Hi all, what's the difference between a car and truck 409 chevy? This is a 1965 409 truck engine. Thanks, Lippy
If I remember correct, the heads, intake, and cam are ****. I'm not sure about the bottom end. Hot Rod mag did a build using Edelbrock's new 409 heads. Couldn't have been more than a year or two ago.
I thought the 348/409 engine was a "truck" engine and GM put them in p***enger cars to compete with Pontiac's 389/421 engines. The 409 lasted until Chevy introduced the 396 engine. In 1964 - 1966, I had a 1961 Chevrolet Impala 2-door Sport Coupe with a 348/350 HP engine (3-2 barrel carbs) and a 4-speed. One day, I loaned it to my Dad and I forgot to tell him to use premium gasoline. He put regular gas in it and blew a piston after putting only 40 miles on it. He probably lugged the engine on the cheap gas. However he said it blew the piston at 60 MPH. The W-head engines were sensitive the fuel octane, at least my 348 CI / 350 HP version was.
The heads and block in a truck are set up for a little less compression than a car engine. If you use the truck stuff with good pistons, you drop about .75/1 in compression. Some folks say the scallop in the truck block makes the engine breath enough better to make up for the difference in compression. You can build a good engine using truck block and heads. Just put bigger/better vlves in the heads and do a little port work (or go with the aftermarket aluminum heads), replace the truck pistons with good light weight performance pistons (pricey), good cam and intake and you're there. You really need to rebalance the engine too. Larry T
A friend of mine rebuilt a 409 dump truck engine about 15 years ago and we installed it in a 64 SS Coupe. He had to have it bored .060 from stock because 2 holes had water in them and he couldn't find any Std. pistons and rings at the time. He used a stock single 4bbl carb for awhile and then bought an Offy 2-4bbl manifold. He discovered that there was not enough power difference between the single 4bbl setup and the dual to justify the 40% increase in fuel consumption, so when he sold the car it had a single 4bbl manifold on it. Either way it would squall the tires from a stop and between gears if you stayed in it. The kid who bought it had no earthly idea what the weirdo engine was but did come back by the house about six weeks later to ask if there was ANY way to increase gas mileage. Jack told him to install a 350, he did and as far as I know that essentially new 409 still sits on the kids garage floor.
Thanks everyone. This engine has 7,800 actual miles and was very well maintained. In fact it's still in a Firetruck. I have not seen it, only pics. It should be a nice one.
There have been several threads on this. Generally, the truck blocks have a 1 inch taller deck, designed to accomodate heavier, taller pistons and (I think) longer rods. The heads tend to be small valve, low compression types. The auto 396 - 427 - 454 heads will bolt on, but the intake manifolds are too narrow and will not fit. The reciprocating ***embly is a bit heavier, so the engine builds revs slower Conventional wisdom says the truck blocks are not suitable for any kind of performance, even if they will fit in your car (due to deck clearance problems) However, a previous post on the subject mentioned a company that builds performance parts for such engines....... I cannot find the name, though. wuckywuk 02-26-2007, 01:41 AM thanks a lot magicRat, I will p*** up the 427 for now. i am working on a 69 caprice that came with a 427 and just wanted to go back with one. MrPbody 03-09-2007, 12:31 PM MR, Just for clarification, the deck is .400" taller on the "tall deck" BBC. You're right about installing it in certain cars. The added height messes up exhaust fitment. The tall deck is the production block "of choice" for serious horsepower. It allows the use of a .400" longer rod, making a HUGE difference in rod/stroke ratio. The 427 is the better one, as it has the desired 4.25" bore. The 366 has a much smaller bore, but I've seen them bored to 4.25 successfully. ALL tall deck blocks are 4-bolt. I don't know if I've ever seen a true factory 454 "tall deck". Dart (Big M) and World Products (Merlin) both offer a tall deck "race" block. There's one that is actually .800" taller, usually used for "pullin'" trucks or tractor racers, over 600 CID. Sonny Leonard (sp?) has several packages using tall decks. Wieand makes spacers that allow the use of standard intake manifolds, both oval and rectangular port. I agree, in the aforementioned application, a tall deck is not recommended. FWIW Jim daryl087 05-28-2009, 05:51 AM I just built a tall deck engine and i'm very happy with it the crank is forged steel from the factory. and all you have to do is buy longer rods and car pistons change the heads and intake. and i have about 600 hp easy
The .060" overbore 409 that I put in my '67 Camaro SS/RS way back then was a dump truck engine. It basically had a 348 top end on it and like said, a tiny cam. I installed 11.5 to 1 forged pistons in it and then installed 425hp/409 valves in the heads, then ground hell outta the ports. It also had a stock NASCAR solid lifter cam in it. I then took a 348 trip intake and brazed it way up and installed (3) big 2GC 2-barrel carb's off of I think 2-barrel Pontiac V-8s back then. Heck, I bought the three carb's one at a time for like $5/each from Boneyards then plus (3) $3.00 overhaul kits! How times have changed, couldn't give them away back then.. I ran the big 2.5" dia., 409 cast-iron exhaust manifolds by using (2) '64 Imp p*** side I think exhaust pipes by cutting the one side and rewelding it 180 degrees so they both fit straight down like stock on the unmodified side. ****er ran like a SB on steroids! I had 1st installed one stock GM steel shim headgasket and after thinking about octane requirements, I took it apart and stacked two together using good old "Indianhead" for a sealer. Worked out fine and I much later found out that GM did it stock to drop their CR. Hope this helps. pdq67 PS., oh, and btw, it fit on ALL my stock 350SS engines mounts like it came from the factory! To this day, I love it's chromed "W" valve covers!!
the engine in my 409 Superstock Belair started out as a truck block. And that was on purpose. Today it is 482 cu. inches and powers that big old car down the 1/4 mile in 10.46 seconds. Not bad! Don't count those truck motors out. The guys building race motors prefer them.
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