I bought a 55 chevy 210 project car,the hard work was done (body work)it's in flat black but it's back togeather,I bought it no motor or trans was a bbc and stock front suspension. I have a chance to pickup a 426 Hemi complete carb's to pan would I be able to put this in the 55 and keep it some what stock looking under the hood with out cutting the fire wall(not that a Hemi is stock in a 55 Chevy)but I want to drive it on the street
I don't see why not. The Hemi is bigger in the width department and so you would probably have to run a fenderwell header with the inner fender panels removed. and length wise the only problem I see would be the passenger side heater box. Aside from that I just put a 427 in a 55 and the only issue was the underchassis headers and distributor. On the Hemi the distributor is up front. It might take a little smoothing here and there but theres alot of room under a 55 hood. And besides, It would be DAM COOL!! Good Luck and keep us posted.
sell the HEMI to a restorer and build yourself a bad ass big block Chevy with the proceeds. there are things in this world that simply should not be done.
What I ment was the inner fenderwells or would they have to go,would I have to modify the front crossmember,and sell the hemi and build a bad ass bbc?no way bbc and sbc chevys are like belly buttons everybody has one,but a hemi in a 55 that puts it over the top way too cool...
I'm sure the inner fenders would have to go unless you run an under chassis exhaust. As far as crossmember you might have to modify it depending on were your pan sump is. If you can buy the Hemi right then you could always sell it if it doesn't work out for you but I don't think it'll be a problem and like you said.......Way too Cool !!
Sell the hemi and get your self a hopped up model A 4 banger. with gas prices these days you would be krazzy not to.
well what I think I'm going to do is find a mock up block of a Hemi the plastic one's with the tran's and go from there and see if it can be done..
Not sure about a Hemi but i did look at a 1955 Chevy 2 dr years ago that had a 440 six pack under the hood. It wasn't finished but the motor looked like it supposed to be there.The guy claimed he rolled his GTX in the hills of KY and the 55 was the only car he had to put the motor in.I wish i would have taken a camera and wish even more that i bought it.
Yeah, like one more BBC '55. Do it man. It's a great engine for a great car. There are couple of examples out there, but they usually run early Hemis and don't worry about stock fenderwells. http://www.cars-on-line.com/56614.html http://www.hothemiheads.com/hemi_info/hemi_projects/hemi_project_08.html http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1997342
I took the 55 to a chassis shop today,their going to notch the front crossmember,install engine mounts,trans crossmember,install rack&pinion steering. it already has tubular control arms,and coilovers suspension on the front and it's almost new so I don't have to really touch that,but while its there I might have them upgrade the roll bar. They had the mock up hemi engine there,he told me that when I get the engine and trans mounted and the frontend back on to bring it back and he can faricate the headers for me if I want. He has put a hemi in a 57 chevy like 5 years ago and he said it was not too bad to do only issue was the oil pan and steering gear box.
Saw a 57 2-door sitting kinda low in the front, not raked, and something kinda big haning out from underneath. Yep, Hemi in there and it fit fine. I do suspect there's some clearance issues under the pan. cooger
Do it! In the mid 70's Hot Rod had a one page feature on a beautiful black '55 hardtop that had about a 5" chop and a 426 set back about 10%. California bracket car if I recall correctly. If the magazine had not disentegrated a few years ago, I would scan a shot of the article.
There's already one on the HAMB, and it'd be a hard car to top....so, would one more will make it a belly button conversion.... I don't see what's so damn belly button about a chevy in a tri 5 chevy, the car that the legend was born in, A belly button example is a 350 in a glass duece anything..... but hey, it's your money, do what ever you want.
I recall as many 55 chevys with hemis as I do with BBC back in the 60:s if you wanted to go fast the 426 was the way to go. that was until a little guy named Grump came along with a 355 and started handing out walking papers and started putting all of them on trailers
Never mind the fact that NHRA had to keep adding weight to the Hemi cars to make the small block cars competative.
Hey you guys with the big engines ! You are too fast and you are making the guys with the little engines feel bad. You can't race now till you make your car heavier. Maybe even carry the fattest chick you can find with you
Yeah that is a Hemi powered 55 but that has a stright axle,I'm looking to drive this car,if I wanted to do the power tour I would be able to not saying anything negitive about this car you posted but it's the way I want my car,I was going to put a big block chevy back in it but the offer came up for the Hemi. As for duce I've seen Hemi's in them too! Thats what hotroding is all about making any combo work.
The 55 is a huge car by today's standards. The swap would be a piece of cake, IMO. It would also be the best, most reliable part on the car, that and a torqueflite...
Why not, there is a local ex-drag racer with a 426 in his 68 Camaro and a twin spark 426 in his 40 Willys Coupe.
Fred Bear known as Fabco in the HAMB put a 392 Hemi in his 55 Nomad, he did everything himself and it does not have a straight axle. Might give him a shout.
Revisionist history is a dangerous thing - when the Hemis had weight added to them continuously by the NHRA, the chevys started to win. Part of Grumps genius was seeing the political direction NHRA was going in and pushing the envelope in that direction. Chrysler, being #3 in detroit, could not be allowed to dominate the top doorslammer class any longer. Not to say Grump didn't do magic with sbc's, he certainly wrung more power out of them than anyone at the time, and he had been developing the SBC for years at this point. To say a 355 put everyone else on the trailer is a gross oversimplification and makes it look like the SBC was a superior design that could over power engines almost 20% larger in displacement. That is just fantasy. I also think Gapp and Roush, Don Nicholson and Bob Glidden might have something to say about that as well.
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