I've been collecting a few engines to go into specific projects.
Some of them are what's called crate motors.
They're motors that you buy brand new out of the states with all new components.
One of them in particular is a very rare old 62 drag race motor that has a home and I should
point out all of these have somewhere to go.
One of them left here was an early 90s what's called a generation 2 Chevy small block.
The in between the original old Chevy's and the ones that run in say the current
Commodals what's called Gen 3's and so forth.
So these are aluminium heads, cam driven water pump, reverse flow cooling and this one here
puts it out about 400 horsepower on a four barrel carburetor which is awesome.
That's terrific power for what it is and they were very efficient.
They were as I said in between the old good old fashioned Chevy's that we know and then
the ones that you see now the LS series.
So that's got a home that's going to end up in one of my Camaro's.
So that's sitting there biding its time waiting for that to occur.
Behind me here is probably the prize of the room that is a genuine 409 425 horsepower.
Now the 409's were the early Chevy big blocks that one there is date coded 1962.
Why is that important?
If you are trying to rebuild a car of value to a collector and you don't have the original
matching number the next best thing is a date coded engine that basically is manufactured
at the same time as the one that's missing.
So I have a 62 Chevy Bel Air and I have a 409 425 engine to marry the two up which will
increase the value of that Bel Air tenfold because it suddenly becomes something very
rare.
So the history with that motor was it was built back in the early 60's for drag racing
and never raced.
It sat on an engine stand and was turned over every month for 30 years.
A chap that I purchased from bought it.
They put it into a drag car to run it, it didn't run very well.
They then said okay this isn't right put it into a street car and I actually bought the
street car that that engine was in and I've since sold both and put another engine etc.
But it got me the 409 425 and of course if you do get to see my bubble top I've already
got the number plates 409.425 to match the motor so I was purchasing that in front.
So $20,000 US is its value because it's rare, rare, rare.
Back in the day they all went through the crusher and as soon as the 427's came out
they were old school, no one wanted them nowadays, no one wants the 427's when you can have
a 409 because they're rare and unique, you'll see that.
Behind me here is a little 600 Tirana motor, it's got the original XU1 triple carbys and
it's specifically there to go into my LJ XU1 project which we've got here at the shop.
It runs original manifolds and carbys as I said it's actually based on a 186 high performance
block so it's not a genuine XU1 block but it's a great little thing and I can't wait
to get that little cammy 6 into the car and enjoy it.
Everyone said to me why don't you put a V8 in the Tirana, I've got plenty of V8s, I've
only got one triple carb 6 and that's where it belongs.
Over here we're going for the big cubes, we've got a Pat Muzzy metal rock crate motor which
punches out 555 cubic inches which in the new litres is 9 litre so it's a 9 litre motor,
it makes 650 horsepower, 650 foot-pounds of torque, what's that mean to the new metric
boys, 500 kilowatts, 1100 Newton metres of torque so it's an absolute monster and it
runs a single carb, no blowers, no computers, no turbos, no nothing, it's a pure cubic capacity,
you're like the good old boys see, you can't beat those cubes.
And that's lined up for my 67 drag Camaro, the idea we've got that is it'll run all
day, you don't need to over sophisticated, it's good old basic technology that's going
to be super reliable so that's what that's there for.
Lastly I have a motor here for my 68 Camaro Z28 that I'm building up and that's a crate
motor from GM Performance in the States and it's called a ZZ383 and that actually incidentally
puts out the same horsepower as the 409, so the 409 in 62 put out 425 horsepower, the
383 in 2010 puts out 425 horsepower.
So we haven't come that far in 40 years when you look at what that old girl put out compared
to this alloy head high-tech, you know, news-back thing, so that will go really well in the
light Camaro, it's running a race five-speed gearbox and a full-carry nine-inch diff and
it's going to be a show car that's probably going to cost me close to a pretty good mortgage.
So we're looking forward to that one coming out, but again the reason they're in the front
room here is a bit of a display for the shop and of course I get to keep an eye on them
every day, so here you go, it's all good.
So there you go, that's a bit of a run-down on Motortown here, I've got a few more line
around the place but these are the good ones that I need to keep under lock and key.
And by the way, I wouldn't mind a Pontiac Super Duty 455-74 model to go along with that
Plymouth Cooter and I think they'd be two good stable mates.
Super Duty Pontiac, thank you very much.
