Water testing a Hemi

I guess.

I took a picture of a picture today of what looks like the WT of a Hemi.

So....
.......what exactly was water testing? Pressurizing the system and see if holds a bleed down spec?

That exhaust manifold ! Oh Lord!

"Yup, no water outta the carbs - she's good !"

CROSS RAM NO LESS

I have no idea. Except that whenever you see a Hemi block talked about or put up for sale, they make a point to mention the WT on the engine pad.

Considering the exhaust is hooked up to it maybe that is some kind of run stand? Those manifolds are terrible but would be just fine for firing one up for a moment.

You are probably correct.

From what little that I know, it does not appear to be a K head.

So would this be a 1966 later image?

Is there a dyno attached we cannot see in the picture?

I wonder what percent over operating pressure it was tested to?

If it passed the WT did they then run the Hemi up to rated TQ and HP in stages?

Remember the scandal about “hammering” the new Gen III 5.7 Hemi on the company dynos to loosen the rings so that an advertising claim of “one horsepower per cubic inch” could be made as planned? Toyota, GM, Ford and Nissan all claimed their dyno tests showed 20 less HP than 345 HP that Chrysler claimed. SAE revised their official dyno test rules afterwards.

1964...it has Carters on it. Either a very early SS motor, or one of the Hardtop Hemi pieces.

From what I understand, water testing was done on the bare block.

I think the photo is of another test set-up, maybe the initial light-off test.
Looks like K heads to me, front of valve cover is straight.
Carters would be an early deal; after a winter test at Lions Drag Strip they switched to Holleys.
There are photos of that drag test on the web; they compared Maxie Stage 3 to the new Hemi.

I just copied all of this & sent around to some old retired Chrysler engineers. Their responses should be interesting!

The exhaust is the 64 race Hemi manifolds, butchered up to be able to use on the dyno. I would guess that this was a very very early fire up and run test, maybe some durability testing. But not a real horsepower test with that exhaust system.

K heads have the curve, if I'm not mistaken. But I guess that it wouldn't be visible in this shot.

Those are k heads, crossrammed and carters. I’d say that was an early test fire for for a 64 race hemi.

Just image that was you at the plant and your job was to test fire Hemi Motors !!! He had no idea when that photo was taken how the world would change once those monsters were released to the public.

Here's some replies I received so far (these were Chrysler engineers who were in the thick of all things racing & high-performance back in the day):

Hot test at M&I.Early Cross ram A990 motor.

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For what it’s worth the Spark plug wire boots look like early 64/65 race Hemi that are total different than 66 up street Again the picture is not that clear on my I phone.

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I’ve guessed about this before, I’ve always thought the early gen two engines where built in Marysville at the MCI plant. This looks like 64, carter carbs and K heads. It’s a hot test stand. Probably no load and I have no idea what kind of instrumentation they had on it. I know at Trenton, when Al Nichols worked on their hot test set up, they had lots of pressure and temp channels to make sure all was good to go. And of course, look for oil and coolant leaks.

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I’ll second Greg’s thoughts. I have seen this picture before, as well and the consciences is this is a hot test at M & I, where some of the Hemis were built.

where i worked, we water tested gas field pipeline meters after the machining process was complete, but before assembly.
the main body castings and tops were tested to 4000lbs. the working pressure of the meters was 1400lbs max.
john would be correct. a water test would be done on a bare block, not an assembled one.

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Couple more updated comments that came in - interesting stuff:

M&I stands for Marine and Industrial. They were originally located in Marysville then later they moved to Beaver Dam Wisconsin. The engines that came out of there were always a little suspect. They never had the QC that the real engine plants had. They typically took stock engines from the plants and up fitted them for marine, forklifts, cranes, etc. in the case of the Hemi’s, they started with just the parts and assembled them. Later when the street Hemi came along, they were built at Trenton engine plant.

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At Highland Park there was Room #30 in building 136 where car test engines that were built in the Motor Room were sent to get tested. They were hung from a steel bar attached to a chain. Water and oil and gas and electrical were then hooked up to the engine and the engine was run to check for leaks and any other problems. There was a blue light we would use to check for oil leaks when the lights were shut off in the room. Then someone from the Balance Lab would come in and check the rotating balance of the engine and add weights to the converter if needed. This was all done before the engine was sent to Road Test Garage before the installation of the engine in a car. We used to call it a hot test.

END..............

Is this the same place or a similar area or nothing even related?

My guess is that is at the Trenton engine plant in Trenton Michigan. They built LA and wedge engines back in the day. Grew up in Flat Rock just down the road from the plant.