<VV> head studs, et al

[Harry Yarnell]

All this talk about Ed Cole, Cadillac, aluminum engines, head studs, is touching home. I gotta tell ya; I'm rebuilding a Cadillac Northstar engine as we speak, and ALL the headbolt threadholes have to be Timeserted. If you take the heads off a Northstar, you have to put in inserts for the headbolts. All 20 of them.
That said, what a wonderful piece of engineering this motor is.
This one has 180k on the clock, and the hone marks are still in the piston bores!. Absolutely NO ridge at the top of the cylinders.
I attribute this to good materials of the engine, and the quality of engine oils today. It is unlikely this engine was babied, or had its fluids changed at any regular intervals.
Speaking of fluids, those of you who have experience with Dexcool coolant, post me off list as to how you feel about this coolant.
Harry Yarnell
Perryman Garage and Orphanage
hyarnell1 at earthlink.net