I saw this at the Waukeshaw GoodGuys show, and had to do a double take. At first I thought it was one of those silly fake Hemi valve cover things, but it's really real. It's a big block Chevy block, with some huge Hemi heads on it, and it says Arias on the valve covers. Can anyone identify this conversion kit, and give me some more information on it? Thanks.
i think Arias did those in the early 70's.....i think it was for top fuel, but they never really worked out... this from my foggy memory.....maybe they released them again........ Fred
A little off subject but this link has pictures of Micky Thompson's 64 Fairlane Thunderbolt with a 427 side oiler Ford converted to Chrysler Hemi heads. The site is Woody's Fairlanes http://www.woodyg.com/fairlane/mt64tbolt/
those arias heads are quite trick. my dad keeps on talking about if he won the lottery and how he'd buy some of those heads. The 427 with hemi heads is really quite amazing. There was a guy down in pueblo who had a motor exactly like that and scattered the parts around the town so his wife wouldn't get them in the divorce. Rumor has it that it's still floating around the town.
About 5 years ago I worked for a guy named Dave Woods who owns A.M.S. staff leasing, yes the same A.M.S. as in the A.M.S. Pro Mod Challenge. At that time our first car was a all steel 57 Chevy post. The chassis was done by Joe Smith and our first motor was a gas burning Arias with a million hard runs on it running a Mooneyham 1071 with Enderle injection. The motor was out of a 3 time world champ drag boat that was raced by Kimm Barr racing engines back in the early 80s. We ran this motor for a few months while we got familar with the tube chassis. I never got too deep with it as we were going to change over to KB olds motors so we could run the car in the Super Chevy Nitro Coupe class. We ended up flushing the crank out of the Arias and that was that. The design of the motor is unique, there is these adapters that are bolted to the deck. After these, then the block is bored to fit a stepped liner or sleeve in each cylinder. Then theres the head gasket, ours were copper, then the heads were bolted on. The valvetrain consist of a standard 2 pushrod system with a 3rd pushrod working transversely through a fulcrum to the exhaust valve rocker. The rockers were similar to the Hemi design as they were shaft mounted. That 3rd pushrod in the older design Arias was a pain in the ass to keep from falling out during a pass.
I'm pretty sure a Big Block Chevy Engine with the Arias Hemi Heads, was on the cover of Hot Rod sometime in the 70s (though it could have been PHR). There was an article inside on it. It was supposed to be TNBT (The Next Big Thing). If I remember right, the heads were brutally expensive.
I read in HotRod a while back about the Arias 10 liter hemi. From what I remember it was BBC based Would this be it?
could they just be 32 valve heads? i seen a company a while back that makes 32 valve heads for chevys and fords. ill see if it can find the site.
arias in the 70's 80's and early 90's was the motor to run on gas or alcohol in drag boats and tractor pulls, there are some funny car and dragster still running them 8.3 liter was all race 100% solid block and heads 10 liter was water jacket and you could go up 632 ci which was HUGE in the 70's and 80's we ran them on gas and alcohol
I have one if their 10 liter blocks that i bought in 2002, in a pro mod 63 Vette. Its a very nice piece, double cross bolted mains, billet main caps, etc. However I didn't spring for the hemi heads, got the big pontiac style head. The only problem is keeping my foot in it..... They are still making blocks and heads both big and small block Chev. to the best of my knowledge. Google Miner pro mod racing.
go here for all the information about Arias Heads. www.nickariasjr.com I just read where they are making HEMI HEADS for Chevy LS series motors, to the tune of 19k. think I'll pass this week.
I ran a similer motor in my TAFC it is now produced by the Minnor brothers . Our motor from blower manifold to oil pan was $35.000 dollars. no fuel system or oiling system or magneto.
Demarest and Schultz top fuel car ran one for a short time in the mid 70's with Kelly Brown driving. I was lucky enough to hang out a little at their shop in Azuza while I was over on holidays. Those guys were so helpful in sourcing some parts for me as I was building a 392 at the time.
i've seen a couple bonneville engines running them. they're beautiful, but they're a LOT of money when all is said and done.
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