1961 Chevy 409 info wanted:

[Alan Nyhus]

The few '61 production 409's were all the 360 horse rigs...basically a 409 short block with the h.p. 348 cyl heads and single alum. AFB intake. In the late '80s/early '90's, I did a lot of buying and selling of 61-64 409 cars and parts. At one time I had a dozen complete motors including a rare '64 409-400 hp. motor...which was like the '64 409-425 dual quad motor but with a single AFB on an alum. intake. One of the 409-425 dual quad motors I did went into a '63 Bel Aire that was a Super Chevy winner at Indy.

The rotating assy. is heavy as heck..but so is a Hemi, right? HaHaHa!

P.S. If you make up an alum. valley cover, the Chrysler 'B' motor intake runners are almost a perfect match up for the factory W motor intake port spacing. Think Edelbrock Victor 383......grin.

[ss wannabee]

Greg, I don't know what happened to Bob or the Midwest 409 Club....I did write him several times, and their events were usually at Union Grove or U.S. 30 Dragway, too far for me on the east coast. I think Rusty Symmes....(I think I got his name right) was a very active member in the club. He's got to be one of the biggest 409 fans on the planet! Well, next to Lamar W! One last question.....would anybody out there know if a 1961 Impala Super Sport 409 Convertible was ever built? Thanks again!

[Dick Butler]

Rusty lives in Winchester Indiana. He ran NMCA Pro nostalgia. He has a 62 409 style motor Bubble top with the Z-11 aluminum fenders etc. He does have a Wide range of info on 409/Z-11 stuff. He also has a 99pt restoration type Z-11 equiped 62 Bubble top also. He is doing his THIRD Z car now....He wrote a book on the parts and availability of stuff.

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Hi. I found some part numbers. The '61 360 horse 409 aluminum intake is part number 3797776.The cylinder head is part number 3795586. Good luck finding this stuff. Somebody about six months or a year ago released reproduction Z-11 heads in aluminum. They were around $6000 a pair,however.I'll work on this source and see what I can find.

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Many,many moons ago,I met somebody(about 1974 or 1975) that had bought a robin's egg blue '65 impala SS,409 400 horse engine,white interior,4 speed and all. He had it about a year, went cruising New Year's Eve on Colorado Blvd,burning up three full tanks of gas in the process, and e traded it in in early 1968 for a new 327 powered '68 impala. In the early summer of 1975,i worked in a gas station,and a blue 65 impala SS came in with a guy and his family on his way to Disneyland.He asked me to put in a quart of Pennzoil for him,which I did, and here was a 400 horse 409,high rise,AFB,chrome air cleaner and all. This car was very original,(stock as a rock),and had the original 4 speed with the curved chrome handle and knob with the T handle for reverse,and it was pretty much just a driver to him. Years later,long after I lost touch with all these persons,i found out that total '65 chevy 409 production was 2826-only 742 400 horse 409's were built. What were the odds that this was the same car?Probably pretty good.How many robin's egg blue with white interior 4 speed impala SS cars were built?Probably almost none.I'll never know. I wish when I worked at gas stations then that I could have rescued a LOT of cars back then We even had an occasional gas customer with a white with blue accents '69 Trans Am Firebird. Those were some happy hunting grounds back then,the first gas crisis of '73-74 put a lot of that stuff for sale CHEAP. More 409 stuff later.

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Alright,guys,I said I'd do some research and get back on, here we go: For 409 parts and some neat stuff,go on Google and enter www.lamarwaldenautomotive.com.When you get through with that one, now try abruneauperformancee.ca/409chevyengineparts.html .He's a Stock Eliminator racer in Canada. It's been 20 years or so since I played with 409 Chevys, now look at the stuff available for them!! Unbelievable!! Look this stuff over, get back on here and tell us what you think!!

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Oh,yes, one more thing.On the Lamar Walden post, when you get on the home page,click on 348-409 catalog, then tell me what you think.

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Slight typo on one parts source- here's both of them again for the aluminum heads and the repro Z-11 heads and intakes-- www.lamarwaldenautomotive.com and the other is-- abruneauperformance.ca/

[Aubrey N Bruneau]

Hey Greg.... this is the site:
http://www.bruneauperformance.ca

Yes, I have a 62 409 HP BelAir hardtop, setup for C/D Stock.
Looks like I'll FINALLY have a season this year !

Anyhow
Lots of new stuff for these engines now. Lamar has had a Z11 style head available for 15+ years, as well as a very nice ( expensive ) single plane 2X4 manifold. Bob Walla had his aluminum heads out 2 years ago... and Edelbrock introduced theirs last year. Edelbrock also has a dual plane 2X4 intake for small and large port heads, and they JUST introduced a modern Performer single 4 BBL ( about bloody time ! ).
Personally, I'm invloved in these engines pretty heavily. Last year, I designed and drafted up a single plane "air gap", single 4BBL intake manifold. Been working with the pattern maker for the past few months, and should have a casting shortly. Will finalize using a test engine on the dyno, and the manifold should be available within about 6 weeks.

Bob Walla should have an aluminum block available by summer.

So, if you're into a W Chevrolet...( and you have fairly deep pockets ! ), you should be able to build a proper 409, with a full compliment of modern technology !

[Gerry]

Hey guys,

I just found this forum. I have a 61 Bel Air that I run in IHRA stock eliminator,
G/Stock. IHRA reduced the hp rating to 325 back in 02, so Iam guessing
that someone either ran a 61 or was planning to. NHRA does not have the
61 360 hp refactored, but they do for later engines. 61 can use the large
port heads/intake, however the camshaft lift is limited to .439. I made three
events last and won class at one. The car will run 11.60/70's but I think
there may be another tenth or two left.

Gerry