I just bought a 348

[skipandJJ]

Hi everyone,

I just bought a complete 348 engine. It appears original, with a 4 barrel. I think it was made in July of 1959. My son and I are going to build a street rod and wealways wanted a 409 but too much $! Can I stroke and bore the engine close to a 409?

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Welcome Skip, The skys the limit. A simple upgrade is to use a 409 crankshaft and aftermarket rods . Ross makes pistons for this swap . Or you can go with a 3 3/4 stroke or a 4 in. stroke. Several sources for the stroker kit. You can learn a great deal by using the search feature under 348-409 engines. Good luck.

 

[raymar58409]

Welcome Skip. Cool you and your son working together. You might want to check out Ronnies thread "new motor" in the 348 and 409 ENGINES. He could build you one of those.

Ray

 

[bignbad60]

Welcome aboard,
Lots of options...You could go 40 over with a 3.75 crank and get 409 "s, not a lot of stress on the motor and plenty of meat left to rebore down the road for future rebuilds. With all the new "stuff" on the market there are many options.

Tim

 

[skipandJJ]

Thanks!

Thanks, guys. Clearly, there a A LOT to learn before we start the rebuild. Our goal is to make a '60s era highboy using a 1930 Model A coupe body. My son grew up singing "409" from the Beach Boys (I'm an older dad) and we love the "W" engine. (I was a tour pilot back in the '70s and flew the Beach Boys on one of their tours.) It appears we bought a truck engine manufactured in July of 1959 (T522F / 3755011). We paid $1,600 for it in running condition. I hope that was reasonable.

 

[tripower]

Thanks, guys. Clearly, there a A LOT to learn before we start the rebuild. Our goal is to make a '60s era highboy using a 1930 Model A coupe body. My son grew up singing "409" from the Beach Boys (I'm an older dad) and we love the "W" engine. (I was a tour pilot back in the '70s and flew the Beach Boys on one of their tours.) It appears we bought a truck engine manufactured in July of 1959 (T522F / 3755011). We paid $1,600 for it in running condition. I hope that was reasonable.

Skip, Welcome from another Washingtonian. Was that the engine in Ravensdale? If the suffix is F then it would be:F 1958-61 Pass. Car 250HP 348 V8 4Bbl. Manual trans. Where abouts are you?

 

[skipandJJ]

Ravensdale

Yes. It was the one in Ravensdale. Ironically, and unbelievably, I live in Ravensdale and have been searching for a 348 for months all over the western U.S. And here it was in my backyard! You must have been one of the half dozen guys who called about it.

I thought the "T" in the prefix meant "Truck"?

 

[tripower]

No I just do a search on Craigslist everyday..... And by the way did you note my comment on the suffix. Looks like passenger car not truck.

 

[oldskydog]

Yes. It was the one in Ravensdale. Ironically, and unbelievably, I live in Ravensdale and have been searching for a 348 for months all over the western U.S. And here it was in my backyard! You must have been one of the half dozen guys who called about it.

I thought the "T" in the prefix meant "Truck"?

Nope, The "T" is for the engine plant at Tonawanda, NY. You have a good suffix code, if it matters to you. If you want to build a 335 hp 348, just add a "E" after the "F" and you have the highest HP version available until March of 1960. Of course the stamp has to be the right size and font. Most people don't really care what the code says unless they are building a correct restoration.

 

[k9hotrodder409]

Welcome aboard Skip. Like to see how you're doing on this project as it goes along. Lots of pics please.

 

[skipandJJ]

Picture

Here's a pic of our 348. I will put it next to our future "409" pic someday!