"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 9 Feb 2009 10:41:56 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:

I liked the old days when a Nascar stock car race pitted 427ci Fords
against 427ci Chevys which were both blown off the map for a couple of
years by the MoPar 426 Hemi.

Hemi is somewhat overrated. If you have a flat top piston, the
combustion chamber is hemispherical. If you want high compression, you
used a domed piston and get a combustion chamber that looks like the
peel from half an orange. It looks better in a long stroke engine, as
the piston can be flatter for any given compression ratio, but today
most mills are short stroke.

Casady


You would have to explain that to the Ford and Chevy fans of the 60's.
The fed had a limit on the maximum horsepower that a commercially available
car could produce in those days. The limit was 425hp. When Chrysler
introduced the 426 hemi in limited production, buyers were taking their new
car to be dyno'ed. Many of the stock, unmodified engines, straight from the
factory were producing over 500hp, even though they were "officially" rated
at 425hp.

What is over-rated is the newer, mini-hemi that came out in 2002 or 2003.
Depending on the vehicle, it's rated anywhere from 335hp to 345hp, but,
like most modern engines, it's horsepower and torque curve is peaked at very
high RPM. The monster 426 hemi was pure, brute power.

Chrysler made many versions of a hemi engine over the years. My father's
1955 Dodge Royal Lancer had a hemi. I think it was 331ci.

Eisboch

Eisboch