1962 409 Biscayne

[dakota tom]

Are there any codes in the cowl tags of a 1962 that indicate if it is a original 409 or not?

I have had this car a number of years and it has all the indications of a 409 car. I talked to a man from Waverly,Nebraska about it. I can't find his contact info anymore. He was a 1962 409 specialist. Does anyone on this board know who he is, is he still around?

I talked with Doug Marion years ago about it and he believed very few Biscaynes were built with 409s.:dunno

[Tom Kochtanek]

It's hard to determine if a particular vehicle was made with a specific engine or not for that year Chevy. The cowl tag will not tell you which V8 was original to the car, but it will tell whether it carried a six cylinder or a V8.

If you are so lucky as to have a well preserved 1962 Biscayne that has what you believe to be the original 409 engine in it, then the detective work gets more interesting. First, there's a different fuel line, both in diameter and in pattern, for the 409 (as opposed to the 327/283/235). There are some additional telltale signs, including a ballast resistor on the firewall, and some other items others can mention.

If you show us some pictures of what you have under the hood we can give you some advise. Here are a few facts that we know of the 1962 409 engine:

Came in two builds, one single 4 barrel setup with 380 horses, the other a dual quad setup with 409 horsepower. Unless it was a truck engine from that year (then it wouldn't be considered original, would it?) it had high perf 690 heads and an aluminum intake with one or two 4 barrel Carter AFBs. The casting on the rear of the block (near the bellhousing on the driver's side) should end in "068" and there will be a date code to its right that indicates when that casting was made. If it was made before the build date of your vehicle, that's a good sign. You can estimate the build date of your car from the cowl tag, which denotes things like body style, manufacturing plant and sequence number (along with interior and exterior paint codes and some accessory codes).

If your car was originally an automatic, then it wasn't a 409 car. These had four speeds and perhaps in some cases, a three speed transmission. Most were T-10 four speeds in 1962. Some say the tachometer was standard with performance engines that year, so look for that on the steering column. There are other signs that we might be able to help you with.

So, let us know what you have in place and we'll try to help out as best possible. It's not terribly difficult to "clone' a 409 into a '62 and make it look correct, so beware of that. The 409 could reportedly be ordered for any passenger style body, so having one in a Biscayne, while rare, is not impossible.

I hope you have what you are looking for. If not, drive it and be proud of what it is :).

Others will chime in and add to what I've started to identify.

Best,
TomK

[dakota tom]

As I said I have had this car for some time. I had some other projects that have been sold over the years but this is a keeper since I don't think I could ever replace it.

I bought the car about 30 miles from home, yep, sitting out in a cow pasture. This was in 1980. Body is straight, had one quarter sized rust spot lower front corner of the drivers door. Showing about 24,000 miles. April 1962 build date on body.

Engine out and apart. Spun main bearing, block repairable but missing 2 main caps.It has been a few years since i have looked at it. It is the 1962 casting number. If I remember right the pad is not stamped. Early roller cam with tabs welded to lifters to guide them.

Heads are 690s with matching mid Dec 61 dates.

Dual quad intake and carbs had been sold before I bought the car.

Has the large feul line and the ballast resister lower drivers side of cowl.

409 Fan shroud in trunk. Radiator sold for beer money by past owners brother.


Hole in steering column for tach. Floor shift column. Mounting tab on tach bracket flattend out and mounted to dash top. Tach has no redline. Like '61 tach per Doug Marion. Underhood tach box missing but holes in correct area on inner fender well. Four Sun guages in dash.

Four holes in front fenders for emblems and rear quarter emblem holes have been bondoed in. 409HP and 409 CU IN lettering on hood and front fenders showing through Earl Schibe paint job.

Had cast main case T10 with it. Car had cast iron blowproof housing that was sold before I got there. Shifter hump stamping in car.

Went back through past owners I could find. Third owner before me had bought the car in late 1964 or early 1965 in the northern Chicago,IL area. He had seen the car being raced with the 409 as he purchased it in 1963. He does not have record or memmory of who he bought it from. Car was raced at Great Lakes.

I have found a correct shifter, a 62 date intake, and a set of maincaps.

Purchase price in 1980 $200.

[Dick MacKenzie]

Dakota,
Sounds like your car has the right stuff to have been a 409 car. I frankly don't care if a car was originally an 09 or not, If it has an 09 I love ‘em anyway :clap . If it can be documented with racing history that may have an effect on the value :brow . For instance, Grumpy and Strick’s Old Reliable (in which case I can’t afford it anyway). :bang
I would photograph all the visible markings. Then start posting pictures on a few of the boards (this one is the best) and groups that deal with 60’s Chevys or stock and super stock racing in the 60’s and request help identifying the car. Yahoo has a couple good groups. One is NostalgiaDragRacing and can be found at http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/NostalgiaDragRacing/
Another is StockSSDragRacing and can be found at http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/StockSSDragRacing/
Both of these groups have and bunch of old farts that were involved in racing in the 60’s. Some of them can even remember a little about what happened and who had what car! :deal
:rofl

[Dick MacKenzie]

OH! BTW, if you would like to double your money I would be interested in the car:brow . Just drop me a pm and we'll work something out. Don't worry about the missing intake or radiator, I'm and easy mark.


Really



:)

[bubbletop1961]

Dakota Tom That sounds like a very intrsting car. Cant wait to hear more about it. Hope you find out about the history. That knid of history is way cool.

[dakota tom]

I brought up reading the cowl tag because there is a 1963 Biscayne on ebay, item 140105831020, that states it was decoded by Floyd Garrett. I was wondering if a new way was found to do this.

I'll post some photos soon.

[dakota tom]

I can not get my photoworks to reduce the photo file size enough to post here. This temporary photoshare site should work until may 13.

http://eshare.hpphoto.com/FilmStripHome.aspx?JobID=08b6ef05-631a-43c1-b1b3-2b3c9ba40957&SKU=HP

[dakota tom]

I hope the links to the photos is working. This was an old racer and I'm guessing it seen a bit of street racing.

When the car came to South Dakota it had two plastic kitchen chairs for front seats. An owner here got the current front seat out of a salvage yard but it is a matching seat. You can see that the heater box has been removed and blocked off. A past owner has removed the parking brake cable brackets, to loose weight or exhaust clearance? Radio removed also.

On the block the CDF marking is located where the chart on this web site states the casting date should be on the drivers side. The 171 Juien code is on the passenger side where a 63 or newer date should be. I did not get a photo of it but there is a casting date of F191 on the side of the block above the oil pan.

I don't know if this block was warehoused or if the car got a replacement shortblock that was placed in the parts network early in production.

The transmission that came with the car is not correct. It has a F194 on the case and 9 16 59 on the tailhousing.

After looking at the photos what are your thoughts on this Biscayne?:scratch

I would like any feedback you can give me on this.

Over the years looking for info on this is seems the more I find out, the less I know.:dunno

[Brian Thompson]

On the 62, did only the 409 come with a ballast resistor?

I just bought a rusty roller and it has the 3/8 line (no return line), tranny tunnel (but cut out more than factory), tach screw holes in the column and a posi. Front clip is from a different car.

Thanks-
Brian