392 Hemi, $3000 certified good core ?????

Is this fair? The same dude has 354,s for $2600 same deal, guaranteed rebuildable. I've seen cheaper mystery cores on the bay but usually they are no shipping. This dude actually bought 40 hemi's at once. It's a friend's friend and I wonder if he doesn't think it's a retirement plan. Let me know fellas if I should crack the piggy bank and take the bait!!! I think a 392 would be bitchin for my 31 coupe. Jared

 

thought I read that this was a HAMBer, or a guy that a HAMBer knew that had around 40 Hemis for a retirement stash........

$3,000, hmmmmmm. Guess you have to decide how bad you want a Hemi car, doubt I'd pay that for just a core....... But to some people it's worth it, I know that

 

wow, I guess it depends on how deep your pockets are and if you're willing to cough up the cash for just a core...I'd think you could get a complete motor for that price...unless that's what you mean by a core...

 

I'm talking complete 392, no cracks, crank will clean at .010, good serviceable heads, A complete engine that is guaranteed to be rebuildable with no parts chasing besides bearings and the usual machining. Still too much?

 

This fellow is not related to the HAMB at all.

 

I guess that helps bring the price a little more reasonable, but just think of those 800+ dollar sets of forged high compression pistons...and all the nickel and dime shit like gaskets and seals and such...that could become a very expensive motor, unless you're going with all stock...

 

I think $3000 is close to what there going for but i think its alittle high for me. You can find them cheaper. Try Hotheads Hemi swap site people advertise them all the time. Personally I wouldn't go for the 392 for a coupe. I would try to find a baby hemi or a 330/331. The 392 is alot bigger than these and is way too much torque for a 2200 Ib car. I'm running a Dodge 270 Red Ram Hemi with triple dueces in my 31 pickup that im building and that will be plenty. It only takes a mild cam and 10:1 pistons to easliy get over 1 hp per cubic inch in a Hemi. Also like Johnny said they aren't cheap and the bigger they are the more they like to break things!!!!!! You'll definitly run into clearance issues with the big boy too! Good luck I hope I helped!

 

"The 392 is alot bigger than these and is way too much torque "

are you even alowed to say too much torque on the hamb? i thought that was against the rules?

 

The guy has smaller hemi's also. Thanks for the heads up. I have a hi horse race/street car and I'm pretty over the hassle. I want the coupe to be streetable. 330 -400 is PLENTY of power for the coupe.

 

seems kinda high ...but i'm just a cheap skate...haha i gave 300 and 350 for my 2 354's....and one was a running genuine stolen piece.....but thats another story for another day .......the last one i bought was apart....and has some stuck rings.....i figure on a low side it was going to cost me atleast 2000 bucks to do a mild rebuild ......best bet.....go looking for a old running 4 door chrysler....brandon

 

I'd suggest a 270 Dodge or a 331 chrysler (maybe even the 330 Desoto, I'm not sure on parts availability for those though)...I've got a 331 Chrysler going into my '40 plymouth gasser and it'll be plenty for me once I'm done with the motor, but I did lose a lot of the "fun factor" when I ordered stock cast pistons last night instead of the 10:1 pistons I had been planning on...oh well, I'll just have to make due with the 9:1 C/R 354 pistons I ordered and make up the difference in power with the cam and intake and gearing...

 

I would say that $3k is just about the going price for a coplete 392 these days. I would also say that it is a price I personally would not pay. The smaller Hemi's can run in the $500 range. They have less aftermarket support, but I think that they would be more than enough for your project.

 

yeah, there are a few running 51-55 chryslers out there that can be had for $1500+, and you can even make money by parting the damned car out and keep the hemi...I said 51-55 chrysler because those were the 331's and early 354's...hell, the dodge red rams are pretty "common" as well in cheap vehicles as long as you buy the whole works...

 

i think that you should PM me with this guy's address and/or directions to his house. i think that if i saw it, even under the cover of darkness, i could really determine if its worth that much. does he keep all 40 hemis stored at one place?


gonna need a bigger truck

 

In the real world, when you find them, cores are usually around $800.00 to 1600.00. I've seen a few recently sell for 1200.00 to 1800.00. A block, when you find a good one is usually 750.00 to 1000.00 , heads are still relatively cheap, don't count valves as any money as they're only 180.00set new, non-adjustable rocker arm sets aren't that much, use adj. pushrods, you're never going to buy a core with adj. rocker sets anyway, the person selling will have switched them out. Good cranks are usually 500.00-600.00....everything else you just buy new. You more than likely won't use the stock intake that comes on a core, and they're dirt cheap anyway, so why pay for that ? or the stock Ex. manifolds, so that doesn't leave you buying much of anything useable besides head cores, rocker arms set, crank, rods, and block....for 3K ? not me. I just paid 750.00 for a fresh bored .030 block, 500.00 for a fresh .10/.10 crank, 400.00 for 555 heads, bought a set of rods for 100.00 from another source, 75.00 for a good rebuildable rocker arm set. Buying a new flywheel anyway. You'll need to bore it, so getting pistons and pins in a core situation is worthless. I'm just saying, if you buy a core for 3K, disassemble it and make a "useable/rebuildable" pile, and a "junk, but I paid for it because I bought a whole motor" pile....you'll be sick at all the stuff you won't be using or that is marginal and you're going to go ahead and replace anyway. Even if it came carb to pan and fan to flywheel, with exhaust manifolds, and you took the whole thing and dropped it off at the machine shop and wanted to go pick it up all painted and new, ready to drop in......you'd still be flabbergasted at what all you paid for in the 3K core that was just junk. Just because it's all there doesn't mean it useable or worth anything. You only need a block, heads, crank & rocker arms, buy everything else new. Just my .02

ps: A LOT of the blocks are cracked, pitted cyls. from water on top of the pistons for years, to where they have to be sleeved, etc. I would suggest not buying ANY old hemi that was ever in an area where it gets cold enough to ever have frozen. The ones that are left, that haven't been through the drag race mill, have been sitting neglected for years now in barns and old Chry's out in fields, etc....90% of them were left at some point with old water or something freezable in them, or water got down the carb & froze, etc. Anyone telling you they're selling you a gauranteed rebuildable good core without it being disassembled & checked isn't doing you any favors. What if he tells you it's rebuildable because it only needs 4 sleeves, or only needs welded, or pinned, or stitched, etc...?

 

I'll post the dude's number after I get what I want, if I don't , I'll post it anyhow. What kind of power is available from a built 331?

 

I think before id risk it for 3grand id save up and buy a done one from paw because after the 3grand you have alot of parts and machine work that can add up quick.Or find a industrial 331 runner cheap,swap cam and intake and go with it.

 

Thanks a million steel coupes, man you type well.

 

I'll gaurantee one thing, if you don't get hung up on the "392" thing, you'll do way cheaper going 354 or even 331. They're way more available and easier to find, and a lot of the parts are cheaper...but still have the same visual impact, and will scoot a light car very well. When it comes to 392's, you're competing with the whole world, all the drag racers, nostalgia drag racers, nostalgia builders, etc. And the thing is, these people have been hunting, hoarding, building, racing, blowing them up and hunting replacements for 40+ years now....when you think about it, it's amazing theres even any left.

 

man-a-fre, that's great advice...for 6k you can get a very well built 392 from PAW...I don't see any HP or Torque numbers listed in their catalog, but I'm guessing with the setup they're selling it's going to be quite good...

 

$6000 for a comp ready to party 92? Yes 3000 must be overpriced.

 

Just as a FYI (Though I know alot of you are not from Florida nor can or will get down here) The last Daytona Spring fling (as well as the Daytona Turkey run right before that) There were rebuilt hemi's all over the place (well I wouldnt say all over the place, prob about 5 of em ranging from 331's to 392's) all but one were in crank it up and run it before you buy it stands and were pulling down (at the low end $3500 to the high end $5100 for the rebuilt 392 with a bunch of goodies and old skool dress) As far as I know, none of em sold

 

My 270 was a poly motor that came with all the pieces to make it a Hemi. It also came with a original Offy 3x2 intake. I bought mine with everything for $500 bucks. With a mild rebuild (no major porting) I will have about $3000 or so into rebuilding it. It will pump out about 300 hp. So if you pay $3000 for just a 392 you have to sink another 3-4 grand to rebuild it. $7000 grand No thanks!!!!! The little Hemi's are still very available cheap and have the same impact.

 

Find youself a 55 331 industrial they got the tripple 5 heads and somtimes adjustable rockers and can be bought fairly reasonable try and find them that are running on propane thats what ive been buying, all of them ive aquired on propane have very little wear and are like new.All the Marine hemis ive seen had adjustable rockers also so if some of them spring up buy the covers rockers pushrods and lifters for the cups..

 

SUUUURE, now you tell me...I just ordered a set of their cast 354 pistons...what kind of problems have you had with their stuff? PM me if you don't want everyone to hear it...

 

Sawracer, Go to this site http://www.rodandcustommachines.com/
They built me a killer 354 hemi about 4 years ago. It's shown on their site under Car Projects (Jim Pullen). I went to TN and saw their operation which includes state of the art CNC high performance hemis and parts. They only build hemis. Nice folks too. (I think 3K is tooooo high) By the time you rebuild it you will easily have twice that amount in it.

 

I have a Dodge 270. I think the 1956 Poly blocks were the only ones with cast-in motor mounts. All three of my cores (took 3 to make 1) were 1955 hemi's, and none had cast-in motor mounts. Speed equipment is whatever hot heads sells. Not much. It took me 3 years to find a cast-iron 4-bbl manifold. Two years to find some spark plug tubes. The Dodges are neat, but its hard to find parts. Then when you do, they want an arm and a leg. For example, you can buy Dodge spark plug tubes for about $100 a set, but you have to really wait around and dig for the reasonable $40 price. I finally bought some 10:1 ross pistons on eBay. They were a wierd size (.050 over) but a steal at $300. Took me a couple of years to find those.

I guess what I'm getting at, the dodge is a nice motor, but the 331 and 354 can be a done deal in less than a year, and speed parts are everywhere.

Just got my heads from the machine shop, so hopefully this weekend I'll have the motor put together. It's been about 4 years since I decided to build one.

I don't know what certified good core means, but it scares the hell out my wallet Certified by who? A bank deposit?

 

Certified basically means he will have the motor tore down and inspected by a machinist and it will be good to go. If not he is well within my reach to make it right. Jared