I want the truth. Which had more stock HP, the 426 or 440?

[defiance]

Hm... that 3.55 rear seems like it might have been a handicap, though, compared to the 4.10 on the 440...  13.48 vs 13.9, so  not enough to make up the difference I'd guess, but enough that it might have closed the gap a little bit. 

Wow, a '69 L88 was only 13.56?  I guess they were made to really shine in a bit different environment than on a drag strip, though.   

19 mopars though, not bad.

[autodynamics]

  i would say build what you like, who cares if its a 2bbl or a 4bbl if your driving to enjoy it. Stick a 4bbl on it and be done with it. all these old farts that like the "original" cars are real annoying. whatever you choose enjoy it and drive it. and the end of the day do what YOU feel is best

[6pkrunner]

my understanding is the HEMI was built and enginered to run wide open at daytona in excess of 150 MPH, in fact my fav story from the book SUPERCARS! is how the engineers would go to lunch with the HEMI running wide open on the dyno back at the shop... or something to that effect.

the six-pack was designed to give an affordable alturnitive to us motor heads to battle 428 super cobra jets, 454 LS-6s and the buick stage III 455... cause Ma-Mopar knew what was required... 
that's why it was the high water mark of the muscle car.
imo..

-the hemi was a detuned race engine offered in street cars to sell the magic 500 units so they could race it. The 440 was a hopped up passenger car engine. The 1966 and 1967 hemis were detuned too much, and the 1968 up went with the stronger 284  degree cam. The large valves and huge castings that were slow to warm up were detrimental to normal street driving - but it was never designed to run on the street.
Thank Ford when they tried to get their 427 cammer used in Nascar. Bill France stepped in and said if you want to race it, you got to offer it for the street and sell a minimum of 500 units.

[Mefirst]

Thank Ford when they tried to get their 427 cammer used in Nascar. Bill France stepped in and said if you want to race it, you got to offer it for the street and sell a minimum of 500 units.

It would have been a battle of Titans, if NASCAR had allowed the Ford 427 "Cammer" battle it out with the double overhead cammed, 4 valves/cylinder (A925) Hemi back in 1965.. My money would have been on the Hemi...

http://www.thehemi.com/images/engines/A925_DOHC_Hemi_1_Lg.jpg

/Tom

[Ghoste]

Man, what a race that would have been!

[6pkrunner]

Here have a poster......

[69fuchs]

Here is a comparison:  I owned a 68 gtx.  Dead stock from air cleaner to H pipe, 4 speed, 3.54 gears.

It started as a stock 440 hp and it ran 14.5@95mph (4000 pounds)=267.66hp at the wheels

The very next year I installed a stock street hemi.  Dead stock from air cleaner to H pipe.  No other changes were made.  As a matter of fact I used the distributor out of the 440 in the hemi. (It was all I had at the time)

With the 426 hemi, first time out, it ran 13.25@106mph (4140 pounds)=384.83hp at the wheels

[69fuchs]

I had this one as well, it ran 13.40@103mph, but I never weighed it, she had headers and a mallory dual point/coil.
Sorry about the black engine bay Brian 

[Lord Warlock]

If you read all the magazines, all the tech articles and talked with folks that had them back in the 70s, for the street the 440 was king, keeping the hemi in tune for daily driving was a pain the ass.  Keeping the 440 six pack in tune was relatively easy.  The six pack was indeed vacuum controlled and was not that hard to keep in tune and could be converted to manual control if the vacuum secondaries started to act up.  I've known several friends that had them over the years.  However, almost everyone agreed that at the point that the 440 started to fall off the power curve in the top end, as in over 125mph, the hemi was pulling much stronger and kept pulling past 140 (if the gears allowed it to)

I do know for sure that there is a difference between the 383 magnum and 440 magnum in the same car, using same gears etc.  the 383 would roll off power at 115, the 440 would roll off close to 130. 

Weren't the later hemi's equipped with hydraulic lifters? I know for a fact that keeping the solid lifter ones were famous for losing a tune, and had to be constantly tuned to maintain peak performance.  Just like the solid lifter 413 cars were.  (my dad had both in the mid 60s)

The problem with comparing HP is that driveability is not a factor in a HP war.  A well tuned hemi would always have more HP than a 440 six pack would, but they would not perform the same on the street, nor the track.  They did make a six pack manifold that fit the 383, but i doubt the 383 could use the gas that the six pack would provide.  Too much gas too soon and the big old 440 falls on its face.  Same with the 383.  But at the right time...the 440 would take as much as you could pour down its gullet. 

[69fuchs]

How about max wedge stuff?   

Walt Reed (who was a well known racer around here and had "the scavenger" hemicuda that was featured in the direct connection books of the 1970's)

He started with a 62 max wedge dodge polara, racing it in b/mp.  He won a lot with that car, but it only ran mid 12's in the quarter.  He traded the max wedge engine for a 426 hemi with a spun rod bearing.  After he fixed the 426 hemi, he put it in a 67 belvedere.  First time out, it ran 11.50's.  He never looked back.


check out this article
http://www.allpar.com/history/memories/hemi-satellite.html

[RECHRGD]

It seems funny that I never came up against a HEMI car 'back in the day'.  I did have alot of fun harassing the bowtie and blue oval boys with my new '68 R/T 440 in So. California.  Hell, I don't even remember seeing a HEMI car.  I did have a friend that had a very quick El Camino that ran around 13 seconds flat and I remember him saying that a HEMI kicked his ass one night on the Harbor freeway.  BTW my 440 ran low 14's with headers and 3.23 gears on polyglass tires.   Bob

[Ghoste]

I did once, although back in the in this case would mean around 1980 or 81.  It was a 70 Challenger and it was one of the harder street spankings I have ever had.  To this day I don't know who owned the car or what he had done to it but he handed me my ass right from the moment the guy waved us off.  I was already a Mopar guy by then and I knew about Hemis but that was the first time I had seen one run and it was also the moment that made the "legend" real.  That one was tuned.