Can't Figure Out Which Motor I Want To Go With? 394 Olds Or 354 Hemi! Please Help Also To Note Is I Plan On Putting A Blower On It. Any Info
In what kind of car is it going to be installed. That can matter on the choice of engine. Model A's are pretty narrow in the firewall. You can put a hemi in one but it gets pretty tight especially if you are going to run a full hood. Dueces are a little wider so the hemi isn't such a squeeze, but its still tight. Later model Fords get bigger in the engine compartment but the firewalls start to interfere with the engine. Parts for an engine rebuild might be a problem. Look at the costs of rebuilding for both. Some are going to less available than others and therefore more expensive. The hemi's are getting more and more popular so parts availability is better. Blower maniford? Start looking now. Some of the guys here will have more experience with blowers and the shops who know how to set them up. Blower drives also increase the engine length so squeezing either one in a Model A gets real tight. Hope this helps. Phil
394 Olds motors are very high compression, they require premium gas from stock, in fact I think the air cleaners say "Ultra High Compression Super Rocket" I'll have to pop the hood on my Olds and wipe the crud off of it to make sure. I'm no expert but from what I know about superchargers, the engines they are run on are generally low compression, because the superchargers create higher compression/atmospheric pressure and they'll tear up an already high comp. motor. Somebody else can chime in here but I think that the Olds might not be a good basis for a supercharged motor. I would think the Hemi would be much easier to get an intake for a supercharger for also, but I could be wrong.
How much power are you looking to make? Do you plan on running pump gas? Here's a good 12 page tech article on superchargers including a compression ratio chart. Puting a blower on a hemi is definately a tried and true method of making good power. You might have a hard time finding a manifold for the Olds motor. http://www.holley.com/data/TechService/Technical/Supercharger%20Tech%20Info.pdf
Thank You Steve, I Would Like To See About 400 Hp If Possible Or More Yes It Will Be On Pump Gas And For Street Use Mainly
400hp is easy. You can do that without having to do any special machine work. I'd look at low compression dish forged pistons. Try PAW, they have a good amount of hemi parts or if you want to try used ones you could try doing a search on www.racingjunk.com . I'd try and run 6# of boost or 8#. Anything less thatn 6# and it will not help any, infact it may hurt performance because you've just added 100# of weight to the motor and the 2-4# of boost won't make up for it. I'm not sure if they made diferent CC size heads for the 354 hemi but if they did look for the larger CC heads to help lower compression ratio. Because of the added stress on the bottom end, make sure you build the short block very well, use good bearings main bolts or studs, rod bolts, and rings set up to handle forced induction. I'd buy a blower cam over a stock cam. I personally use Crower cams in everything and I highly recommend them. I'd also buy the matched cam package as well that'll typically include springs, lifters, etc. You might want to also look at a decent set of rods. I always add 20% to my HP estimate and buy rods that can handle that, i.e. you're looking for 400hp, try buying rods that the manufacturer has certified to 480hp. The last thing you want to do is spend this kind of money and throw a rod.
Talk to Bob Walker @ hot heads(hothemiheads.com). Also Tex Smith's hemi book (hot rod library) has a chapter on blown hemis. Has the WOW factor locked up!
Thank You All For All Of Your Inputs I Greatly Appreciated All Inputs Also Would It Be Ok To Run A Multi-carb Set Up On It Or Run Multi-carb Without Blower
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