426 Hemi Question

I asked him last night and he said he used 440 rods. This was because he did not have a hemi crankshaft.

So, that would definately change the compression dramatically, as others have said. Your suspicions are correct about this fishy story tho. Although dimensionally the 440 crank and the hemi crank are the same, with the differences only being the 6 or 8 bolt flexplate flange, you really have to wonder why anyone would go to the trouble. Who would go to the trouble to build an underperforming engine as such? And did this gem get properly balanced, or just bolted together and pedalled??