HEMI heads

[charger50071]

Anyone have any knowledge / experience with the HEMI conversion heads for 383/440 blocks ?
Thanks.

[Ghoste]

Stage V Engineering is the company who made them.  I think with the reintroduction of 426 parts and crate engines from Chrysler, the conversion kit became a less viable alternative costwise.

[charger50071]

I was more interested if anyone has done this conversion and had any problems? The cost of a new 426 block in comparsion to a seasoned 440 block would to me justify to up grade to Hemi heads.

[Troy]

We've covered this before but my opinion still hasn't changed. The expensive parts on a Hemi are the Hemi specific parts (heads, valve train, pistons, rockers, valve covers, accessory brackets, intake, carbs, air cleaner, etc). The only money you're saving is in the block itself but now you have to pay for a bunch of machining so it's mostly a wash. If you use a 440 crank and balancer on a Hemi block you can use the standard RB accessories and flywheel/flexplate which are much more affordable than the Hemi specific parts (and not many people can tell a difference). The reproduction and after market blocks are becoming cheaper and more available all the time so, in my opinion, it's easier to start with a fresh block that only requires minimal machining. The heads you're talking about don't seem to be available any more so it might just be a moot point any way.

Troy

[Mike DC]

I totally agree with Troy on this.


It would be wonderful if there was a decent way to convert a wedge block to a Hemi w/o breaking the bank, but the parts total is just too much even without trying to get very racy with the combo.  The Hemi had very similiar architecture to the wedges in its block shape, but it was still just a different motor in the big scheme of things.