There was a dark blue Biscayne 2 door 409 4 speed car in my home town. It was said to be a 400 hp version but I don't know that for sure. It sounded good.
I've seen two. One , a hardtop bought brand new by a guy I new. I always wondered why he didn't wait for the 396 but I think it was a graduation present. A few years ago I saw a convertible that was second owner. Both were four speed cars.
When I was a kid in the late 60's a friend of mine had a 65 SS with a 409 and powerglide. Never saw another one.
I bought a 409 that was in a 65 truck. Although the block casting number shows it could be a 65 car or truck, the head casting numbers show them to be passenger car heads. So I guess I'll have to tear it down to see if its a truck block with the notches.
As stated above the truck block has notches on the top of the cylinders. It was done to lower the compression for truck motors. To use it for a car you will need pop up pistons. There is no combustion chambers in the heads. Ago
A friend of mine had a 400 HP '65 impala in '68 when I got out of the Army. I bought a 400 HP one from a salvage yard in '73 for $100. It still had the neat exh manifolds on it. I sold those, and traded the engine for a complete living room set My '53 has another '65 block in it now. Great find and score!! I'd buy every one I could find for that
They had 400 hp 409s in 65 my neighbor had a impala with one. There were truck 409s in 65 they will have a notch in the cylinder wall for more valve clearance.
The truck 409 has the notch in the cylinder to lower the compression since the combustion chamber is in the block not the head. The truck heads also have a small combustion chamber to further lower the compression to 7.75 to 1. The passenger car heads are virtually flat. Running a truck block with passenger car heads yields a CR of around 8.5 to one. Great for todays pump gas.
There is a white one here in Des Moines, if I think about it I will drive by and take a picture, and it used to be for sale.
My dad bought a 396/TH400 65ss new - they were 325hp and a real dog - he had "moved up" from his '62 4sp 327 impala that he had "hopped up" with jahns pistons, max bore, head work, dual quads, headmans, etc..... Anyhow - he was so disapointed in the 65ss he traded it a few months later for a '65 big block vette! I'm sure an "old school" 400hp 409 smoked an "all new" 325hp 396 off the showroom floor.....maybe thats why your buddy didnt wait.
If the W's were stouter than the "rats", they would have never changed them. Maybe you're dad got a lemon. Big blocks were good enough that they've been in continued production from 1965 til...........................................................today. That's a little longer than the 8 years production for W's. Don't get me wrong, I love the W's and you can make them run. But no flys on the small blocks and big blocks either.
12-15 years ago there was a '65 Caprice 4 dr hdtp in the yard of an abandoned house southeast of Bartlesville, OK that had a 409, both fender badges and under the hood. The car had been sitting there for a number of years.
Having owned 8 409 cars through the years, I have to admit some of them were dogs. Nothing is fast when it's in a 4 door wagon loaded to the hilt with creature comforts. 409s had to be kept in tune, one fouled plug, one bad wire, anything hurt their performance and most of all mileage... My '62 got 3 miles to the gallon when it ran good and I drove it hard. Few cars I ever drove were as much fun. Matting the pedal and pulling the lever into second in a light body, dual quad 409 with 4:11 gears....maybe my '53 will be.
I can tell you from experience the first 396-425 horse cars would not outrun a 425 horse 409. There were many disappointed buyers in '65. But the 425 horse 427 in '66 "turned the tide" and was the beginning of the end for the 409's dominance.
I would think that they were not as rare as the 427" W motor but way more rare than a 327 in that year. I doubt that in the real world other than bragging rights it would be any better than any other 409.
No Kidding - I was responding to the guy that said he couldnt understand why the guy didnt wait for for the 396 - the point was - the 409 for that year had more power......given the choice I'd have taken the '09 too
He didnt get a lemon he got the only available 396 in the big car - the 325hp - its a pig in a camaro, much more so in a impala....for 1965, in stock form the W outran the Rat - I fully agree the rat has/had WAAAAAY more potential
If I remember correctly they rushed production of the 65 Chevy to debut it at the 1964 NY Worlds Fair, thus the appearance of the 409 in the 65 body. One of the bits of trivia I still remember after all these years.
Kinda drifting off topic, but what changed in a 425 (or 375, depending on what it was in) hp 396 and a 425 hp 427 (except and extra 30 cubic inches), to take the big block from bust to boss? I rebuilt an original 65 396 engine last year, didn't look any different that a newer 396 except for the oiling system (groove in the back journal of the camshaft). Or are all 396s pigs?
In addition to the 30 cubes I was told back then it was aftermarket parts coming on the market a year later and learning how to tune one made the difference.
Here's some interesting data on all engines available for the 1965 Chevy Impala. Check it out http://www.automobile-catalog.com/m...full-size_impala_3gen_hardtop_coupe/1965.html
I had one (396) that went 'wee, wee, wee,' all the way home after clobbering an identical model w/427 one night...
You got it wrong man, the little pig went wee wee wee because he was crying all the way home not because he was happy like you see in those insurance comercials.
I guy I know claims that he has a 65 409 out of a corvette, I have never believed him... did they stick any in early production 65 corvettes? I have known about the 65 limited production car motors, and that they saw a full year of production in the trucks, but have always thought this guy was exaggerating about the corvette story....
I believe 396 engines were not available until January 65 in full size cars, 409"s were available in 64 built 65's I once had an early red 65 SS Impala ragtop that had a 409. Probably still floating around Florida without original engine. I heard that GM used their 409's for landfill when 396 came out.
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