1935 Chevy Master 409 Stroker Project

[Ellis]

The project started when I decided I couldn't go anther season driving my 35 as it had a bad blow by problem in the 350 SBC I'd been driving it with the last 20+ years, I was actually getting oil blowing out the breathers on the windshield, the fumes weren't doing me any good either... After giving it a lot of thought I decided that a lot of time and money rebuilding the small block wasn't what I wanted, time to step it up! The moment I thought of putting a 409 in it, that was it! no going back!! I did a little research, and found this forum along the way, found out that the go to guy for 409s on the west coast wasn't that far from where I live, I gave Jack Gibbs a call and discussed my project with him, a couple of weeks later I made the trip up and made the deal!
My 35 before the project


The old 350, ran pretty good, but the blow by was too much!


The 409 Stroker during the build (at 409 Chevy Performance)


Just arrived!!! December 12th, A great early Christmas Present to myself!


The cam...


I had to put a clutch pedal back into it, to a little engineering to squeeze it in.


The new mount for the clutch master cylinder tacked into place.


Installed and painted, ready to plumb up.


The Tremec T56 6 speed installed and ready to put in the car.

That's it for now, more to come...

 

[CDNpontiac409guy]

That's a lotta camshaft:eek
Hope you're going to be building some good 2" tube headers for it ?

GREAT to see the clutch pedal in there

 

[Ellis]

I'm taking it to Sanderson Headers to get the exhaust done, I was thinking 1 7/8" primaries with a 3" exhaust, I know if you go too big on the primaries it can affect low end torque. It'll still be street driven, but I do want take it down the 1/4 mile a few times. I had to put a stick back in it! The beauty of the 6 speed is that at 65 mph I'll only be turning ~1850 rpm in 6th gear.

 

[BSL409]

Very nice

 

[61BUBBLE348]

Yep, lookin' good.

 

[CDNpontiac409guy]

I'm taking it to Sanderson Headers to get the exhaust done, I was thinking 1 7/8" primaries with a 3" exhaust, I know if you go too big on the primaries it can affect low end torque. The beauty of the 6 speed is that at 65 mph I'll only be turning ~1850 rpm in 6th gear.

There will be no worries about low end torque.... that camshaft will remove any that might have been... so you might as well go proper size / design headers, and get the most out of that 550 HP engine !
1800 RPM highway cruise ? :eek
Not going to work. At best, the engine might idle at 1000-1100. At 1850, it will still be so rough, that half the fuel mixture will be getting sent out the exhaust. Manifold vacuum will be so low, there'll be virtually no throttle response in high gear. Unless you're going 90 MPH, it will tend to backfire up through the carbs if you step on th egas quickly.
Thast cam, even in that big engine, will not even smoothen out some, until at least 2200+... and won't be in it's power range until AT LEAST 3000. To make a hard run, using it's full potential, it would have to be shifted at 6500+.

I think you might be in trouble

 

[Ellis]

Around here traffic is usually going 75 - 80 anyway, so I should be able to get some use out of 6th. The idea is to be able to keep the rpm down when I'm just cruising, there's a lot of long flat interstate out here and it's a long haul to the nearest drag strip since they closed Fremont. I'll certainly get more input before I finalize my header design, 2" might be the best, traction is definitely a concern, I probably don't need a little extra torque at the bottom end.

 

[CDNpontiac409guy]

I probably don't need a little extra torque at the bottom end.

you may have something there

 

[Ellis]

Here it's positioned to install, the mounts for the 350 were just fine but the trans was another story, first I had to trim the X member flange in a couple of spots so the trans would actually fit, I also filled in the notches that were there for the old 700r4, then I fabricated a trans mount. The shifter position ended up being further back as well requiring notching the floor pan and re-fabbing the trans tunnel.


Once the engine and trans was fully bolted in place, I had to mount the front sheetmetal and the new Griffin aluminum radiator. Ha a lot of trouble getting adequate clearance for the fan, I ended up cutting off the Griffin supplied mounts and bolting it to the front of the original radiator surround, that way I was able to shim it out to get proper clearance, there is also an electric fan on the front of the radiator.


I had planned on installing an adjustable 4 link, but due to budget I decided to hold off. I had an old slide-a-link, I was able to fab up some custom front brackets, and modified the rear brackets. It came out looking good! hopefully it does the job, I know some guys who had real good results with these. I'm considering adding some extra bracing to the front spring perch on the inside it's just a flap of metal folded down.


The watts link was installed on the original build, I decided to add a rear sway bar, there was already one on the front.

 

[Iowa 409 Guy]

Welcome Ellis, come on in. Love the 3 pedal cars. You're going to love that cam. Is your motor stroked? I see you have dual quads......Edelbrocks?

I'm gonna have to disagree with Aubrey on the cam. He is a wealth of knowledge, and has forgot more about cams than i know. You will absolutely love thast HR636. If you have a stroker, idle will be no problem. Idle at 1000 to 1100 no need...........600 will be smo0th. That combination will be fine on the street also. When you go to the strip, open the headers, put on the slicks, and put the hammer down if the drive train will handle it. Jack built my engine and i've been using it in my 4,000 pound sled. Look below, more to come. Good luck..................

 

[Ellis]

Jack said it would idle smooth, since it's a hydraulic roller cam, you can get the performance without being a big thumper, also a broader power band. one of the many advantages of roller cams. I'm really looking forward to finding out for myself!

 

[Ellis]

The engine is a stroker, around 472 cubes.

 

[Iowa 409 Guy]

Same as mine.............better hang on with that light car.............lots of torque,,,,,,,,,,,should be hard to harness that HP ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Some guys don't like the hydraulic roller cambut i've been testing mine for 3 years now..............

 

[Ellis]

(but i've been testing mine for 3 years now..............) That's good to know. It's going to be a handful, I know that. I used to love to go to Fremont and watch the Gassers, half the battle was staying in their lane. My car is right around 3000 lbs, if I can put it to the pavement, I could be in the mid 11s. I haven't drag raced since 1990, after Fremont closed (1988) the scene kind of dried up, but it seems to be making a comeback and I miss it, I just have to drive a little farther for the privilege...

 

[tripower]

Very nice project...

 

[Iowa 409 Guy]

(but i've been testing mine for 3 years now..............) That's good to know. It's going to be a handful, I know that. I used to love to go to Fremont and watch the Gassers, half the battle was staying in their lane. My car is right around 3000 lbs, if I can put it to the pavement, I could be in the mid 11s. I haven't drag raced since 1990, after Fremont closed (1988) the scene kind of dried up, but it seems to be making a comeback and I miss it, I just have to drive a little farther for the privilege...

Mid 11's.........no way you can go that slow if you get hooked up. Heck, i'm only 2 years old, at legal racing, and my tank is at 11:88 with more to wring out of it...............course i didn't start until i was "63"..............I had a 68 Nova with a 325hp 327 that i thought was pretty fast back in "68"..................until Jack built
me the same thing you are running............NOT EVEN CLOSE.................

 

[Ellis]

Holy CRAP! Looks like I'm getting a roll bar and safety harnesses! Jack did think I might break into the 10s with this car.

 

[CDNpontiac409guy]

Geez, guys.... I dunno
My race engine has mechanical flat tappet, with 264 duration @ .050" ( 291 adv ) on the intake.
It idles at 1200 or so, if it's in a good mood ( comes on hard at about 3800 ).
You have 258 @ .050" ( with 305 adv ) on a hydraulic... which actually tends to have more effective duration than a mechanical tappet.
Yes, the big cubes will smoothen it out a bit, but it's still gonna be plenty radical.
When you get that 4.30 gear set in that rear end, you'll be able to REALLY enjoy the ride.
Might as well build the roll bar now, while you're working on the car

 

[jim_ss409]

That car is looking good! It'll definitely have enough power to run 10's, if you can get it to hook.
As long as you stay at 11.50 or slower you won't need a roll bar or a lot of the other stuff. You might hit 11.50's on street tires, that would be a neat target to shoot for. There's not a lot of cars that can break into the elevens on street tires.

That cam is pretty big. The overlap @ .050 is 38 degrees which isn't huge but the advertised duration is pretty big, 305/305 That gives you an overlap of 85 degrees.
We tend to look at cam specs at .050 but the advertised duration does affect the idle.
I'm not sure what rpm it'll idle at but it's a pretty big cam.

 

[yellow wagon]

My little baby motor won't idle any lower than 800rpm. Doubtful you can get this thing to idle at 600! :eek Gonna be awesome, can't wait to see a vid of it running