1961-1965 Chevrolet 409 V8 - The Ultimate Budget High Performance V8

[Music] Chevrolet was a little slow jumping on the v8 bandwagon Ford offered the first v8 back in 1932 a flathead v8 it was the 1955 model year when Chevrolet released its first v8 the small-block 265 cubic inch overhead valve v8 the engine was a mega success and many different forms were offered of this v8 in different displacements for the next several decades Chevrolet released its first big-block v8 in 1958 referred to at the time as the W series v8 it became known as Chevrolet's mark one big-block v8 it was available in both Chevrolet's car and truck lineup starting in 1958 displacement was 348 cubic inches which was 65 cubic inches more than Chevrolet small-block v8 for a 1958 which displays 283 cubic inches however the W Series would have probably fell into obscurity had it not been for the release of the 409 cubic inch version of the W series in 1961 called the 409 the 409 was a result of taking the 348 v8 and increasing its 4.1 to 5 inch bore to a very large 4.3 1/2 inch bore and increasing the 348 3.25 inch stroke to a 3.5 inch stroke the center to Center spacing of the 348 and 409 engine blocks is the same four point eight four inches of Chevrolet's mark for big-block v8 which eventually replaced the W series v8 during the 1965 model year the 409 had forged aluminum Pistons which was a nice upgrade from the 348 s more run-of-the-mill aluminum pistons the 348 and 409 unlike many of the v8 of their day which had bull-type combustion chambers had wedge-shaped combustion chambers to obtain the wedge design Chevrolet gave the block deck a unique 74 degree angle another unique aspect to the 348 and 409 was they had offset valves whereas most v8 in their day had valves lined up in a single row this is the reason why the 348 and 409 both had very unique valve covers that had rounded curves at the bottom because of this a 348 and 409 are very easily identified when compared to other v8 engines the 409 was first released in the middle of the 1961 model year in Chevrolet's full-size car models the Biscay Bel Air and Impala it had an 11-point to five to one compression ratio and produced 360 horsepower and 409 pound-feet of torque and it had a single Carter four-barrel carburetor during the 1961 model year Chevrolet also debuted a new performance oriented version of its full-size Chevrolet called the Impala SS which was short for Impala Super Sport even though the Impala SS was available with different Chevrolet v8 engine offerings for 1961 the 409 powered Impala SS was one of the most revered full-size performance cars in the US market the SS version of the Impala had the sporty looks and when option with a 409 v8 it had one of the best high performance engines available at the time for 1962 the four-barrel 409 jumped to 380 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque and its compression ratio dropped to 11 point 0 to 1 however it was a new 409 v8 offering with dual 4-barrel Carter AFB carburetors for 1962 that gave the 409 legendary status it produced 409 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque and also had a compression ratio of eleven point zero to one this was a big milestone for Chevrolet since horsepower output was one horsepower per cubic inch which was the ultimate achievement for production performance engines at the time it was the summer of 1962 when the Beach Boys released their legendary song 409 which made the 1962 dual four-barrel 409 an instant legend with this song the Beach Boys introduced a performance card lingo to America's youth with lyrics such as my four-speed dual quad positraction 409 Motor Trend magazine back in the day with a 409 horsepower 409 v8 and four-speed manual equipped 1962 Impala SS obtained 6.3 seconds from 0 to 60 miles per hour and fourteen point nine seconds at 98 miles per hour for 1963 there were two offerings of the single four-barrel 409 v8 first was a ten-point zero to one compression ratio version rated at 340 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque second was an 11-point zero to one compression ratio version rated at 400 horsepower and 425 pound-feet of torque the 409 with dual four-barrel carburetors was back again for 1963 with a slight power increase to 425 horsepower and 425 pound-feet of torque all three of the 409 v8 offerings carried over to 1964 unchanged with the same horsepower and torque ratings all 1964 409 engine offerings carried over to the 1965 model year except for the 409 with dual four-barrel carburetors it was not available for 1965 the mark for big-block 396 cubic inch v8 replaced these two 409 v8s during the middle of the 1965 model year there were also versions of the 409 v8 that powered Chevrolet's large trucks during this time period and there was a 427 cubic inch version of the W Series big-block called the z11 not to be confused with a later mark for big-block 427 the c11 427 had the same bore as the 409 but the stroke was increased to 3.6 5 inches though the Z 11 427 had a 13 point five to one compression ratio it did make it into a very small number of full-size production 1963 Chevrolet's which were sold at Chevrolet dealerships it was an engine that was intended for NASCAR and NHRA race use as previously mentioned the 409 in the middle of the 1965 model year was replaced by the mark 4 396 cubic inch big block v8 for 1966 the mark 4 427 cubic inch v8 would be released and by 1970 it would reach 454 cubic inches even so the 409 v8 hasn't been forgotten why is the 409 such an important part of automotive history it made Chevrolet's full-size cars that Biscayne Bel Air and Impala models which were budget oriented family cars into revered high-performance cars the appeal was simple a customer who bought a 409 v8 equipped Chevrolet got a lot of performance for the money even those with a modest income could afford one compare this to the Corvette which also gave fantastic performance at the time but was out of reach of most buyers budgets there would have probably never been a 389 cubic inch v8 equipped 1964 GTO or a muscle car era thereafter if it had not been for the popularity of the 409 to get an appreciation of how easily affordable order in the 409 option was back in the day the legendary 409 horsepower 1960 to 409 v8 engine option had a sticker price of around three hundred and seventy-six dollars all performance car fans Oh a debt of gratitude to the 409 v8 thank you so much for your support of this channel please subscribe since your support is the reason this channel is a success and please make sure to click on the bell icon so that you never miss a new video release [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: OldCarMemories.com

Views: 452,357

Rating: 4.8942184 out of 5

Keywords: Chevrolet, Chevy, 409, 409 cubic-inch, W-Series, V8, Mark I, big-block, Mark IV, wedge combustion chambers, Bel Air, Impala, Biscayne, Impala SS, 427, 454, 396, NASCAR, NHRA, dual quads, Carter AFB Carburetor, Dual Carter 4-barrel Carburetors, Carbs, 348

Id: TSyb4mcvNnk

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 17 2017