HP Reduction Request

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by Mike Jones

Thanks, Mark
I thought two 4 barrel`s made it 425HP
Mike

Good friend of mine bought a new 1962 409 hp 409" 4 speed, Biscayne 2 Dr sedan. The '63 425 hp cars were no faster. Same carbs, etc. His '62 came with two head gaskets on each side. Little book that came with it telling you to remove the extra gaskets to race it.
Single head gaskets, nice fenderwell headers, Hurst shifter, 4.56 gears, slicks, he never did get that car into the 12s. But, he drove it like he was afraid we would tear it up. We street raced a lot then, I don't remember a 425 hp car outrunning him. I think the '62 was lighter?
The 409 409" came out in 1961. You had to "be somebody" to buy one. Local guy Jerry Weiderman had the only one around here. Jerry's claim to fame was winning the 1957 NHRA Nationals, which was held at Oklahoma City for a couple of years. Jerry won that with a red & white 1957 210 2dr sedan with the 283 hp fuel injected 283" engine, column shifted 3 speed. 4 speeds were not actually available in anything but a Corvette then.

[David Lee]

didn't a guy from new mexico run one of these? Bobby ?

[Mark Yacavone]

Get ready for another extra long Billy thread...

[Coleydog]

Achilles heel was the center driveshaft support, the rear and driveshaft. Friends 64 had two or three rears set up, extra bearing supports and drive shafts. Running on bias ply tires. That's the one reason I liked Chrysler, they put strong drivetrains to go with the big engines. That 348-409 was the best looking engine Chevy ever made. The 61 348 should be a good combo I would think. Had the use of one for a summer and would fly.

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Many,many moons ago,I had a good friend in Danville,New Jersey.He got a '61 Impala with a 250 horse 348 and a factory 3 speed.Along with that he got a wild hair to make a NHRA Stock Eliminator car out of it. It fit in O/S. 250 horsepower, 15 pounds plus driver. I think the index was a 13.30 or so.He got a good 4 jet, a tricked out 4 speed, 4.88's with a spool for the original rear end, somebody's good axles, and he flogged it into shape.He told me it went a lot of 13'0's,and a few 12.90's. This was in 1980-82,a three tenths under pass was a big deal then. He said that it was the combo that shouldn't have worked,but it did.