Hello Fellow HAMB'ers: I have a chance to buy a complete 1957 Dodge KD500 -- 325 cubic inch hemi engine (no car). It will need a rebuild but the block, heads, and crank are all usable. What is a fair price for this engine? Thanks for in advance for your opinions.
There have been some threads lately about the cost of rebuilding these old hemis, its not cheap. But they ARE cool!
Start at $300, and stop at $400. There's a million Dodge Hemis out there, and about 99 of them are rebuildable
IMHO if you get it for $400., and it's sound and rebuildable, it's a steal. There are lots of Dodge hemis out there, but very few 325's. Mostly 241's and 270's. I bought one a couple of years ago and paid over a grand. Standard crank and bore. Got lucky. Wanted a reliable street motor. Bored it .030, H beam rods, forged pistons w/ 9 to 1 compression, 3/4 cam, windage tray, dual quads (wcfb's)headers balanced, MSD ignition. Made just over 300 HP on the dyno. Used a quartermaster 7 1/4" clutch/flywheel setup with organic lining and a Tremec 5 speed. Though more expensive than a Chevy, they're something different and a cool period piece. Go for it.
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