she's so fine my 409

so i called this guy and he said he has a 348-409 he is not sure which. my question is how do i tell the difference between the two? I know they installed those motors in trucks as well. Is there a difference between truck 348-409's and car 348-409's? any help is greatly appreciated.

 

The truck engines have a gimongus bizarro water pump. The conventional car/pickup pump is pretty much like an SBC but different.
The 348 and 409 have the dipsticks on opposite sides of the blocks but I can't ever remember which it is.

 

http://www.348-409.com/

 

Check the numbers on the front of the block, same place as all the other V-8 Chevys. The code will tell you size, car/truck, year model, HP rating.
A truck block is about as good as a car block to build, just drops the compression a little (heads and block less than a point).
Larry T

 

location of the oil dip stick I believe

 

so the id number is at the front of the block? would i have to remove the intake?

 

It's on a machine pad just in front of the passenger side cylinder head.

 

348 has driver side dipstick
409 has pass. side dipstick....same as the later big blocks.

 

But the pans are interchangable.

Code info:
http://www.nastyz28.com/chevy-engine-code-stampings.php

W engine suffix codes:
http://www.348-409.com/suffix.html

 

348, note the dip stick

 

Either engine would look cooler than hell in between a set of frame rails! Who cares WHAT it is! Buy it!

 

Just to make things interesting, a post from Aubrey Breaunea (SP) on the 348/409 site.

"CDNpontiac409guy
Supporting Member Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Canadian Prairies
Posts: 2,052


Maybe they don't, Johnny, but they DO need the extra litre capacity .

Anyhow...
348 trucks. I have never seen one without an oil pan that has the dip-stick on the passenger side ( like a 409 pan ).
But they are not 409 pans.
If you have one to a compare, you'll see that on a real 409 pan, the front "belly", for about 6" back from the timing cover, is deeper, and parallel to the oil pan rail ( crank clearance most likely ). A truck 409 pan has the drain plug on the bottom, a car 409 pan has it on the front of the sump.
The 348 truck pans seem to also have the plug at the front of the sump.

So... the rule...
there isn't one.
Just because the dip-stick is on the passenger side in a truck, it does not mean it's a 409. If you can't see the numbers, you can still get a pretty good indication, by checking drain plug location... and of course, all 409's have 2 1/2" outlet exhaust manifolds. If the engine has the small 2" outlet manifolds, there's very little chance it's a 409."


Check the suffix numbers to be sure.
Larry T

 

Check the date code on the castings, such as intake, and exhaust manifolds. If they are from '62 and earlier, then its a 348. If its laterthen it could be a 409. Check out the 348/409 web page for the block casting numbers.

 

thanks for all the help fellas. I'm going to check it out tomorrow. I'll keep yall updated on what i find