Just a name now, but it is owned by Chrysler and can be used anyway they want.

 

Yeah,legendary my a$$.
Last one was produced in 71 and the great minds destroyed the molds.

 

Not so fast, a few years ago you could buy them in pieces, now, or recently you could purchase them assembled. Yes, the Elephant motor Hemi.

 

Jaguar used a hemispherical cylinder head with the Inline 6's in the early 60's as well.

 

Can't think of one reason to buy one of those old relics.:noway:

 

because they look awesome..

can you honestly tell me that if you were at a cruise in somewhere that you wouldn't stop and gawk for at least 10 minutes if you saw this under the hood of a purple or lime green Challenger:

 

Honda and a lot of other vehicles use the Hemispherical heads.

 

aren't most DOHC heads hemispherical by nature?

 

They produce awesome power because the valves angled in toward the center of the cyl allow straighter ports and the valves open away from the cyl walls, unshrouding them as they open. The centrally located spark plug is ideal for flame travel. Drawbacks are they tend to have a heavy piston because of the large dome required and the long exh rockers (stock) are heavy, plus the heads are heavy.

 

Sure, the original design unshrouds the valves, but don't the chambers have TERRIBLE burn characteristics compared to modern fast burn stuff? Big domes and large chambers don't make for efficient burn.

 

Yes I agree there are more efficient designs available today.

 

I am more impressed with the thought and design of that era over the powe rthe motor produced in it's day, in todays era of technology it could be a very powerful design as it is in the smaller overhead cam designs.

But yes there is major "cool factor" that lives with the mid 60's Hemi cars!

 

The original Hemis had excellent burn characteristics. Especially if the compression ratio was kept fairly low. Putting a big dome on the piston makes a terrible chamber. The early hemis had WOTfuel consumption (bsfc) of .35 lbs/hp/hr, which is better than a lot of Diesels. Can't make numbers like that with a poor chamber.

 

A real Hemi looks good in anything.....

 

given how awesome the LS engines are, why else would anyone even use any of these old engines - be it an L88, Hemi, or Ford Cammer- other than how flat out cool and evil they look?

 

Because LS's come in new cars not old Chevelle's.

 

Thought I should speak up here because I actually have experience with a Hemi and an L88. I have owned a 71 Hemicuda vert since 1975 along with my 64 and 67 chevelle. I had a 12.5 to 1, 427 in the 64 w/4 speed. The Hemi was a 426, 12.5 motor w/ torqueflite. A strong running 427 would pull me out to about the 120ft mark and thats where a Hemi comes on. Nothing breathes like a Hemi on the big end. I love Chevys, but you don't see any BBC in top fuel or funny car anymore.
A Hemi doesn't make a good grocery getter and can be temperamental at times, but it wasn't designed for that. It was designed for NASCAR and was unbeatable untill Bill France changed the rules! :noway:
Heres a pic of my Elephant

 

Whay happened to Landys Hemi in thr Engine Masters Challenge a few years ago. Got spanked by the wedges.

 

Most street racing isn't a full 1/4 mile, and the lighter engines prevailed, up where I grew up, we had farm roads and we marked off full quarter mile runs (we even had a car battery powered tree), that's where the Hemi's shined, Hell! Even my mild 327 could tree a Hemi, but the top end was a different story. I only owned one Hemi, it was in a B-gas Anglia, it was more than a hand full with the short wheel base. But reality was, the Hemi's were very succesful in many forms of racing, and desreve thier respect.

I do know a lot of street Hemi's expired at a young age, but so did a lot of B.B. Chevy's, the tolerance back then were pretty sketchy, but a good engine builder is a good engine builder. Remeber a little guy named Don Garlits???

You definately have a preference, and success with your B.B. but history backs the Hemi, and put together well, they were a lot of people's worst nightmare...

 

Most street racing isn't a full 1/4 mile, and the lighter engines prevailed, up where I grew up, we had farm roads and we marked off full quarter mile runs (we even had a car battery powered tree), that's where the Hemi's shined, Hell! Even my mild 327 could tree a Hemi, but the top end was a different story. I only owned one Hemi, it was in a B-gas Anglia, it was more than a hand full with the short wheel base. But reality was, the Hemi's were very succesful in many forms of racing, and desreve thier respect.

I do know a lot of street Hemi's expired at a young age, but so did a lot of B.B. Chevy's, the tolerance back then were pretty sketchy, but a good engine builder is a good engine builder. Remeber a little guy named Don Garlits???

You definately have a preference, and success with your B.B. but history backs the Hemi, and put together well, they were a lot of people's worst nightmare...

Hype and Myth
You apparently had bad air up there cuz down here in OC the Hemi's didn't cut it. That is one's they could sell back then. They had big issues selling those mopars in those days if you look at real sales numbers.
Now after all this entertainment I will admit that when equipped with big superchargers and nitro methane that they can run.

 

Of these two engines can you tell me which one was BANNED by NHRA?
And why it was banned????!!!!

I'll tell those who didn't experience it.

The Hemi was beating up on ALL comers, so the chevy and ford guys voted to ban it as a race only motor!!!!

I saw many of them out run all others on the top end, and ussually in heavier cars.

I was CHEVY ONLY when the ban happened and said this isn't right.

I do love the big block chevy. Mass produced chevies is why they are so available.

I had a 427 biscane in the early 70's and I got beat block to block by several 340 dodges. dodges were winners too.
And also, the guy tuning these motors was worth his pay.
My oldest brother often said his big block chevy always challenged if not beat on the big end by dodges.

 

Help me remember something.

Top Fuel engines are based off of the --ford? Chevy? Pontiac? Olds? Amc?

Chrysler HEMI.
Why?

Because they could breath like no other factory race engine package.

They did have thier issues and the factory was there to help them more so than any other manufacturer.

But, again I love my Big block Chevy.
To each his own.

In any competition, I ALWAYS respect what I'm up against until I see different.

 

Back in the day it was factory vs factory not so much nhra vs racer vs sponsor. The big Chrysler work ok with nitro and blowers. Mopar crews are known to cheat too.
BTW, who is winning Pro Stock these days?

 

There is a Big Red Decal on the rear window of my Chevelle which reads
"HEMINATOR" it is there for a reason. End of story!

 

How many Hemi's does it take to get a decal?