426 Hemi

If you stay clear of new and the very rare parts it is not as costly as many think.
Most of the parts I bought are outdated and not used or wanted by most racers today.
I wanted a vintage race engine.
I got the entire rotating assembly, Kellogg crank, nascar rods and TRW pistons for less than the price of a new scat 360 stroker crank. Nobody buys these old heavy parts at the swap meets.

The 68 block was expensive and new would have been slightly cheaper. I passed on many cheaper blocks that had welded repairs done to them. I wanted a nice original and had to pay the price.
Dual head distributor was very stupid money also but any RB distributor would work just as well and been cheap.
Used heads and rockers were about the price of a new single aluminum hemi head and came off a running race engine from Fred Hurst at the indy swap meet. Bought them on the last day of the swap. They were covered in oil and many layers of paint from over the years. These have stock exhaust location that makes them fit in an a body same as the original iron heads. I found they are stamped Sox and Martin when I got all the layers of paint off them. Old dual plug pro stock heads cast in 1971. Bottom layer of paint was Jake Kings blue. Didn't know what I had till I got them home and cleaned them up. Score.
Take off valve covers like I used go for around 250. Dirty but undamaged.
Tunnel ram and carbs was a bit over 1000. all together. The vintage dominators were 80% of that cost. Used modern dominators can be had much cheaper.
Used headers 100. Ebay find. Has some dents put in them during a past install.
Everything else basically interchanges with the 440 so prices are similar and easy to find
reasonably priced used like any old Mopar v8.
Used Hemi cams are everywhere and they can't seem to give them away at swaps. I have collected a good selection of crane rollers and some old mushroom tappet stuff.
The small nickel and dime stuff adds up quick I'll admit. 16 plugs, tubes, wires and boots, caps ect. engine mounts, valve cover breathers and other restoration repop parts are all over priced like normal. It did seem to never end for awhile.
Overall if it wasn't for the block and that crazy distributor it ended up being comparable
to the cost of a 440 build in my case. I could have done it cheaper if I had wanted to by using more commonly found parts. It will never be competitive in the Hemi shootout by a long shot
but will make more power for less money than a crate Hemi.
I say if you want a Hemi and have more time than money pick up a part when you can.
In time you will have it.