37-4D : Not sure if you were aware of it but Canadian " W " engines as in your photos, do not have the Chevy Bow Tie stamped in the valve covers. The Canadian engines were also used in the Pontiac models. They came with a stick on label indicating Chev or Pontiac as required.
From what I can see, you have the early heads without cooling on a later block that has the cooling boss but it is not drilled. If you go to later heads like 333, you can drill the cooling hole in the block with the head gasket as a guide. Some of the early blocks can be bored all the way to stock 409. 409 crank fits without mods. BBC crank fits with counter weight mods and nose resize to sbc.
models916 Could you elaborate please sir. Not sure how we can see the cooling boss or area to be drilled without the heads off yet!! Perhaps some other indication that my block is of a later date? As far I as know, from the person I bought the motor from, it is a factory '58 and the heads and water pump were the only things redone. The head's numbers are matching the year. If you have any extra info please do share thank you.
58 was a mid year change. Block was changed but not drilled until they ran out of non-cooled heads. Yours appear to be the early heads on the later block. The later heads would cover the boss in the block. Get a late head gasket to see the boss peaking out from under the early head. Post a better pic of the area around the spark plug and maybe I can see for sure. www.348-409.com
http://www.348-409.com/forum/threads/showing-some-holes-in-the-block.36141/ Also 348 block can take a 409 crank with only mod needed might be the flange to the flywheel needing some grinding. You can also use the 409 crank and rods attached to the 348 pistons for a cheap stroker. Early 348 had Left and right offset pin positions that were eliminated somewhere along the line. Rear cam bearing rotation is super important and different than any other Chevy. Rear main seal has additional rubber wings that a lot forget to install and cause major leaks.
from the web FWIW: There was an early casting of the 872 block ( before approx Feb/March of 58) that did not have the sparkplug cooling and the later 872 casting which had the provision but the block cooling passages were not drilled. Pics of the different gaskets 409 on top 58 348 in middle 59-61 348 on bottem Notice the hole size difference between the 58 gasket and the 59-61 gasket
For the complete build go to: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/37-ford-truck-348-w-motor-start-at-p-5.1051661/page-5
You are so lucky! That’s a great looking engine. All W engines are precious and should be preserved. I love Small Block Chevies, but my dream engine would be a W in a full size 1958-65, or the same era 3100 or C-10! Please keep the pictures coming! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Not inline the center pair are lower and the outer blend toward the center maybe a 1/4 of the way higher.
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