Hi im Ricky from pennsylvania. Im 16 years old. I have a 276 desoto hemi and a 330 desoto hemi. The 330 im starting to rebuild an is in the shop getting hot tanked and magnafluxed. It will be goin in my 1949 ford f1 that is chopped 5 1/2 inches and channeled 5 inches. Since i only have the cab and bed my goal for now is to make it a fenderless flat black rat rod style truck. I joined the HAMB with intensions of gaining more knowledge. Thanks Ricky
Welcome from South Carolina. Love the thought of the 330 DeSoto, just cringe at the thought of it in a "rat rod". FYI DeSoto has a capital "D" and "S".
Ya im not crazing bout the 330 goin to my rat rod either but the way i look at it is id rather see it saved than letting some guy scrap it. hahah i dont have the funds to build a spotless show rod at the this time. By the way i already knew desoto was spelled with a capital D and capital S.
Hi Ricky, That is pretty cool having a couple of Hemi engines at 16. I bought my 392 when I was 17 (1980) and still have it now and am putting it in a 33 coupe. You may already have heard this but do not skimp on the valves. New stainless valves are the only way to go IMO. The lower end on these engines are pretty good stock but the old valves are past their useful life. I relearned this lesson last year when I went low buck on my 354, it dropped the head of a exhaust valve right through the piston while just above idle on my dyno. That cost me alot more to put back together than all the valves would have. Good luck on the build. Rick S.
I actually have heard of the original valves doin that. But then some people say they hold up. Id rather jus stay on the safe side and get new stainless. I imagine it will be worth it in the long run. And thats really awesome to hear you have had your 392 that long! Ive always wanted a 392. Maybe someday ill come across one.
Welcome from Abbottstown....we're all but nieghbors. If you'd like to stop by some time and check out the hot rods send me a PM Clark
Welcome Ricky from the west coast of Florida. Sounds like you are really into Hemi's and that a good thing for sure. Jimbo
I have seen a few of these older engines loose valves. I think it is factor of limited metalluragy and welding prosses at the time, time that these sit with spring pressure, intergranular corrosion and in my case I used a larger cam and stronger springs.
Always good to have another hemi youngster in the group, welcome from the hilly side of Kansas! FYI, the term "rat rod" really isn't looked upon kindly by this particular group of traditional hot rodders and customizers. You might want to refer to it as a hot rod instead of the rodent variant.
thanks for all the welcomes and tips guys, makes me feel at home. 33plymouthbuilder, That valve definitly did some damage. I would of never have thought of all those factors that can weekend it over time. Im planning on running a bigger cam and springs also so the stainless valves are on my list. The piston can be replaced but the what did you end up doing about the combustion chamber? and did it do any damage to the cylinder wall?
I polished the combustion chamber and magnafluxed it but then found another 354 Head so just keeping the damaged head as a spare as these are getting harder to find. The cylinder was dinged up but lucky enough the bore was stock. I bored it .060" over and bought Ross pistons. They fab these out of the 392 blanks. But this required a bore, and balance. I also polished the beams and shotpeened, installed ARP rod bolt and resized rods since I needed to rebalance anyway.
oh okay i see. I actually might be buying another hemi here in a couple days. My dad has a friend that his neighbor has a 331 chrysler hemi thats been sitting on a pallet in his garage for years. He said its in rough shape but probably saveable. He said that he was asking 300 for it which is a steal. It might set me back a little on my 330 but in my opinion it be worth it just to save it and set it in the corner of the garage til i have something to put it in. These hemi's are gonna be impossible to find eventually.
By the way i got my 330 back from the machine shop today. I had it hot tanked and magnafluxed. The guy at the machine shop said the block was in excellent condition with the exception of 3 cylinder walls that had to deap of ridges from the rings and will need bored. Now im debating on how far i wanna go when i get it bored.
It is a tough call on the bore. I typically only bore large enough to clean them up. That way you can always go larger and not have to sleeve it if the cylinders wear or get damaged. Should probably check to see what is available for pistons before making the decision. Did you get the 331?
im going to check the 331 out this weekend. Ill keep ya posted. and i think i may just go 30 over for now to be on the safe side. That way i can go up to 60 or so in the future if needed.
The Jalopy Journal
