Building A 409 From The Block Up - HorsePower S12, E10

Say, what could be cooler than owning a pristine original 54 Corvette? Well, how about one equipped with a great 409? Recently, our friends at the bustling car show bravely began a radical restoration project on a well-worn '61 Power, stripping the frame and even having a major surgery powder coated rampage here replacing floor fans truck fans and such. now I guess for an old beauty like this Impala this was like getting collagen or Botox then some big ones like a full air suspension system now these guys were men on a mission with a vision of a car already called project red sled and to us , the

horsepower

guys in charge of

building

the engine, this thing had 409 written all over it, was born during the height of the race on Sunday for the Monday air, that is, the GM.

Engineers brought its 348 engine to 409 cubic inches and made 360 ​​

horsepower

shortly after its debut in '61, it went racing and won. A year later, a twin-carbureted four-barrel 409 was the first engine in equate the power with the cubic. inches, although production ceased in 1965, the legacy and charm of the 409 lives on fitfully, people look at most of the younger kids and say what did I know that the place to start our construction of the 409 was the store Lamar Walden in Georgia. He's been cheating before o9 since the beginning. 1960s Lamar was a Pro Stock racer in the '70s and early '80s, first driving in Las Vegas and then for Chevys in NHRA competition with a special passion for Chevy's first big

block

building

and driving the 409 car. fastest in history.

Now, decades later, he is preserving the history of engines. helping 409 fans a lot with their muscle classics and street rods when you have a 32 34 Ford and it has a small

block

if you've seen one you've seen 2000 but one comes along with a 409 and the crowd. Overall, he was really excited to bring this old block we found here to Moschini Expert. These guys like to bore them 30-60 mils, but it looks like this old truck lock was way overboard as a racer, it might work, but for a street engine. I'm going to have to throw another block, you already have one.

I'm sure we can dig one up there. Okay, sorry, now the blocks for these voters are becoming scarcer. Luckily, they had one and could swap us. Here's something I learned if you find it. a block with an X has a higher nickel content and may be a good candidate. You would run the plate up to the block with these four holes, then lower the bar down to the plate and drill the deck. The block design is part of the uniqueness of the 409, it's breaking Marilyn woods in the block itself and when you end up with a flat piston, a small combustion chamber with a really good cooling area you'll get to this air fill. in a nostalgic stock class with a 409 making 592 horsepower at the wheels, all part of Lamar learning about the engine's old weaknesses and potential strengths over the 20 years I've built this iron, we found that one whether you like it or not. and piston design is really critical to generating horsepower, meaning the head crush has to be perfect.

The pistons that Lamar is making for our old four with this CNC machine are a huge improvement over the factory design, this piston here is simply a basic 425 horsepower with 564 high compression chords for the 16th rod where this piston will work with a four inch stroke crankshaft with a 635 rod, so the compression distance you may see is quite different. Another weakness in the original engine was the valve train, i.e. pushrods protruding from a block without guide blades, the guide plates were strictly a hole drilled through the head and the pushrod went through and stuck so above the head that the push rod was deformed a lot, so of course, the push rods and the being and when TKE on the side, ma'am, it uses more CNC technology.

Lamar is upgrading new heads for the 409 and z11 along with intake manifolds that can even handle a 671 supercharger plus other products to meet the demands of the new 4:09 hobbyist, meanwhile our blocks bring out their platform and here the main ones get a complete line holding this is the final polish after our drilling, leaving the block approximately 5,000 small ones, those five on one bench and seven on the other and from here we are I'm going to refine it to finish the size of this process that we have on this particular block with the rings that we are using, we use two different stones, we start with the 220 roughing and we finish with a 2 80 grit, I finally catch up with Rob Walden, who We have been balancing our new Eagle crank, what? what have you done so far?

We turn it and balance it sharply. We had to drill a hole in this end and then another hole in this end and then get it to spin for Bob's 2400. grams of weight that we offset for the connecting rods and the pistons we're using a homeless combination so when Rob finish here and his father finishes the piston, we can get to work ourselves building our own 409, reliving part of its unique history. For the first time in the horsepower shop we are back with our 409 block from Lamar Waldron Automotive, that's where we had a full machining, crank balanced and the entire bottom end tested for clearance, speaking of which, too They took out some material here in the cylinder bores to give us rod clearance on that four inch stroke and for better lubrication, enlarge the feed from the oil galley to the main.

Now these oil feed hoses are 5/16 like a big block. Here's the rest of the bottom of the Eagle crankshaft that you saw earlier and he said your six point one three five inch connecting rods now look these are the pistons that Lamar made for us and they're 200 grams lighter than the factory ones for federal bearings. Mogul are the only ones who play the game for the four 409 main rods we are using. Now we can fit the bearings into place followed by the heavily lubricated rear main seal which we are ready to fit onto the crank. Then put the main caps in the right direction and then tighten the main caps from the center outwards.

We will use the sealing power of plasma molybdenum rings for our pistons and install the connecting rod bearings. Next we can lubricate the cylinder walls with oil using the On the compressor rings with a 45 degree angle, we can now place the pistons and rods in their new home, but take your time because this will break the rings if you don't have Be careful, followed by the suspension caps and torque them to specifications you may not have. I was surprised to learn that the original Alliance four came from the factory using a flat tappet cam and solid lifters;

In fact, it wasn't until 2007 that a hydraulic roller could be found and used and that was after Offset Cams and Lamar came together to develop a correct model. grind that would make a passable 409 next to the timing chain cover, we have the cam push button that will actually press down on the cover right here, but we need to have enough play M because if we have too much pressure here, it will go. use the cam gear right on the block, so we'll just install the cover with just two bolts, okay, now we'll check our M play.

I'm moving those cams back and forth with a screwdriver on the lobe, okay, too we have it. There is a lot in place, so to decrease that we need to hammer the plate. Okay, now we'll check the M clearance again and we have absolutely zero, so once we place our gasket here, that should put us in the correct clearance, Edelbrock. offers these high performance W series cylinder heads that have Stockport locations and valve angles. They now come with the 220 CC cnc intake runner that has been adapted along with the 90 CC exhaust ports. They now have hardened spring cups, screw-in bolts and hardened guide plates.

We are using Fill Pro gaskets on this engine, including these for the heads. Now you need to remove the guide plates to install the cylinder head bolts. They come in two different lengths, so you have to be careful and not mix them or you could damage the. Block before we get too far, we want to mask off the headers and water pump ports. Now, using a piece of cardboard and a little more tape, we sealed the Valley lifter and now painted the entire block with dual-color Chevy Orange engine enamel. be sure to protect the bottom end with a piece of cardboard while you spray well, nothing more exciting than watching the paint dry and luckily this paint handles fast, we are ready to drop it into the oil pan, finish the build and fire up this fine 409.

It will be as if horsepower history comes to life here in the shop, the bill continues for our legendary 409, an engine that will eventually find a home and muscle car project, the red Impala sled. I'm already jealous, well I have to tell you. We're going against our own advice of installing the valve train before the lubrication system and that's because these lifters here need a little more time to absorb the weight 30. This is our oil pump for our 409 big block that was modified at Lamar Walden to improve flow from the enlarged oil galleys, they now shortened this shaft and chamfered the transmission to fit in the main cabin.

Before putting on the oil pan, you want to make sure there is enough clearance between the pan and the oil pump. so get a ruler and a tape measure, measure the depth of the tray and then the height of the pill should be between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. Now we put silicone on the original style reproduction pan to make sure it doesn't leak, then put it in place the original 409 came with a canister style filter which we are removing, so we are using this trans dab oil filter adapter to allow the use of a spin-on style oil filter.

The oil filter lifters are now ready. We can install these Lamar Walden hydraulic roller lifters that come with a link rod made especially for the 409. We have two pushrods of different lengths because they will be placed outside the valves, so I usually do one of two things that I will mark . the box to keep me organized or I'll put all the exhaust or all the intake in at once right now we'll do all the exhaust now I know you don't want to hear your friend squeal like a pig like you did last time so remember that oil on the tips of the push rods that used the rockers are these mess bugs in 1.7 cup bags and remember the flat side up when you install them and use the poly locks instead, we can go ahead and close the valves and we are. made for an intake, let's be a new classic, it's an Edelbrock Performer rpm with double quad air gap.

Now this is how you get the cool old look with modern performance. They stand at just an inch and 5/8 taller than the original, but still. Get its gap design that separates the valley runners from the hot engine for a cooler, denser charge. Now we can place the valve covers. Now look at these. They also come from Edelbrock and have a black powder coat finish to give that classic look to the upper. the fins have even been machined and are made specifically for the 409 man. This thing is starting to look like a cool classic bow tie, now okay, on top we're running a pair of Edelbrock's 600 CFM performance carbs , they have dipsticks that are easily removed for adjustment and check this out.

We are using their new progressive throttle linkage designed specifically to work with this intake manifold. Look at this great water pump. This is specific to the 409 block of the truck. That's where we got our engine from. the one on the passenger car looks like this, but it was made of cast iron. This one is aluminum and came from Edelbrock. Let's bolt it up using some anti-seize on the cranks. Now we can install a professional products harmonic balancer and install the oil filler. tube in the manifold, okay we're almost ready to button up our 409, now we're going to add the finishing touches to the engine dyno, but right now we need to take a little break, when we get back we'll hear This old piece of history come to life and hopefully generates some good dyno numbers.

Hey, we're about to fire up the first 409 horsepower engine here in the dyno cell when we build especially for the projectMuscle Cars, the red sled and now our 409./a started with an old block that was completely machined at Lamar Walden Automotive, which is also where our luminal pistons were custom made. We built our bottom end using a new Eagle crank and a set of their cranks. Our hydraulic compensation roller came in next. I installed a set of Edelbrock 409 performance heads, then a GM big block oil pump and replacement pan, the rest of the valvetrain included lwa lifters and cop17 rockers, we used the Nettle Brock RPM dual quad intake manifold with a couple of six hundred CFM.

Carburetors to finish, we're installing a Mallory, you know, light ignition and one of their coils, plus a set of custom wires on Denso iridium plugs, you know, back when they called the 409 the W engine, I guess It's an obvious reason for the setup. of the heads looks like the letter W, well unless you're on that side and it looks like an M, in any case we're ready to turn this on, check the timing, check for leaks, a couple of heat cycles and we will can. run, gotta burn my shirt, you lean against the exhaust while we were using a set of Doug's ceramic coated handcuffs, test the handcuffs out of place, stage 8, faster lockup, 12 engine mates, 466 horsepower and 498 pound-feet of torque. but friend, thanks for getting more by increasing the timing four degrees.

You might like to know that our engine has the same 11:1 compression ratio as a '63 factory 409 with dual quads that made the 400. It sounds like having more timing was a good idea. I got 475 horsepower for a gain of nine. Okay, that's pretty respectable for a street 409, but we always want to make more horsepower, so let's see what happens when we add a set of competition heads. Now these come from Hooker and have longer primaries. and a three-inch collector that is half an inch larger than the others, that extra half inch really made a big difference. We made 497 horsepower and 525 pound-feet of torque.

Muscle cars will have everything they can handle with this engine you have. That's for sure, well nowThe final touch to our new O 409, this air filter just matches well with our valve covers, now the ball is in the muscle cars court, they have to finish the red sled project and provide A suitable home for our excellent 409, that's all for horsepower. See you next time. Hey, let's sing a nice song. Oh, it's fine.