Back to 409 stuff........

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Back in the early 70's,I had a red 62 impala ss two door hardtop. I put a stock 409 together with whatever used parts there were out there, but with a NOS camshaft I bought at the dealer where I worked.(Pt # 3830690 if memory serves me right)and after collecting all this stuff and assembling a complete dual four barrel motor,I put it in the impala with a decent set of fenderwell headers.Trans was a 2.52 low gear Muncie with a Hurst competition plus shifter,a Mc Cloud 11 inch Borg and Beck pressure plate,a Lakewood scatter shield, and later came a 12 bolt out of a Chevelle with 4.88's.I drove this insane 6 mile per gallon car on the street a bit,and discovered fun and grudge racing at the original Irwindale Raceway until it closed down in 1977. With a pair of 10 inch M&H's ,it went 13.30's at around 106-107. i learned that that motor didn't like 6200 rpm shift points,short shifting it at 5500 brought the ET';s down to 12.88-12.95 with the same MPH.5200 through the gears with a 6500 rpm launch resulted in a 12.66 at 108.95 at Orange County. This thing had the correct matched pair of carbs, the stock intake, and a stock bore and stroke. It was balanced, but it wasn't trick.This car weighed 3690 without driver. It wasn't too bad of a bracket car,and in 1981 I traded the car off as a roller for a '63 post car with a roll bar, an aluminum interior, and a decent paint job and lettering. I ran another 12 bolt with 4.56's, and an A-1 Powerglide and an Art Carr C-8 converter. I figured that it would probably go 12.50 at 110- first pass it went 12.49,109+.Well by the end of the day,it went 12.20 at 109. Subsequent minor tuning made it go 11.91 at 111.52. the torque it made was unreal. It seemed to like a torque converter more than a 4 speed, andRPM could be counterproductive. Ten years ago,I sold the 63 to a friend in San Diego, who restored it and put a 480+ inch '09 in it, and I still have the 409,the 12 bolt and the trans and converter. It's great to see such a resurgence of interest in these prehistoric beasties with the repro parts and all that's out there,some day I'll put one together again. I would like to put it in a 64 or 65 Chevelle and build the car Chevy never would build. Maybe someday!!