to max wedge or not

[northbay65]

so my mechanic best friend was digging thru his garage and came a crossed what he thought was a 440block. turned out to be an A426 max block and crank. no heads or intake. he said he has no use for it and offered it to me for my 65 polara 4speed convert project. i said cool "right year and era" with a real max, YES COOL DEAL BRO.
WHAT ARE YOUR GUYS THOUGHTS? should i go ahead and ditch the 383 and plow forward with the max?:3gears:

 

[commando1]

No. It's too valuable to use only on your car. Let a numbers guy pay big bucks for that alone which will finance almost every you want to do with an everyday block.

 

[northbay65]

No. It's too valuable to use only on your car. Let a numbers guy pay big bucks for that alone which will finance almost every you want to do with an everyday block.

wouldn't that just add valve to my car? not worried about paying for my rebuild

 

[Wollfen]

wouldn't that just add valve to my car? not worried about paying for my rebuild

No it wont add value, an original numbers matching car with its original engine is going to be more valuable. Putting a performance engine in a Cbody isn't going to affect its value much at all. As Stan says sell the motor for big dollars so it can go into a car that would have been built with a max wedge engine, i cant think of any Cbodys that were built as max wedge muscle cars back in the sixties.

 

[northbay65]

No it wont add value, an original numbers matching car with its original engine is going to be more valuable. Putting a performance engine in a Cbody isn't going to affect its value much at all. As Stan says sell the motor for big dollars so it can go into a car that would have been built with a max wedge engine, i cant think of any Cbodys that were built as max wedge muscle cars back in the sixties.

thanks but my vert does not have a motor currently so i figured this was a good option. i still say a wedge in a 65 4spd vert would be bad ***. not all will agree but that is okay its why i asked for you opinions, hope to hear from more members. btw bock has not been turned and no "visible" damage

 

[Catfish]

Build a 440 that will stomp a mud hole in that max wedge for cheaper and your car will have the same resale value as if you used the max wedge. Hell, it's your car do what makes you happy. These cars aren't worth **** no matter how you slice it so build it they way you want and enjoy it. Value should be the last thing on your mind when it comes to c bodies in my opinion.

 

[commando1]

Oh, one other thing, to make it a true Max Wedge and not just another 426W, is going to cost you thousands of $$ in Max Wedge goodies, so to be able to say that it's got a Max Wedge.......

 

[bluefury361]

I have to agree with everyone so far.
A maxie motor will not increase the value of you Polara over a 383 or 440.

Have you ever driven a Max Wedge .....? Not very user friendly. You'll end up with a trailer queen because it won't run well on pump gas and is not built to idle through the local cruise in. The image just isn't worth it.

Also .... the A426 dosen't make it a Max wedge block. .....the ID pad opposite the distributor will have unique stampings in a font not found on other versions.
The A designates 1965 which was unique block ... cast #2532230. (Max wedge).

The max wedge blocks also had valve "relef's" cut into them but thay can be added to a 426 streed block

 

[bluefury361]

Oh...... And if you should locate an original Max wedge oil pan...... Expect to pay $1800/2000.00 for it.

 

[northbay65]

This one reads

 

[bulldogchesty]

I'm with the rest of you guys. Sell to someone with more money than brains. Too many at car auctions. Put the money in your C body, and don't look back. Good luck.

 

[70NPORT]

Yup. Squeeze some resto-guy for all he's worth (usually have deep pockets) and use the funds on your car.....440 sounds real nice.

 

[bluefury361]

Hard to see through the glare but there should be TM-P stamped into the pad.

Absence of it is likely a 426 street block. Does it have the valve relief's in the deck...?

If so you could probably swap that block & crank for a complete, running 440.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

The real "good" parts of 426 maxie is heads and intake. I'm with everybody else sell it and if you really want 426 ci put a RB crank into your 383 then you can have a engine that looks stock/correct and have the cubes of the block your selling put some 906 or 915 heads with bigger exhaust valve and you will have a real stump puller, perfect for a c body.

 

[detmatt]

Kool piece though, gotta love finding things like that!

 

[northbay65]

Hard to see through the glare but there should be TM-P stamped into the pad.

Absence of it is likely a 426 street block. Does it have the valve relief's in the deck...?

If so you could probably swap that block & crank for a complete, running 440.

the tmp was for years 62-64 the 65 years had different stamping no tmp just year A and ci. also an H for the higher comp of 13.5

 

[70bigblockdodge]

After mid 64 there were no max wedges the he I took over and that spelled the end of wedge development. Yours is probably a leftover and made into a street wedge the HP cam, it may still be useful as correct casting number date code max wedge.

 

[bluefury361]

The beginning of the end for the Max wedge..... the intro of the 426 Hemi on May 12, 1964. Due to limited production of the new Hemi There was some overlap and the 426 Max continued to be produced late into the 1964 model year.
The 426 wedge did carry into 1965 as a detuned street engine with one four barrel. I found no record of a 1965 426 Max wedge being produced.

 

[rush]

I ran a max wedge setup on a pump gas 440 and it did not have any problems cruising. I ran a cam with just enough vacuum to operate the brakes. The motor would pull 6500 rpms in high gear and get 15mpg cruising the highway with 3.23 gears. I'd put the top half on a mild built 440 and run it. This intake is for sale on moparts.

 

[bluefury361]

I ran a max wedge setup on a pump gas 440 and it did not have any problems cruising. I ran a cam with just enough vacuum to operate the brakes. The motor would pull 6500 rpms in high gear and get 15mpg cruising the highway with 3.23 gears. I'd put the top half on a mild built 440 and run it. This intake is for sale on moparts.

As cool as that setup looks it's not a Max wedge componant. Looks like a home made, or aftermarker rat roaster.
I'm pretty sure an OEM Max wedge with 11:1 0r 13:1 compression ratio isn't going to pull down 15 MPG. They were deffintly not
user friendly off the drag strip.