Old Race Parts and Pieces

[James L Miller]

He bought it at a swap meet in Florida. The casting date is 10-17-63. There are two articles that have been published on that block. One is in the Mopar Collectors Guide, the other was in Mopar Muscle magazine. We have a mutual friend, Stewart in Tampa, that used to hang out with the Mopar Missile crew back in the early 1970s. I was fortunate enough to be included in the early rounds of figuring out this block. The AAQA stood out for me. Bill Weertman thinks it was used for valvetrain testing as one of the head stud bosses cracked, making it useless for engine testing. Apparently the EXO marking also lends to the theory that it wasn't a running engine. I don't know if Hoover has seen the block, but the Missile gang usually makes it down for the Gators, so I'm sure Olfield has seen it and probably Joe Pappas. I got to meet those guys at the 2008 Hemi Reunion in Ohio thanks to Stewart.

[James L Miller]

The A-864 Program. A couple of photos of early Race Hemi stuff. The A-990 was the 1965 Drag Race combo, but both are usually called A-990.

[James L Miller]

Not a production part, but I was told this intake was made by Tom Hoover and it was in a Plymouth street car of his with a 392 stuffed in it.

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by James L Miller

He bought it at a swap meet in Florida. The casting date is 10-17-63. There are two articles that have been published on that block. One is in the Mopar Collectors Guide, the other was in Mopar Muscle magazine. We have a mutual friend, Stewart in Tampa, that used to hang out with the Mopar Missile crew back in the early 1970s. I was fortunate enough to be included in the early rounds of figuring out this block. The AAQA stood out for me. Bill Weertman thinks it was used for valvetrain testing as one of the head stud bosses cracked, making it useless for engine testing. Apparently the EXO marking also lends to the theory that it wasn't a running engine. I don't know if Hoover has seen the block, but the Missile gang usually makes it down for the Gators, so I'm sure Olfield has seen it and probably Joe Pappas. I got to meet those guys at the 2008 Hemi Reunion in Ohio thanks to Stewart.

You should tell some of those old racers to come join in the fun and shoot the bs on here...l'd love to here some more old stories on these warhorses by them.

[Frank Castros]

I once had a 426 Wedge block with the AAQA designation and Jerry Stein told me it was a great block because of it's high nickel content. He was right about it being a great block as we went our best numbers with it.

[James L Miller]

Well, I don't want to turn this thread into Mopar only. I thought it would be neat to see lots of odd/rare parts from the Big 3 and maybe the not-quite-as-big #4 (AMC). I found some pictures of a Pontiac RA V head. It looks a lot like the Ford Tunnel Port on the intake side. They must have changed the cam lobes on some cylinders since the valve spacing/arrangement is different.

[James L Miller]

OK, this is an oddball engine and definitely not a race engine. Ford made some all aluminum V8 engines during WWII (The BIG ONE). The GA series engines started out as a V-12 (thus the 60 degree Vee) aircraft engine (explains the all-aluminum part), but the government already had enough aircraft engines (Allison and Packard built Merlins), but they needed a tank engine. They lobbed four cylinders off to make an all-aluminum V8 of 1100 CID. They had two puny carbs on it. I think it could use three Holleys for a bit more power.

[Dwight Southerland]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1964-PO...sories&vxp=mtr

[Hemi Moose]

The big 3 made a lot of experimental parts & pieces back in the late 50's through the early 70's...anyone else here remember any other weird stuff.

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1964-PO...sories&vxp=mtr

And there were several aftermarket companies such as Mickey Thompson...

M/T Pontiac Super Duty Cross-Ram intake manifold...