Thread: Hemi guys, need your advice.

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My Son Don just called me, he has found a 291 ci hemi out of a 55 Desoto. I know zero about hemis except that some are not as desirable as others (like the 392 would be for example)

Is the 291 a good one for building or not? Thanks for any advice. I'm going to look at it this afternoon for him, and the guy says it's complete.

Don

babby hemi parts can be pick up for stock rebuild a deluxe over haul for $1680. and add machine work could get pricy but if you can get it cheap?

Thanks Pat. I had to run because it just showed up on Craigslist this morning and we didn't want to miss out on it. I did get time to call Hot Heads who work on them and carry a lot of stuff for them. Very nice, helpful guy there said to jump on it, so we did. He said they can regrind the cam for more go and that there are other parts they carry too. I also called Charlie Price @ Vintage Speed and he has in stock a four carb intake for these.

I know they are expensive to build, but the guy only wanted $ 500 for it and ended up taking $ 400, so even as a conversation piece it is worth it IMO.

Now Don just has to figure out what his next hot rod project will be to put this in. He's leaning toward a 34 coupe, fenderless, chopped top, sort of Salt Flats style like this one below. Also some pictures of his motor on the way home today.

Don

Looks like you done good Don. A touch more expensive to build than the Chrysler version but what the heck. Hell if nothing else, paint it up, put a big air cleaner on it and use it for a coffee table.

From the looks of the pictures the valve covers are nice and straight (good cadidates to chrome?)

You'll definately want to do something aobut the compression 7.5:1 if I rember correctly....but hey blowers always did look good on these

You will definately get attention and envious looks.

yep you did ok. yep esron re grind cores for me as for pistons any one can make them if you want to go this way and can not find any .you got a hell of a deal on it to throw some money at it you lucky dog

You are right Mike, the compression is a measly 7.5 on this and you supposedly can put in later pistons to get 8.5, or custom ones that cost $$$$$$$$$$$$. They say blower manifolds for these are few and far between, but a 4-71 or maybe even a 6-71 would be cool, wouldn't it? I thought I read where these had forged cranks.

Yes, the valve covers are very straight and would be ok to chrome. I thought they would say DeSoto, but they don't. They say nothing. Maybe the writing was on the spark plug covers?

The exterior looks pretty good, just normal stuff. Supposedly, the engine was pulled out of the car years ago and the guy we got it from bought it 4-5 years ago for his 32 Plymouth coupe, but he stayed with the sbc in it instead. Don has a lot of time to figure out what car to build to put it in. Dan has offered him the 30 Tudor sitting in the loft, but Don seems to be more interested in the 34 coupe route. If Don doesn't want the sedan I might buy it............God knows I have years and years left to finish the ones I have already.

Don

As far as I know and what I've read all the Mopars of that era used steel cranks and the machine tolerances were also very good. Providing everything is sound they have a very good bottom end.

If you don't have the link for hot heads here it is......if you haven't already it's at least fun to window shop there

You're right on the wire covers, the majority of the Dodge and Desoto Hemis had the name embosses there rather than the valve covers.

That old group of Hemi threads I did a few years ago has some stuff like tranny adaptors and electronic iginition conversions that also apply directly to the Dodge and DeSoto Hemis. If I recall the full flow oil filter mods and spin on filter adaptors are also directly applicable to the DeSotos and Dodges.

I would also recomend picking up a copy of Tex Smith's complete Hemi book, there is a bunch of good info and history in it.

They are definately a fun engine to play with, have fun with it.

Mike, one other strange thing, the distributor is a dual point one. I thought it was an aftermarket at first, but there was a tag on the side that reads "Chyrsler Corp." Did these have dual points stock or has someone converted it over the years?

Don

Every early Hemi I've come across to include the industrials have had the dual points, while the Poly engines all seem to have used single points.

Points, caps and rotors are still readily available for these. At one point the Pertronix conversions was also only available for the Hemi Dual point breaker plate. So having one gives you another option on the ignition.

On a side note, I’ve noticed over the years that while the single point distributors tend to exhibit a noticeable amount of upper bushing wear (and resulting play), the majority of the dual point units I’ve set up still seem to be reasonably tight. I kind of suspect that the shaft having pressure on both sides rather than from just a single direction was the main reason for this.

I'm seeing a sheet metal 2X4 intake or turbo for this jem Don!

Is that the same trailer you used to pick up my parts for your '46 C-dan?? If so ..... you guys got your monies worth!!! (LOL)

REGS

Yep Mike, the more I dig for info for Don the more I read what you are saying about all of them having dual points. I never knew ANY car had dual points as stock items.

Paul, I don't think so. You guys are the ones who do all that fancy stuff, we're just shadetree builders down here. Some of that stuff you all had in the shop that day I visited you I have only seen in magazines.

Don

Don, You did good. 400 bucks ain't bad for any core motor but a Hemi any early Hemi its a real good deal.

All of the Desotos had dual point dizzy's. Also "ALL" Desotos use a plain unscripoted valve cover, the Logo as you guessed is on the Spark Plug covers on the Desoto. There were no Desoto Poly engines, thus no single point dizzy.The Desotos also share a common Bolt pattern with the Chrysler handy when it comes time to put a tranny behind it. Hot Heads has the adapters for just about any tranny you can think of. Rebuild Full kits can be had from severeal sources, many in your neck of the woods on E-Bay prices for complete kits start around 1,035.00 or so and go on up depending on Pistons and such. Egge has in stock just about any compression combo you can think of but they aint cheap. Hot Heads once again is the place to go, really cool folks, know what they are talking about, and there prices while not the cheapest always are not bad at all, and they will have the stuff.

There are two problem areas with any early Hemi and the Desoto to be sure. One is the cooling system, water pumps have not been available for a long time and on mine I couldn't even find a rebuilder to do the one I had. Hot Heads does sell a aluminum timing cover that incorporates a SBC water pump. very good idea and I am running one "NOW" on my 330 inch Desoto. The other area is the oil pump, they also have been out of production for years. Everyonce in awhile a rebuild kit comes up but thats the best you can hope for with a stock oil pump. Once again Hot Heads to the rescue, they sell a conversion that uses and adapts a Small Block Mopar modern oil pump to the Early Desoto, cool deal and I am running one of those as well.

Intake Manifolds in almost any configuration are out there for the Desoto. Stock there were single 4 brl manifolds, 2 brl manifolds and 2x4 manifolds. After market "TODAY" there are 4x2 brl--2x4 --- 6x2 and 3x2 brl manifolds all available for the Low and High deck Desotos hemis. Even a guy in New Zealand selling manifolds here in the states that he has cast in NZ and does the machine work and then ships in. They come in severeal different combois thru exchangeable tops, they run around a grand but hey man its an Early hemi and a Desoto at that, stuff aint supposed to be too cheap.

Very cool deal you got there congrats... Here's a couple of pics of my current Desoto Hemi swap for my 49 Ford F-1. This one is a tall deck 330 inch but very similiar to your 291.

Hombre,thanks for mentioning the NZ intake,I know the guy who came up with the idea/design,and the guy who did the pattern making and casting for that intake...and I believe he is looking at another combo to suit a blower...If you want to make contact with the guy,Don,PM me,or go to www.ace-customs.com

Jimmy should be able to help you out with one of PWs WHEKE intakes...[Maori for octopus]?

Thanks Hombre and Lamin8r for that info. Nice looking engine Hombre, nestles right down in there. I was wondering why the Chevy water pump swap was available because it looks like the stock DeSoto was very compact itself. Makes sense if you can't find them any more. I already told my Son to dust off his MasterCard, it's gonna be a bumpy ride costwise.

Don probably hasn't seen this thread yet as he had to run yesterday right after we picked up the engine and put it to bed in the shop. I'm sure he will appreciate all the info you guys have given too.

Don

Don

Well, my hemi experience is pretty limited--most I couldn't get to run but a few seconds at a time!!!!!!!!!
With the costs of paint/bodywork/upholstery being such a high percentage of the cost of a car these days, I'm doing a 392 hemi with a 8:71 blower AND a flathead set up so I can interchange them easily for a 33 roadster---run the hemi for a while and next week show up with a flathead!!!! I've got both core engines and just need time----