In 1972, I bought a 58 chevy yeoman 2 door wagon from a used car lot in Ventura,Ca--car had been in for a front clip--guy wrecked it a little--and couldn't pay the bill. I traded a 60 falcon ranchero plus $300.00 for it. The dealer said it had a "funny" motor in it---he said it "looks like it's got too many parts under the hood". Turns out, previous owner blew the 348 and put in a 63 409 w/ dual quads. That damn car was not only fast, but on a high-school kids gas station job, keeping tires on it was a pain. Remember, gas was $.25 a gal---and I worked in a gas station---no problem. So---in my experience---they were worth the price .
back in '70 I was working at a machine shop and the owner traded for a trailer load of 09s. He said I could have any one i wanted for my 62 impala. There were 3 with the factory 2-4's, the first one i tore down was thrashed. The second one looked pretty good in side so I went to work on it. It turned out to be bored 060 and had a 1/8" stroker crank in it. worked out to about 440 inches. It was BAD ASS. Put it in in place of the 283 and man what a sleeper. Didnt let anyone know it was in there and went to putting the whoop on the roadrunners, chargers, ect in town. I went to blowing up rearends, trannys, twisting axles and driveshafts. Damned thing just about broke me!
I have some Boat Anchor Parts...................348's seem to sell as slow as an 352 FE's run, Boat Anchor or Trading Iron may not be far off............
Exactly right! Things were different back then. My first car was my uncle's '58 BelAir with 348 PowerPak and PG. None of the tri-fives or FE Fords in my high school could touch it until speeds got well past 60. By the end of the '60's it was old news, but it had its day.
As usual when you ask a question like this, you'll get half of "they were the hottest thing around" and half of "my '58 VW used to beat them all the time". My cousin bought a '63 '09 Impala SS in '67, and it held up well against the muscle cars of the day. One disadvantage was that after the SBC turning out to be such a "natural" for racing, almost anything that came after it would be incapable of topping its reputation. Sure, today's high performance engines don't use many of the 409's features, but I wouldn't think that obsolete technology would be a problem on a board full of guys that run flathead Fords and inline sixes in their cars. As a couple other posters have already pointed out, unless you're planning on winning the Winternationals this year, an '09 will do just fine.
The 409 is legendary, and I'm a died in the wool, bleed Ford Blue kind of guy. The biggest problem is the pistons have to be very thick due to the combustion chamber being essentially reversed from typical practice. Therefore the pistons are quite heavy. That in turn puts a lot of load on the rods and the rods are the weak link in the 09 motors. Don't rev em and use the abundant torque and they are a great street beast. Put a SCAT Crank and a good set of rods along with modern pistons and Edelbrock's new heads and they will hold their own no problem with any other comparable size motor!
Missed this the first time around. Frank, cool story! My old 348 (basiacally stock w/409 cam) ran 14.1 in the touring at Mokan in 05 with fresh pavement and no stick. Torqyest car I have driven.
read the record books 62 63 and ask true street racer,s mopar came in big in the end of 62 with factory cars
Back in the day 409's ripped, i had one in a 62, it was no boat anchor! May not be as fast as todays stuff but in its day if you ran a chevy you wanted one and if you had one you was the king daddy.
They are boat anchors!.....And now let me introduce my new business called Marty McFly's W-Head Boat Anchor Disposal Service. I can take your funny looking W-head Chevy trash and I pay a hefty $.02 a pound. I will show you the spot I will dump it too....
With a few more cubes (courtesy of a 454 crank( they can be great street/strip engines. Maybe not world record holders anymore, but a 409 can certainly be built up to a power level worthy of scaring the shit out of many. I'll build one eventually. It's what I'd like to power the A sedan I want to build. But I've got a couple other cars to finish first. ~Scotch~
I really like the way they look but unless you already own one the price of these things is a deal killer. You can get parts for the space shuttle cheaper than a set of 409 Hi-Perf heads. That said, if i had one i'd run it.
I got some of the Jr Boat Anchor Parts, suitable for a 14' Bass Boat. $700, get this crap out of my garage, I got SBC's to build. This is worse than my foreign currency play that will take 50yrs to pay back..................
I believe my Neighbor said the same, as advised by Gellner in Cleveland Ohio, When you get a running 409, cut your losses, completely blueprint the engines because the tolerances were a disaster, then it should live. He noted they were known for dropping valves pretty bad, but by looking at the camshaft diameter, rockerarm ratio, and angle of the pushrods, they probably should drop valves. His last set of heads (still there) before he passed away, was a set of 425HP heads one damaged from a dropped valve, he never found a mate for it. or a repl block when the cylinder blew out. He had the crank, rods, pistons, one good head, dual 4 manifold with carbs, single 4 manifold bought at Roose Auto Wrecking in Medina Ohio $25, and A vertex Magneto. He sold 2 running engines, and one buyer came back a few years latter after dropping another valve wanting to know where to get 409 parts.
I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but tell me W engines will never bring a smile to your face after watching it. Larry T http://www.edelbrocktv.com/video_detail.php?mId=5301
When the 409's first hit the streets,it was an EVENT that those who were there will never forget! They brought a chill up the back of your neck under hard acceleration. Unfortunately words are inadequate to bring the experience forward to the others. A legend it is and always will be to some of us!
Back in the fifties GMC trucks had pontiac V8 engines. Chevrolet put 322 nail head buick engines in their trucks in 56 because a 265 of 261 six just wouldnt cut it. Thats why they made the 348 it was designed to be a truck motor lots of chev single axle truck tractors had 348 and 409 engines. Almost every 348 that i tore down had cracked heads. single rochester 4 GC carbed 409,s were turds! The dual carb 425 hp versions werent too bad. However most of the time a similar equipped 421 pontiac would beat them. OldWolf
My only experience with a W motor was a chopped channeled A coupe in the 70's. 348 Tripower,4 speed and not a shock absorber on the car. Hairy scary. But the image permanently burned in my brain is a W motor sans intake,but with rusty chrome valve covers laying on its side in a junkyard circa. 1976 with a twisted off input shaft still hanging out of the clutch.
With a short stroke/big bore they could turn more rpms than the factory parts could survive. But now we have light weight 1 piece valves and valve trains that will live, light weight pistons that are a lot easier on rods and bearings, rods that will live, cams that make more horsepower than ever, 2 or 3 companies that make aluminum heads that flow better than the best factory heads and even aftermarket cast iron and aluminum blocks in development. Life is good for 348/409 owners. Larry T
My first exp. with an w motor was my brothers 60 impala that had a 09/425 hp in it with a 4 speed. this was around 1965. he said well what do you think,we were at a stop lite he dumped the clutch,and that thing twisted up , lifted the left ft. up and gone. next exp. was a 60 impala i bought around 1970, guess what a w motor, old racer i new helped me tweak it ,it kicked the ass out of a bunch of sbc,pont. and fords in the area,at the time. move forward about 18/20 years,took my young son to the drags to see, the late great dyno don nicolson. he was match racing arnie beswick. don stood his 62 impala just about on the back bumper.wow i told the son he ran a 7.99 holy shit. told the kid ,yea hes got a late model big block in that ,has to be. later in the pits we walked by dons car,and i looked under the hood and stopped in my tracks! guess what,A DAM W MOTOR! NATURALLY NOT STOCK! but as was stated earlier, with the new tech parts that are out there,you can make anything scream. get the dam boat anchor! oh buy the way,i just put together for a buddy a 348 with 6 deuces, i cannot get away from the dam things! sorry my 2cents
Back "in the day" a 409 powered 4 speed Chevy was as good as it could get. Not much in 60's could touch em. Not too many cars off the show room floor could run the way they did. I don't ever remember in the 60's hearing a dumb ass calling the 409 a Boat Anchor. Too bad those little boys now bad mouthing them never had an opportunity to drive one.
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