CharlieB
Member
Has anyone read or used any of John Carollo's books? Specifically How to rebuild and modify 348/409 engines. I have come across two different topics in the book that have proved to be false. Because I have never had the pleasure of rebuilding a 348 engine before now, any and all research I do I double check and cross reference. So far, I have found more people describing situations that are covered in Carollo's to be just the opposite of what he has written. One example: Carollo's book has a chapter on just pistons. He writes the differences between 348 & 409 piston caps. He says 409 caps have a single slope piston cap where the 348 caps have a double slope. There is an illustration showing the differences. I had sent my cap casting numbers and photos to Show Cars in MN. They Identified my piston as a 348 11.25:1 piston. Only one slope was valve cutouts. I'm beginning to wonder if the purchase of his book was a good one or a bad one. I tend to have more faith in the knowledge of a person with grease under their nails than someone who writes about it and has never change their own oil.
As far as the pistons you described it sounds like you have one of the high performance 348's. The low hp engines have a dome that looks like the roof of a house"^" and most likely the piston described in your book. If you do a search on this site for How to build a stroker or, How to build a 348 or, 409 truck builds you will come up with enough reading to keep you busy for quite some time. Good Luck