Besides maybe Lamar Walden, anyone know of a good source for finding a 1960s 409 block.

 

Try Day Automotive in Independence Mo.....or www.348-409.com. This is the 348-409 forum.....I went to their convention in 2004....outstanding cars and total w-head freaks....Lots of info there....Also look up Phil Reed on that site...He owns a 348-409 parts supply....
Hope this helps.........
Reid '72 T-top

 

do a search on racingjunk.com i just checked there are two on there

 

Inquiring minds want to know, what are you working on? I know a guy who recently sold a 409/409 62 bubbletop Bel Air and I loved that car. I never got to ride in it, but I did hear it run a few times.

 

Thanks for all the replies very helpfull.

I would just like to build a 409 for maybe a street rod some day later
on down the road. Small block chevys or even later big blocks are
just to common. Edelbrock has just came out with new heads for the
348/409 looks like there based on the 62 high performance 409 head.
I do know a long time freind that has a 409 just a truck engine he
has had it forever last time he used it was in a 73 pickup it spun a bearing, he has it lying around but he does not want to sell it, wants to hand it down to one of his sons. lots of stuff can be bought for them in the aftermarket, but as far as I know there are no new blocks made.

 

The 348/409 engine was a Chevy truck engine to begin with. When the "big block" craze started, GM looked around and saw they already had a platform of that size in their truck line. The engine was "reworked" some to make it more responsive for autos, but it always had plenty of torque (over-square design). They even bored it out to get 427 cu. in. for a short time. But it never reved very high...or it died trying to, so the Chevy engineers came up with what we know as the Chevy BB line of 396/427/454's. There were many thousands of 409's in junked 50/60's Chevy trucks...but after 40 years, where are they now?

 

Way back when I had a 62 Impala with a 409 with the dual AFB's which if I remember were rated at 409 hp in 62. It was a runner but the 409's didn't breathe well at high rpms and it seemed like it had a built in rev limiter (ran out of steam at 6,500).

I remember the 406 Fords were a pretty even match but a good running Mopar 413 or 426 was one to steer clear of. Those sure were some good times!

I ended up totaling the 62 and the 409 and T-10 ended up in a 56 Bel Air 2 door post car.

 

409 has a big bore very short stroke 4.312 X 3.50 could have been
a rever, but the pistons in it were extremely heavy.The deck is cut at a 74 degree angle, half of the piston torward the intake side is cut
at 16 degree's to match the angle cut of the deck. the other side
torward the exhaust ends up forming a 32 degree chamber down in
the block. The head is flat but depending of the head theres about
10cc to 15cc area of volume around the valves. Lamar Walden
makes a remake of the better 1963 Z11 427 heads ( 4.312 X 3.650 )
they have raised intake runners look more like the big runners of
the later rectangle port big block heads. The intake manifold chevy used
to match the new 1963 heads was a two piece, lower valley cover had
the water crossover. the upper part just air intake. I would like to
use the 63 remake stuff Lamar Walden makes. But he wants $6000.00
just for the heads, $ 1500.00 for the upper air intake, $900.00
for the lower part of the intake.
The pistons were so heavy in the 409 the early 60s racers with
4.56 gears in the heavy impala's were runing 12.80s, they shifted
at 5800 low gear, 6000 the rest. It would cost some extra money
but in the modern world you can have custom lighter weight pistons
made with modern thinner rings. I would most likely buy the new
edelbrock heads bare flow test them then most likely spend $800/1000
for a good porter to max them out in airflow. I would not want a
409 strictly for looks or rarity, the hot rodder that has always been in me would want it to run very good for what it is. First step is to
come up with at least a good block. The 409 has a 4.84 bore center
same as the later big block, the mains are much smaller roughly
2.50. I have not checked into it fully but, I think a latter crank
with the mains cut down may fit with a little grind on the lower
crankcase to clear counterweights. I notice Lamar Walden has stroker
kits for the 409.

 

I might know where a 348 is. Can they be bored to make a 409?

 

348= 4.125 X 3.25
From what I have been able to find out so far the 348 becomes paper thin with that knid of bore they don't recomend it.
The 409 my friend has I know its good it just has a spun rod bearing,
but I can not talk him out of it, he has had the engine for a lot of
yrs. He had a 73 pickup with a tired 350 in it, he's a first class welder
so he just put the 409 in it, fabricated up brackets to mount the
a/c, p/s, alt. The heads on it are the small valve, small runner truck
and low performance passenger car heads. It was a truck engine
originally, so the heads would be worthless for any real perfomance.
I borrowed the pickup one time when it had the 409 in it, driving it around
reminded me a lot of the 78 3/4 ton 454 pickup I had.

 

Thought I did but I don't. Somebody I know or met had a complete oil pan to air cleaner 348 truck engine under a bench. The person I thought it was says it wasn't him. Looks like it's a moot point anyway.