So they weren’t lying…

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75slant6 said:
Being able to use 318 or 340 caps would certainly be cheaper than buying new ones.

Unfortunately, there is no 354 Hemi, just the crankshaft from one. Now, the main journals and crank journals are the same size between the 341 and the 354 so theoretically, the 354 crank should fit in the 341. BUT. The 341 has a 3.7812” stroke and the 354 has a 3.625” stroke, which would effectively de-stroke the 341 down to a 325.
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You cannot use a 354 Chrysler crank in the Desoto 341 block. It is too long and will not fit in the block. Bonus is, you have a 392 instead with the best heads to use. You can sometimes find Desoto 330, 341, or 345 cranks for sale, any of the 3 will work.
 
66fs said:
You cannot use a 354 Chrysler crank in the Desoto 341 block. It is too long and will not fit in the block. Bonus is, you have a 392 instead with the best heads to use. You can sometimes find Desoto 330, 341, or 345 cranks for sale, any of the 3 will work.
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Good to know! Thanks! It would’ve been really cool if the 341 was a 354 but like you said, beings the other one is a 392,I have the good heads AND it was all free, I’m perfectly fine with it being a 341! A 354 would’ve just been extra icing on the cake! Lol
 
Also, like I said earlier, the 341 will most likely get cleaned up and assembled with an empty block and empty heads, get painted up and set on a stand as a badass piece of shop art
 
I'll be checking to see if 273,318, or 340 main caps will work in a day or two. I'll let you know. At least you have the 341 rods and their caps, as they also are made of unobtainium. One set of rods I just bought are missing all eight caps. What a waste.
 
75slant6 said:
Also, like I said earlier, the 341 will most likely get cleaned up and assembled with an empty block and empty heads, get painted up and set on a stand as a badass piece of shop art
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If you want to sell parts you will not need for shop art or swap for cracked parts let me know, I'd be interested.
 
66fs said:
If you want to sell parts you will not need for shop art or swap for cracked parts let me know, I'd be interested.
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I will certainly keep that in mind when the time comes that I start cleaning these up! Thanks!
 
Unfortunately I have at least one pair of cracked heads (red stripe) and a cracked intake. Of course tanked, blasted and magnefluxed. I have not checked the recent acquisitions yet.


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Here’s a picture of the old barn the parts came out of. I told my wife I can’t beLIEVE I didn’t think to take a video or pictures of everything before I loaded it up!

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75slant6 said:
We’ve all heard people say “they’re still out there” followed by photos or stories of some some awesome find in a barn, garage or fence row. Well, I’ve always been happy for the people who make these discoveries, I just never thought I’d have one of my own. Today I was doing some storm repair work for a lady that we’ve worked for in the past and after repairing a roof on an old barn I went around back to take a piss. While standing there, I peered in through the gaps in the boards and saw two engine blocks and a few heads laying on the dirt floor. I could tell from the exhaust ports that they weren’t sb Mopar but decided to go check them out anyway. I looked the one block over, then flipped a head over and noticed the hemispherical chamber! I whipped around and saw a big valve cover with 4 holes in it, leaning against the wall! Quickly walked over to it and saw the iconic “Chrysler FirePower”!! Then came the shakes of excitement! I asked the lady I was working for if she’d like to sell the engine parts in the barn. She didn’t know anything about them and asked me to show them to her (it was her parents place that she recently inherited) after looking them over she said “if those interest you, you can have them!” I offered multiple times to pay for them but she insisted I take them and anything else in the barn that I might want. (It was mostly empty so nothing else there that I wanted) From what I have gathered so far, the bare block is an industrial 354 Hemi, as for the intact shortblock, I’m 99% sure it’s a 392!!!
She asked me later if I knew what vehicles they were from and I said a Chrysler. She said someone must have given them to her dad since he never had any Chrysler vehicles, he was a Ford man.
There’s no telling how long these parts have sat in the dirt floor of this barn, but I’m going to have fun cleaning all this up because everything that SHOULD slide, rotate or pivot must definitely does not!
And since threads (especially ones like this) are worthless without pics, here’s what all I got.

First up, the engine blocks. As I said earlier, the bare block is an industrial 354 and the short block I’m almost for certain is a 392.
View attachment 1716069665

Next up, we have a standard 4bbl intake and the industrial intake along with a set of head (not sure which number these are)
View attachment 1716069680

In total there were 3 sets of heads. 1731526 392 heads, 1635779 desoto heads and 1556157 heads.
Here are the 2nd and 3rd set. Set with the drool tubes are the 392 heads.
View attachment 1716069659

I also got all 8 rods and pistons for the 354. I’m pretty sure someone had started rebuilding this engine but never finished, if you zoom in on the 4th piston from the left, the ring is brand new! Now these will obviously need to be redone since these pistons are all stuck in the position that they’re in.
View attachment 1716069658

Two sets of rocker arms, all stuck where they are. Oil pump and an oil pan.
View attachment 1716069679

Two distributors, 2nd oil pan (one of them has a hole rusted in it) only have one valley cover but have an extra front cover/water pump housing.
View attachment 1716069677

Did I mention everything is stuck? Here’s how I found the 354 timing chain. I couldn’t even move it! :rofl:
View attachment 1716069660

Next we have the 354 crank and the two sets of valve covers.
View attachment 1716069674

And lastly, a photo of the awesome, iconic FirePower valve covers!
View attachment 1716069675
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Old hot rodders stuffed the early Hemis, Cads and Olds engines in most everything. More cubes and power than the Fords and Chevys.
Find a Stude Champion to stuff one of those beauties in with a Viper or GT350 Tremec 6 spd.
 
You did good on the parts, I passed on a complete 392, local to me, the guy said bolt it in and fire it up.
He said he last run it a few years ago in an old dodge truck.
$1500 I should have bought it.
It had a bunch of speed parts, and a manual trans bolted to it.
 
I have not completely checked all the numbers, but I pulled a couple main caps off a 273 and they are almost identical. Will report back later.
 
here's some vintage hemi's that found a home in my shop , 354 chrys , 301 chrys , 291 desoto , and a 417 donovan , 354 ind algon n m/t pistons and rods , and a 392 from a ski boat tucked away in the corner of the shop . cool find , there is lots of parts out there for these vintage hemi's . here's my bud butch running in a couple hemi's he built .

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inertia said:
IIRC. 392 was heaviest production automotive V-8.
762 lbs.
Had love/hate relationship with hemis . lol
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Not as heavy without the generator and other accessories. But heavy enough to survive blowers and nitro. NHRA outlawed all early Hemis. I started weighing the Desoto Hemi parts, and not as heavy as one would be led to believe.
 
sireland67 said:
You did good on the parts, I passed on a complete 392, local to me, the guy said bolt it in and fire it up.
He said he last run it a few years ago in an old dodge truck.
$1500 I should have bought it.
It had a bunch of speed parts, and a manual trans bolted to it.
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In 1990, I bought a Complete 392, with a set of 0.060 over Jhans pistons. 12.5 :1. Got stolen outta my garage...was gonna shove it in a 63 Dart I had.....
 
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Ironracer said:
The 63 was rust free, a 300 running car, paid 500 for the 392. Them days have gone for good
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There is still deals out there, you just have to add a 0 now a days.
I picked up a rust-free 70 Challenger 2 years ago for $4000.
 
sireland67 said:
There is still deals out there, you just have to add a 0 now a days.
I picked up a rust-free 70 Challenger 2 years ago for $4000.
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WOW! that’s a better deal than 2 free, locked up Hemi’s! I’d be all over that like stink on an Amishman!
 
sireland67 said:
There is still deals out there, you just have to add a 0 now a days.
I picked up a rust-free 70 Challenger 2 years ago for $4000.
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That's a sweet deal for today! I had a rust free 71 back in the 90s... original 383 car. I had less than a grand in that one but that was back then
 
Ironracer said:
That's a sweet deal for today! I had a rust free 71 back in the 90s... original 383 car. I had less than a grand in that one but that was back then
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Back then you could get them cheap, my first car I bought was a 71 challenger, for the whopping price of $250, drove that car for years.
 
sireland67 said:
Back then you could get them cheap, my first car I bought was a 71 challenger, for the whopping price of $250, drove that car for years.
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My first was a 68 Coronet, 383 Magnum 4 spd. In 90 it was a grand, drove her in all forms of heat and rain here for years. Loved Her, still Miss Her!
 
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