A good friend of mine just picked up an early hemi the other night, but he's not sure what it is. He didn't get any vavle covers with it. That would make things too easy. The guy he got it from said it was a Chrysler, but looking at the bore sizes and the crank pin diameters, and just the basic layout- I'd almost bet it's a Dodge. The block numbers didn't match up with any of my lists. That, and the numbers aren't in their normal location. Most early hemi engines have the numbers cast ito the front of the block, just in front of the valley pan. His has the number 36617 stamped into the block, in front of the valley pan, and the cast numbers are on the passengers side bank, between the valley cover and the deck surface. The numbers I pulled off of it are 1819829-1 A8 D186. The other strange thing about it is the color. It's a strange blue-ish green color. It's almost the same color that Detroit Diesel uses on some of their 6V and 8V-92's. The cam runs directly off of the crank, gear to gear. And the timing chain cover is a factory two-piece. I'm thinking that it may be an industrial hemi. That would explain why the numbers don't match up with any of the lists I've got. Any ideas? Has anyone ran into anything like this before?
Dodge hemi's didn't have cast-in motor mounts. That's the first clue. The 56 poly 270 did, and some people find and use those with hemi heads. The 241 270 has a large snout cam (sticks out about 3" from the front of the block) and the cover doesn't have a flat face. The other thing is the heads have water inlets at the front and back. I'm not sure whether the 315/325 blocks had motor mounts cast-in.
One other thing I just thought of. The intake has the thermostat housing built in. THe big Chryslers used a water cross over, with the thermostat housing in it, that was a separate piece from the intake.
THE CLOSEST "CAST" NUMBER I CAN COME UP WITH IS 1619829 LOCATED BY THE VALLEY COVER ON THE RIGHT SIDE. SAYS THIS IS A '56 CHRYSLER BLOCK. CHECK THE LENGTH OF THE HEAD MEASURED AT THE VALVE COVER GASKET AREA .. CHRYSLER IS 20.5 in ... DeSoto IS 19.5 in ... DODGE IS 19 in ..... WITH THE FRONT COVER AND 2~GEAR TIMING DRIVE IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE A CHRYSLER INDUSTRIAL ... SOME WERE PAINTED THAT FUNNY BLUE. THE WHOLE VALVE TRAIN RUNS BACKWARDS AND IS NO GOOD FOR ANYTHING .. 'CEPT INDUSTRIAL. COULD BE FROM A BOAT SO BE CARFULL... SOME OF THEM RAN THE CRANK BACKWARDS IF IT CAME FROM A BOAT WITH LEFT & RIGHT HAND ENGINES. YOU'LL NEED ALMOST EVERYTHING TO MAKE IT RUN ON THE STREET.