63409impala
Well Known Member
Ok. So as the title states, my 409 is getting rebuilt/repaired yet again. The last two places that had their hands in this engine claimed to know and understand these engines. The first place was nothing but pure negligence on their part. No exhaust valve clearance(no matter how many times I stressed it) broke a valve twice, the 2nd time it knocked out a cylinder wall. They repaired it on their dime, but forgot how to install cam bearings apparently and installed the #5 cam bearing wrong causing oil starvation to the top end almost locking everything up. The 4th and final time, they supposedly got it right. I babies it the whole summer being careful, then it knocks the bearings out of it due to not being balanced correctly. 2nd builder/company gets possession of my 409 and upon inspection sees wiped out bearings, rods that were never checked for roundness on both ends, found a cam button that was too long forcing the cam gear into the face of the block almost destroying the block. Got all that fixed, rods checked, cam face on block repaired(now has Torrington bearing) upon reassembly, block was decked to get the correct surface for the head gaskets and the same for the heads. So now both had matching sealing surfacing. Get the engine back, and installed into the car. Get it fired up, and all seems good so far. Barely drive the car as I'm scared to break it. Fast forward to last December. Was on my way to get my dad for breakfast in the car, was cruising on a backroad in 4th gear at maybe 1800 to 1900, and the SOB broke yet another damn valve and wipes out another hole. So now I am BEYOND pissed. I make a couple phone calls, and contact the company that built the engine in our racecar. We discussed some things, and now they have my 409 with hopes of at least being able to repair the short block. It will need another sleeve, a piston, and rings and bearings yet again. But will now be wearing walla heads, will be pre ran on run in stand and tuned before I get it back in my possession. I am so tired of this as I just want to enjoy the damn car as it was a gift from my father. I am not giving up. I Apologize for the long read, but I feel I can finally let all the cats out of the bag here from all of the terrible experiences I have had while being in the 409 world.
Hope it gets done right this time.
