Excellent motor. Has adjustable rockers and a solid lifter cam. Heads are slightly inferior to the 325 heads but can be brought up to specs. Very desirable motor. Will not make the power of a 331/354/392 but weigh less and are smaller physically. They fit in a 32 with clearance to the radiator but the hood won't close!
It's a good motor, if it's not all rusted together. Usually you need more than one to get enough parts to build it back up. People ran 30 weight non-detergent oil, and leaded gas in these things, and generally drove the dump-truck into the ground. They respond to the usual machine shop work. Parts like pistons are generally more expensive. I think hot heads has a cam exchange.
Just want to clarify most Dodge 315 hemis do NOT have adjustable rockers and solid cams. The adj. rockers and solid cams only came in the hi performance models. Most are 2 barrel and hydraulic cam engines. These are a good basis for a hot rod engine. It would be a wise idea to consider during a rebuild to add a harmonic balancer to the engine as they did not come from the factory with one and this fact led to many of the crankshafts being cracked.
is there a link or something i can get to find the different years...most sites show a d-500 and then a d 500-1...trying to figure out what numbers would be after the d 500-??????????.....or do all the hotter d-500-1 not go past the 1..as in d-500-2..sounds confusing to me also is there somewhere to find the dimensions of these???????
The car hemi 315's were all 4 bbl solid lifter engines. The dump truck engines were 2 bbl hydraulic versions. I have a car one. All 55 and later V8's had side motor mounts.
Sorry, not true. Go Here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121000&highlight=hemi+tech&page=2 second page, post #26 Yes, the cams can be reground; (we do that) Yes, you will need adj pushrods; Solid lifter cams really need adj rockers not adj pushrods; Everything else is basic hotrod stuff. .
Not true back at you. 315 poly engines were available 2 bbl but not the hemi in a p*** car. D44.......1953....... 241....... Red-Ram ....... 2-bbl D48.......1953....... 241....... Red-Ram ....... 2-bbl D50.......1953....... 241....... Red-Ram ....... 2-bbl D55.......1953....... 270....... Red-Ram ....... 2-bbl D55.......1955....... 270....... Super Red-Ram....... 4-bbl D56.......1955....... 270....... Super Red-Ram....... 4-bbl D500......1956.......315....... 4-bbl D500......1956.......315....... Power-Pack....... dual 4-bbl KD500....1957......325....... 4-bbl KD500....1957......325....... Power-Pack....... dual 4-bbl D501..... 1957.......354....... Chrysler engine....... dual 4-bbl 315 D500 was the only hemi offered. It was 4bbl and solids.
We will simply have to disagree. If solids were used on so many engines, what happened to all of the adj rockers??? .
Some charts show only 4 & 2X4 for high deck Dodges, but, '56 315-2V in Royal & custom Royal, '57 & '58 325-2V in Coronet, Royal, Sierra, Suburban
Better check parts availablity first. A freind has one in his '32 pickup and it has turned out to be a VERY expensive mistake. He chose it because it's slightly shorter than a Chrysler hemi. Good blocks are extremely rare and expensive, cams are virtually non-existant, unless you know a machinist, good luck getting most of the Hot Heads stuff to work. Even mundane parts like bearings are very, very tough to find. Places like Egge Machine who have stuff for everything, have a hard time supplying parts. I know someone out there is gonna dispute everything I say, but having done a bunch of machine work on various parts on this motor and listening to my freinds problems (one right after the other), you could get two Chryslers for the same price.
For camshaft work, I've used Bokan Brothers in Sacramento before. They have the grinds for all the old engines. I think I found them out of some old Car magazine. Very fast work, no pain, and it was less than $60 with shipping back in 2004.
A hemi Dodge D500 is the equivalent to a FI Chevy p*** car. Most made were poly motors. The hemi was a rarely ordered optional engine. The poly made near as much power and was cheaper = sold. If there was a engine code for a 315 Dodge p*** car hemi that is not D500, I would like to know it.
Correction: '55s were 270 and did not have side motor mounts - the only small Mopar low block that did was the '56 Plymouth poly. As far as I am aware the 1956 D500 heads (315) and the 1957 KD 500 (325) heads are the same - this appears to be one of the errors in Ron Ceridono's hemi book.
Besides mispelling Tony Capanna's name wrong on the first couple of pages. I often wonder why they never update that book. It really is old now, and can do with a refresh.
anyone ever buy one of these rebuild kits off evil bay???????? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodg...c0.m245&_trkparms=65:12|39:1|72:1205|240:1318
The description says 'picture by Packard Ind' or some such...this is the wholsale arm of Kanter so you can guess where the parts are coming from. Not bad parts, just not inexpensive. Shop around, packages don't always give the flexibility you may want/need. my .02 .
...not real sure what the issue is here...The D-500 is the 315 Hemi engine code, the Poly code is D63-2 or D63-3. If you have definitive production numbers for any of the 50's engines that allow you to state that "most made were poly motors" please bless us with the numbers. Oh, please don't compare 50's Mopar to late model throw-away shiverlays. .
Sent Ceradonno an email asking if they intended to fix the errors. The reply indicated no knowledge of errors except the one about deck height that comes as an add on corection with the book. Occurs to me now that I never wrote back saying he needs to check some of the threads talking about the errors.
...Oh, there are errors...I'm surprised Ron hasn't had this conversation many times in the years since the book was released. At this point I must admit my guilt in not contacting Ron along time ago to mention errors. One problem is that sending material to the printer is kinda like a bullet leaving the gun...you can't issue a 'recall'... The basic info in the book is good, but like the internet, 'trust but verify'. .
cams are virtually non-existant, Yup - there are many places that will re-grind but you still need a good core with good journals and nose. Only 315 & 325 (hemi or poly) cores will work (not 241, 259, 270 or other hemis). The hemi cam is slightly larger than the poly and probably can be re-ground to slightly hotter specs. Some hi-deck Dodge factory cams: Model Int. Exh. Overlap 1956 D500-1 315 hemi optional 284° 284° 69° 1956 D500-1 315 hemi 280° 270° 60° 1957 D500 325 hemi 256° 256° 38° 1956 325 hemi 252° 252° 30° 1957 325 poly 248° 252° 26° 1956 315 poly 244° 244° 26°
You are absolutely correct. I had a brain fade and meant to say 56. The 57 heads are a little different than the 56 heads. The 56 heads still have a little bump around the intake guides. The 57 heads have a smooth roof with no bump. The guide just sticks down into the port. The heads have different casting numbers.
so then the bacis difference between the 2 versions of the 315 is adj rockers, solid cam verus hyd and no adj rockers...and of course the 4bbl and 2 bbl...but otherwise everthing else is the same/interchangeable??????looking at a running 315 2 bbl for $1600, and that includes a gm style standard shift adapter...lacking the 2 bbl is only yhting missing...looking at just throwing on a different manifold and going 4bbl....any tips ?????
OK ...I'm jump'n in...My Folks bought a 1956 Custom Sierra station wagon with the D-500 Hemi option and it did not have adjustable rocker arms. They bought it from H.J. Carouso's...Any body out there remember him???
You forgot about the 315 industrial and truck motors which had adjustable rockers. Also, the 56 D-500 was a solid lifter motor and had adjustable rockers. My project for my 38 is a 57 325 but we found a set of Gotha Dodge adjustable rockers. They're much stronger than the stock rockers.
I have a 315 truck hemi that I just threw some headers and an offy 2 4 intake on. stock cam, pistons, heads. runs good. not enough power for me but then again their is no a drag strip on every street here. put a better intake on your 315 and run it until you can buy new pistons and cam. bob at hot heads told me that swappping the 7-1 pistons to more compression like a d-500 would make a huge difference even if I keep the same cam. Even if my 314 has 140 hp it looks like it has 500
Anybody notice this thread was over 2 years old? I'll reiterate here what 73RR said, most of the 315's did not have solid cams and adjustable rockers, including truck and industrial applications. I believe most of the truck engines were 2v hydraulic cam set ups, so no adjustable rockers. And, like the Chrysler Industrial's, just because the valve covers are dimpled does not mean it has adjustable rockers. I happen to have a truck 315 that has dimpled covers, a hydraulic cam, non-adjustable rockers, and a 2v carb...
It is a all-too-common problem Bryan, FNG's just don't look at the posting dates. Give them points for using the search, but..... .
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