Originally Posted by 6PakBee
Originally Posted by ZIPPY
I'm not aware of one. Let me know if you find anything!

I have the Nedbal book, I like it, but it's more high level overview material..it does not get far enough into
specs and details of different combinations to provide much direction.

You'll find more in the trailer queen/Toy/Race categories than you will true drivers.

As far as opinions go (oh no)
twocents

I feel a basically stock street hemi maybe with a cam and header upgrade is PLENTY.

Once a person gets over the cost and availability considerations the main things that work against it are weight and complexity.

The iron heads are super heavy, they will work fine but run aluminum if you're starting with nothing.
Actually I think Mopar killed off the only new iron head you could get anyway, so that decision may have already been made for you.
Stock replacement aluminum is all you need, you don't need any of the big port racing stuff.

If you're used to a single 4 barrel on your wedge engine, might be the easiest to start off with the same on your hemi.
If you have to have "the look" of dual quads, understandable...it's cool as heck...but it's more details to work out.
If you want to be on the high end, have at it with FI.

A stock street hemi cam was very similar to "first step upgrade" stuff for wedge engines
sold back in the day and is perfectly fine for a driver, but a slight upgrade to something more modern will be helpful.

Stock street hemi had close to 10:1 which is near accepted norms for pump gas, sure you can get away with more but
that's not the idea.

The same general type of ignition, exhaust etc that worked on your Wedge engine driver, is also fine for your Hemi driver. No need for anything more exotic.

I documented my 572 build fairly well but I would not claim it falls into the "driver" category....Much more street/strip Toy, and there is a big difference.
It was suggested a "hemi for regular guys" kind of thing be loaded to youtube, but interest seems pretty limited....


I think you read my mind. This is intended to be a pure stock street engine. The only change I am contemplating is going to a roller hydraulic for a number of reasons. What scares me is that this will be my first Hemi. Built a reasonable amount of B's and RB's but never this. And when I read about the difficulties in getting the intake to seal and breaking off pieces of the head with the intake manifold bolts and having problems torquing the upper row of cylinder head studs.....pretty much stuff that is Hemi only I would like to have some knowledge/cautions before hand. A lot of what I have, like the heads, are NOS items and I don't want to be busting stuff like that up.


Not much is out there, but there are a few guys here who run Hemis who are always glad to help out.
Don't go over OE intake manifold torque spec.
Overtorqued intake can cause a conucopia of problems.
Mock up the intake, sit there with feeler gauges and look for problems with intake manifold fit, as best you can.
I did not use expensive intake gaskets B/C I plan on experimenting with a few different manifolds, I don't expect the gasket to last long before I take it apart.
There were issues with intake manifolds cracking when the china wall bolts were used, they're usually left off, but
if a separate valley cover is used then no problem.
To torque the top row of head bolts, obtain a box end crow's foot and do the calculation to reduce the number to correct the value.

Rocker shaft oiling:
They can get air locked, easily. Don't use thick assembly grease....use oil
or assembly lube only...It takes seemingly forever for all the air to be pushed out of all 4 shafts and all 5 stands, to the point that
if you are like me, you will start to question yourself. Press onward. This is one thing that got me during my build.

Get familiar with the "theoretical if it were flat, minus actual 1" down fill volume" to measure dome volume and help calculate compression ratio.
Buy or make the tools.

PM with any questions, if I don't know the answer I may know someone who does.

I can relate to your position, I approached my first Hemi carefully too, and maybe I was crazy to do a 572 as the first one.





Rich H.

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