got tired of sending my $ down the drain when drag racing my 426 engines....went looking for the older version for my streetrod...first one was a 330 desoto - cannot find parts so i went for a 270 super red ram bought it 8 years ago for 200 bucks - all rebuilt with an aftermarket 4 bbl manifold on it - the guy started it up for me on a pallet in his garage....sold it for 800 and got a 241 red ramtoo... decided it was too small, sold it and found a 331 ext bell...at the time, no trans adapters for it - sold to buy another short bell 331....cracked block ...damn....got my first 392 out of a drag car - ford econoline van - engine in the back cargo area...built it and put it in my model A coupe...sold the car and bought another 392 hemi from the same guy with the van 1000 bucks...presently in the process of building it into a full blown .030 over dual predator carbed monster for my straight axled 63 valiant.....maybe done next year....side note, very little will interchange between the dodge/desoto/chrysler hemis from the 50's....hotheads has lot of good stuff for the hemi engines, but get out your wallet!!!
I once bought a 27 T rpu in which someone had installed a2.8 Ford v6, when I got it home I called my hotrod friends to see if anyone knew of an interesting engine . I found a little desoto and installed it. I had a blast with that thing for about 12 years. Time to do it again.
In 1967 I bought a 1947 Mercury. In 1973 I needed a new engine and a guy offered me a 392, fresh bore, 280 hyd Isky cam, it was a long block, no carb, starter, or exhaust manifolds, It had blockoff plates over the water outlets. I got the parts needed from a junkyard to make it go and had lots of fun driving it. I learned how to make it jump without smoking the tires and one morning.....I was sitting at a red light, 4 lanes, early morning, no other traffic. A captain in the Air Force came up behind me running at a speed that was timed to catch the light when it turned green. Didnt matter to me, I was in the right lane, he was in the left. I launched the Mercury like I usually did, and did not break traction. All the Captain saw was an old car sitting still at the light and when he crossed the entire intersection, he began to change lanes. At that moment my front bumper was even with his back bumper. I locked up the brakes and was eyeing the distance between him and that telephone pole, looking for an escape route when he heard my tires and jerked back into his lane and everything was ok. It shook me up, I bet he's still wondering how I matched his speed in such a short distance. I still have the car and the Hemi
I was at a show with my 55 lancer and a friend of a friend comes up to me and we start talking about old hemis. He says he's got one in his shop and its been there for years and he wants it out. We talk and he shows me some pictures. Its a 331. We talk some more, then I finally ask, what do you want for it. He asked, what do you got? I had about $100 on me, but that's all I had till pay day. He said I could have it for $200 and he'd deliver it. With my wife standing next to me with "that look" I past. 2 weeks later I seen him at a swap meet with the engine. I looked it over,and man it looked good. He had sold it for $600. I had to keep telling myself it was the extended bell housing, nobody wants that. I've been kicking myself for a couple months now. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
My brother called me in '03, his friend was cleaning out his barn, and wanted $300 for this 1954 331 complete as seen here. I couldn't pay the guy fast enough! Got it running on a stand, and fired it up now & then. When the flathead six started knocking in my pickup, in '09, I finally knew what to do with it!
I got a hemi cheap once because it had a miss that could not be cured. I tried myself and couldn't cure it. I had the heads off thinking it may have been a burn or bent valve. The guy offered it to me cheap if I would swap in a big wedge that he had. So I jumped on it, managed to crash the short block into my bench when I was pulling it and all but about 3 of the pushrods rolled off the bench. Those three it turned out were bent. I pointed that out to him before I stuffed the wedge in his car and he said, well Benno a deal is a deal. Pretty cheap hemi.
years ago i was given a red ram hemi that had been laying outside for a loooong time. when i tore it down there was a rust hole a cylinder wall you could damn near put your fist in. all i have left is one valve cover on the wall. a few years later i was at the bone yard and saw a hemi laying in the isle way it looked like it had been forcefully removed by the big "chomper thing" you know the the machine that picks up and shreds cars. about all that i could save was one valve cover for the wall. my next run in with a hemi worked out better for me! a co-worker had one under his workbench since the late 70's. he had mentioned it a few times but i never paid any attention, since he wouldn't sell it and i had nothing to put it in. finally i bought the plym in my avatar and was looking for a suitable power plant turns out the the guy was downsizing for retirement and was ready to sell. for $1500 i got a 1956 354 chrysler with a weiand dragstar intake with 6 strombergs an NOS grant flame thrower, cragar trans adapter to a 50 olds trans, schieffer alum fly wheel. the heads still had white grease on the seats where NAPA had rebuilt them in the late 70's. i was able to sell off what i didn't and buy parts i did want and i made a profit. to boot. so, free hemi with speed parts!!!!
When I was building my roadster my friend Dave turned me on to a e-bay listing for a NOS still in the original crate, never run, 354 Chrysler Hemi . It was complete with the carb still in the original wood box, dual point distributor, plug wires, breather cap in a box, intake manifold that had never been installed, with intake bolts, and a distributor hold down clamp in heavy craft paper bags like they had in the 50's with the Chrysler pick ticket stapled to the bags. The original shipping tag was wired to the water pump. There was a full description and pictures in the listing. At the time I saw the listing there was aver 2200 views and only one half ass bid. I think a lot of people thought it was too good to be true. I got it for 2500.00 delivered. Best purchase I've ever made.
Years ago I worked at a chemical plant in a hick town deep in the bundocs and belonged to a car club of sorts because the shop space was decent. One day when I was checking the bearings in my 66 426 some dude wanders in, looks at the top of the engine and does the `what`s that.` Someone clues him in and he says, hey I know where there is one of those, just sitting in a wreck off the road. For some reason everybody seems to know where a hemi is to be found, and they are always wrong. Anyway, the area it was supposedly in was even more northern and was supposed to have quite a bit of old iron lying around. This maniac I worked with wanted to go and check it out. So I got talked into it. Next days off we tossed some tools and the gas ax into his 64 F100 shortbox and after scoring enough beer and chips off we went. The area was really remote and there was quite a bit of vintage tin lying around, although it was pretty smashed up. There as a mid 30s telephone company panel truck right beside the road in one spot and a mint early Ford frame that someone had uglied into a farm trailer right beside the road. No one home at the house. My buddy was really breathing hard over that. We found a rustic motel kinda thing as it was getting dark and after paying, I walked to the cabin while NM went to drive the truck down. He was a long time getting there, and he was as mad as a wet hen because some dude had rolled up and said he saw us looking at stuff and thought we were looking to steal logging equipment. He was turning us into the cops, he said. Anyway next day we took a real goat trail that quickly went a thousand feet or so above a long, skinny lake. It was so steep in places that the F100, a 2WD, just sat and spun the rear wheels unless you drove fast. Almost at the top, what do I see down the bank but a 61 Dodge ragtop. It was pretty trashed because of the road and there was no hemi, but it did have a 383. Being idiots, we actually decided to salvage it, and being a long crank 383 we had to take the converter, too. How we ever got that short block, with the heads, intake etc. into the F100 with no winch, chains etc. I will never know, but finally, covered with grease, dirty oil and trans fluid, cuts, flybites and scrapes and having nothing but beer to "èat", off we drove down the mountain and back to civilization. Outside of this real hick town, what do we see coming the other way on the gravel road but the cops, driving a Cornbinder Travelall. He eyeballed us and made those familiar moves that indicate the man is coming after you. I told my buddy to make dust while I hucked the beer (you had to be 21 to be legal back then.) Anyway, they escorted us to the police station, searched the Ford and started the interrogation. My buddy and the cop were both hair trigger types and quickly took turns arm waving and yelling. The cops were really bummed about the gas ax and at one point threatened us with 14 years for possession of safe breaking tools. Finally, they let us go and told us never to come back etc. They watched us so that we were unable to retrieve the beer. Lots of drunk locals staggered up and down that road, so some lucky dude came across all those cans and they still probably talk about it around there. Kinda a local "John Frum" thing.The cops didn`t care about the 383. Luckily, we had passed that frame-farm trailer again that I mentioned earlier and NM banged on every door and window trying to find someone and I really had to argue to stop him from just hooking it to the truck and taking off. Good thing, because how would you explain that to the cops? I can`t remember what became of the 383 short block, but later the heads and low-rise 4bbl manifold went on to live a long and outrageous life in a `53 Ford pickup.
There is a guy who collaborates with the old HOTHEADS Co which sells early Hemi parts. His name is Chris Neilson. He can take your old stock cam and grind the profile you prefer. He developed the THUMPER cams for Comp Cams. If you contact the new owners of HOTHEADS, they should know his number. If I can find this page again, I will forward his number. It is in my wallet as we speak.
Years ago I got really interested in early hemis, mostly 331's 354's as at the time no one was interested in them and the few people who were wanted 392's. When I first started doing them finding parts was almost impossible. If you want a laff have a look at
It's a MSD distributor, used it to get through Air Care emission testing. The catch can is a WW1 canteen that I bought in 1952 when I was a Boy Scout.
Two stories. When I was in high school, my neighbor and best friend who was a couple of months older but a year ahead of me in school (Dec.-March birthdays) was given his family's four-door 57 DeSoto to drive to high school and college. His dad, a TWA mechanic, had rebuilt the 341 hemi and it ran strong. We drag raced it (godawful heavy, of course) and towed a massive camping trailer and boat on fishing and camping trips all over Missouri with it. Then he got a 63 Plymouth police interceptor with a 383, and the family drove the DeSoto to their farm in Grundy County in north central Missouri and parked it in a barn. He, his dad and mom are all gone now, but I suspect the DeSoto is still parked in a barn (I Google-mapped it and could see the barn from the road) and someday may take a day trip to find out. Story Two: After my first year in college, and still without a car, I decided to buy a hemi I had seen in a junk yard. I paid $50, plus $10 for a tow truck guy to bring it home to my backyard, where I tore it down. Turns out it was a 331 short bell with number 5 piston and rod punched through the side of the block. I cleaned up the heads and valve covers, and sold them for $50 and had a scrap iron dealer haul off the rest. Didn't come out ahead, but at least I had a hemi for about a week.
In the mid 70s I was installing the 392 in my 47 Mercury and a guy down the street was working on a 55 chevy. His emphasis was on being loud. I made the front end tilt on my Merc, added a console and 100 hours of wiring. He would drive by, then go home and work on it some more, I would drive by his place and see the chevy torn down then go home and work on mine more. We didnt have'em both running at the same time and I never did talk to the guy. One night I got off of the Interstate by my house about midnite and there he was, at a stop sign a block from home and he was turning onto a nice straight street. I got excited, the guy had been coming by my house for months racing his engine and I was ready! We pulled out onto the good street and stopped at the redlight. He saw me and started racing the engine on his noisy chevy. I held the brake and brought the RPMs up and the light turned green! He was off and I had over revved it and was left sitting there with my wheels spinning. Huge cloud of smoke which he could see in his mirror. At the next red light I was determined not to gas it so hard. I held the brake and revved cautiously and when the light turned green I accelerated instead of flooring it. The Merc jumped across the intersection and I think it shook him up, I could hear him back there grinding the gears looking for second. At the next light the Merc jumped again and the poor guy figured out he didnt have a chance and he refused to race any more.
I scored a 1958 392 Hemi whose block numbers say it is a real-deal adjustable-rocker, dual-quad, 375 hp motor. Still has the 2x4 manifold but somewhere along the way it acquired "Chrysler Marine" valve covers and other marine motor hardware. It is getting a sleeve and I have been picking up stuff I need from HAMB and eBay. I am going to send the adjustable rockers to TR Waters for his careful eye. The rebuild will begin in earnest this spring. It is headed for my 1936 1.5 ton Ford truck. I also have a 331 for my '52 Willys wagon. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Back in about '68 my buddy has a '57 Chev sedan delivery with a straight 6 in it. He says he has access to a 392 (with transmission) and is going to swap the 392 in his '57. Good idea...we spend a couple of weekends doing the swap which kind of worked....sort of. We had to fabricate engine mounts and after we were 'finished' the engine sat too high and we couldn't install the hood. No matter...we drove the snot out of that car and found out quickly the weak link was the diff.... Fast forward a couple of years and I'm now looking for my first 'nice car' after driving a 56 F100 for 3 years. A local farmer has a '70 hemi Charger, triple green, column shift....ugly as hell but still kind of cool. My Dad & I had just looked at a used 68 442 which I passed on. So I make arrangements for Doug to bring his car into town from the farm so my Dad can check it out. The car pulls up, my Dad & I go out for a look see. Everything is going OK until my father sees the HEMI designation and asks 'what the hell is a hemi'? Doug explains hemis have been around for a while now and the version in this car was first produced in '64. Then he opened the hood and those big black valve covers and orange air cleaner stood out like a dogs balls. My Dad drove Mercurys and big engines didn't bother him a bit until Doug mentioned the engine has 2 x 4 barrel carbs. The hood was closed and that was that! A month or so later I ended up buying a 69 428 CJ Mustang...4 speed, shaker, triple red.... I have a couple of other hemi stories...for another time.
1973 a friend called and asked if i wanted to go with him to see the new motor his brother had bought, it was a ford, a boss 429 himi, i was amazed at it, he could see me druling. he was going to put it in his 73 torino. a year later he called me and said that it was too much trouble to but in the torino and asked if i wanted it for $600 dolars, i ran over and got it. sat in my shop for next 18 years when i was building a 34 5w cp that had been set up for a 460 eng,i decided to use the 429 in stead. had it in there 12 years and desided it was worth more than the whole car. took it out and put it on e-bay sold it to a man in calf. who had the car that the eng belonged in for $25000. saw the man i bought the eng from last wed. and he asked me what i ever did with that old motor he had sold me. i said i hate to tell you what i sold it for, he said ''too much or to little?'' i hated to tell him but i had it for 30 years.....
That's a really nice story, you got a fair price for it and the Mustang gets its original engine. I have a Boss 429 and I would have been more than happy, well maybe not super happy but I would have definitely ponied up for its original engine.
OK, in about 1981 I'm working in the Ramchargers store when a fella walks in and asks how much a 426 Hemi engine is worth. It turns out he is the original owner of a '66 Hemi Charger, and he still had it at home. Amazingly, he put 120,000 miles on in in the first 10 years before parking it and buying a Volvo. The Charger had some rust, but was 100% complete and stock. I ended up buying it for $350 and driving it home! After a new exhaust and a clean up, I sold if for $2500 and though I had made a killing (in 1981 dollars). Damn. Steve
Back in the day Tim Flock won the very first Daytona race in a hemi powered car that he borrowed from a spectator. When I was a Kid a elderly neighbor had a hemi powered Desoto. He granmawed it around. it would get to running bad. He would bring it to me cause I ws the only guy that could tune it up to his satisfaction. It had dual points & a four bbl. I would set one set of points where they didn't close. the other I set to proper dwell. and change the spark plugs. it still ra like crap. then I would go drive it wind it up to max RPM and blow the cobbs out of it. all it really needed was the driving to fix it. that car would smoke the tires. There wher 426 wege engines that where fast. however they didn't compare to a 426 true hemi.
Back when I was building my '37 Plymouth coupe, I decided that I HAD to have a Hemi motor for it. Found a listing on ebay for a '53 331 Hemi out of a New Yorker. It was complete, but completely disassembled in boxes...and it was in Pennsylvania. I lived in Wisconsin at the time. Bought it for $350. Rented a REALLY nice Olds Bravada SUV and drove from Milwaukee to Allentown to pick up the engine. Threw the greasy lump and many boxes of parts in the back and drove home, then returned the SUV to the rental company. Back-story on the engine...the engine was originally bought by a friend of the guy that I bought it from. It was a running engine, but he tore it apart to rebuild it and put it in his hotrod project. The project stalled and was sold, and he sold the Hemi in pieces to the guy I bought it from. He was going to put it in his hotrod project, but his project stalled and was sold, so I bought it from him. My project eventually stalled and was sold, so I ended up selling the Hemi (still in pieces) to a guy in North Carolina for his project. I hope that he eventually got the Hemi together and put back in a car. I think that engine was cursed, and didn't want to be put into a hotrod.
I JUST CHECKED MY PROFILE PAGE, IT SAID IF I WRITE A MESSAGE I WOULD RECIEVE A THROPY ? CLICK ON AVATAR TO SEE MY HEMI. THE ENGINE WAS RUNNING WITH A ROD KNOCKIN 354 OUT OF A 56 CHRYSLER. FOUND A GOOD CRANK AT CARLISLE. I HAD A CONTACT AT A LOCAL SCRAPPING COMPANY THAT GOT ME A LOT OF JUNKED HEMI'S FOR $100,00 A POP. I STRIPPED EVERTHING FROM THEM AND GOT ENOUGH GOOD PARTS TO REBUILD MY ENGINE,AND SOLD THE REST OF THE PARTS,.WHILE I WAS IN THE BUILD I REMEMBERED A GUY THAT I WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH. HE USED TO RUN A HEMI POWERED RAIL.NEEDLESS TO SAY I LOOKED HIM UP, GUESS WHAT,HE STILL HAD THE RAIL AND A SHITLOAD OF PARTS, ALL OF THEM FOR SALE. SO EVERY $ I COULD HUSTLE I'D GO BUY HIS PARTS. I ENDED UP WITH EVERYTHING HE HAD EXCEPT THE CHASIS. IM VERY PLEASED WITH THE WAY EVERYTHING WENT TOGETHER, RUNS LIKE A TOP. IT TOOK ME 10 YEARS TO BUILD THIS CAR BUT THE END RESULT MADE IT WORTH THE TIME AND MONEY. SO IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH,YOU WILL WORK FOR IT.
This is absolutely, positively a horrible fabrication. The first Grand National (strictly stock) race at Daytona was won by Red Byron in an Olds. Flock's first win at the Daytona beach & race course was in 1951 in a Lincoln. His other wins (1955 & 56) were at the helm of the well-financed Kiekhaefer team.
I cut and pasted this---- 1956 Tim Flock won his second consecutive Daytona race from the pole in his 1956 Chrysler. The car was owned by legendary NASCAR car owner Carl Kiekhaefer. He led every lap except for the four after his first pit stop. Charlie Scott became the first African-American to compete in a NASCAR Grand National race, driving another Carl Kiekhaefer entered Chrysler. ---- . In 56 I believe it was the very first NASCAR race. The story was that carl & his wife drove up in their brand new car. And Tim didn't have a seat and wasn't going to race. Tim stated if I had that car I could win the race. Someone dared Tim well go ask him if you can borrow it. So Tim did and to every ones surprise he agreed and loaned Tim the car. Any way that's is the STORY told on a video I seen about NASCAR history. it may have been55 when he borrowed the car Im old and its been quite some time since I seen the video. it was a entertaining video the guys talked about running gas stations and starving and racing.
About 5 years ago I stumbled upon a 354 on fleabay. It was on the east coast and I am in Michigan. The listing claimed it was pulled from a running boat that was only used in fresh water. Had the dual quads, adjustable rockers, dimpled valve covers, dual points, etc. I won the bid ( think it was $500 ) Arranged the shipping and it was soon in the garage. Tear down time! It was truly a boat anchor. Both heads were cracked along with the block. The bottom of the intake was blown out from freezing. Carbs were busted up and severely corroded. Some cylinders were FULL of rusty shit dust. Only useable parts were the rockers and valve covers. I sent the seller pics of the POS and ended up getting the engine for free, minus shipping. Sold the engine to a local guy with full disclosure for my shipping costs. That is the only Hemi story I have.
The story I heard years ago was that Kiekhaefer showed up at Daytona with three cars and no drivers. The three cars were built to beat Lincoln in the 55 Carrera Panamericana in Mexico.
when i pulled the original boss 429 out of my 34 cp, i took a stock 460 block and put on a set of boss 429 heads that i had bought from a fellow. same tunnelram intake, scoop, valve covers and headers that i had jet coated, no one new that i had changed the eng., looks the same. got parts from my buddy, charlie price and made a 4 carb rochester inline manifold for it, the only one, looks cool. had the car 23 years now, last year at billet proof a fellow came up to me and said,'' arn't you boo that had the 34 HOWLIN WOLF that i saw when i was a kid at daytona turkey run?'' amazing people remember you for your car. i named it howlin wolf because of the franklin q-change rear, while iwas building it i went to eat supper and on tv was a sho bout german me-109 fighters being called the howlin wolf with nose art of a wolf w/toung hanging out. i made nerf bars w/wolf w/toung out. thats the rest of the story....
I couldn´t believe my eyes. The guy with the cowboy hat chatting with the owner of the 55 Chrysler is my good friend from Munich Tom Littich... he had a 54 Hemi powered Panamericana Racer himself...and drove the Panamericana in it. It looks like this guy is everywhere, hahahaha
Not sure how you got the Boss heads to mate with a 460 block, the oiling system is totally different, the block has to ground for pushrod clearance, The Boss 9 also uses rubber O-rings to seal the coolant and oil passage's. I'm not even going to get into using the flattop 460 pistons with Boss hemi head.
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