water neck question?

[dave62]

does anyone know if a SBC OR BBC water neck (thermostat housing) will mount correctly on the 409 intake? I am looking at using a 15 deg swivel water neck. Does anyone have experience with the swivel necks? Do they hold up over time? I see aluminum ones in prices ranging from 15 bucks to well over 100. What's the diff?

 

[desapience]

409 water necks

Yes, the SBC and BBC water necks all work. Swivel necks, and others than have an O-ring sealing gasket, tend to leak as the rubber o-ring ages under heat and becomes less resilient.

If you use a swivel (I'm assuming a horizontal swivel) set-up, and if you are using the oil-filler tube, you will not be able to swivel towards the driver's side without the radiator hose clashing with the filler tube, or without interferring with the temp sending uinit.

I've attached a picture (I hope it attached) of an intake I've built for my upcoming 31 5-window coupe project car.. it has an expensive billet aluminum "CSR" swivel water-neck, and shows exactly what I'm talking about. This water-neck pictured will fit SBC and BBC motors.

Dr D (Denis)

 

[dave62]

I am running a shortened oil filler tube on the offenhauser dual quad intake and the water neck is a little too close to the filler tube cap and I don't have the space to slide the upper radiator hose onto the water neck. I'm thinking that if I used a swivel water neck I could rotate it a few degrees to the passenger side to buy some room. Thanks for the info, at least now I know it's an option.

 

[chevymusclecars]

Either the big block or small block will work if they are angled so they pass evetything on the way to the radiator. The difference in price comes from the people who want the exact casting number to match their car.