Hot Rods Let’s see some more overrated Hemis!

I don't have any pictures right now because I haven't learned how to move them over from my old tablet yet. You can see the engine in my avatar. I wanted to use a 291 DeSoto but after a year of searching and no luck. A friend of mine at work told me about an unknown hemi laying on his back patio that I could have for free! It was my first hemi project and a eye opener. I had no idea that early hemis were made out of that rare and expensive alloy known as unobtainium! It turned out to be a 354 from a 58 Dodge 2 1/2 ton truck. I used 56 354 passenger car heads on it, a Schneider 288/435 regrind from a 56 Imperial. It's punched out to 392 4 inch standard bore and uses Keith Black hyper pistons. I used a Hot Hemi heads highrise intake with a 670 Holley carb. After having it on the road since 2009 and 40k plus miles, it still runs 180° and 72 psi oil pressure. It's as dependable Lassie and pulls strong. Once I healed from the cost of the build (I could have built 3 Chevy 350s for what the parts cost). I am completely satisfied with the results. That thing will outlast me, easily. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! The castings and forgings are head and shoulders above any other American production engine and in 60 years of building all kinds of hot rod and race motors, I tip my hat to Chrysler for overbuilding what was generally a grocery getter and mundane transportation engine.

 

Still working on my 270 Hemi with a 4-71

 

What manifold is that?

 

The 3x2 manifold is from Imperial. The intake is an original Offy 4 bbl intake.

 

Emi-Sul and sp 250

 

I just chopped up an Offy 3x2 to make a pruned 4-71 manifold.