Bob Walla Delivers the First Aluminum 409 Block
- Thread starter jim_ss409
- Start date
Sweet! Sounds like you have some really fun projects on the plate! Post lots of photos for sure!! c
Very nice Guys !!! Like my son said..... We can't wat till next years Thompson where hopefully we will see that monster in full dress and RIPPING ( Not Blowing ) some doors off !!!:eek
david montanbeau
Well Known Member
Back in the mid 80s? their was a guy that owned a aluminum foundry named Rusty Sims. He was in the Midwest 409 club out of the Chicago area. He was going to cast the heads from aluminum, then i lost track of him. Does anybody know if it happened?
Yes, changed his name to Bob Walla to protect the innocent (witness protection program)
david montanbeau
Well Known Member
Yes, changed his name to Bob Walla to protect the innocent (witness protection program)
That's funny!
Rusty is still around (he's often on the board but doesn't post much). He sold the foundry a while back. Don't think he cast any heads but I could be wrong.
david montanbeau
Well Known Member
Tried to find him on here with no luck. What does he go by?
david montanbeau
Well Known Member
OOOOPS!!!!!
david montanbeau
Well Known Member
Thank you!
Found him.
Found him.
Bob delivered a new block to us at Thompson this weekend!
It looks great! It has billet steel four bolt main caps and everything is built very strong but as you can see from the photo's it's quite a bit lighter than a factory block.
Bob also had a new iron block there but you won't see him carrying that one by himself.
We got him to build this aluminum block with BBC sized mains and cam tunnel. It's also drilled for a BBC pan and front cover. He can machine them to take regular 348/409 components but the BBC stuff works better for us.
We're not sure how many cubic inches we'll end up with. I think it might accept a 4.40 bore and a 4.25 crank will fit easily. That would give us 517 ci. Anything in that range will be fine for us.
The iron blocks will take a bigger bore, at least 4.50 but maybe 4.60 which would be good for 565 ci using a 4.25" stroke.
We'll use this block to build a new engine for the Pontiac. I'll start a build thread on that as soon as we get started. The plan is to have it ready in time for next years race season.
Well we finally got around to weighing the two blocks. We used our new 4 corner computer scales. The iron block we used for comparison is a 1965 car block. Bobs block with sleeves and 4 bolt main caps came in at 65lbs lighter. Bobs block is 131lbs and the factory block is 196lbs.
You guys must be proud. What a beautiful piece. Jim, will we see it at Thompson? I hope, I hope, I hope.
Jim, will we see it at Thompson? I hope, I hope, I hope.
Yes Ronnie, that is our plan if all works out. We should be delivering it to the machine shop this week or early next week. We will start a build thread when it starts going together.
Thank you for the info Jim. Gee it sure does look good