HEMI'S ....SS/AH question ?

[Jim Bailey]

Terry, I don't do grapes ....only Crown Royal in the Winter, Grey Goose in the Summer.(lol).

[X-TECH MAN]

Wish I could still drink,.....I miss the buzz but not the hangovers, From what I was told the Hemi shootouts will still be on the table for the coming season. I just wished NHRA would outlaw the short deck blocks and moved rockershaft assembys not to mention the titanium cranks. These things are more exotic than the early Pro Stockers were and they are supposed to be Super Stockers ! Oh yes.....those parts are there.

[Jim Blankenship]

more exotic than a early pro stocker ??? must be a 2002 pro stocker
i helped build a pro stocker in 1970 wouldn't be a good pro et car today
the new ss/ah car's are more tech than almost any class car today


jim

[Bub Whitaker]

Originally Posted by Jim Bailey

Terry, I don't do grapes ....only Crown Royal in the Winter, Grey Goose in the Summer.(lol).

seen u do crown in the fall 2 years in a row...

[bill dedman]

Tell me something; there never was a short deck 426 Hemi block (not that ~I~ ever heard of, anyway.) The Hemi heads for those engines (426s) won't just bolt onto a 383/400 short deck block for three reasons:
1.The top row of studs on the Hemi heads will run smack into the top of the block deck of a wedge motor. 2. There is no pushrod clearance for the exhaust pushrods; the OEM Hemi blocks have 8 "troughs" for those pushrods to lie down in, and
3. There is no way, short of attaching an external return line, to get the oil that accumulates on top of the head in the rocker arm area, back to the pan.

With all that in mind, where are these alleged short deck Hemi blocks coming from?

My good frriend Charlie Malyuke (R.I.P.) modified ten 383-400 blocks back in about 1980, in such a way that you could bolt the hemi heads on them. John Hagen used one to set the MPH record in Pro Stock, in fact, and was runner-up at the Pomona Finals in 1981. (It was the last year for lbs./cu. in. motors in Pro Stock, whatever year that was), losing by inches to Lee Shepard in the final. Wally Dyck, a Canadian racer, held the A/D record with one of those 383 Hemis for an extended period of time in the early '80s.

But, to get the Hemi heads onto that low-deck block involved machining "trenches" in the cylinder head deck area where it interfaces with the lifter valley, welding in bosses to accept the studs that are the top row of head attachments, and making room for the exhaust valve pushrods by digging eight "trenches" and filling them in with sheet metal (to seal off the water)... and then, there's that external drain hose to the pan...

Just a lot of stuff that would never get by tech in a S/S environment.

So, I'm wondering how this alleged Low Deck Hemi is accomplished....

Can anybody fill me in; I'm VERY curious...

Bill

[X-TECH MAN]

Nobody said these were "WEDGE" blocks being modified and used. no oil return line needed. I also said the rocker shafts LOCATION was different. Makes for more room for the exhaust push rods. Imagine how light a titainium crank could be made. Titanium crank+ titainium rods, and "approx" 1 inch shorter deck so shorter pistions could be used equals one light swinging assembly. I dont think a STEEL crank by itself would cost upwards of $5,500.00 +. Thats ALL Im going to say on this.

[Dick Butler]

Didnt touch on the larger scoops, moved carbs, moved front frame rails and steering boxes to lower the motor either.
They are a special car with modifications allowed maybe by Mopar as they adopted the class. At least NHRA did put them in a class by themselves. At first I was thinking it was a bad thing to keep from allowing brand competition but instead looks like they were more Pro cars than SS cars anyway.

[Nitro Joe Jackson]

We are having an independent Hemi Shootout at the Mopars at the strip event March 20-22 2009. I have not been told the purse as of yet or who is invited or coming. I hope I can do the invites, lol.
But I will be there running the event, this will be my 7th yr of being the racing director for that event.
Anyhow the story I'm hearing Indy might be the only NHRA official one if that one happens.
I think it got kind of stinky there with the shootouts.

[John Lang]

Dick, the things that you pointed out are not only on the HEMI cars but alot of the SS field, if you were to look a little closer! As in 68 Corvette's in SS, in regard to scoop height . A lot of these cars have moved the steering boxes out to the frame rails for header clearance etc.These were not just Corvettes, or Hemis, but alot of SS cars! .......John

[bill dedman]

X-TECH MAN said, "Nobody said these were "WEDGE" blocks being modified and used..."

No, nobody said that, but since there were never EVER any short deck (factory) Hemi blocks made, and you contend that these alleged engines have "APPROX. 1" shorter decks," the only way they could exist is if they started out as wedge (383/400) blocks, unless somebody ran a batch of castings with 383/400 deck measurements and a Hemi top deck. I seriously doubt that that ever happened.

Am I missing something here? Enlighten me........ please.

I don't think it's fair to the people who run Hemis in S/S to have this kind of innuendo floating around without some basis in fact. So, even though you have said that you don't want to say any more about this, I think you owe it to the people involved to at least explain how such a thing would be possible.
Forget the titanium cranks and relocated rocker arms for the moment and focus on the blocks that are being used. If they are, in fact, Hemi blocks, they already HAVE exhaust pushrod clearance, so there would be no reason to move the rocker stands. That makes NO sense to me..

How do you get a "B" engine to have a deck approximately 1" shorter than the oem part? Using a 383/400 block is the only way I can imagine that it would be possible.

Curious minds want to know... and, as an "ex-tech man," myself, so do ~I~.... I'll bet Jared Jordan would like to know, too...

How 'bout it????


Bill