improvements for reliability. I was surprised to see someone was making stud kits and other bits to help make them live a more trouble free life, can't wait to see what you come with on this V8 platform.
I would have thought GM could have figured the stud issue out early on. And put a closed deck on it. Or is it the close bore spacing. The Chrysler 2.7 and 3.5 had closed decks with the cylinder liners cast in. But those two engines have a much wider bore spacing same as the Hemi l think. No ten thou less, 4.450" versus 4.0157" on the Northstar.
Wizard?you mean he will actually work on something? Seems like he always says it was to dirty or to old and not worth fixing, really curious if he's ever spent any actual time twisting wrenches in reality,not just making videos,but I guess if your a wizard...
i vote for "off the rails". Some of the lower end parts (separator plate) is, as far as I know, unobtainium. might have to try and find another solution for that one. Another GM engine of the era that people overlook is the 3900v6 (LZ9). Has VVT (albeit just one for everything), LS sized bore (3.9 bore), pretty good cylinder heads (280cfm) and are pretty plentiful in scrapyards.
@@SoI_Badguy The Chevy 4.3 (262) V-6 has a 4" bore. And GMC made a 305 cubic in V-6 with a 4.25" bore. GMC made quite a few large displacement V-6 engines over the years, some with bores exceeding 5" diameter.
Northstars were not as terrible as most people think. The oiling system on them is bullet proof. I never saw one with an oiling or bearing problem. When I say never, I was a heavy engine and transmission technician at a Cadillac dealer from 2001-2012, so I had lots of experience with all the Northstar variants. The oil pump drive is pinched between a shoulder on the crank and the front crank pulley, so the bolt torque on the pulley is critical. Head gaskets on the older ones were problematic when owners didn’t maintain the cooling system. Even Dexcool was not a problem (yes, I said that) unless the cooling system was operated with low coolant for extended periods. That is when Dexcool became a “problem”. In stock form, the open deck was never an issue. They didn’t suffer from warped or cracked cylinders. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember having to replace any head gaskets on the RWD version of the Northstar. They did suffer oil leaks from the lower crank case seals, oil manifold, and oil pan, but head gaskets were more an issue on FWD transverse Northstars. To properly reseal the lower end, use the grey GM engine sealant in place of the lower crank case seals and the oil pan gasket. Also, apply a thin bead around the perimeter seal of the oil manifold. Obviously make sure all the parts are cleaned well and oil free. Get a new oil manifold, too. *Bonus info: Dexcool was actually NOT the issue for which it was blamed. There WAS an issue with the water source GM was using to mix 50/50 with the Dexcool for a period of time. This water apparently had high acidity and caused rust issues, particularly in iron block applications. Once they changed water sources, the problem was solved. GM continues to use Dexcool to this day, and it is not an issue at all.
Great video Calvin! This is really working for you to spin off into these informative videos because people want to see and hear more from you. I love this channel and I think a lot of people feel the same way.
my vote would be for the "off the rails" approach. I could see this paired with a light chassis. Something from the 80's or maybe the 90's maybe. It would be REALLY INSANE to make it all wheel drive, but still on a small chassis.
Absurdly over engineered engine that's needlessly complicated. Designers meeting. Let's design an engine that no one except master mechanics can understand.
Worked on one of these that had vvt issues. Ordered OEM solenoids and read up in service info that ya need a special tool which I of course didn't have. I found out online ya can line em up with drill bits
🤔 GM... Well, the 32 Valve DOHC LT 5 in the C4 Vett came out way before that... A North Star would be a great idea for a performance engine build... However, finding compatible aftermarket performance parts could prove challenging and a bit expensive. I would definitely recommend upgrading the rods and pistons and headstuds, which should be pretty easy to do, with as much port work as you can. They did make a supercharged version of the North Star, I'm just saying 😉 as I definitely would add some boost. You're probably going to have to get some custom cams ground or something for it as well. Also as my favorite car is a 57' Chevy.... Well, I think you know my choice. 😉👍
The sealing passages on the girdle have me worried. That looks like an easy way to lose oil pressure on an older engine. It's like the LS barbell & cam cover on steroids
Calvin! Is the transmission bolt pattern the same across the board for all three engines? I see a lot of people use the Aisin AR-5 manual transmission that was used on the 4-cyl Atlas for LS swaps, and there is a kit for it. I'm wondering if that transmission will bolt right up to the 4200.
Northstars are great motors when they are working correctly. Keeping them in this state is the tricky part. I'm really interested in seeing where this setup goes, especially after seeing what you have done with the 4200s. Great video!!
I built a 66 mustang with a north star engine and a 5 speed years ago. They make performance parts for them now and they are pretty popular in dune buggies. They sound awesome and have a smooth torque curve. I’d love to do another one and twin turbo it.
Why not a superior 4.6 4V from a Ford? The cobra motor was far superior, produced better horsepower and far more reliable. Also cheaper and easier to find.
Because. Why ask why. I had them both and all the parts plus it was cool. I’d definitely do another one but I’m LS swapping my 65 fastback at the moment. I know everyone loves to get their feelings hurt about the LS engines but I really don’t care and it’s a better designed Windsor anyway.
@@BC08 yeah boring is what everyone’s thinking with 500-1,000hp out of junkyard LS engines. We just don’t get the excitement from scattering a coyote all over the track or street. It’s called the KISS method but you have to be smart enough to know the last S is for you.
Always break tight head bolts, (Main caps, Rod bolts, etcetera), loose starting with a DOWNARD stroke. Let gravity (your body weight) help you, and you won't push your engine all over the shop or worse yet, knock it over. I've seen both. BTW: I love the cluttered shop, it means you have a busy mind.
I still don't understand the rivalry between Ford/dodge/gm people. You can see a lot of similarities across the brands. I am a GM guy because it's what I know how to work on and I like the body styles but I also like some Dodge and Ford cars as well. The brand rivalry is just ridiculous.
I was on the tail end of working on those engines in cars professionally. The two biggest complaints I can think of were they leaked every fluid in them and the chassis’s they were put in made them pretty hard to work on due to no space. I actually kinda liked them quite a bit though. They are pretty cool little v8’s
I highly recommend you check out the 3.9l to 5.0l jag motor. It ran in trans-am with ported stock heads and make 700hp naturally aspirated in the early 2000s.
@@shadowopsairman1583 it was also used in the Thunderbird and Lincoln LS. As an added bonus fact they were cast in Windsor Ontario using the Cosworth process.
I had one in a Lincoln LS, the weak point with those was the timing chain. Mine snapped just shy of 150 and sent a piston flying through the hood when it all let loose.
I have always said the Northstar is heavily underrated. Obviously it had its issues and it's a shame it got such a bad reputation. It was GM actually making a modern V8 engine that could have moved us past the LS. Not that we don't love a good LS, but ya know. Also unfortunate most of them were longitudinal of course. If the engine had done better, that would be different too. At least we know there are plenty cheap in the junkyards!
DOHC 32V V-8S are impressive technology but they are freaking bulky. The major advantage with OHV V-8s or V-6s is packaging. Too bad Chrysler never put a DOHC set up on the 4.7.
Still waiting for someone to come up with a rational explanation why they imagine OHC is "moving ahead". It's been around as long as pushrods, it's invariably top-heavy and pointlessly complex, all to accomplish less for more money...
@@scottysgarage4393 Depends on what you mean by less. He went over some of the advantages in the video. If what you are saying is universally true, companies would not use OHC and DOHC designed period. You know this is true because companies would never spend more money for no gain. There are off course efficiencies to keep in mind, so some changes are due to requirements, not just power, but go ask a Yamaha engineer what the point of it all is.
Love these teardown videos. Those oil passages look nice to clean and inspect being that big and wide open. Very interesting design. The prices on ebay look good compared to other engines with the same tech and half the cylinders.
There was a Guy in PA that was building Northstar engines, and using them in 32 Fords. If I remember correctly, He claimed 500 hp. It may be worth a Google search.
My understanding is the North Star engines are made of a specifical alloy that Regardless of it ever having been turned over so much as One Single Time or if the engine has over 200,000 miles that alloy has a lifespan and it will Fall Apart after X number years Regardless of the use!!!! 🤠👍
Back in the mid to late 90's and early 2000's I used to regularly drive 10 hours to work in another city for a week at a time. Because I had to bring equipment that couldn't be flown, I'd always rent an STS or DTS (preferred the STS with the high output ~300hp) for the trip with Northstar engines. In total I must have put on around 100,000 miles on dozens of different Northstar engines. Only once did I have any issues, and that was a blown lower radiator hose. Instead of doing the right thing and getting towed immediately, I just kept driving (with the ac on) through the night because I was aware of the Northstar's ability to drive without coolant. It did lose more 1/2 its power, but it never failed and once the hose was replaced the next day the engine was back to 100%. One time I was lucky enough to find an STS-V available. That thing was incredible, with its ~470 HP. I've always felt the Northstar got an unfair bad reputation. Those engines run very well, get decent fuel economy, produce lots of power, and are very responsive to throttle changes.
I've talked to an old timer GM dealership tech who swore that the secret to Northstar longevity is flushing the coolant every two years and replacing those little gold dissolving coolant pellets GM recommends into the system with the new coolant. He said when customers did that the engines never came in with blown head gaskets.
I remember when that motor came out Hot Rod people were creaming their pants this thing was labelled as the next Chevy 350, the next motor you’re going to see in every Hot Rod, the word Northstar was plastered across the front of every magazine related to cars
If they had addressed hydrogen embrittlement and head gasket troubles early enough by recalling the engines, it might have been a viable choice along with the Gen 2 LT5.
The coyote wasn't fords first 4v. It goes back years before then. Having heads that flow over 500hp stock has been enjoyed for years while watching our chev friends sending their heads off to cnc machines.
As I stated in the video, the main feature I am interested on the Northstar is the dual VVT. This happens to be one of the defining features of the Coyote, and one of the reasons it's so great!
I've always wondered about the LH2 so this will be awesome to follow! I thinking putting it into the Fairmont and getting it on the road will be the best bet to help learn about it. Then you can take that knowledge on to swapping it into something else, maybe more permanent?
I have the FWD variation of this in my '01 Seville STS. And another one sitting on the ground attached to a 4T80 getting ready to go into a modded '87 Fiero. I'll probably do the NorthStar Performance head stud mod on that one since it 100% will not be driven gently!
1uz will last up too 800hp on bone stock internals. I know ur a Chevy guy. But the 1uz is an all aluminum 4v quad cam v8. And you u can make hybrids with the 4.3 4.7 variants
I really dig this type of build. Taking something that's under rated in the public opinion category then build it into what its potential allows. This is a great way to get something Fast for Cheap.
The engineers have swapped spit for some time now between manufacturers. The brand wars are merely a marketing tactic used to make lots of dollars. The only losers are the ones that boast brand loyalty as their religion. They all suck, which is what makes them all fun to play with!
I'm here for both the Northstar content, as well as finding out Holley has the ability to control the 6L80 via the Terminator. That potentially solves the issue of controlling the 6L on a 24x LS.
