354 or 392? Hemi? Questions?

Rusty, explain to us how a 26 is less hemi, than an old hemi. the 26 is more of a "in one side out the other than the old ones" the later stage heads were even more so, so they could get bigger valves in them. back when I was racing A HEMI AND DRIVING ONE TO WORK (GOOD OLD DAYS) , A HEMI WAS ADVERTISED IN THE PAPER FOR CHEAP, I WENT AND LOOKED AT IT and told the guy it was a boat anchor, (was considered that at the time, pretty sure it was a392.) he was moving, and offered to give it to me to get rid of it. being full of myself (READ, STUPID), and a "hemihead", living in an apartment at the time, I didn`t want it. :wack:---bob sorry about the caps. figure pecker here---lol

I believe it has to do with the angles of the valves. The early Hemi's were theoretically perfect, look at how wide the early heads are, and they built the cars around the engine. With the 426 they slightly compromised the valve angles to narrow the head to fit in a B body engine compartment. Same great design and basic strength.