241 HEMI, Enough hp for a real hotrod?

I got this 54 Dodge a few months back and I have plans to make a custom out of it. It came with a 241 Hemi and a powerflight trans. Well, this last weekend I was helping my friend work on his 31 roaster and it made me REALLY want a Hotrod. I also have a 360 that I could just throw in the 54 so it will cruise down the road reliably.

So will the 241 be big enough to make some decent power? It just seems so small compared to the average 350 in most rods. The car will most likely be a 33-34 Plymouth coupe on deuce rails.

It already came with a NOS ISKY cam (No clue on the specs). I'm thinking some higher compression pistons and some kind of 3 or 4 carb intake. Nothing too radical, it's gonna get driven a lot. It will defiantly have some kind of 5 speed manual trans.

I would be stoked if it could manage some high 13 to low 14 sec passes at the HAMB drags.

Opinions? Remarks? Bashings? Go for it, I will be busy trying out the new search function doing some more research.

Thanks!

 

Found the Intake that I want. Fucking sweet looking.

 

Model A's are pretty light, and a lot of "real" hot rods were built with the Ford 4 banger. Depends on how real you want to be and how much you have to spend on moderate power. Would look good,though.

 

alright im gonna do the best i can to give you the low down and my opinion. i drive a 1954 dodge coronet with a 241 and three two's and the powerflite 2spd daily. i really mean daily. ive got holly 94's on it and a progressive linkage setup. thats the ticket as the intakes can be bought new from offy. and 94's are better suited for my daily habbit. i run a stock 7.0:1 compression ration and ive never had problems with ethenol in the gas or anything like that. i put the cheapest shit i can find in the tank. the cam is a stock grind that was good enough to be put back in, hydraulic flat tappit. the motor was taken out .040 to clean up. and to be honest. it actually makes decent power for being under 250 ci.. it pushes a 4800ish pound car decently and im not driving like grandma ive had that motor in first gear going 55mph probably spinning 6500, unbalanced and no damper, they are seriously tougher than i though. the advantage with a 241 is in the rotating mass of the engine. it'll spin fast because of the smaller crank weight and size, rods are smaller as well compared to the bigger hemis. and with the valves being very small as well the thought of valve float goes out the window as far as im concerned.

In my opinion the best thing to do to hop up a 241 is to work on flow. a good set of headers with a collector. maybe port and polish with some slightly bigger valves (look at desoto hemi sizes and length) bore is enough to clean up. higher comp pistons for these motors will run big bucks so if you can get away with the stock flat toppers do it. maybe reuse the old ones if they are good. another advantage is that with flat top pistons you can put in a pretty big cam and not have the valves hit the piston. the oiling system can be helped by simply just going though the old pump and checking it out how warn it is or isnt and put in a high pressure spring. the rockers need to be taken compleately apart and cleaned very well, lots of little holes that if plugged with cause big problems.

thats about all i can think of right now. they will make good motors is done right. i plan on running one at the salt in a streamliner soon. after the slingshot is done. any more Q's just ask. peace.

 

O man I LOVE high revin engine's too. I have heard that the cranks like to break on these. Is there any precautions that I should take with that?

My dad's friend has built a 325 Dodge Hemi a few years back so I'm planning on learning from his mistakes. That should make it a lot easer and hopefully I can save some cash. Man these things are expensive!

 

To get the kind of torque that will make the car fun to drive, I'd guess that
1-5/8th inch tubing for headers would be the way to go. And the progressive throttle setup. Nice choice if done right.

 

Honestly 300hp for 5k sounds reasonable. ( I can't believe I just said that!) How do I get it there?

 

I can handle that part!

I will get everything magnufluxed...as of right now it is locked up and kinda rusty.

 

Worked for me

 

I built a 241 i have not ran it yet but I;m getting there.
they are very expensive, i spent just as much on my sbc 350 street strip motor. I built mine for a 36 truck I have. I will be using a muncie 4 speed to get down the road.

 

Dude, you machined a head for a Plymouth flat four by HAND and now your showing me this! You are a true hot rodder and my hero. That thing has to be crazy fun.

 

Don't be afraid of that little 'ol 241. It can make 250 hp easy and 300 is not unheard of. Although the stroke is only 3.25" it makes considerable torque and should haul a 2500 lb rod with ease.
It will take $5k easy and you can spend more. We have rebuilt many of the 241-270 and in modest trim levels they are real sweet. On all 241-270 engines (and others) I use a late style dampener. No dampener equals broken cranks!
For a nice base street package I suggest a starting point of 9:1 compression, .400"-.420" cam lift and about 200* @ 0.050. Next step would be a little bigger cam, 10:1, electronic ign, roller t-chain, small tube headers, bigger valves, extrude hone, better con rods....There are plenty of rods with small v-8's and for 'cool' factor, the RedRam is the top of the heap.
Do lots of searching and ask lots of questions. PM if ya want some hand holdin'.

 

That picture of my '31 American Austin was taken in '63 or 4. That was me on the lower right picture. '31 pickup cab on T rails with a '49 Olds rear end, A front, '49 Ford 3 speed. I started the car with a Crager 4 in '59 went in the Army came back and went in with Larry and his Dodge. '53 241 Jahans cast 10 to 1 pistons, Hilborn after we went through 4 97s and 6 94s. Schifer mag. I think Winfield ground the cam. Have you seen my Packard V8 powered Vega? Or the 270 powered 32 five window that replaced the Austin?

 

No, I'm sure everyone would love to see it. Just post it in this thread.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

The cost of adapters to more recent transmissions, starters, distributors, and fuel pumps is enough to rebuild a stock 350 chevy that doesn't need any adapters. If you wanna go fast, go chevy. If you wanna go fast and look good, go big chrysler.

As mentioned before, rebuild cost is the same as a bigun. Don't be lured in by the hemi mystique, it's still only 241 cubes and at risk of being trounced by a GMC 6.

good luck

 

270 GMC in '32. Plymouth with Y block Ford head. Packard in Vega. I like to have fun. Screw the box. Don't forget we are looking at 49 years of cars here and with the Austin. Thought I'd include the 354 Hemi Lark from '68 or so and my current driver Lark with 383 sbc

 

Go to www.webrodder.com - there is a very detailed series of build articles on the Dodge hemi. This is on Doc Frohmader's personal engine. An absolute must read if you want to get into the nitty gritty.

 

Okay, my only question is what do you have to do to a '54 Dodge to make it weigh 4800 lbs? Factory shipping weight was around 3400 lbs.. add 300 or 400 lbs for fluids and you in the car and you're still 1000 lbs off from that figure.

I mean, maybe it's a typo, but maybe you have '59 Caddy fins entirely sculpted from lead on it, too. I just wondered.

 

Im dumb. I kept wondering who you know with a 31 roadster.

 

daheert.

 

I could also do that with the 360 I have but, it's just not the same. BTW, I don't think a 14 sec pass in a fairly light 30's coupe is considered fast at all.

 

I totally agree on the "fast" thing, but when I hear somebody stoked that their ride might do high 13s, it usually indicates an owner that won't be happy in the 13s for too long. Maybe that's not you, sorry if I read more into it.

If nothing else watch what they trade for rebuilt, the biguns hold the rebuild cost a lot better than the little ones. Should you ever sell/trade the car or just the engine, the big hemi would be the one to have. A stock 331/354 would be an easy driving machine. good luck either way.

 

Shifty make some good points, remember that with any engine it is all about cubic dollars......I am sure that many of us have spent waaaay too much on any given engine without noticable difference. It all comes down to having what you want and can afford. A bunch of factory crate engines (from all 3) can be had for $6k or less...but then all ya got is 'just another small block' something and that is why it is nice to hear about someone, like you, who thinks outside of the box (crate).
If you and your bank account are happy, screw the choir.

 

Here is my 241 in a 1935 Ford tudor Sedan..My engine has only 450 miles on it and it get faster everytime I drive it..I happy with the engine the speed and the LOOKS..
Duane.

 

I'm really not that much of a drag racer at all. In fact, this is the highest horsepower engine that I've ever owned! Even in it's stock formation.

If I want to go really fast I can just hop on a motorcycle that runs 11's stock off the showroom floor.

Shifty, thanks for your input... I like seeing the otherside of the argument as well.

 

I'm really liking the look of those Austins. Cool stuff you got there.