"Ohhhhhhhh........" that engine stand groans. "Can I get a little relief here please!" Nice motor for sure!
Big and intimidating, tough as an anvil, been known to make 2000+ on mostly stock internals. The only downside is the price of entry. But that's what makes em rare and special. Cool engine, I have two. That one is beautiful. Sure you got enough carb up there? A blown Hemi gets thirsty. Bad ass, thanks for sharing .
The other funny thing about hemi engines,,,, they are kind of like potatoe chips, can't have just one. The first hemi is hard to get, then they want company and multiply. If your not careful you'll be tripping over them.
I agree, The first one I reached out for. Went all the way to Houston from New Orleans Then Three more within a half hour from home. Now trying to ignore a 392 I know is available, also in the area. Try as I may my resolve has crumbled and I am now in the process of trying to strike a bargain with the owner. Each one takes up as much room as a half sheet of plywood! I posted a tripping hazard sign in my shop!
Boy, you ain't kiddin'. I left the house to get just one. I had to start using rolling stands for all of my engines, my ankles are killing me.
The early hemi is the biggest, the baddest, the toughest of them all. Hands down. I remember those beasts between the flexing thin wall tubes of DOUBLE A FUEL DRAGSTERS, heavy, silent yet overpowering even when pushed down a return road. Silent. Then erupting like Krakatoa, crackling with nitro pure ground shaking horsepower. Insane in a street car. It says LOUDLY, go ahead, try it!
Then erupting like Krakatoa, crackling with nitro pure ground shaking horsepower. I don't have to ask or tell anyone with 1/2 a brain knows the HP show nitro puts down and they aren't as impressive on gasoline. Actually I can't even believe I responded to this nonsense. I'll tell you what- you go ask the top gas guys how their cars compare to fuel cars. Let me know
I honestly don't know spit about the carbs on that thing other than that they are some old-school looking 2 barrel jobs, but right off the bat when I first saw the pictures of that beast I wondered if they were going to be enough to feed that thing. I then dismissed that thought because, hey, I don't know spit, and then I started reading the comments and ... Okay, so at least some of the folks who know more than me are also wondering if the carbs up on top of that thing are enough to feed it the air-fuel mixture it is going to be wanting. So that leads me to wonder what the proper period correct solution(s) would be if it turned out the thing was having breathing problems due to the carbs being too restrictive. Would increasing the number of those carbs to 6 or 8 do the job? What about using a pair of early four barrels? Are there any period correct four barrel carbs that would do the job? [Possibly the Carter AFB?] And even supposing there are, what about the esthetics of a 6 or 8 carb solution versus the esthetics of a pair of four barrels in the context of the 'look' that the builder is seeking? I realize that I am glossing over some major practicality issues like the relative difficulty of syncing up 6 or 8 two barrel carbs versus a pair of four barrels, and that in my ignorance I'm probably missing some other considerations completely, but I'd be interested in seeing what others here have to say about these things.
Do you have a particular Hemi in mind, or have one already? Some 331's/354's had two ONE-barrels, big ones. They are sometimes mistaken for two-barrels.
Unbelievably cool! I dont' know a lot about induction but humbly, it dosen't look like too hard to tune those carbs. They all dump into the same manifold opening, not runners! Once in there, it's all the same mixture!
Your concerns are valid. The old school 2-bbls were used in multiples because of the limited availability of 4-bbl units. Now, Weiand (say "Why-and") did make their 2x4 early on, to duplicate the Chrysler 2x4, so some of the early AFB carbs were in use by 1960, but there was still many of the 4x2, 6x2 and 8x2 manifolds still in use through the mid-60's and, with a recent surge in 'vintage', today. Efficient? Most of the 2-bbl units were lucky to move 150 cfm or so. On a stock engine not being pushed too hard you could get by with 2 or 3 but they would soon choke a 392 at mid/upper rpm hence the need to keep adding more. These days a 780 Holley will easily out perform an 8-pack of 94's or 97's but many folks simply prefer the 'look' of the old duffers. .
There are bigger two barrels out there. I run a pair of WCD's on my Edmunds 2 x 2. I've spun her to 5500 and didn't run out of fuel...
That's 331 small runners manifold and no huffer . I bet fuel kept up with the air you were moving but that manifold doesn't move a whole bunch of air.
The Jalopy Journal
