Worlds crustiest HEMI build

Any chance this thing ever runs again?

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replicaracer43

replicaracer43

Grumpy Old Man
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Thought it might be interesting do do a little thread on building a 1st gen HEMI, more specifically, a 1958 392... It IS without a doubt, the biggest pile of rusted, seized, hopelessness I have ever seen in the form of a engine core. But hey, I enjoy a challenge, soooooo. Follow along although it will take a while, as this is not my main priority at the moment

20200605_111042.jpg
 
Step one was to tear it down to the short block, which revealed one head/rocker assy, somewhat decent looking, the other side looked quite bad, like underwater for years bad. Not looking very promising at this stage, and although it was no problem removing the heads, what was underneath was not very confidence inspiring at all.
20200605_101154.jpg
 
Go for it! I’m totally following you. I’ve got a 331 from a 54 New Yorker I’ve been saving. It’s not as bad as yours though, wow. What’s your plans for it?
 
Garethw said:
Go for it! I’m totally following you. I’ve got a 331 from a 54 New Yorker I’ve been saving. It’s not as bad as yours though, wow. What’s your plans for it?
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Its actually a customers engine, he bought it pretty cheap with the expectation that it would only be good MAYBE for a few parts....but we are going to try to save it.
 
Here's what my 331 looked like "before". Although I admit, it was absolutely beautiful on the inside. I have no doubt whatsoever, had I put gas and fire to it that it would have run. Probably quite well.

HEMI BEFORE.jpg


And of course after.

HEMI AFTER.jpg
 
RustyRatRod said:
Here's what my 331 looked like "before". Although I admit, it was absolutely beautiful on the inside. I have no doubt whatsoever, had I put gas and fire to it that it would have run. Probably quite well.

View attachment 1715576517

And of course after.

View attachment 1715576519
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Now look here buddy! Dont be clogging up this thread with peice of jewelry you got there...this pig is LONG way away from your sweet looking 331!
 
i seem to remember a few years back someone starting a thread on a 440 in similar condition
not sure how it ended, but to quote one of my favorite movies "Nothing is impossible, Mr. Angier. What you want is simply expensive"
 
replicaracer43 said:
Now look here buddy! Dont be clogging up this thread with peice of jewelry you got there...this pig is LONG way away from your sweet looking 331!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I ALMOST built it like it was on the outside. I just couldn't. I figure it's the first and LAST Hemi I'll ever have so I had to make it pretty.
 
I dabbled with a few of these. One was so seized up I had about 80 hours in it just getting it apart and cleaned up. And it was no where bad as this one. Good luck. :lol:
 
If you do get it apart, and going to rebuild it, I have a couple tricks on changing the water pump and oil filter setups.
 
Soaked the short block in a electrolysis tank I built a while back for 3 or 4 days, the results were impressive!
 
RAT ROD AL said:
What's the crank and rods look like?
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Well, the pistons got destroyed being removed, despite the electrolysis soak, then a week of penetrating oil, and even some heat. But the rods look decent, bearing journals are good, and the crank looks good other than some non-critical pitting on the counterweights...
 
I used electrolysis on a 1937 l134. Helped some. But still had to break apart the pistons
 
I had to destroy the pistons on my 331 to get them out too. Hope you’ll be able to build this motor back up.
 
33IMP said:
If you can save the block and crank, you're good. Everything else is available, tho expensive. I don't envy your machine shop bill.
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Well.....I am the machine shop.....so the bill is no problem, it's the challenge I like!
 
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