Original Super Stock HEMI Barracuda BO29

hemicop said

There's nothing mystical about building a Hemi A-body. Actually in some ways it's easier than doing a 440 A-body. Keep in mind these cars were minimal in equipment & the parts were from other, less expensive vehicles and what wasn't were simple fabricated pieces. Example: the de-clutching fan was taken from a Dodge truck. the seats, as we all know, were from an A100 pick-up/van. An 8 3/4 rear came under almost everything back then so finding a wrecked anything will give you the raw material. The 727 was nothing special except for its reverse valve-body. The converter was the "trick" & is available everywhere now. The Hemi itself? Admittedly that's expensive BUT unlike a wedge engine the exhaust ports exit under (?) the engine as opposed to out the side of the motor making fitting the headers less of a hassle. Why do you think 440 wedge headers are fender-well exit? I could go on, but no one should be intimidated by a build like this as the factory really did do all the R&D for us & that info has been around for literally decades.

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Well that is not necessarily true. There are over 200 different components (not parts) that are different from a original Hemi car and a Dart. If you are building clones or a race/bracket car then there are MANY short cuts that can be taken. I have assembled a real 440 Dart and there are several one off parts for that car but compared Hemi car, not even close. You mentioned the 8 3/4” rear end. Yes, many of the parts are off the shelf but they still had to be special ordered. Here is a list of changes that were made just for a Hemi Dart.
1) Spring seats moved in because of off set hangers.
2) Spring Seats rotated 2 degrees dr side, 6 degrees pass side….so the leaf springs will seat correctly.
3) 4:88 gears installed.
4) 4 1/2” bolt pattern.
5) All Right hand threads on both sides
6) 1/2” wheel lugs and studs.
7) 4 speed cars got a Dana ( I know you mentioned auto trans but I’m just throwing this in there)
8) Last but not least there is a huge debate on the year/length of what diff was used.

I’m sure I’m missing something’s but these are the ones I remember off the top of my head. As I said, if your building a clone, street car, no can run a stock rear end but it won’t last and it’s not right. View attachment 1715882920View attachment 1715882921View attachment 1715882920 View attachment 1715882921