I'm new to the hemi world and have recently purchased a 1958 Dodge 315 hemi and a 1958 Dodge 354 hemi. As you can see in the pic of the 354 in the truck I have the wet intake manifold. I also have a 354 dry 4bbl intake I would like to use but don't you know, I got confused. I've seen pics of hemis with the front of the heads tapped for the cooling cross over and something in the third pic I don't understand. Will I eventually be able to use my 4bbl intake on my 354 without changing heads? Thanks, Steve
Theres another problem with using your dry intake on a truck Hemi, the exhaust crossover is usually too tall even for the 392 intakes that have larger crossovers than your 331/354 intake, see the photo of intake gaskets, top:331/354 middle:392 bottom:331/354 trucks. Some aftermarket intakes have threaded water ports and enough area to cover the tall crossover. I'm a real Hemi nut, but I always say you can learn something new every day, you've got me on your third photo, I hope someone else will ID it.
Welcome to the HAMB and to the world of Early Hemis! Click on the picture/banner in my signature line and you will get linked up to a BUNCH of helpful information on early Hemis. Good answers above!
the center port on your 354 truck heads is coolant, not exhaust like on car heads. find someone who is a good tig welder. have him add ears to your intake to cover the center ports in the head. you can blend them in with sandpaper rolls to make it look like they came that way. might as well have him plug the center ports on the intake. you don't need to circulate hot coolant under your carb. run truck intake gaskets. drill and tap the front coolant ports on the intake. run a hose from each side to a remote thermostat housing. don't like the look of cast aluminum remote t-stat housing? fab up one like brian bass uses on his 331 in his A coupe. don't give up on those truck heads. they probably have 2.00 inch intake valves and hardened exhaust seats, mine did. only draw back are the thick, sodium filled exhaust valves and rotators. the thicker stems limit flow and the rotators limit lift due to having to run a shorter spring. but if you're not out for all out performance, i wouldn't worry about it until it came time for a rebuild. don't know if it's true, i heard mondello preferred to start with truck heads.
Regardless of displacement or model year, truck engines use the early 331 front cover assembly/bolt pattern so that is why you have a wet intake and no connection to the end of the heads. This means that you can swap all of the truck 'stuff' for 1951-1954 front parts. Do you prefer the simplicity of a single 4-bbl or is there another reason to ditch the factory 2x4? If you really need a 1x4 I'm sure that you'll find plenty of folks willing to trade their '54 model 1x4 for your 2x4.... As for the centre coolant port, we have had excellent results filling in the top portion of the port in the head with Devcon plastic metal, although this is done during a rebuild not while in service. Remember that the truck head is the King of heavy duty service. Picture that truck working 20-24 hours a day on a Kansas wheat farm during harvest and it is easy to see the need for the coolant in the intake as well as the sodium filled exhaust valves and the larger exhaust manifolds. Running coolant through a pass car manifold works well in cooler climates, no adverse effects in others areas. Plugging the top half also works well if you choose to block off the manifold port. You will find pass car gaskets a bit easier to locate than truck pieces. If you need/want to look at remote t-stats check out the circle track magazines for suppliers. The easy way out is to use '54 heads and intake. .
I appreciate the feed back, guys. I have the 2bbl manifold on the engine right now and wanted to change over to a single 4bbl manifold. The dual quad setup was from another site that I found and was referencing the coolant routing in front and alongside/top of the manifold. The 354 will be going into my 1958 Dodge D400 1-1/2 ton truck. I'm in the process of putting a 9 foot step side bed on it from the 1 ton Dodge D300. The 315 hemi will be going into my 1958 Dodge W100 1/2 ton 4x4. It's been fun and challenging to say the least. Thanks, Steve
Man, I am liking that truck. Are you going to keep the duals on the rear and widen the fenders or run with singles? I kind of prefer the singles myself, but just asking. Here's what I am working on. We should get together sometime and trade notes. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=294748
I'll start with singles and see how that pans out. I'd rather go duals but I would have to cut the inside fender well/box out to clear the inside tires. If I don't like the singles, then I'll do some cutting.
Welcome to the HAMB and the world of early Hemi's...I just recently joined the early hemi club too, but I have been here for a few months and Knew what I wanted so I had already read through Scootermcrads Hemi tech threads....lots of good helpful info there!!
I know this thread is OLD, but Steve, since we've been poppin PMs back and forth talkin about that intake, I just had to find this and tell you what an awesome beast truck that is. I really like it.
profile says he was on the HAMB this morning , still hope he s done something to the truck so we get an update
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