Stage 5 Hemi conversion heads?

Just curious, is anyone running a set of these heads? Opinions? Looks like they take a lot of extra machine work. But I have a shot at a set pretty cheap. And thought this might be kind of cool to give a try?

Call The Shop stage 5 hemi conversion. Jerry Heard. 412-521-2367. He should b able to answer any question u have.

Very high quality heads.Call Stage V and ask who is best at doing the block work.
Cheers,Pat

Lots of small issues. A big surprise is that the exhaust rocker ratio is short (about 1.4), so a custom cam should be considered to get a reasonable exhaust lift. Pushrod clearance is a pain, but that's not unusual for a HEMI.

You do know in the Hi Po race world of racing and street machines is that you usally get what you pay for, correct
Do you want a cheap motor or do you want a good motor built with cheap parts
I use to try to build good motors with cheap parts, it didn't work

I have no personal experience with them, but I have heard that off-the-shelf hemi headers will not fit with the wedge motor mounts. So you need a motor plate or custom headers.

Stage V's are not cheap..but as the saying goes "you get what you pay for" I believe one of the main header manufacturers is making headers for the raised port Stage V's

One needs to keep in mind that when these heads were made original Hemi blocks were big money and hard to find. 440 blocks were cheap and plentiful.
The 440 block treatment consists of drilling and tapping for larger bolts/studs on the main and some on the deck.Clearance for pushrods and drilling out the pickup and some of the oil galleries.
Cheers,Pat

OK, thanks guys. not for me then.

I run the regular stage V heads, they make some great stuff. Motor plate and extra machine work would well be worth it. The exhaust ports are raised really helping the flow. TTI makes the headers, I run them on mine (until I make some zoomies) You will save lots of money for he machine work with being able to use a 440 block

but the flip side is he will have a basterd oddball two bolt main motor that will never be worth much. JMO.

My engine builder has built them before...He can do the machine work, not sure the cost though...They make nice street engines if your not trying to rotate the earth.

Exactly. Those 440 block Hemi heads are around only because some people want the Hemi look without having to pay the Hemi price (not implying that OP is one of those people).

Good points, the heads are good and capable of making more power than the blocks can handle unless you have an after market block kicking around the garage and want a Hemi. It would make a very cool street car motor

That is why they make girdles....

The girdles do not increase the strength or thickness of the main webbing in any block Know your parts limits and then choose them wisely
How many racers and engine builders on here have put girdles on RB blocks and had them come back later with cracks in the main webbing running up into the cylinders I've seen and heard of more than two

When I was building engines I put girdles on any 700+ HP wedge using a stock block. Of course if we were shooting for that HP level I also filled the block. Never had one fail, yet I saw several similar engines without girdles that cracked. I think girdles help but sanity and reasonable expectations should prevail.

One other note: Girdle installation can cause other problems if the shims are not measured and set correctly.

I am over 700hp on my stroked 440 and six seasons/years on it. No cracks yet. Lots of passes on it. We have a number of stroked wedges running on the street and strip, and the girdle is the only way to go for anything over 600hp that is going to be flogged on a drag strip. Keeps cap walk away and allows it to live.

If its a cushy street car making 700hp, I would still put one on, but some folks don't want them.

Here is my 6.19 pass from this weekend on my pump gas stroked 440!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_XTmRBuvWs

NOTHING completely STOPS the caps from bouncing on an RB Mopar.......Nothing. With the design of the block and clamping arrangement it CAN'T be stopped. All you can do is make the parts beefier to withstand it. Another thing you can't do in a stock block. Can't add material where it isn't

I think Steve Magnante ran the conversion heads on his Dart. Read the article in an old Mopar Action Tech Edition.

Wonder if someone watched the Jokers from here.Fat and Furious supposedly paid 25K for one of the built motors.If I was paying for a hemi in my car and for what they supposedly got paid it better be a Hemi.For less than that you could have got a real Hemi.Rocky

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