Projects 392 Hemi Build

I am in the process of starting a new 392 Hemi build that I will be building for my 32 Roadster project I will be starting soon. I will be doing a build thread on that project at some point soon. I am still wainting for the Ross pistons to come in but in the mean time, I want to send the heads to get machined while I get started on the block. The question I have is are the valves listed on the HotHeads website a good decent set? These are reasonably priced compared to other places. This engine will be a typical hot rod motor, nothing to wild. By that I mean, I intent to have about 9.5-1 CR to run on pump gas, a nice loppy cam, 6-duece set up with the Greadrive manifold and a T-5 manual transmission. I plan on runnig either a hydraulic or mechanical roller cam but I have not selected one yet. Will these valves provide good service or should a get another name brand that is more expensive? Any thoughts or comments are welcomed. Also, any recomendations on a cam selection would also be much appreciated.

Thank you for your help in advance.

 

Hot heads parts are very good quality,,,,don’t worry about the valves .
Also,,,,.HH carries many cam choices for the 392,,,,,might ask their recommendations .
Or,,,,if you have a good cam core,,,,,you could have your cam reground .
Schneiders does a great job,,,,good price too .
You can ask their advice,,,,tell them your intentions and they can help you .

And since you are using Ross pistons,,,you should have went to 10.5 on the compression .
The Hemis can run more CR and still be fine on pump gas .

Tommy

 

Thank you for the recommendation. The pistons I ordered are the Ross #99462 and they are listed for 9.5CR and 10.5CR on what I asssume is a listed head CC of 97 or 107 according to thier website. I have not been able to find any listing for factory CCs for the 392 hemi heads. I need to put the valves in the heads to measure the cc's of these heads. Does anyone know what the typical head cc's are on factory 392 heads? I'm okay with running more compression.

 

I love early Hemis. Dad and I have 3 Chrysler Hemis., two in the garage and a 392 in his coupe.
For camshafts we ran an Isky solid flat tappet gring B777 that ran decent. We are waiting for a hydrolic roller from Schnider that will be quite a bit stouter.
Personaly, i think your transmission choice isn't to good.If your going to drive hard, the T5 will brake. A decent built 392 Hemi will make more torque then that transmission can handle. Hell, 5.0 mustangs were breaking those back in the ninties.

 

Do you plan to use the factory rockers or aftermarket? Reason I ask is that is the fork in the road for the valvetrain side of things. You can go with a slightly longer valve to open up valve springs selection options but there is a height limitation for proper rocker geometry. I deal an awful lot with the valvetrain and cylinder head side of things with these engines. Also there is a national backorder on cam bearings right now if you don't already have some.

 

I have a 392 20 over running Aries pistons at 7 to 1....Running a 6-71 at 2% under....Have Hot Heads aluminum heads and Chrysler adjustable rockers with a Crane roller cam.....Specs out @ 525 lift on a 113 degree LSA with a 108 intake lobe angle set on a 110 degree centerline....I have a Creitz engineering gear drive for the cam...I use Hot Heads 4 tube headers which fit my 34 Ford great...The block was repaired by Lock and Stitch and it has 4 bolt Milodon main caps...Use the stock rods that have been shot peened and the beams polished with 990 Chevy pins...I would use Molnar aftermarket rods now...Dynoed at 610HP at 5800 RPM....Use 2 750 CFM Edelbrock carbs....And Mopar small block electronic distributor with an adapter...I am using a Chrysler 4 gear tranny with 3.73 geared Dodge suregrip rear end....

 

I think I bought the last of the cam bearings, and I had to wait a few weeks for those.

 

Thanks for the recommendations. Don't have the cam bearings yet but I'll look into those asap. I'm in no rush for the build, I've been waiting 5 months for the pistons and they are not scheduled to be available until the end of May anyways. I was planning on running adjustable push rods or I just may get my rocker arms converted. As for the tranny, I know those can't hold too much HP and torque, but considering its going to be in a 32 Roadster that will be rather light weight, I don't think it will be hooking up too much if and when I do get on it. However, this past weekend I did find a Mopar 4 speed cast iron and aluminum tranny I can easily pick up and have as an option for this combo.

402BOSSMAN, what do you recommend to use for valve train? I know you do a lot of Hemi stuff because I have seen it in you instagram.

 

Have someone clean the intake ports.
There are head bolt bosses that close off the intake port...right...at the worst part of the port...next to where the port opens into the bowl area.

Make them look like these -



Hmm...sorry, the web picture doesn't seem to want to stick around...

Mike

 

What you mean to say is the pushrod bosses not head bolt holes. I tube the pushrod holes in the majority of mine.

 

I would send the rockers over to Gary Patrick at Rocker Arms Unlimited and get him to convert them to adjustable. When he does that he can get you a slightly higher rocker ratio (1.48 to 1.56 ratio) and also change the shoe shape to help the geometry a little for longer valves. I have some valvetrain setups that work well for hydraulic rollers. I have roller lifters and usually custom grind the cam. I have a whole setup but it can get expensive. The nice thing is it's all shelf stock items and it's all lightweight using quality name brand parts. I also make a stock replacement type bronze valve guide that shrinks the stems down to 5/16. You can also email or give me a ring if you have more questions.

 

man!-were you shop foreman for ed pink?!

 

Stay away from that aluminum case tranny....It is really a 3 speed with an overdrive for the 4th gear...Not very strong for a performance tranny...

 

RAU handles my stuff, too.

Highly recommended.

 

Thanks Bossman and gimpyshotrods, I have spoken to Gary at RAU about converting these arms and also because I'm going to get a set of rockers arms for a Mopar RB build I'm also working on for a different project. I think I will be sending these arms to him to work his magic.

On a related topic, I've seen and read very conflicting opinions on inserting hardened valve seats to the heads. What are your opinions on this? Should I get them done or not? Do you do it just on the exhaust valve or also to the intake valve.

Again, this will be a hotrod with all street use. I do plan to use is often since we have hotrod driving weather 95% of the year.

Bossman, I will be contacting you to get more info on the valve lenghts and corresponding valves.

 

@moonman29 you don't need hardened seats on these, the iron in them is like a ductile which is pretty hard material. The 331 heads already have hardened seats installed from the factory but the passenger car heads like the 354 and 392 don't. I've never installed them with what I do unless there was major pitting requiring a repair.

 

Nope but Gene Adams taught me a thing or two.

 

Truck heads have hardened seats also. Plus they have water heat crossover so no crossover ports in the exhaust passages.