[Greg Reimer 7376]

Alright, let's kick the dinosaur in the posterior and see if it wakes up.In the realm of 409's, the '62 engine had straight down 2 1/2" exhaust manifolds. It had a camshaft,#3830690 that had around .510 lift. it called for a valve adjustment lash of .018"on the intakes, .030" on the exhausts, mechanical lifters. At that setting,it sounded like an early Z-28 Camaro. Manual transmission only, probably 99% were 4 speeds. It had an intake that ended in 881, and the two Carter AFB's were D series as to their size. The '62 engine was rated at 409 horsepower at 6000 RPM, the single 4 barrel engine at 380 horsepower had a larger 4 barrel AFB than the dual 4 barrel. The 63 400-425 horse engines had the same size carbs as the '62,the 690 cam was carried over until mid year 64, that engine was internally identical to the 62 engines. The only difference was that the 63-64 engine had a neat set of cast iron header type exhaust manifolds. They also had chrome valve covers, dip stick,and air cleaner. These engines had bunch of torque at 4000 RPM, but the factory horsepower ratings were pretty close to what these engines could make, although good tuning and good headers helped a bunch. The '62 cars with lower factoring would be the car to build. A really well used properly built 409 with a pair of quads could realistically make 460- 500 horsepower. Much more than that would require re-engineering, but it's doable. Get a set of those Edelbrock heads approved and start with that!