Stock Hemi not that expensive stock parts , Aftermarket $$$ unless years of searching for deal on Vintage speed parts , The Reality is Hemi only eye candy unless High compression & Rpms In a No power adder only Naturally Aspirated use / form. Hemi on Alky, Nitro , Nos, Blower,turbo Different story .. Jenkins killed the Hemi dynasty With SBC around 1972 ish Pro Stock , MOPAR made come back in 90's Only because Hidden Nitrous witch most top 5 of the Bands where doing , Just the 2 team MOPAR's where better in there tunning with. Let move forward to modern time when NHRA Pro Stock went to Efi with Max Rpm restriction Rule , This is why MOPAR pulled out MOPAR needed more R's to be compe***ive
I'm a chevy guy but since it's your money to spend I voted for the hemi, can't argue that the hemi outshines the chevy in the looks department. I would cut the the hood sides just enough for the valve cover to poke through, to me that looks better and more aggressive than the blister.
Do something crazy and different. Stick a Ford in that Ford of yours. No one will see it coming. It will blow people’s minds.
^This. I tend to Fordism but you cannot argue with the logic. Adding: I don't know what the OP does with the car but if it'll be used for cross-country, long trips it's a no-brainer. Plus there's the budget.
I guess I missed the part of a budget. I live in a small town of 50,000 and I bet I can drive through all the alleys and side streets and see at least 100 dead Chevy's with gr*** growing up the wheels and sides of the cars/trucks. Bet I can't find one Mopar with a Hemi in it. Maybe the push rods and rocker arms got delayed or sent to the desert by mistake.
Not sure what your point is. Of course you see more chevs. There were many millions with SBCs in them built and that's why even I in Europe can reasonably quickly and cheaply get bits for them. With Hemis, not so much, and the budget for building one will need to be far higher. If the owner has it and does not care about any of this, fine. He asked for an opinion and I posted mine lol.
If the sbc is in place and running, you leave it there and drive the thing. If you want to finish the hemi go ahead, by then you know if the sbc should stay or not.
You have to remember that the 50's Chrysler, DeSoto and Dodge cars were not always equipped with a Hemi. And none of those brands were a leader in their sales category, so there's not a lot of them around now. . . . and it's been about 68 years since any of them were manufactured.
Using your logic, I guess that a BMW Isetta must be the most reliable car in the world, because I NEVER see one of them lying in an alley or in someone's yard.
The logic is that if these Chevy's are so ****ing easy and cheap to get parts for, why are they broke down all over the place? Why don't people fix them with the cheap and easy parts all over the place? For your example why don't you use a car that that only made one of and made in Europe? They made around 100,000 Hemi's from 1951-1958 and another 10,495 426 Hemi's from 1964-1971. How many BMW Isetta's were even imported to the US?
If ya ain’t breaking your car ya ain’t beating it hard enough. Just kidding but I don’t know why you can’t build a HEMI to be reliable. Carry normal wear items in a box in the trunk things like ignition,WP , starter , minor items that may fail on a road trip and not be readily available. Even some of the SBC stuff isn’t as available at parts houses as it used to be. Build and run what trips your trigger!!! Dan
T. Turtle already attempted to explain your flawed logic to you but, apparently, you just want to be argumentative. If you really can't understand why there are more Chevrolets lying around than 70 year old Chrysler hemi cars, then you're not worth anyone's time.
Thank you, from taking the time from looking for the directions on a roll of toilet paper, for the response.
I think @j0ebeer is still in the men's reading opinions, but been there so long his legs fell asleep and he can't get up
I have a Hemi and ill be honest if I ever get in my truck and running im going to baby it a hell lot more than I would a SBC . With a SBC im not going to really worry much spinning it to 6000 RPM or more do burn outs , do a track day , beat on it and drive it like a hot rod . It's easly replaceable . Sure a Hemi can be driven hard and all that but at what cost if and when things go wrong ?? Blow up your Hemi and its going to be expensive and much harder to repair ot replace vs a SBC that can have a short block replaced pretty damn cheap . If most here hurt there Hemi there going to be down a long time maybe a year or more unless they got another Hemi on hand . Realistically who can build up a another Hemi in say a year if starting from scratch on any type of limited budget ? I beat the **** out of the engine in my 28 Model A PU because I am really not scared of it blowing up and can replace it in a few days if it does and honestly to build a hemi to match my SBC in HP and extra to overcome the weight penalty id be looking at who knows how much ? $10,000 to build one thats going to spin the same RPM and make say 450HP ? Unless your rich and can build a serious performance hemi with out concern of breaking it the only reason your putting one in your car is looks . Its the only reason I'm putting one in my 30 A pu build and it will be 95% stock so im looking at maybe 250 HP and a lot more weight so other than looks im not gaining anything and going backward performance wise . It will not be remotely as fun to drive hard . A SBC might be boring to see but these days a 450 HP SBC that can go 6500 or more is easy and fairly cheap and 500HP is not that cost prohivative . I have never heard of anyone taking a hard run in anything 500 hp spinning 6000 or more as boring especially with a couple hundred pound weight advantage that helps handling and stopping when running hard. That all said the Hemi will always draw more attention and demand respect. Its why im also going through everything to get mine in something respectable. Im doing it for the looks and the cool factor . MY search for a decent aluminum aftermarket Hemi intake I can afford continues. The last one I found cost more than the entire SBC in my 57 vette LOL.
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