354 or 392? Hemi? Questions?

I started to put a 331 Hemi into a '74 road runner and wanted to ask the crew on Moparts what they thought. Well..that was a real sh*tfest. I got flamed and was basically told I was stupid for wanting to even attempt it. Whatever...I have never seen a road runner of that year with a 331 in it.

I decided against it because I took the engine apart and found out that it was completely shot. Cracked cylinders. It is VERY expensive to do. Hothemiheads.com has about anything for an old hemi-even Desoto!

If I had the $$ and the motor, I'd do it just to be different and prove them wrong. Now I have a 1941 Dodge pickup that would be pretty sweet with a hemi in it.

Remember that most of the real early hemi's didn't have a lot of power but the magic of a hemi is how well they respond to modifications. You can get 300+hp pretty easily. Chrysler's are the best to start with because they are the best to get parts for.

The parts for a Chrysler,Dodge and Desoto Hemi are all completely different.
They made a Chrysler 354 poly engine as well in the mid 50's and if you have the hemi heads, you can bolt them to the poly and make a hemi out of it. Remember that they must be Chrysler heads and top end top. Can't use Dodge. You can do the same with a Dodge poly engine as well. If you have a Dodge poly engine, get a top end with the Dodge Hemi heads and do it to it!

I hear the reason for non interchangeability is that the bore spacing is different between the engines.