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History Tired of over rated Hemis

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by birdman1, Feb 19, 2021.

  1. GearheadsQCE
    Joined: Mar 23, 2011
    Posts: 3,370

    GearheadsQCE
    Alliance Vendor

    Doug,
    No you didn't!
     
  2. GearheadsQCE
    Joined: Mar 23, 2011
    Posts: 3,370

    GearheadsQCE
    Alliance Vendor

    I, on the other had knew a girl that could suck start a Harley. Probably a Hemi too if she could get all 8 pipes in her mouth. ;)
     
  3. tubman
    Joined: May 16, 2007
    Posts: 6,904

    tubman
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    After thinking about this for a while, I'll bet the Dodge had a "Gyromatic" semi-automatic transmission (most of them did and they looked just like a standard 3 speed, clutch and all).

    You should be ashamed. I have a '51 Ford with a '51 Merc, and it really has much better performance than a stocker.
     
  4. Knew a guy who would race you by proxy. ''Bill's Dodge beat Tom's Olds by a car length in the rain.. Joe's Ford lost to Tom by a fender but I tied Bill so can beat both of those guys. Never did his equations add up to his car being the slower one, rest assured.
     
  5. AldeanFan
    Joined: Dec 12, 2014
    Posts: 892

    AldeanFan

    At least you had decent cars to play with in your youth.
    My early days of backroad street racing included ford tempos, chevy cavaliers and dodge omni’s.

    But that didn’t stop us from having fun.
    I built an ot ford 6cyl car with 410 gears and 24” tires. It couldn’t run on the highway but it sure could accelerate. And it had a fold down rear seat that came in handy for the drive in movies.
    Stoplight to stoplight it beat a lot of much faster cars.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    Guy Patterson and Mopar Tony like this.
  6. flatheadpete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2003
    Posts: 10,476

    flatheadpete
    Member
    from Burton, MI

    Hey now....I got my ass handed to me by an Omni....GLHS. I went home, tuned a bit and got my revenge though....
     
    Guy Patterson likes this.
  7. Truckedup
    Joined: Jul 25, 2006
    Posts: 4,661

    Truckedup
    Member

    It's been said on this site many times the a well tuned modified streetable flathead of around 270inches has about 160 flywheel hp. Stock 239 flathead abot 95 actual Hp...No idea if it's net or gross...Gm factory dyno reports show a 1957 283 2 barrel rated at 195Hp has an actual 150 flywheel net hp as installed in the car.
     
    Spoggie likes this.
  8. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,656

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    Stock Dodge Red Ram with low compression and 2 barrel was about equal to other cars in its class for HP even though it was smaller in displacement and would run on the cheapest regular gas as it was only 7.5:1 compression.
    It was when you hopped them up and let them breathe that the hemi heads had it over the flatheads and wedge head engines.
    Chrysler eventually dropped the hemis. Even though they were technically superior, they offered no sales advantage and were expensive to build. So they went to a conventional wedge head design starting in 1958.
     
    Hemi Joel likes this.
  9. Tickety Boo
    Joined: Feb 2, 2015
    Posts: 1,607

    Tickety Boo
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Da Blonds and Redheads ? :p
     
    indyjps likes this.
  10. getow
    Joined: May 9, 2016
    Posts: 305

    getow
    Member

    :confused:Except da rug.....
     
  11. verde742
    Joined: Aug 11, 2010
    Posts: 6,258

    verde742
    Member

  12. 55 Ford Gasser
    Joined: Jul 7, 2011
    Posts: 698

    55 Ford Gasser
    Member

    Back around 2005 or so I was driving my '50 Ford 2dr Sedan and my buddy Joe had a '57 4dr Belair. I was running the original flathead (block and crank anyway) bored .030 over, Isky cam, Fenton headers, Edlebrock intake, 390 cfm Holley, Mallory dual point, Offenhauser heads and open Lakes pipes. I had a 3 speed overdrive with the OD rear gears. Joe was running stock 283 with cast iron 4V intake and dual exhaust, also open Lakes Pipes, with turbo 350 trans and original automatic rear gears. When everything was tuned just right, I could just beat Joe. I would love to see a video of that black '50 and black '57, both with open pipes racing down the road. I still think there might be at least one video of us racing through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel one night, at least I figured they must have cameras in the tunnel. Lol. I was just barely beating him that night.
    But, then we put a 327 in Joe's '57. That was the end of me beating him with my flathead.

    Around about 2010, I parked the Sedan and put a 302 (4V, headers, etc) and AOD with original rear gears (4.10?) in my 1950 F1. Boy, would that truck come off the line. I surprised a lot of people with it. I could come off the line with Joe and his '57, but somewhere around 80, he would be pulling away from me. We lost Joe 5 years ago. Three years ago I put a Blue Print 302 in the truck and I think I could take Joe's '57 now, but I'll never know.

    Now for the rest of the story, I met Joe in 1998 when he was driving an un-marked car and pulled me over for smoking my tires in the '50 Sedan. He retired from the Sheriff's dept in 2000 and I helped him get the '57. As they say, the rest is history. Joe would call me when he got home after we had been out having fun and say we needed to stop street racing and I would agree. Until the next time we pulled up to a red light. Lol. Boy, did we have fun, and I sure miss Joe. Ron
     
    NoSurf, fourspd340, Spoggie and 10 others like this.
  13. Dang.....that little Red Ram had to make up almost 15 cubic inches.......
     
  14. mickeyc
    Joined: Jul 8, 2008
    Posts: 1,363

    mickeyc
    Member

    When I was a younger fellow, ( much) I would race my friends 55 Chrysler
    3oo series 331 ,2x4 factory hemi often. I was running a 57 Cameo pickup
    with a 327 corvette motor and a 4 speed. It was always close with a fairly
    equal split on wins. The Cameo would pull the Chrysler out of the whole
    but traction was a problem with the truck. The Chrysler would really
    get rolling in second and high gear. Great fun in the wild New Orleans
    of the sixties.
     
    53 hemi and Desoto291Hemi like this.
  15. stuart in mn
    Joined: Nov 22, 2007
    Posts: 2,406

    stuart in mn
    Member

    How old and worn out was the neighbor kid's Dodge when this occurred.
     
    TCATTC likes this.
  16. Flathead Dave
    Joined: Mar 21, 2014
    Posts: 3,959

    Flathead Dave
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from So. Cal.

    The (hemi)spherical chamber motor began in the 1930's and was designed as an airplane motor for planes during the war. Later, Chrysler developed it as a V-8 motor for cars as what you know as the Hemi.
    My dad taught me this when I was a kid. I told this in auto shop and blew my teacher's mind when I mentioned this. He had no idea.
    I'm glad it was true or I would have looked like the Waterboy after Momma told him her lies.
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2021
  17. What lies Dave ?
    Ma,,,ma,,,,ma,,,,mama said “little gurls is the devil,,,,,!
    LoL
    A lot of truth in that statement,,,,,LoL

    Tommy
     
    williebill and Flathead Dave like this.
  18. Flathead Dave
    Joined: Mar 21, 2014
    Posts: 3,959

    Flathead Dave
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from So. Cal.

  19. Budget36
    Joined: Nov 29, 2014
    Posts: 13,137

    Budget36
    Member

    Frame rails. Hemi in between them. Cool factor.

    I want one, anyone have a spare to donate? :)
     
  20. Gary Addcox
    Joined: Aug 28, 2009
    Posts: 2,528

    Gary Addcox
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Wait a minute ! Are we talking about chicks or engines ?
     
  21. Gary Addcox
    Joined: Aug 28, 2009
    Posts: 2,528

    Gary Addcox
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Give that low powered Hemi 10 to 1 cr and the game suddenly changes.
     
    Atwater Mike likes this.
  22. adam401
    Joined: Dec 27, 2007
    Posts: 2,855

    adam401
    Member

    Im a dyed in the wool Ford man but if someone gave me a 331 the flathead in my coupe would be laying on the garage floor right now
     
  23. I like hemi's and some times wish I had one, but I am not worried at all about calling one out. Well maybe Finnigan. If his is not broken.:D
     
  24. hemihotrod66
    Joined: May 5, 2019
    Posts: 968

    hemihotrod66
    Member

    I guess Arkus Duntov yea that Chevy guy decided the flat head would be a lot better with a pair of hemi heads on it...Ardun Heads for flatheads...
     
    fourspd340 likes this.
  25. CAHotRodBoy
    Joined: Apr 22, 2005
    Posts: 458

    CAHotRodBoy
    Member

    This 392 is going in my '34. I think Hemi's are the quintessential bad ass motor. It just has so much visual impact. I like them and I don't care what anyone else thinks.

    IMG_7614.JPG
     
  26. LOU WELLS
    Joined: Jan 24, 2010
    Posts: 2,749

    LOU WELLS
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from IDAHO

    Just Personal Preference And Flatheads Fit In The Same Engine Bay So Who Is To Say?... 124778386_2793613540962909_816768254833977578_n.jpg
     
  27. blowby
    Joined: Dec 27, 2012
    Posts: 8,661

    blowby
    Member
    from Nicasio Ca

    Hemi tech question: Did the early Hemis have a quench or squish band in the combustion chamber like their wedge head counterparts? I know with a centrally located spark plug it's less of a factor but I believe even modern Hemi designs incorporated them. And when did quench areas become recognized as beneficial in wedge head designs, right from the get go?

    I guess what I'm wondering is if there was a down side to the better breathing capability? Less compression tolerance, poor fuel economy?
     
  28. Truckedup
    Joined: Jul 25, 2006
    Posts: 4,661

    Truckedup
    Member

    The hemi head was pattened around 1905 And was common in European motorcycles in the 1920's.Was also common in racing engines of that time period .Look up the history of Miller racing engines .It became the standard in aircraft engines in the early 1920's. Of interest is the liquid cooled Merlin and Allison WW2 engiines did not use a hemi head.
     
    Nailhead A-V8 and blowby like this.
  29. I guess the hemi wins? Still in production? Making shit tons of power? And that's coming from a Chevy man! But i paint cars. ;)
     
  30. Truckedup
    Joined: Jul 25, 2006
    Posts: 4,661

    Truckedup
    Member

    I like the look of a Hemi, that alone is reason to use it if cost is reasonable...
    To be honest, in a light hot rod does it matter if an engine makes 325 ot 375 Hp?
    When Chrysler replaced the Hemi with B wedge in the late 50's, was the B less powerful when moderately modified for street use?
     

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