Thread: Spitfire / Hemi build

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Looks great Mike!

The heads got done last week.

TNH by M Patterson, on Flickr

As I posted earlier one was pretty badly pitted from sitting in a car trunk for at least 40 years. It took milling .040 off to clean it up. It’s actually not as much as it sounds though as when the factory put it together they used a steel shim head gasket with a compressed thickness of .024. The FelPro head gaskets I’m using are between .041 and .047 (depending on which reference you believe) so from a compression standpoint it’s effectively only about a .020 cut.

The rest was pretty straight forward. New stainless valves, stock 1 ¾” exhaust and we stepped up the intake to 2” (from the stock 1 15/16”). They also got new springs, keepers and locks.

The only thing that was really added are the lower spark plug tube seals. I’m running the same heads on the 331 in the 37 Dodge truck and any time you pull a plug it ends up coating the tip in oil (makes it awful hard to take a plug reading) and then it smokes like a train when you start it because of all the oil in the cylinders. It’s funny the 354 in the Plymouth doesn’t seem to have that problem.

Anyway the heads are on, pushrods adjusted and the oil system primed. With any luck I may here it run sometime this week.



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Well it’s alive ……Really wasn’t planning on it taking 3 ½ years but life happens.


CVC by M Patterson, on Flickr

I still want to build a Poly at some point and I might have a line on a 57 354 Spitfire but I’ll have to wait and see what pans out.

I’d sent out a pair of stock valve cover and 6 pack air cleaner lid to be powder coated and even got my granddaughter to paint the lettering on the valve covers. They’re not perfect but I figure getting my teenage Granddaughter to even come out to the shop is still a win. For now though I decided to use the finned aluminum valve covers that I’d had on the 57 Plymouth.

SVC by M Patterson, on Flickr



Overall I’m happy having another HEMI. Last week was filled with the little aggravations that can sometimes plague a project. It wasn’t so much the engine itself, which went together nicely. A lot of it was things associated with the run stand. Seems like when I moved it to the back shed a few years ago I didn’t figure I’d ever have another engine on it so I had ended up stripping almost all the wiring for the Chrysler Electronic ignition off of it. The fuel pump had gone bad along with the radiator cap (that didn’t show up till the engine got to 190 degrees when I was doing the cam break-in). That was all in addition to the carburetor issues I’ve already posted about. Over all the cam break-in went well in spite of everything. I did have a couple of timing cover bolts that leaked coolant, naturally one was behind the water pump that I couldn’t get to without pulling the pump but it wasn’t horribly painful…..just aggravating.





I might have gotten a little over-exuberant on the cam selection but I sure like the way it sounds.


https://youtu.be/sg3Ns4OV3w0



I still have some dialing in to do, and also a brace to build for the air cleaner, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.



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It sounds just right!!

it is a thing of beauty. great job.

Sounds great! Looks great! Still wish you had done the 3 two's though!

Just jerkin' your chain.

I have a question for you since you are a Hemi guy. I used to know where a 392 was that had been disassembled. The guy lost the main caps and the rod caps. As far as I could determine, it had a standard bore, but the block was covered with surface rust. Had a 4 barrel intake and a set of Firepower valve covers. Would this be worth fooling with? It was all in a shed that was falling down around it the last time I saw it and under a hill. it would be a chore to retrieve, but I could probably get it for hauling it off. It's been at least 5 years since I was there and it may be gone. Oh, it had a new set of Jahn's (sp?) pistons, too.

“……..Still wish you had done the 3 two's though!.......”


I hear you Mike. After all these years with the other HEMIs this thing just doesn’t look quite right with just one carb, hence the biggest air cleaner I could find to hide that fact.

As far as the 392 the best answer I can give you it “it depends”.

The 392s are about the “Holy Grail” as far as the first Gen HEMIs go, they were only produced in 57 and 58 for passenger cars (and a few for marine applications) but they are out there.

The rust really wouldn’t bother me too much.....you saw what I started with on this engine. It’s probably buildable but it wouldn’t be cheap. 4 bolt main caps are available for about $850 a set, aftermarket rods are available for about $700 a set. Not too bad if you’re planning on building an all out race type motor but it starts to add up if you just want a street cruiser. Then there is all the other things you would need. Flat tappet cams are going for around $500 and look in the $12-1500 range for a roller setup. Gasket sets are about $200, valves are a little over $200 for intakes and exhaust, etc etc. Machine shop work will depend on the shop but will be about the same for similar operations on any other engine. Any neat intake will run in the $500 and way up range. Basically I could see this easily being a build in the $10K range. Not all that bad if you want an all out nostalgia race motor but a bit on the pricy side for just a cruiser.

Another option would be to gather everything up, clean it up as best you can, maybe have the block magnafluxed and throw it on craigslist. From what you describe you probably have $800-1000 worth of parts.

The last thing I can think of is to gather everything up, clean it up and paint it, build a plexiglass box around it and use it as a coffee table. Don’t laugh at one point I was going to do that with a display motor I had……that I eventually traded and the new owner built.

Anyway just my 2 cents.


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Thanks for the info. I'll contact the guy when I get through with the Healey.

The 10K figure was one I had guessed which was one reason I had not collected it when I first found it. It would make for very interesting shop art even it was just stuck together and sitting on a stand. Would definitely be a conversation starter!

“…….It would make for very interesting shop art even it was just stuck together and sitting on a stand. Would definitely be a conversation starter!.....”


Oh Yeah. Up until I traded it I had an old 331 I did that with. Cleaned up the outside and painted it, put a junk crank in it so I could add pulleys etc. It also came in handy as a mock-up motor for both the 57 Plymouth and the 37 Dodge.

The only thing I would caution you on is not to set it too close to the Healey and then sit there some evening looking at both of them while downing a couple of adult beverages.

Here’s a cautionary tale for you if you want to waste 5 minutes of your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw6A0luYMdg

It’s a disease I tell ya.


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It sounds super nice Mike! Your build didn't take that long. Beat mine running. Haha