An ad popped up on Kijiji a few weeks ago for a 354 Hemi block about five hours away, I bought it for $100 from a woman selling it for her dad. Turns out she was headed to my area for thanksgiving so she brought it for me and I got it home today. Upon decoding the number on it it turns out to be a 341 Desoto block, the cam and lifters are still in it. Oh well I’ve spent $100 on stupider stuff and I can say I have an early Hemi…sort of…
Dual quads from an Adventurer will fit. I don't think I'd use it as the basis for a build, though. Too many hard to find parts are needed. Unless you had a complete 341 with a bad block to use along with it to make one good engine.
My thoughts exactly. Desoto parts are hard to come by here, it’s a ‘57 295 horse four barrel engine. If I had the whole thing I’d build it. It did come with one piston and rod and exhaust manifolds.
Actually, you have a decent start. Do you have the main caps? Those would be important. I'd suggest keeping the cam with the block so that if you decide to sell it the cam might be the kicker. The 330 and 341 are stout performers with a decent cam profile and 10:1 cr.
One of the 'problems' that most independent grinders face is that the rough cast area between lobes will limit lift and duration unless it is also ground down. I set up a machine just for this operation. The fat core is common on all Dodge and DeSoto cams.
Start looking,,,,you will be surprised how many parts are around for the DeSoto engine . The cam is the important thing,,,,,you need a core at least to be able to do a regrind . Read up in these engines,,,,,,the low deck part’s mostly interchange with each other . The high deck heads will fit the low deck . The high deck parts are mostly only for the high deck . The high deck cranks are all the same ,,,,, difference in cu in was the bore . The high deck rods are the same,,,,, the heads are the same . These engines run very well when hopped up,,,,like Gary said . You need higher compression,,,,,,Ross can supply that easily ! Stock compression can be supplied by Egge or other sources ,,,whichever you choose . Hotheads has an enormous supply of parts for these engines . I think they even have a new intake for the high deck,,,,,,it has a removable top . It’s not listed on the web site,,,,you have to call them . I have seen many parts for sale for the 330,,,,,pretty much identical stuff to your application . I’m fairly certain they even have the same forging numbers ? Tommy
Id get it tanked and what ever to see if its any good as far as cracks or other issues before spending another dime . It possibly got robbed of almost all of it parts for a reason . keep a eye on market place and craigs list they pop up from time to time I saw one in WI not to long ago that was pretty complete .
@Desoto291Hemi Tommi, it’s the shipping that’ll kill me for parts, I will likely hot tank it and give it a good look and add it to my collection and see if I stumble across parts for it
I try to not focus on the actual freight costs anymore, rather, what will 'it' cost when 'it' is at my door. Sometimes freight costs can be a bargaining tool.
This is true, I have a 331 waiting for me that will get built first. Like I said I’ll probably clean this up and put it away and see what happens.
Let the parts gathering begin... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/n-o-s-hemi-desoto-rods.1303031/
Close but.....no. Those rods are for a 276-291.\....well gotta edit this. The c to c is 276-291 but the big end bore is for the 330-341 I'll guess that they are still 'new' because they were made for some bastard setup. Frakenrod. Who knows, they might work in something....
I have a line on some parts. I did see those rods but quickly determined they were not what I was looking for
DeSoto all take a .924 pin ,,,,the low deck are 2.188 I.d.bore,,,the high deck are 2.3755 I.d. . Those rods in the sale add are the length of a short deck DeSoto,,,,,but take a pin and I.d. Of a Chrysler 331,354 . I’m not sure what they are for . Tommy
Try pirateship.com I just compared a quote to ship a seat. $600 for FedEx as a walk in customer. $488 FedEx with an account. $287 pirateship What a difference
I have been looking for an affordable hemi for about 40 years. Never even ran across one. However in that time I have found at 3different times and locations a single hemi head laying in the street like they fell off the back of a junk truck. One was broken in 1/2, one had the deck surface tore up really bad from sliding along the highway and one had a corner missing.
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