The Chevrolet 409 V8 had a significant, but brief moment in the history of American big-block, high-performance engines. While the 409 V8 may be best known as the title of a popular Beach Boys song ...

In the Aug. '08 issue, we did a full rundown of Edelbrock's new aluminum Performer RPM 409 cylinder heads for Chevy W-series 348/409 engines, in addition to a line of foundry-fresh dual-quad intake ...

We can't really put our finger on just what it is that makes the 409 such an iconic engine with such a huge following. There's more to it than just the song. (And frankly, if we never hear the song ...