Did you ever price out a set of those heads? They were by no means cheap and once you add in the cost of making them fit a 440 block, you need a custom piston because a 440 starts as a .070 over hemi at standard bore.

It's going to be hemi money to build a 440 with those heads.

I would be one of those guys! If the conversion heads were cheap enough to be worth it, I would have no problem with a set of those heads between my fenders. But if you can afford a set of stage V conversion heads and custom pistons, you can afford a repro hemi block.

A while back the Hemi conversion setup ran around $5K. Stage V makes some of the nicest heads around. If one could get a really good deal on a set I think it'd be worth it, especially for a street car. Most street cars never make the kind of power they are capable of. It's more important to many people to have the Hemi under the hood than it is to run 9s.

My church has a car show on Father's Day and someone brought in a Hemi GTX. Every single person who walked by the car stopped and looked and oohed and aahed over the engine. That includes people who I know well to not care one whit about horsepower. It wouldn't have mattered if there was a 383 shortblock under those heads, it just looks so cool and unreal.

So if you're looking to build an 800 hp engine then the conversion heads have little value. If, on the other hand, you want to build a Hemi for your street car they might be very worthwhile. It's the hardcore racers who make up the backbone of this particular forum who can't see the worth.

Pistons for Hemis cost money, no matter what diameter they are. That isn't a good reason to pooh-pooh the question.

Years ago on this board was a guy who called himself Hemiman and he ran Hemi heads on a 440 block and turned some respectable times for a street car, and had a blast owning a Hemi that cost about half what a real Hemi would have cost. That was using the stock 440 crank.

Hemi pistons are not super expensive, but to get one for a 440 that is more than likely over bored turns it into a semi custom piston at minimum , nothing is available off the shelf.

One still has to buy Hemi parts, do these bargain heads come with the rocker gear?? If not that is $$$, and as mentioned a custom cam to make up for the rocker ratio.

dean miller has a set for sale on facebook

I think his are the ones I was considering