59bisquik Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 The Desoto is as expensive to fix up as many of the other Hemi's. Hot Hemi Heads offers headers, some finned aluminum stuff, modern distributors etc. It's not the cheapest route but would be unique and cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
48Dodger Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 Risking "the jumping around, stay on topic" finger....just wanted to say that those of us in the central valley of California who regularly paint cars, know that the labels (almost all labels) say not to thin with a reducer.....its a clean air act deal, companies have to do this.....we thin our damn paints to get the right spray pattern etc.... Get the Hemi if its in the budget. Even if you never put it in a truck.....it will look great in your shop!!! 48D 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayfarer Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 On 12/11/2017 at 10:31 AM, Los_Control said: Motors I would consider using, a chevy 283, ford Y-block, chebby six, dodge slant 6, Something that would be period correct. No clue what would happen to value at that point, but would be the smiles per mile am looking for. I would not add Hemi to that list, simply would bother me to much driving it. They getting to rare, cost to much ..... my smile per mile is going way down. On 12/12/2017 at 2:35 PM, Shovelhead Dave said: Desoto is the least desireable hemi to use, all by itself when it comes to aftermarket anything. The only thing interchangeable is the incoming air. Desoto hemis were as good as Dodge and Chrysler but are still orphans. Unless you are willing to spend BIG$ you will have way less performance than you would with a later LA engine. Visually very cool. ....wow.....not something I see on many Mopar related sites very often...... Why, exactly, would a shiverlay be more 'period correct' than a same year Hemi? Some sorta time-warp at the local bone yard in 1960? And, I have never heard of anyone that would be 'bothered ' if they had a Hemi to drive....must be something in the water up there. Least desirable? I actually see more traffic for DeSotos than for the 315-325 Dodge and about the same for the 241-270 Dodge. Yes, some DeSoto parts are difficult to fine, specifically the intake, but all else is very little different than for a Chrysler engine. As far as cost, the EarlyHemi is on par with Nailheads, Flatheads, Olds and Cad for rebuilds....none are cheap. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los_Control Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 28 minutes ago, wayfarer said: Why, exactly, would a shiverlay be more 'period correct' than a same year Hemi? 331 This first FirePower engine, used from 1951 to 1955, has a bore of 3.8125 in and a stroke of 3.625 in for a piston displacement of 331 cu in (5.4 L), and a deck height of 10.32" ("low deck"). Most used a two-barrel carburetor and produced 180 bhp (134 kW), with the famous exception of the 1955 Chrysler C-300 equipped with dual Carter WCFB four-barrel carburetors. Five different versions between 185 hp (138 kW) and 283 hp (211 kW) were available, depending on whether a single carb, twin carbs, or fuel injection was used. Fuel injection yielded the most power topping out at 315 hp At the time, small block chevy was cheap and affordable, there were millions of them built, there were aftermarket speed parts everywhere. Hot Rodders were poor and used what they could afford. They put 283 chebbies in everything, And they had fun doing it. I would love to have a Hemi, I would leave it sitting on the engine stand and wipe it down and polish it up often. My only point is, there were not a lot of them made, they are getting hard to find and any speed parts will break "my" bank account, yours may vary. Love it or hate it, small block chevies was the hot rod crowd in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam H P15 D30 Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Los_Control said: SNIP: Love it or hate it, small block chevies was the hot rod crowd in the day. Hate it. Why run something that every other hotrod has when there is access to a running HEMI? Kind of like following the herd of sheep over the cliff... Don't know why someone wouldn't drive a HEMI? They are not feeble in fact they are very robust. Best of all they are NOT a small block Chevy. Edited December 14, 2017 by Adam H P15 D30 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam H P15 D30 Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 On 12/9/2017 at 8:28 PM, bergy said: have the chance to buy an early firepower hemi. Its in a friends 39 ford,runs great, I think its a 331. I have a 53 B4 truck. Now would an engine upgrade ruin my truck or be a period upgrade that would not harm the value?THe engine was original in a 54 Desota. It has a 3 speed La Salle treans with it. Ive already put a 99 jeep 3:55 rear. thanks in advance Run it... If done right it will increase the value of your truck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 5 minutes ago, Los_Control said: Five different versions between 185 hp (138 kW) and 283 hp (211 kW) were available, depending on whether a single carb, twin carbs, or fuel injection was used. Fuel injection yielded the most power topping out at 315 hp Love it or hate it, small block chevies was the hot rod crowd in the day. Actually in the early Hemi line up there were 14 different engines.....Chrysler had 4, Desoto and Dodge each had 5 and none shared the same CID As for the SBC...the secret to their success to retro fit rest solely upon the fact that they had a short snout in relation ship to water pump than did the Chrysler or Fords.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 every year at the swap meet seems there are two or three of these old early Hemi's offered up for sale, mainly it seems to be the Chrysler of Desoto blocks...I notice them only in passing, while they dress up like no other engine of the era, cost to build for the low return on HP makes them undesirable to myself. I don't say they not worth it, just not worth it to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los_Control Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 The short snout is another big reason they were used for sure, 2 or 3 inches is huge when fitting a v8 into a hole where a banger use to sit. Not a lot of small block fords in early fords for that reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayfarer Posted December 16, 2017 Report Share Posted December 16, 2017 On 12/14/2017 at 8:45 AM, Los_Control said: Love it or hate it, small block chevies was the hot rod crowd in the day. Ya know, I had to ponder this for awhile and try to figure out 'where you came from'. I don't know what years you were starting your automotive journey nor do I know your location. Very important details were we look around to see what was going on. Magazines coverage of 'cool cars' is essentially what vehicle or which shop was close to the writer unless he had folks working for him in various places.....all of this long before Al Gore's internet came along, so magazines are not the be-all, end-all unless you are picking particular articles to support your position. That reminds me of a "engine swap manual" that had a really odd-ball 392Hemi swap in to a 1960 Lark. Perhaps we should we consider that to be the standard of the day. Back in the early-mid sixties my buddies and I managed a fair number of swaps and amazing enough is that none were shiverlays, unless it was back into a shiverlay. We had a 389 Pontiac go into a 39 Ply, a Nailhead into a 57 Hillman Husky, a 390 Cad into a 55 shiverlay pickup ( my God that thing was scary fast) a Packard 352 into a 40 Ford sedan and so on and so forth...but no sbc swaps. I suppose that they were as available as any other junkyard engine but we were after cubic inches and the little sbc was sorely lacking. When you have a carburetor on top then cubic inches are King. There is a reason why Mopar settled on the 440 for so many hi-perf applications. Fast forward to today. You can buy shiverlay parts at the local 7-11. Does that make them 'better' than something else? Some folks might opine that the sbc parts supply is huge just to keep them running... So the engine that you prefer is likely just that, your choice. I kinda like the new Hellcat engine, 707 hp in a crate! Swap that sucker into anything you like, but 40 years from now it may, or may not, be considered the engine of choice 'back in the day'.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted December 16, 2017 Report Share Posted December 16, 2017 wayfarer, a lot of what you are saying rings true....the sbc was not then or it is now a true go to engine for power and longevity in a build. That has been proven false so many time by major players in the industry. But, it seems the very abundance of them at giveaway price or as in many cases they fall out of the GM car along the interstates made them ripe for just picking up and carry home. Sadly to say the lemmings that cannot lead tend to follow the easy to get trail of buy and bolt in rather than fabricate and forge ahead on their own. It will always be this way even if the new hemi crates become the standard for plug and play optional power. It is the path of least resistance and the one that "boltes"' are likely to follow. But the guy who travels the path less traveled and does the dare to be different will always turn a head a meet solely on the merit that it is so different from the norm. Dare to be different, devout member of the ABC... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los_Control Posted December 16, 2017 Report Share Posted December 16, 2017 2 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said: in many cases they fall out of the GM car along the interstates made them ripe for just picking up and carry home. BWAAHAAAHAAA, so true thanks for the laugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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