A good friend has a couple of early hemi marine engines. One of them is a reverse rotating assembly. Are they worth anything? One had been rebuilt about 10 years ago. I believe they are 303? I am not real familiar with hemis. The valve covers say Chrysler Marine. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o></o>
vinniez, 303 is not a Hemi number, but that is not an issue, and reverse rotation can be 'cured' with the appropriate pass car parts. The bigger issues with marine engines is whether or not they are from salt water operation. Long term exposure in the salt will cause alot of degradation within the water jackets and this is not something that can be fixed. If the engines are still assembled then be very cautious about spending alot of money. If you can remove the intake manifold then look inside of the water passages for an indication of potential problems.
they are proably 330 desoto marine engines.i have two. one was apart when i got them,it was missing one head and rocker set.now the good part;they had adjustable rocker arms .you can tell if they do by the little clearance bumps between the spark plug holes.these desoto adjusyable rockers are extremly rare and will bring big bucks bythemselves.valve covers for desotos with the bumps are in the same league.did anybody on here ever see a set?i had a guy on a hemi forum tell me that chrysler never made adjustible rockers for the small desoto hemi`s and no one disputed his reply! chris
Only seen Chr & Dodge marine listings, are you sure its a marine DeSoto??Chrysler valve covers only fit on Chryslers. There should be a code stamped on a flat in front of the valley cover & if you get the intake off, there will be a casting # between the head & valley cover on the drivers side in a car, could be diagonal corner on a marine hemi. will be a 331 or 354.
They made FACTORY adjustable rockers for DeSoto's I have seen 1 '56 FireFlite with Rockers & Factory Dimpled Valve covers & i own a pair of Factory Dimpled Covers. They are rare, But they are also REAL !
Since it says Chrysler Marine on the covers, they are likely 331's and possibly 354's and clearly not Desotos in any regard. Also, even if the covers have the bumps, they may not have the actual adjustable rockers. So, I wouldn't assume that until you peak inside to verify. Good luck with them! Oh, also, to verify 100% what you have, get the block #'s and check them. The number is on the top of the block towards the front at the edge of the valley pan. Scrape it clean and read the numbers very accurately. The first several numbers are the most important and very critical, the last numbers are just serial numbers. They made all kinds of versions, so read the numbers very well and post back and we can probably help you figure out what they are very quickly.
These are dimpled Desoto covers I found in a trunk of a Desoto last year at a salvage yard. I thought they were d500's as I didn't think desoto ever made them . I loaned them out so a guy could have his chromed. He just gave them back a few days ago as the did not fit his Dodge. I just lined them up with my other desoto valve covers and they match. Other items in the trunk were tall deck heads but no rockers on them . No info on them and they were not modified as far as I can tell.
some don't notice that it's a Dead Thread & act like a problem back then is still a pressing matter years later. A photo of a Desoto valve cover with dimples is interesting, needs to be posted on the Hemi Tech Index in the appropriate sub section.
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