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than the Chrysler, and the Dodge designwas smaller yet. These lower-displace-ment versions earned them the nickname“Baby Hemis.”Despite their smaller dis-placement, their lighter weight gained afollowing on the racetrack as well, thoughalways in the shadow of its bigger sister.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS…With the choice made to build an earlyHemi, we then decided on the DeSoto, inpart due to its smaller overall dimensions(making it a little easier to squeeze betweenthe rails of an early ’30s car) and somewhat

Having built my share ofstreet rods and customs over the

years, I’ll be the first to admit myengine of choice was most often a

small-block Chevrolet. Its compact size,availability of inexpensive performance parts,

and power potential made it an easy choice.These simple facts make it the go-to choice for

thousands of other car builders as well.Times change, and although the small-block Chevy

has not lost its luster, the thought of building a traditionallystyled, open hood hot rod with this proven powerplant just

seemed to destine the project to look like so many others.The decision was made to build a vintage engine, incorpo-

rating some traditional speed parts as well as some newly re-produced and freshly engineered pieces. For this project, we were

less interested in all-out performance as much as we wanted asolid, reliable engine that looked good, ran well on regular gas, and of-

fered good performance even with thousands of road miles under its belt.In short order, our focus shifted to building an early Hemi engine. The

Chrysler Hemi engine has become legendary to most racing enthusiasts.Its hemispherical design combustion chamber increased the volumetric

and thermal efficiencywhile a low surface-to-volume ratiominimized power loss dueto combustion chamber deposits. Chryslerdid not invent the Hemi; in fact, the de-sign dates back to the birth of the auto-mobile when it was deemed too difficultto mass produce.During the late ’30s, Chrysler engi-neers experimented with combustionchamber design; their tests soon con-firmed the hemispherical design yieldedthe most power on low octane fuels. Thefirst Chrysler Hemi engines were pro-duced during World War II, when thedesign was incorporated into V-12 tankengines. It was seen again later in the de-velopment of aV-16 aircraft engine. Afterthe war, Chrysler engineers went to workdeveloping a more compact version oftheir Hemi design, with the directionfrom management it should be built toendure 100,000miles before any service.This was a real milestone.Chrysler unveiled its new Hemi V-8 inthe fall of 1950 for availability in the 1951

model year, producing 180-horsepowerand 312 ft.-lbs. of torque with a 7:1 com-pression ratio on 80-octane fuel. Whilethese numbers seem low by today’s stan-dards, it didn’t take Chrysler engineers (orracers) long to determine there was a lot ofuntapped power potential. Improved flow,increased compression, and more aggres-sive camshaft design woke this giant totake its rightful place in racing history.Chrysler shared their new design withtheir DeSoto and Dodge divisions, al-though the similarity ended there. Liketheir cars, the DeSoto design was smaller

38 MARCH/APRIL 2008 | STREET THUNDER39

STREET THUNDER | MARCH/APRIL 2008

NEW LIFE FOR AN

BY MARK SIMPSON, PHOTOS BY MATT SPROUSE

One clear difference between the “low-deck” and“tall-deck” Hemi camshafts is in the cam snout.The “low-deck” cam (left) has a longer snoutwith a threaded external end. The Hot Heads tim-ing cover conversion requires the shorter stylecam. “Low-deck” cams must be machined downto the specifications of the later model “tall-deck” cam (right). Due to lifter bore placementvariations between them, “low-deck” and “tall-deck” cams are not interchangeable.

EGGE MACHINE COMPANYROD/CAM/MAIN BEARINGS

INTAKE/EXHAUST VALVES & LIFTERSEstablished in 1915, Egge Machine Companyis known worldwide as a vintage engine pis-ton manufacturer, supplier of internal enginecomponents, complete engine rebuild kits, andnostalgic performance products. We knew wecould count on them for the stainless exhaustvalves, when no one else had them.

FEDERAL-MOGULCOMPLETE REBUILD GASKET SET

The Fel-Pro complete rebuild gasket set camecomplete with all of the gaskets we needed toassemble the old Hemi.

HOT HEADS RESEARCH & RACINGMAIN/HEAD/ROD BOLTS,

ADJUSTABLE PUSHRODS, VALVE SPRINGS,INTERMEDIATE SHAFT & BUSHINGWe used many quility parts from Hot Heads.Their adjustable pushrods are amust, if you’reusing a reground camshaft. The extended-length intermediate shaft allows the use of asmall-block Mopar distributor. Completing afresh build with new bolts only makes goodsense; there is no way to tell just how manytimes the old ones have been stretched.

NIELSON VINTAGE RACING CAMSREGROUND CAM, CAM GEAR

Chris Nielson was more than helpful keepingthis project on-track. The unavailability of newcam cores for the DeSoto Hemi is still a weaklink, however his expertise in machining ex-isting cams is a viable alternative. As of thewriting of this article, Chris informed us thatwork is in progress to develop new cam coresfor the DeSoto Hemi.

ROSS RACING PISTONSFORGED ALUMINUM PISTONS

Cast aluminum pistons are widely availablefor the DeSoto Hemi although they are onlyavailable in stock compression ratios. Our de-sire to raise the compression ratio from thestock 7:1 lead us to the folks at Ross RacingPistons. They were able to build a set of pis-tons to the desired compression ratio with im-provements to the ring and wrist pin design.

TOTAL SEAL INC.PISTON RINGS

Total Seal’s TS1 piston rings are proven per-formers in a wide range of mid- to high-com-pression engines, as well as mildly boostedapplications. They should be more than ade-quate for our Hemi build.

INTERNAL ENGINE COMPONENTS

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because of my personal fondness for DeS-otos. In our research, many were quick topoint out the more popular Chrysler wasmore expensive to buy, and the DeSotowould bemore expensive to build due to itsrarity as a hot rodmill.This would apply ifour plans were to build an all-out per-formance engine. With somewhat milderintentions, the buildup expenseswere fairlycomparablewith the only exceptions beingintake manifolds and camshafts.TheDeSotoHemi first appeared in ’52with a 276-inch displacement and only7:1 compression, producing 160-horse-power and 250 ft.-lbs. of torque. In ’55,bore size was increased, resulting in a dis-placement of 291 inches. The early DeS-

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ENGINE COMPONENTS

VINTAGE SPEEDAIR CLEANERS

Vintage Speed offers a full line of custom aircleaners, custom fuel lines, fuel blocks, rebuiltcarburetors, complete show-polished carburetorand intake systems, and reproduction vintage in-take manifolds. We chose these well-crafted re-production Edmunds Custom air cleaners.

WEIANDREMOTE THERMOSTAT HOUSING

Many early Hemi intake manifolds do not incor-porate a thermostat housing into the casting. Weused this Weiand unit paired with -10 AN line andfittings with a Hot Heads water neck.

VINTAGE SPEEDCARBURETOR LINKAGE

Due to known fuel distribution issues with ourmanifold, we chose direct 4x2 inline linkage.

HOLLEYFUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR

Like their predecessor, the new Stromberg 97carburetors require relatively low fuel pressure.The Holley fuel pressure regulator kept our fuelpressure at a constant 2.5 psi.

MOONEYESMOON FUEL BLOCK

A fuel block ensures even distribution of fuel to allcarburetors. We mounted ours in series with theregulator and pressure gauge.

POWERMASTERPOWERGEN ALTERNATOR

Building a vintage-style engine requires atten-tion to all of the details.The PowerGEN alternatorlooks like it belongs here. Its simple one-wirehookup and 75-amp output will give our Hemi allthe power it needs for years to come.

HOT HEADS RESEARCH & RACINGTIMING CHAIN COVER

The Hot Heads timing chain cover dramaticallyreduces the weight of the engine, shortens theoverall length of the engine, and serves as anadapter to enable the use of a readily availableshort-style small-block Chevy water pump.

HOT HEADS RESEARCH & RACINGHARMONIC BALANCER & PULLEYS

The Street Performance harmonic balancer ismanufactured specifically for the early Hemiand is designed to work perfectly with their pul-leys, timing chain cover, and small-block Chevywater pump.

MSD IGNITIONDISTRIBUTOR, COIL & WIRES

Their proven quality and performancemade theman easy choice for our build. While their Ready-to-Run Pro-Billet is actually designed for a small-block Mopar, when paired with the Hot Headsconversion intermediate shaft, it makes the per-fect solution. Working together, the MSD Heli-Core wires and Blaster 2 coil delivered realfire-power to the old Hemi.

STROMBERG CARBURETOR, LTD.NEW STROMBERG 97 CARBURETORS

Manufactured in England, the new Stromberg 97carburetors are exact replicas of the original, onlybetter. The problems inherent in the original de-sign have been fixed and the overall quality ofthese carburetors is just amazing! On the dyno,these carburetors performed every bit as good asthey looked and were just as easy to tune.

WEIANDINTAKE MANIFOLD

Certainly not an off the shelf item here. The goodnews however, is Vintage Speed is now repro-ducing a version of this proven performer.

MARSHALL SINCE ’62ONE-INCH ALUMINUM CARB SPACERS

These carb spacers improved performance andprovided a perfect place to tap for vacuumwith-out having to compromise our vintage manifold.In addition to their line of custom and stock CNCparts, the folks at “Marshall since ‘62” have of-fersed a discount to all NSMC members on anyof their products or services.

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SANDERSON HEADERSBLOCK HUGGER HEADERS

Sanderson has long been the source for headersthat will fit even the tightest chassis. The “DD5”header with 11⁄2-inch primary tube size and 21⁄2-inch collector size, gave us solid performance.

POWERMASTERGEAR REDUCTION STARTER

Every Powermaster MasterTorque starter isdyno tested and proven rightfrom the factory.With a 4.4:1gear reduction ratio, it’s aguarantee it’ll turn over the oldHemi for yearsto come.

HOT HEADS RESEARCH & RACINGTRANSMISSION & OIL ADAPTERS

Finding solutions is what they do at Hot Heads.Their line of transmission adapters is no excep-tion. A full-radiused, hardened aluminumadapter,crank hub index, and flex plate, make short workof mounting our Hemi to most popular transmis-sions. Their spin-on oil filter adapter removes the

old leaky canister type andreplaces it with an easy-to-find Ford/Chrysler stylespin-on filter.

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There are currently no aftermarket distributorsfor the DeSoto Hemi. However, the small-blockMopar (318-360ci) distributor is dimensionallythe same with an approximately 1/4-inchshorter shaft. Hot Heads manufactures a longerintermediate shaft that makes the conversionto late-model distributors possible.

oto Hemis are known as“low-deck” en-gines. In ’56, deck height was raised toallow for greater stroke length.These “tall-deck” engines were built in ’56 and ’57,with displacements of 330, 341, and345ci.The ’57 345-inchDeSoto two four-barrel engine was the largest ever pro-duced, and achieved a remarkable (for itsday) 345-horse and 360 ft.-lbs. of torque,making it one of the earliest V-8s toachieve the one-horsepower-per-cubic-inch benchmark in a production engine.The decision was made to seek out anearly “low-deck” DeSoto engine, prima-rily due to its smaller overall size, and thegreater availability of vintage performanceintake manifolds.

THE TREASURE HUNTAfter searching online, through localsources, and friends for a few weeks, Wediscovered an early 276ci DeSoto Hemiresting in a field in North Dakota. Eventhough the engine was stuck, the aircleaner was still in place and there was nosign of water in the oil, assuring thiscould be a good bet for a rebuild.Returninghomewith theHemi,we toreinto it likes kids on Christmas. Soon it wasa bare block, and our gamble had paid off.The insidewas fairly cleanwith only a littlecorrosion in a couple of the cylinders andone slightly worn rod bearing journal.Thetrue test would occur later when we deliv-ered the engine to TPIS/Cottrell Racing

Engines for thoroughcleaning. Soon after, we received thecall that everything checked out, and wewere ready to proceed.

BEGINNING THE BUILDWith a solid core in hand and a good ideaof what we wanted to achieve, we con-tacted BobWalker atHotHeads Research&Racing, Inc. Bob’s advice and the partshe builds are what keep these earlyHemisviable and competitive today. We set aplan to utilize Hot Heads’ timing cover/water pump conversion, as well as theirauto transmission adapter. As a one-stopshop for early Hemi parts, a host of otherparts were also sourced from Hot Heads

(see sidebar) that would guar-antee performance and reliability.Armedwith themeasurements from theengine shop,wewere prepared to order thecam, rod, andmain bearings as well as thevalves and lifters. The main bearing jour-nals cleaned up with a .010-inch grind,while the rod journals required a .030-inchgrind. All of the valves were candidates forreplacement, and combating the effects ofunleaded gas required stainless steel ex-haust valves. EggeMachineCompany hadeverything we needed to get the job done.This comes as no surprise to vintage en-gine enthusiasts, as Egge is always an ex-cellent source for hard-to-find rebuildparts for older engines.

tunately, the folks at Powermaster Motor-sports recognized this, their PowerGENal-ternators are fashioned to have the look ofan early generator, but contain a modernone-wire alternator. Currently available inFord and GM styles, the GM “long” styleis less than a half-inch longer than the orig-inalMopar. A new lower generator bracketwas fashioned from a piece of 11⁄4 x 1⁄4-inchbar stock. The new bracket serves double-duty as a support bracket for the MoonEquipment fuel block as well.Delivering spark is an MSD Pro-Billetdrop-in distributor, designed for a small-block Mopar. The distributor shaft is ap-proximately ¼-inch shorter than theoriginalDeSoto distributor.Using a longerintermediate shaft, offered byHot Heads,made the distributor conversion possible.

COMPLETING THE BUILDFuture plans call for a lot of street mileson this engine, so backing up the Hemiwill be a GM automatic overdrive trans-mission connected using one of the HotHeads adapter kits mentioned earlier.HotHeads wisely engineered the adapterto accept a common small-block Moparstarter motor. The small yet powerfulMasterTorque starter by Powermaster iswell equipped to turn the Hemi over,while its compact size will aid in clearingother components in even the tightesthot rod frame.The exhaust duties are handled bySanderson Headers. Their tight-fittingblock huggers fit close to the block andoil pan, making them an easy fit aroundmost frame and steering componentswithout sacrificing performance.

ALL FIRED UPThe time had finally come to breathe somelife back into the old Hemi. The silencewas broken when the starter engaged, andin a moment the Strombergs teamed up

to awaken the vintage Hemi. The rumbleof the exhaust filled the room with a songthat had not been heard for years.The stock .045-inch carburetor jets hadbeen pulled in favor of .031-inch parts,after a couple adjustments we finally set-tled on .039-inch jets. At last, the mo-ment had arrived to truly determine whatour Hemi was capable of. Builder ClayWitt at Cottrell Racing Engines pulledback the dyno throttle and all fourStrombergs stood wide open. The oldHemi sprang to life, and as the powernumbers rolled up the screen, the fewmodifications wemade paid off with a full91-horsepower gain over the stock per-formance numbers.The new/oldDeSotomade 251-horsepower at 5,600 rpm, and263 ft.-lbs. of torque at 4,500 rpm.There’s little doubt more power couldhave been squeezed from the old Hemi.Higher-compression pistons, a more ag-gressive cam, and improved head flowwould all contribute to bigger powernumbers. But, we accomplished what weset out to do; the power and efficiency ofthe engine were greatly improved whilemaintaining excellent street characteris-tics. The Hemi’s reliability and servicea-bility had also been upgraded with theaddition of more modern components,while maintaining a truly vintage flavor.Still, I can’t help but wonder what themaximum potential is of these earlyHemis. There’s no doubt it will providefood for thought as I gaze at the recentlyacquired, crusty 341ci DeSoto Heminow occupying a corner of my garage.For now, I look forward to finishing upthe rest of my traditional hot rod proj-ect. It’s a good feeling knowing the once-grungy, locked-up DeSoto Hemi thatwas pulled from a field in North Dakotawill now help set my street machineapart from the ordinary, while de-livering years of trouble free miles.

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MAX TORQUE: 263 MAX HORSEPOWER: 251ONE-STOPHEMI SHOPOur first call when we started building the Hemiwas to Bob Walker at Hot Heads Research &Racing. His expertise was crucial as well as theparts he manufactures. Hot Heads offers theirown custom-manufactured parts and adaptedlater model components. The parts engineeredby Hot Heads offer enhanced reliability, betterperformance, and side-of-the-road availabil-ity. They offer many stock as well as reproduc-tion vintage speed parts too. The innovationand quality of the parts Hot Heads manufac-tures is clearly second-to-none, with customerservice to match.We used a cast aluminum timing chain cover

that ismachined to accept a small-block Chevro-let short-style water pump, and their low-mountA/C and alternator brackets. This conversion re-duces overall weight and shortens the overalllength of the engine, which is a must in the con-fines of many street rod engine compartments.Their 30-degree spin-on oil filter adapter re-

places the stock canister-type oil filter and al-lows the use of more modern Chrysler/Fordfilters. Hot Heads also offers adapters to acceptmost late-model transmissions behind the earlyHemis, and their kits include all the hardwarenecessary to get your engine hooked up.Our shopping list at Hot Heads also included

the following components:A street performance harmonic balancer, per-

formance head bolts, connecting rod bolts, mainbearing cap bolts, valve springs, spring retainers,retainer locks, an extended-length intermediateshaft (to allow the use of a late-model small-blockMopar distributor), replacement spark plug tubes,brass freeze plugs, and a converted small-blockMopar high-volume oil pump, which delivers 30-percent more volume than the stock oil pump.We also counted on Hot Heads for adjustable

pushrods, which are a must when using a re-ground camshaft. The crankshaft and waterpump pulleys are designed specifically to matchtheir timing cover and water pump conversion.The staff at Hot Heads Research & Racing,

pride themselves on being a one-stop shop forall of your early Hemi engine needs and con-tinue to add to the parts and services they pro-vide. They are dealers for many other leadingperformance parts companies who make Hemiparts. If you’re planning to take on an earlyHemi build, we would recommend them as yourfirst stop as well.

SOURCES

NSMC

Billet Specialtieswww.billetspecialties.com(800) 245-5382

Egge Machine Companywww.egge.com(562) 945-3419

Fel-Pro Gasketswww.federalmogul.com(248) 354-7700

Holley/Weiandwww.holley.com(270) 782-2900

Hot Heads Research & Racingwww.hothemiheads.com(336) 352-4866

Marshall Since ‘62www.marshallsince62.comE-mail: info@marshallsince62.com

MOON Equipment/Mooneyeswww.mooneyes.com(800) 547-5422

MSD Ignitionwww.msdignition.com(915) 857-5200

Nielson Vintage Racing CamsE-mail: vintagecams@juno.com(801) 451-7745

Powermaster Motorsportswww.powermastermotorsports.com(865) 688-5953

Ross Racing Pistonswww.rosspistons.com(310) 536-0100

Sanderson Headerswww.sandersonheaders.com(800) 669-2430

Stromberg Carburetor Ltd.www.stromberg-97.com+44 1473 811700

Total Seal, Inc.www.totalseal.com(800) 874-2753

TPI Specialties/Cottrell Racing Engineswww.tpis.com(952) 448-6021

Vintage Speedwww.vintagespeed.com(772) 778-0809

Stock replacement, low-compressionpistons are readily available. We had al-ready decided tomodestly boost the com-pression a couple points to take advantageof the Hemi’s true nature. We contactedRoss Racing Pistons to build a set of 9:1compression forged aluminumpistons forthis DeSoto. As we discussed the project’sneeds, they recommended using a latermodel 273ci small-block Mopar pistonring since they shared the same bore size.We selected Total Seal’s “TS1” pistonrings. They feature a ductile iron, molyface-coated top ringwith positive torsionaltwist, and a cast iron tapered-face “gapless”second ring for improved seal.These ringsare proven performers in a wide range ofmid- to high-compression engines, as wellas mildly boosted applications.

BUMPS IN THE ROADWith any project, there are always a fewunforeseen problems.The first was whenour camshaft was deemed unfit for re-grinding. The camshaft and the intakemanifold are the two weak links in build-ing aDeSotoHemi engine.With no newcam cores available, we had to find a goodused core. This problem is compoundedby the camshafts not being interchange-able between “low-deck” and “tall-deck”engines. The lifter bores were moved tomaintain proper valvetrain geometry inthe “tall-deck” engines, and swapping thecams between the two will advance camtiming on one bank of cylinders while re-

tarding it on the other. When Internetsearching and swap meet scavengingyielded no results, a desperate call toChris Nielson at Nielson Vintage RacingCams paid off.Chris had a camshaft core on the shelf,and after some discussion we agreed on acam regrind with .420-inch lift and 264degrees of duration (208 degrees at .050),with 114 degrees of lobe separation. Thiswas the limit on a regrind for lobe separa-tion.The stock “low-deck” cams had a full120 degrees of lobe separation, great forlow-end torque and idle smoothness, butnot-so-good for big horsepower numbers.Chris machined the nose on the camshaftto accept his cam gear replacement. Theshortened nose is necessary to fit insidethe Hot Heads timing cover.Our next pitfall was a bent rocker shaft.However, rocker shafts are interchangeablebetween DeSoto models and less prone tofailure, making them easier to locate andcertainly more affordable.The timehad come to address the intakemanifold dilemma. After searching forawhile, we located an early four two-barrelWeiandmanifold, and given their rarity,wejumped on it. This intake manifold worksbestwith direct linkage, as it is prone to fueldistribution problems with progressivelinkage. Vintage Speed recently released itsversion, and while it resembles the earlyWeiand, internally the newdesign includesan open plenum that will operate with ei-ther direct or progressive linkage.

MOVING ON UPA set of “Marshall Since ’62” one-inchspacer blocks gave us a place to tap vac-uum ports rather thanmodifying the vin-tage intake manifold. These CNC-milledblocks made short work of the problem.Friends argued against using multipleStromberg carburetors, claiming they’reprone to leaking and uneven perform-ance. The reintroduction of the Strom-berg 97, with all of its improvements,made the decision easy. The quality andattention to detail is second-to-none.Reproduction Edmunds Custom aircleaners from Vintage Speed topped offthe 97s. Vintage Speed offers a full line ofmulti-carb parts and linkage, like the di-rect linkage we used on this project.A late-model alternator on this enginewould distract from its vintage style. For-

The downside of converting our front timingcover was the loss of our oil fill tube andbreather. To remedy the situation, we ma-chined a pair of Offenhauser breathers (A)into the Vintage Speed finned aluminum val-ley cover. These breathers were short enoughto fit beneath the intake. A 11⁄2-inch hole wasdrilled in the back corner of the valley pan,and a Billet Specialties oil filler (B) was TIGwelded to the cover.

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