While a hemi has massive Bubba factor and I do love taking photos of Billy's engine (haven't seen his wife's truck in person yet, For most folks they are far and away on the spendy side to build and if you do road trips and anything fails you are looking for something to haul it home. I've got a 56 330 Desoto in the shed that I have had for 35 years that right now would set me back 5 K to rebuild to just better than stock and that doesn't include an intake. For me the most sense with that rig with what you want to do with it is run the 350 and put in a cam that is more road friendly than mouth breather impressing and a performer intake and 4 barrel of choice. Anything else carb wise either 3 2 barrels or 2 four barrels might again impress the unwashed mouth breathers when the hood is open but be a pain in the ass for what you want to actually use it for and here the KISS theory applies. Keep the fucker simple, set it up so if you have trouble on the road you can go the first parts house you find or even a wrecking yard and find the part you need to fix it and get on the road unless you flat blow something up. I wouldn't argue with putting a 383 stroker in it though or turning the 3fiddy into a 383 stroker. Cubic inches count and in a 1 ton 4x4 I had 35 years ago the tired 400 that came with it still had more power than the fresh 350 I put in it after my wife blew the 400 up. Still any rig has to have an engine, trans and rear axle (final ratio after tire size is counted) ratio that works to do what one wants to do with it. It has to be a deal of This setup will work to do what I need it to do on the road doing what I do and not as much of a setup that impresses the mouth breathers but lacks in actual function. If you want to build a show car build a show car and get something more practical for road trips.
Hello, We once owned a 327 powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery. We bought it as a project and took several months of work and repair to get it running/driving well. Once it was turn the key and go, that we did. It was a pleasure to drive and do our road trips. The power was there for all road trips. It even had A/C and that in itself kept my wife driving it all over the place, once we got it repaired and running great. She drove it, probably more miles than me and loved every minute of it, but there was one thing she did not like. It was such a cool car and everyone she met or visited always had a ton of questions. But, it ran great in the daytime driving. She was a little concerned that the new outside mirror (NOS) was clear, but the limited view down the right side always gave her and me some concern in daily driving. The rear quarter panel in all sedan delivery cars have the blind spot. t is/was the way it was built. So, she stopped driving at night. Then for me, the night time driving was also slowing down and finally, I stopped driving at night and had the impetus to sell it while it was running well and our time with it was coming to an end. The blind spots created a situation that we could not handle, unless we put on huge outside mirrors. That was not going to happen. So, we sold it to a young couple and bought a station wagon with clarity in all side vision views. No more blind spots… Now, it was a toss up to drive the new station wagon or the old El Camino at night. Both had wonderful views of the area all around the station wagon/El Camino. Jnaki So, for your SBC power train, it has plenty of power for road trips. If one needs more power, then perhaps a 4 barrel or three two barrel carbs. Since it is in your sedan delivery, the carb switch seems simple for additional HP when necessary. Nothing else is necessary. Your 3:55 is great for street cruising. We swapped the 4:56 Positraction gears for a stock 3:55 in the 58 Impala. It was after we were heading for the new direction in our lives. College, family, etc. But, when I sold the Impala, we put the 4:56 Positraction back in place. Now, the young friend who bought it would have some extra power to still be formidable in his teenage cruising/racing. I told the new owner about the swap and then the choice was his. The 327 4 barrel 40 Ford Sedan Delivery had plenty of power without an additional cam/lifters, head work, and straight through mufflers. It was quiet enough, but when in a soft/quiet area, it had the certain SBC V8 sound. Now, the choice is yours as to the direction. Note: With the stock gas tank, it was fine our trips to Long Beach 50+ miles one way and to Santa Barbara at 120 + one way. It ran well, but it was difficult to see all around. If we stayed in the curb side lanes, all was well. It was cruising, anyway, so it was fine, until it was not. So, we sold it to buy a station wagon with its great all around visibility. If we had an extra Hemi motor, it would go in a open wheel 1934 Ford Roadster with the motor exposed and a set of header pipes down and back that empties into a collector. That would be a great cruiser for a couple of old hot rod folks in a low key lifestyle. YRMV...
Identify the desired intention/usage of car....check Relate it to factory builds...proven formula In your case, similar to a 2wd 1/2 ton pickup with canopy, and/or 2wd 1/2 ton suburban as far as aerodynamics/weight etc. Practicality.... mimic say a '65 Chev 2 wd 1/2 ton p/u, that cruised our highways pulling camping trailers/boats, etc. back in the day. That p/u more than likely would have had a sbc, a/t, or std trans., and proper gearing....done (keeping within HAMB guidelines) A Hemi has a cool factory that's hard to beat, but practicality in this case may/should win out.
I would, I not a fan of hemis outside of vintage race cars. The added noise weight is major deterrent.
Noise and weight? That would have kept a lot of big blocks off the street. Fortunately, there are plenty of small blocks and quiet mufflers out there. For me, I'll take a couple hundred pounds of torque and opulence, thank you. I just drove the Hemi powered 41 PU to the store and I thought about turning on the stereo (I have never used outside the garage when I installed it), but I was enjoying the song my truck was singing. I never once thought, wow this is loud. I never thought about it, but my current collection of cars have some of the heaviest and loudest engines ever built...and I wouldn't change a thing.
I think he meant nose weight, not noise. I'm sure the hemi is at least a couple hundred pounds heavy than a SBC but I'm not road racing the car so not sure how much difference it would make. That said, I'm sticking with the Chevy and will save the hemi for something more interesting (or maybe sell it).
If your keeping the SBC for road trips and a very small trailer id concentrate on the gearing and a OD that works well with it . Something like a 3.50 to 3.75 gear depending on your tire size and then Id do the basic SBC hop up stuff like a cam , heads and intake . basically the same stuff you would do to a half ton full size truck that's likely the same weight. You want torque and it will likely never see over 4500 RPM for very long unless your really screwing around . If i had to do a rebuild or replace the SBC id do a 383 for the torque and id want the OD and gearing for optimum at about a 75 mph cruise speed . Id run just under max compression for the fuel you plan on running . Any thing you do that makes more power is going to use more fuel so a OD to keep it in a optimum operating range would help the most, and you need a bigger fuel tank no matter what for cross county . If I had a rebuilt 392 al ready to go id likely build a car just for it or find one . It would go in my 31 model A channeled Pu no fenders or hood project in a heart beat . Id much rather have it than my 331 that is a used original question mark .
My 51 has had a 392 since the late 90’s. Initially, the 57, 9+:1 compression with dual quads, and then a 58, 10+:1 compression, with, aluminum heads , Isky cam, BBC water pump, MSD, Moonjection 8 deuce efi on a log manifold. Both with a turbo hydro 400 trans. They behaved and sounded like two completely different things. But both ran cool on the road, but hot in heavy traffic. Both got about 13 mpg on the freeway. The lower compression motor was smooth and quiet. The high compression motor is what you would expect of a hot rod motor, loud and rough idling. Both completely reliable, and driven on many 500 mile trips.
My .02, Stick with the SBC and possibly research the best trans for torque and OD. Plenty has been improved since I did my cross country traveling in my 47. 235 6cyl and the 4:11 rear all went very well. (Oh yeah, just a tent too) Now for increased "range" look under the floor opposite the gas tank... there is enough room for an additional tank. And if you have a tank made (very easy given the dimensions available) you can accommodate 35-40 gals. The extra weight will be "mid-ship" so the delivery will carry it well. Photos: All the same car, Yellow while in College I won a High Times contest. Camping in Dana Point. Twilight Zone - when I landed here in Santa Barbara. Have FUN! ✌️
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