A Fine 409

Say what could be cooler than owning a pristine original 54 Corvette.

Well, how about one fitted with a fine 409.

Recently our buddies on the muscle car show bravely began a radical restoration project on a well fit 61 impala

beefing up the frame

and even having it powder coated

lots of major surgery here replacing floor pans, truck bands and so forth.

Now, I guess for an old beauty like this impala, this was like getting Collagen or Botox.

Then some modern upgrades like a complete air suspension system. Now, these dudes were men on a mission with a vision of a car already named Project Red Sled and for us, horsepower guys in charge of building the engine. This thing had 409 written all over it.

It was born during the heyday of the race on Sunday by, on Monday Air

that is after GM engineers took their 348 engine

boarded out to 409 cubic inches and made 360 horsepower.

Soon after its debut in 61 it was off to the races and winning

a year later, a 409 with twin four barrel carbs was the first motor ever to match horse power with cubic inches.

Although production ceased in 1965 the 409 Legacy and allure lives on and on.

People look at it

and most of the younger kids like, what is that?

Well, I knew the place to start. Our 409 build was Lamar Walden's shop in Georgia.

Now he's been fooling with 409 since the early sixties.

Lamar

was a pro stock racer in the seventies and early eighties. First driving Vegas. Then Chevy Monza in N hr a competition

with a special passion for Chevy's first Big Rock. He built and drove the fastest 409 car in history.

Now, decades later, he's preserving the engine's history by helping 409 fans with their muscle classics and street rods alike when you've got a 3234 Ford and it's got a small block in it. If you've seen one, you, you've seen 2000

but one shows up with a 409 in it. And the crowds all around.

I was really pumped about bringing this old block we found here for expert machining. These guys like to board them 30 to 60 thousands. But seems like this old truck block was way overboard

as a racer. It, it might work. But for a, for a street motor, we're gonna have to go with another block.

You think you got one? I'm sure we can dig one up over there. Ok.

Sorry block.

Now, blocks for these voters are increasingly scarce. Fortunately, they had one they could trade us.

Here's something I learned. If you find a block with an X on it, it's got higher nickel content

and maybe a good candidate,

you'd bolt the plate down

to the block with these four holes, then you'd bolt the bar down to the plate

and bore off of the deck.

The design of the block is part of the uniqueness of the 409

combustion chamber is merely in the block itself. And when you end up with a flat piston,

a

small combustion chamber with a real good quench area in it,

you won't get torch.

This bel air runs in a nostalgic stock class with a 409 that makes 592 horsepower at the wheels. All part of Lamar is learning the old weaknesses and potential strengths of the motor

over the 20 years that I've made on this whole iron here,

we found what it likes and what it don't like. And uh the piston design is real critical

on making horsepower. The squinch of the

of the head has got to be perfect.

The pistons that Lamar is making for our 409 with his CNC machine are quite an improvement from the factory design.

This piston here is just a basic 425 horse with the uh 564 rings.

Uh start compression high for the six inch rod

where this piston here will be run with a four inch stroke crank half with a 6135 rod. So the compression distance you can see is quite different. Another weakness in the original motor was the valve train, namely push rods poking out of a block without guide plates.

The guide plates

was just strictly a hole drill through the head. The push rod ran through it and,

and it stuck up so far above the head itself,

you got a lot of deflection in the push rod. So

of course, the push rods would be and when it kick sideways bound,

using more CNC technology, Lamar is making improved new heads for the 409 and the Z 11

along with intake manifold that even can handle a 671 super charger

plus other products to meet the demands of new +409 aficionados.

Meanwhile, our blocks getting its deck surfed

and here the mains get a complete line holding.

This is the final honing after our boring uh leaving the block, you know, roughly 5000 small was five on 11 bank and seven on the other.

And from here we're gonna gonna hone it to finish size for this process that we have uh on this particular block with the rings. We're using,

we use two different stones, start with a roughing 220

finish with uh with a 280 grid.

Well, finally, I catch up with Rob Walden who's then balancing our new eagle crane. Say, what have you done so far? Well, we spun it up and rough, balanced it in. We had to drill a hole on this end

and then another hole on this end

and then to get it to come around for the 2400 g bob weight that we made up for the, the rods and the pistons that we're using on this combination.

So when Bob's finished here and his dad wraps up the piston making, we can get to work ourselves building our own fine 409,

reviving some of its unique history for the first time ever in the horsepower shop.

Yes,

we're back with our 409 block from Lamar Walden Automotive. That's where we had it completely machined. Our crank was balanced and everything for the bottom end was tested for clearance.

Well, speaking of that, they also took out some material here in the cylinder bores to give us rod clearance in that four inch stroke. And for better oiling enlarge the oil galley feeds to the mains. Now, these oil feed hose are 516, just like a big block. Here's the rest of the bottom end,

the eagle crank shaft that you guys saw earlier, plus A said they're 6.135 inch connecting rods. Now check these out, these are the pistons that Lamar made for us and they're 200 g lighter than the factory ones

for bearings. Federal mogul are the only ones that play the game for the +409 mains for rods. We're using clevis.

Now we can drop the bearings into place, followed by the rear main seal

with plenty of lube. We're ready to drop in the crank.

Next drop on the main caps in the correct direction,

then torque the main caps from the center out.

We're using seal power plasma Molly rings for our pistons

and installing the rod bearings.

Next, we can loop up the solar walls with oil

using the built in ring compressor with a 45 degree angle. We can now drop in the pistons and rods into their new home.

But take your time because this will break rings if you're not careful,

followed by the ride caps and torque on the specs,

you might not be surprised. You know, the original 40 nines came from the factory using a flat tap at cam and solid lifters. In fact, it wasn't until 2007 that you could even find and use a hydraulic roller.

And that was after comp CAMS and Lamar got together to develop a correct grind that would make for a street

409.

Next to the timing chain cover, we have the cam thrust button which will actually press down onto the cover right here, but we need to have enough

lay in it because if we have too much pressure here. It's going to wear the cam gear right into the block.

So we'll just install the cover with just two bolts.

Ok. Now we'll check our

lay

by moving this cam back and forth with screwdriver on a lobe.

Ok. We have way too much

lay. So, in order to decrease that, we need to hammer in on the plate.

Ok. Now we'll check in play again

and we have absolutely zero. So once we put our gasket in here, that should put us in the right clearance.

Edelbrock now offers these W

series performer RPM cylinder heads that have stock port locations and valve angles. Now, they come with the 220 CCCNC intake runner that's been port matched along with 90 CC exhaust ports. Now they have hardened spring cups, screwing studs and harden guide plates.

We're using

fro gaskets on this engine including these for the heads.

Now you need to remove the guide plates to install the head bolts. They come in two different lengths. So you need to be careful and not mix them up or you could damage the block

before we get too far. We wanna mask off the heads and water pump ports.

Now using a piece of cardboard and some more tape, we sealed up the Lifter Valley as well.

Now we paint the entire block with duplicate

Chevy Orange engine enamel, making sure to protect the bottom end with a piece of cardboard as you spray.

Well, nothing more exciting than watching paint dry. Unfortunately, this paint drives fast.

Well, we're about ready to drop on the oil pan. Finish the build and fire up this fine 409. It's gonna be like horsepower history coming to life here in the shop. Right.

The bill goes on for our legendary 409 A motor that's eventually gonna find a home and muscle cars project red sled Impala, I'm already jealous. Well, I gotta tell you that we're going against our own advice of installing the valve train before the oiling system.

And that's because these lifters here need a little bit more time to soak in the 30 weight. This is our oil pump for our big block 409. That one was modified at Lamar Walden's to enhance flow for the enlarged oil galleys. Now they shorten the shaft and bed the drive so it would fit in the main cap

before you put your oil pan on. You want to make sure you have enough clearance between the pan and the oil pump pickup. So get yourself a straight edge and a tape measure, measure your depth of the pan

than the height of the pickup.

You should have anywhere between an eighth to a quarter of an inch.

Now we put silicone on the stock style reproduction pan to make sure we have no leaks.

Then put it in place.

The original 409 came with a canister style filter, which we're doing away with.

So we're using this trans

dap oil filter adapter to allow the use of a spin on style oil filter lifters are done.

Now, we can install these hydraulic roll lifters from Lamar Walden

that come with a link bar specially made for the 409.

We have two different length push rods because of the layout of the valves. So I usually do one of two things. I'll either mark the box to keep myself organized or I'll put all the exhaust in or the, all the intake in at one time.

Right now, we'll do all the exhaust.

Now, I know you don't wanna hear buddy squeal like a pig like he did last time. So remember oil on the push rod tips.

The rockers we're using are these 1.7 magnum rollers from comp and remember flat side up when you install them

and with the poly

locks in place, we can go ahead and lash the valves and we are done

for an intake. We're going new classic. It's an Edelbrock performer RPM, dual quad air gap. Now, this is how you get the cool old look with modern day performance. They stand just an inch and five eights taller than the original, but you still get the air gap design that separates the runners from the hot engine valley for a cooler denser charge.

Now we can drop on the valve covers. Now, check these out. They also come from Metal Brock and they have a black powder coat finish for that classic look. The top of the fence have even been machined and they're specifically made for the 409

man. This thing is starting to look like a cool classic bow tie now.

Ok. On top, we're using a pair of edile Brocks, 600 CFM performer carbs. They've got metering rods that are

easily removed for tun ability and check this out. We're using their brand new progressive throttle linkage, specifically designed to work with this intake manifold.

Check out this big water pump. Now, this is specific for the truck 409 block. Now, that's where we got our motor from the passenger car. One looked like this, but it was made out of cast iron. This one is aluminum and came from metal, bro. Let's get it bolted on

using some N I CS on the crank snout. We can install a professional products, Harmonic balancer

and install the oil filler tube into the manifold.

All right, we're just about ready to button up our 409. Now, we're gonna add the finishing touches back on the engine dyno,

but right now we need to take a little break when we come back. We're gonna hear this old piece of history come to life and hopefully make some good dyno numbers.

Hey, we're about to fire up horsepower's first ever 409 motor here in the

dyno Cell one we built especially for muscle cars. Project red sled and power.

Now our 409 para began with a vintage block that was completely machined at Lamar Walden Automotive.

That's also where our aluminum pistons were custom made.

We built up our bottom end using a new eagle crank

and a set of their connecting rods.

Our comp hydraulic roller went in next,

we installed a set of Edelbrock 409 performer heads, then a GM big block oil pump and replacement pan.

The rest of the valve train included LW A lifters and comp oneseven Rockers.

We use the Nettle Brock RPM, dual quad intake manifold with a pair of their 600 CFM cars

to finish up. We're installing a mallory Unite

ignition and one of their coils plus a set of Taylor wires on denso

iridium plugs,

you know, back in the day they call the 409 the W motor for, I guess an obvious reason,

the configuration of the heads sort of looks like the letter W. Well, unless you're on that side, it looks like an M

in any event, we're about ready to fire this thing up, check the timing check for leaks a couple of heat cycles and we can make a run.

Here we go.

Who I got hot

and burn my shirt

to lean up against the exhaust.

We're way with that

for headers. We're using a set of doug ceramic coated, try wise held in place with stage eight locking fasten.

Well, the motor made 466 horsepower and 498 ft pounds of torque.

But buddy thinks we can get more by bumping the timing up four degrees.

You might like to know our motor has the same 11 to 1 compression ratio as the 63 factory 409 with dual quads which made 420 horsepower.

Looks like more timing was a good idea. We got 475 horsepower for a gain of nine.

All right, that's pretty respectable for a street bound 409, but we always want to make more horsepower. So let's see what happens when we bolt on a set of competition headers. Now, these came from hooker and they have longer primaries and a three inch collector which is a whole half inch larger than the others.

Man, that extra half inch really made a big difference. We made 497 horsepower, 525 ft pounds of torque. Muscle car is gonna have all they can handle with this motor.

You got that right for sure. Well, now the finishing touch to our new 0409,

this air cleaner assembly that matches our valve covers. Well, now the ball is in muscle cars court, they gotta finish that project red sled

and provide a fitting home for our fine 409. Well, that's it. For horsepower. We'll see you next time.

Hey, let's sing the song. Y

059409. Come on.

G

059409. Come on, man.

Yeah.