Well, pretty pumped about this. IMHO the "W" blocks are one of the coolest looking engines out there. I ended up buying the truck 348 I had asked about in the previous post. Paid $200 cdn for it so I don't think you can go to wrong for that price. The engine was complete, oil pan to carb, with bellhousing, clutch and pressure plate. I was wondering if some of you "W" block guys could give me some info. The pressure plate and clutch......... this appears extremely "Heavy Duty" as it came out of a motorhome. I'm thinking I would be better off with a passenger car set-up????? I understand I can likely get 9-1/2 to 10:1 compression on this using car pistons. Any suggestions as to type? The water pump seems huge on this thing. Is there a difference between the truck and car pumps? Is there a site I can find what parts interchange on this thing with other big block/small block Chevies? Now all I need to do is find a reasonably priced 55 Nomad project to put it in . Thanks in advance.
You have the truck pump, ditch it!!!! Grab EVERY passenger car pump you can find, they dont make new ones! Register over here www.348-409.com for lots of W sickness. Also search the Archives here, Travis has been a great help on the HAMB.
348 Passenger car water pumps are kinda desirable because someone made adapters for them to run them on Flathead Fords. Don't know why they decided to use an already rare pump to replace the flathead ones, but in any case they're getting rare so buy one (or ten) if you can find one. When I put the 348 in my chopped '53 Ford I used a Saginaw 4 speed and the clutch I bought was a passenger car one, I think I told the guy at the parts counter to order one for a 70-something Camaro. Try to explain what you're doing to the guy at the parts counter and they'll give you a WTF look. The passenger car clutch worked real nice and those W motors really scream with a stick behind them. Mine was a Wisconsin State Patrol interceptor motor that also spent about 20 years in a wrecker before being pulled and stashed in a back room until I found it about 7 years ago. Nice find, $200 was a steal.
Now I'm confused (but that doesn't take much).......... Went to the 348-409 site and saw that 348's have the dipstick on the driver's side rear, 409's have the dipstick on the passenger side front. My engine has the dipstick on the passenger side. I was under the understanding that this was a 348 from some information I got from www.mortec.com. It stated a block with the casting number 3857655 was a 62 - 65 truck 348......... and then I see it also states that casting number 3798962 was a 62 - 65 truck 348. Now I'm thinking the info relating to the 3857655 being a 348 is a misprint??? Do I actually have a 409
If you got a 409 count your blessings. Maybe the difference in the dipstick is the difference in truck and car. Buy a zoom clutch for it, and dump the five five idea and find youself an auston of something equally as light, then have some real fun. I don't know the rate of exchange today but it looks like your in cheap.
If its a 409 and you want an aluminum single 4 intake, a buddy of mine has one for sale - 64' 409 400hp single four "snowflake" intake. Cast at the winters foundry. I can get the price. Hes usually pretty good on prices.
the oil pans, as is everything else on 348's and 409's are interchangeable, if the casting number on the block comes back as 348, then its a 348 with a 409 oil pan....the cool thing is you can probably buy a 348 oil pan on ebay, and sell the 409 one for double, their going for about $300-$400 now.
Thanks for the info. Tore it apart a bit this week-end and confirmed it's a 348....... round crank end with just a notch in it, also has the tag on the carb for a 348. I'm thinking it's got the 409 pan because it was in a motorhome and needed the front dipstick??? Thanks again to all for the info.
Also, 409's was never painted Chevy Orange. They were all silver painted. Not so much to go by but pretty fun to know...
Wrong on the 409s... they were painted orange... the valve covers were painted silver or chromed. Also a lot of W-powered trucks had pass side oil pan dipsticks... ALSO...they are BIGGER!!! They hold like 7 quarts of oil. do NOT lose that oilpan!!!!!! Travis
Not to repeat myself-BUT ....SOME .......348 engines require a spacer????[or two stacked mounting plates UNDER the mechanical fuel pump to keep it from breaking the plunger on the pump......due to excessive stroke length/Mine did anyway.....FOOD for thought!
The Jalopy Journal
