409 in a 55 Chevy Sedan

Royce

Member
Project underway is to install a 409 in a 55 Chevy 210. I'm hoping to find members who have the same type of an install. My biggest problem is finding a pair of headers for the car. No one makes full length headers for this car with the 409. Does anyone know of a custom header manufacture?
 

tripower

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Welcome aboard. There are a few members here that have the W in tri five cars. I saw the car in your avatar was in Tacoma a few months back.
 

k9hotrodder409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 15
Welcome Royce , My '57 w/348 is sporting the original exhaust manifolds because I too am having problems finding headers made for that install.
My engine is in the avatar on the left.
:crazy:happy:cheers
 

1961BelAir427

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Monk (Thom) had a custom set built by his nephew (I think that was the relation?) that are awesome. I remember him saying that Jardine was looking into making some 55-57 W swap headers in the near future. I guess there may be the possibility of having his custom set copied?
 

desapience

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Nice to hear of another 55/409 project!

My 55 has a stroker 409/476, and has had the "W" implant since 2008. Depending upon how "serious" you want for a motor, and
how you plan to use the car... ie cruising, shows, or racing, etc. will define your style of headers. I used my 55 solely for driving
around, shows (won two 1st prize Super Chevy shows in 2006 with it), and found that the stock 65 Chevy headers work nicely
in my 55 (and they are smoothed and ceramic coated).

But, if you are not using a rack & pinion steering setup, you will need to reshape the after-part of the left header a bit,
to clear a stock 605 steering box. I use the rack & pinion. My engine is also mounted 3/4" forward of stock (and they should not be
mounted any further forward than that, PERIOD!

Also, a nice alternative, is sectioning in a custom G-body frame clip, which brings all the steering gear forward of the front suspension
and allows for a bolt-in G-Body cross-flow radiator (comes with a custom radiator support), and accepts all stock or after-market G-Body suspension AND allows for a far larger engine bay for header clearance! There have been some poo-poo's posted about this setup, except the fact is, it is a great setup, not difficult to do, and the tri-5 handling is greatly improved.

Problem is, I do not believe the clips are available any longer. ... BUT..., I do have one, never installed and FRESH!!!
I'll post pictures, if you'd like to see it. I may or not use it when I get back to refreshing my red-white 55 in the avitar.

I hope this post helps you.

Denis (DeSapience)
 

Monk

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
My niece's husband custom built my headers.........they're stepped 1 7/8-2" to 3 1/2" collectors.
The only issue are the siamese tubes located next to the steering box and then it's the one that needs attention.
For a better choice of words.........he flat plated that area much like a stock manifold.
I've pulled the plug in this tube several times and burns just like the rest.
Have had the headers on going on 4 years now and perform well.

There's a guy over on the Tri 5 Forum who is going to try and take a BBC header designed for a '55 Chevy and
adapt them to 409 flange.
Makes sense as much of the engineering has already been done........it's something I'd like to try after I retire next year.

As Denis mentioned seems the 3/4" forward is the sweet spot for the W install.
 

BSL409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 6
I also have 55 with a 09 mine has some old home made fenderwell headers and is mounted by the front of the block I also know some guys use the 65 409 exhaust manifolds in there tri five builds
 
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