I bought a 291 desoto hemi tonight!! Im so exited. Its stuck but looks in real nice condition. Im goin back to buy as many as possible!!! he has about 8 left. the numbers on this one are s22-6326 and it has a maltise cross after that. he said that meant it had a .010 under journal. even got a bell housing
Congrats, on your Hemi purchase! You can NEVER, have only one Hemi engine, a collection is always a must.
Yeah, nice bell too. That's what I used with a homemade adapter plate to put the A833 O/D on my 354. Congrats.
welcome to the club..and yeah you'll want more then one once ya buy your first one....i started my 315 last nite for the first time...they have a sound all their own.................
I dont even have a clue what to put it in. Im happy with it sitting in my truck for now! I just might put it in my 58 fleetside chevy! hahaha probibly a fiberglass 32 roadster down the road. Maybe a blower. If you know anything about these 291's please let me know! i am on a fact finding mission!!
whats the bes thing to put into the cylinder to try and free it up? Im not going to try and spin it over but I figure letting something sit in there will help when I go to dissasemble latter. My plan is to dissasemble and clean it up. Look for any issues and best case, put it back togeather and run it as is. I will buy as many '55 291's as he has just so I will have parts readilly available.
Yep you will find having more than one will be a huge help on the parts finding front. I don't know if the 291 cam is the same as a 330, but they don't make them new, so re-grind is the only option (except billet roller). If you are doing a re-grind, flat lobes are a bad thing. So are all his Desoto's 291's ? Does he have any S23 or higher stampings?
Yeah the guys are right! I bought a 55 331 Chrysler and ended up buyin a 341 Fire Flight shortly after. Ive been a FOMOCO man all my life that was until I bought that first Hemi. It gets in your blood. Besides what looks cooler than a Hemi with a wieand drag star and 6 97's?
Shoot, I will sell anyone the intake for 250 so I can pick up another engine before they all get sold. I pulled it out of the truck and put it on a stand today and holly cow! this thing is heavy. I want to flip it upside down and pull the pan. I want to make sure theres no serious damage. Thrown rod and what not... theres all kinds of sludge under the valve covers. I guess thats a good thing, keeps everything looking new. once i spend a week cleaning. whats the best thing to disolve this? the guy who sold it said kerosene works.
The S-22 engine was the 2 bl engine. Somebody swapped a 4 bl intake onto it, and it's worth a LOT mor than $250. If I were you, I'd hang on tight to that intake! They're a one-year-only, and HARD to come by...and the only cam that will fit and work properly is a 276/291 low deck DeSoto cam. The high deck 330/341/345 cams are a drop-in, but due to the difference in deck height, the do not work properly in the 276/291 engines. Save your money and work on the engine you have. No telling WHAT you're going to find ($$$) once you open it up.
Yule16Met, just wanted to congratulate you, too! I cut my teeth on the 291 and 330, so all I can say is: THEY ARE FUN TO DRIVE! Sometin' about the way a hi- or lo-deck Hemi "growls" when you rev it up . . . just different from other v-8s!!! Enjoy! 345 DeSoto, I was a tad confused by the "save your money" advice. Save, yes, of course, BUT do you come down on the side saying DON'T buy a second 291 while they are available? Please clear me up. A backup sounded pretty good to me, if Yule's getting them for fair core value. Just need clarification, buddy.
He's saying Hemis are expensive to build. I'd probably buy the second one if it was me & the price was a good deal, but you have to consider how much the price of the 2nd one will delay building the 1st. Would it delay the build a month or a year? Have you checked Hot Heads, QEC & EBay so you have an idea how expensive it might be?
My Desoto hemi "collection" rose to 3 last week when I brought home a 55 291. I have a very good 330 that I'll be building for my 37 pickup. I also have a 276 in my boneyard. I agree, a man can never have too many hemis.
George, wasn't trying to put anybody on the defensive, buddy, just struggling to know the logic. Heck, YEAH, I've checked out how much $$$ a guy has to rack up JUST to pull all the parts together to GET READY to rebuild any early Hemi. Complete bearings, seals, etc., kits running as high as around a GRAND? WOW! I was able to corral 292 Ford truck forgies for the 330 DeS rebuild I DREAM of doing, from Tom Waters for a more than reasonable $175 bargain price. So, I'm at $200, and haven't even found the core or bought the bearing, gaskets, etc. YUP! Expensive! Thanks, George!
I have a 4-bl cast intake on my 291, is there a way to tell if it really is a 291 intake? yule16met..Congrats on your find!!! Nuthin like a hemi!!!!
Just an addendum, 6 months ago, you experienced guys gave me a to of advice AND said in effect, "Now, go STUDY a bunch BEFORE starting the project." I did. ONCE anybody REALLY looks at all the COMPARATIVE cost for VARIOUS ways to achieve a good-running Hemi, about any way you go, you're gonna be out anywhere from $3-$4,000 all the way to $10,000 -- depending on your performance goals AND how much yo can do yourself! Hemi: Not for the weak-hearted! Though I don't have $6 grand to buy a 341 from the gent down at Daytona who builds them, BUT I really couldn't blame someone else who might go that route. One way, you may still be out $6,000 BUT be able to take PERSONAL PRIDE (whereas, the palleted REBUILD would save bou coup TIME). To each his own, but I digressed osmehow, I think. HOPEFULLY there's a point in my ramblings!!! LOL
26Rooster, other more experienced DeS mechanics may have more info. But the casting number I have for the 291 4-B DeS intake is #1557141. As I recall, it's on the front end of the intake, on the driver's side as it would sit in the car.
If there's paint or something else obscuring the #, I'd wire brush the area a little or rub it with a small piece of 60-grit sand paper so you can read the original number. I'm sure there are other symbols, etc., on there, but 1557141 would tell the tale.
Oh, Hi! To read the posts I have to move over where I can't see who posted, had I seen it was you I'd have known you knew! So it's just a case of money & a place to store them. Unfortunatly I'm out of storage space.
I am still hopping that I can pull it apart, clean it, and put new gaskets back in it and run it! but... the more I read the more i need to go pull the pan and see what shape im in. The 4 barrel intake has the generator tab broken off but the 2 barrel has the same tab. It could be welded easy enough but Im really not that attatched to it. If you want it let me know. I verified the casting number #1557141
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