The wiggle test would also apply here but is very subjective depending on where you watch for wiggle and the fact the valves are shorter.The longer the valve is the more exaggerated the movement at the ends.So with a shorter valve movement that would be acceptable with a longer valve,may in fact be excessive.
Engine rebuild plan
- Thread starter Darkfader
- Start date
yea, on my LS7 it didn’t look like a very reliable test. I elected to just get new heads for that car for the peace of mind. I’ll do a compression and leak down test on the 409 and make some hard decisions after that. After hot tank, inspection, machining, new guides, seals, possibly valves, I might as well just buy complete heads. I don’t know. One step at a time. I’ll run some tests and we’ll go from there.
Now you're talking,test,don't guess!!!!!! If you need guides,valves,and valve job it will run around a thousand dollars.New aftermarket about 2400 dollars. Of course you can offset some of this expense by selling the existing heads.Good 690 cores go for around 1200 dollars.
Since nobody else asked the question about casting date I guess I will. It appears to be assembled on 12-08 of 62 and I say that because it has a VIN stamp beginning with 3. Here's a little test of the collective memory of this group. I'm betting that the Julian casting date of this block is 270 or earlier.
What say you?
That would be wrong to put it in a 62 Tom. This is a 63 MY engine.You do have a passenger block circa 1962, the "068" casting on the rear flange and the "QB" stamping on the front pad confirms that. Those are quite desirable. You probably have the "690" castings for cylinder heads. Looks like an "881" dual quad intake. Nice combination. When you get the chance, let us know which numbered carbs are under that chrome air cleaner. The 2x4 chrome air cleaner was used on the 1963 and 1964 models that had the 425 HP rating. In 1962 that rating for the dual quad setup was 409 horses.
If you decide to yank it out, I'd freshen up what I already have, but then I prefer "iron" versus "aluminum" except when it comes to intakes
Or you could send it to me and I'll put it one of my 1962 passenger cars
So, while you don't have a "numbers matching" or even "period correct" block and heads, you do have a combination a lot of guys will be envious of, congrats!
Keep us posted as you go through things, collectively we give great advise, you get to make the decisions (and foot the bills!)
Cheers! TomK
I stand corrected. I see "068" and immediately think "1962" vehicles...
Yep, I didn't put my glasses on. Now we really need the date code. If it has an alpha numeric date it is a 61 casting for 62 MY, if it is a Julian date it is a late 62 casting for 63 MY and would be 270 or earlier.
Cecil
Was there any specific reason they went from alpha numerical date codes to Julian?
Was there any specific reason they went from alpha numerical date codes to Julian?
As I recall, I could not possibly see those numbers on the back of the block because there was just no room to see them. I crammed my phone/camera down the crack (no bad jokes here, guys) and took about a jillion pictures and was finally able to piece together numbers on both sides. The transmission was out at the time, and I think my best shots were from underneath the car, reaching over the bellhousing.
Anyway, it wasn't nearly as easy to “get the numbers” as I thought it would be.
Chip
Anyway, it wasn't nearly as easy to “get the numbers” as I thought it would be.
Chip
I took a few more pics of the engine bay for you guys. The more I look around, the more I see things I don’t really like.
The headers are way too close to the upper control arms for one thing. The belt for the alternator is super close to the power steering pump, but with the cheap aftermarket bracket, that isn’t a surprise. I can’t seem to find any stamps on the cylinder heads. I included a pic of the casting number on the intake. I can imagine this car may have been “restored” at some point and maybe the attention to detail wasn’t quite up to my standard. Lots of bolts look mismatched or incorrect. I’d like to begin making things right. But I’m scratching my head wondering where to start.
Under the car, it looks like a power steering hose was cross threaded into the slave cylinder and that leaks. The original steering column is missing the trim ring around the tilt knuckle. I’ve been eyeing the “ididit” columns not sure how you all feel about those. Wiring is old and brittle and I’d like to rewire the entire car with the American Auto Wire kit. I already know the wiper switch is faulty and has been bypassed with a “hidden” toggle switch. That’s not going to cut it for me.
It’ll be a couple weekends before I can perform a compression test to see how that pans out. I’m confident that at least the valve seals should receive some attention.
On top of all that, I found antifreeze laying on the groove at the bottom at the radiator. I suspect it’s probably not a 409 rad anyway since I have the wrong shroud. Just parts I guess, but I’d like to start collecting stuff to R&R so the car isn’t down for too long.
As I said earlier, I want to replace all bushings and rubber. Is poly a good idea or should I stick with rubber?
Again, I’m not super concerned with period correct, but I want it put together properly, and it should appear correct
Sorry for the long winded post, here are some pics.
Unused plug
The headers are way too close to the upper control arms for one thing. The belt for the alternator is super close to the power steering pump, but with the cheap aftermarket bracket, that isn’t a surprise. I can’t seem to find any stamps on the cylinder heads. I included a pic of the casting number on the intake. I can imagine this car may have been “restored” at some point and maybe the attention to detail wasn’t quite up to my standard. Lots of bolts look mismatched or incorrect. I’d like to begin making things right. But I’m scratching my head wondering where to start.
Under the car, it looks like a power steering hose was cross threaded into the slave cylinder and that leaks. The original steering column is missing the trim ring around the tilt knuckle. I’ve been eyeing the “ididit” columns not sure how you all feel about those. Wiring is old and brittle and I’d like to rewire the entire car with the American Auto Wire kit. I already know the wiper switch is faulty and has been bypassed with a “hidden” toggle switch. That’s not going to cut it for me.
It’ll be a couple weekends before I can perform a compression test to see how that pans out. I’m confident that at least the valve seals should receive some attention.
On top of all that, I found antifreeze laying on the groove at the bottom at the radiator. I suspect it’s probably not a 409 rad anyway since I have the wrong shroud. Just parts I guess, but I’d like to start collecting stuff to R&R so the car isn’t down for too long.
As I said earlier, I want to replace all bushings and rubber. Is poly a good idea or should I stick with rubber?
Again, I’m not super concerned with period correct, but I want it put together properly, and it should appear correct
Sorry for the long winded post, here are some pics.
Unused plug
More pics. Above you can see that the headers were dented to fit against the control arms. I pretty much hate that. And shouldn’t there be small linkage rods connected to the small arms on the passenger side of the carbs? I’ve been driving EFI cars for the last 20-ish years and I am quite carb illiterate. The last few pics below are numbers that were driver side rear of block. I couldn’t see anything on the passenger side, doesn’t mean they’re not there. When I get it up on the lift I’ll see if I can get my camera up there for a date code.
