easy hemi identification?

when your looking down into the engine bay of a mighty mopar with a red ram, a fire dome or the like,

how do you tell whats what? whats an easy way to tell if its a 331, a 354 a ?????

going to go snag something soon i figure and would like to know which is which so i can grab something with some inches.

would suck to pic one and have it be like 270 inches when the one beside it was like 390 plus inches

thanx
tim

 

The vin number is stamped just in front of the valley cover. You could make a quick referance chart to keep in your wallet. You can tell Chryslers apart by the heads, but I'm not real sure how to tell the Dodge's and DeSoto's.

-Bugman Jeff

 

Tim....the 331,354 and 392 chryslers are huge! The other dodge and desoto hemis are bout 30% smaller physically. Let me know if you want a width measurement off my 331. That way, anything physically smaller is not a chrysler motor.
Had an argument just yesterday about engine size in a guy's bone stock 53 dodge sedan..he insisted it was a 331 and I could see it was the baby hemi...241 cu. in. but he was insistant...so he was right. Just wait 'till he orders parts for it!
The chryslers have the cu.in. stamped on the valley pan rail at the front of the engine...visible with the pan in place. Letter code denoted date of manufacture.

 

Rocky, I know that story every Hemi I own was listed as a 392 and I still don't own a 392 but I do have several smaller Hemi's
I don't care I like em all, but for different reasons

 

Also, 354's and 392's have a seperate water crossover between the heads. As far as I know, all others either don't have one, or it's built into the front cover. 392's(and possibly 354's)have a stamped steel timing cover, Dodge and DeSoto always had a cast front cover.

Just for referance, my 392 is about 30" at it's widest.

 

Scrape the crud off the rail in front of the valley pan. The number you'll see matches with the first number on this list. the next number in the list is the year, the name of the motor, CID, number of barrels, and rated horse power.

DESOTO:
S17 - 1001 1952 Firedome 276 2 160
S16 - 1001 1953 Firedome 276 2 160
S19 - 1001 1954 Firedome 276 2 170
S21 - 1001 1955 Fireflite 291 4 200
S22 - 1001 1955 Firedome 291 2 185
S23 - 1001 1956 Firedome 330 2 230
S24 - 1001 1956 Fireflite 330 4 255
S24A - 1001 1956 Adventurer 341 2-4 320*
S25 - 1001 1957 Firedome 341 2 270
S26 - 1001 1957 Fireflite 341 4 295
S26A - 1001 1957 Adventurer 345 2-4 345*

DODGE:
D44 - 1001 1953 Red Ram 241 2 140
D50A - 1001 1954 Red Ram 241 2 140
D50 (1, 2, 3) 1954 Red Ram 241 2 150
D553 - 1001 1955 Super Red Ram 270 2 or 4 183 or 193
D500 - 1001 1956 D500 315 4 260
KD500 - 1001 1957 D500 325 4 or 2-4 285 or 310

CHRYSLER:
C51 - 8 - 1001 1951 Chrysler 331 2 180**
C52 - 8 - 1001 1952 Chrysler 331 2 180**
C53 - 8 - 1001 1953 Chrysler 331 2 180**
C541 - 8 - 1001 1954 New Yorker 331 2 195**
C542 - 8 - 1001 1954 New Yorker 331 4 235**
WE55 - 1001 1955 New Yorker 331 2 250
NE55 - 1001 1955 New Yorker 331 4 250
CE55 - 1001 1955 Imperial 331 4 250
3NE55 - 1001 1955 C300 331 2-4 300***
NE56 - 1001 1956 New Yorker 354 4 280
CE56 - 1001 1956 Imperial 354 4 280
3NE56 - 1001 1956 300B 354 2-4 340***
NE57 - 1001 1957 New Yorker 392 4 325
NE57 - 1001 1957 New Yorker 392 2-4 375***
CE57 - 1001 1957 Imperial 392 4 325
58N - 1001 1958 New Yorker 392 4 345
58C - 1001 1958 Imperial 392 4 345
58N3 - 1001 1958 300D 392 2-4 380

Dave

 

Print, laminate, fold, store in wallet. Instant quick referance Hemi ID chart . Thanks Dave.

 

It's between my check card and the P-38 can opener I keep in my wallet. Never know when you need to open up a can of soup while identifying an early hemi.