Technical 354 Hemi Build Thread (Again)

Ain't hot rodding fun?!

 

I ground the end of an extension to fit.

 

All a 354 block is a 331 that is bored 1/8" over. Otherwise they are identical (from '54 on. '51 - '53 are the long bell housing ones of course.) That is what I did to my 331 and have been running it since '95. I think it will hold together.

 

Yeah, except the wall thickness was adjusted, apparently, for the bigger bore when they went to 354.

 

What is the name of the coating ?

Most guys I know clean all the crud they can with all kinds of Magica wand special bent coat hangers and hard fill the bottom up to the freeze plugs. If you work at you'll get 1950 something vintage casting sand out of it lol .

 

You'll hear both sides of this one,
some guys bore them and hit water, some bore them and break thru shortly after its all together, others bore them and run fine forever. I'm not convinced it's anything other the individual blocks core shift and sonic test of the block before hand.
If you can only afford to do it once and If you want to be better safe than sorry then it's better judgment to start with a 354.

 

We tried that, but the plugs were stuck solid and we didn't want to round them off, so we left them in for the machine shop. Which ended up being a big mistake.


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I don't know the name of the coating. If Dad finds himself on the phone with Terry again I'm sure he'll ask him. We may end up filling the old block at some point and use it for racing purposes. That'd be waaaay on down the road though.


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bingo

 

I know, but I would like to find a 1955 and up block so I can use my 354 rotating assembly with the heads and intake manifold. That I have.

I have a couple of extra 1951-1954 extended bell housing blocks... I am thinking of building one extended 1954 block, and a non extended 1954 just for fun. Some people don't realize that the early 331's in 1954 were extended bell engine blocks.... I am lucky to have found one of each block. I am into manual transmissions, so the extended bell engine's are fine with me.

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Laid the crank in for kicks and giggles. Right now we're waiting for the rear main dowel to get here so there's nothing we can do until tomorrow. Turns over very nicely by hand.


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You know us HEMI guy's are watching.............. CQQL Stuff. Continue on.....

 

Ohhh, it's so puurrdy!!!!

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Remember way back when I said I didn't have anything to do until tomorrow? Forgot about the freeze plugs!


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The plan for '54 was Imperials & NYer Deluxe would get the 4V 331s & the NYer was to get the 2V 331. considering the scarcity of 2V in '54s it seems they must have decided to focus on the 4V, or the 4V was so much better no one was buying them.

 

Those look nice! Who makes those freeze plugs? I have the dished plugs that you lock in with a hammer. I thought about possibly putting the block into a Bridgeport and drill the holes to a bigger size to install a modern freeze plug. But it may be more trouble than it's worth... Thank you for posting the pictures Tarter_Sammich!

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Thank you for the history George! There isn't a lot of easy information found on the origins and the marketing regarding these earlier engines. It seems that only the 300's got documented well. One thing that I noticed about the one year only special intake is... Finding a 1954 4 Bbl intake is very tough! LOL

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How bad do you want one ?
54 oil pans are tough too

 

I have the Intake... Fortunately...

What is different about the oil pan vs. the 1951-1953 engine oil pans? I know that the 55 and up were changed because of the different water pump arrangement. Please enlighten me on what I am missing. I am learning a lot about these engines. I certainly need to know more!

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Hemi Tech Index

 

Should be the same

 

Thank you George for the link and the verification.

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The freeze plugs are made by HotHeads. They have a t-bar on the back that locks on to the step in the freeze plug hole and the screw pulls them tight. They have worked very well so far, and you're welcome!


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In the photo the top throw weight looks like something was welded into it left side discolored. Heavy Metal for balance or what?

 

They're core plugs not freeze plugs

They were not intended for that purpose.

The cupped ones sometimes pop out when an engine freezes because someone forgot antifreeze, but not always.

Those ones look very nice.

 

Ernie Hashim did my engine work in about 1980; bored it 1/8" over, found 8 good stock 354 pistons from a couple of used sets, totally balanced the machine. I figure if Ernie said it was OK, then it was OK!!!! Only real problem I have had with the engine is a weak freeze plug hole that has blown out a couple times. I recently put in one of those copper expanding ones, haven't driven it hard since, X my fingers I don't blow again.

 

Yes but that's the terminology they have assumed. Like calling a radiator a radiator when it is actually a convector or a valve cover a valve cover when it is actually a rocker cover!

And trust me, the cupped ones pop out just driving down the road sometimes.

 

It was like that when we got it, probably from a balance job done way back in the 60s. We had it balanced again this time, so it's good to go.


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Quick update. Last night we discovered that our oil pump and adapter will not work with this rear main cap, so I am on the way to HotHeads to pick up a new oil pump that will fit.


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It must be nice to have Hot Heads in your area?