426 Hemi information

[HersheysHemi]

This is an interesting conversation.
My uncle bought my block through dodge parts department in the mid 70’s and had it in his 73 cuda for a short time and then I bought it from him and it’s been in my 70RR ever since. Been honed once but is still standard bore and has about 15,000 miles on it. I put the blower on late 90’s.
It has WT stamped in the pad by the distributor.

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Cool setup

 

[70Hemi-RR]

Thanks, good luck on your project

 

[rickseeman]

I guess I shouldn't say that I have no idea what a good Street Hemi block would cost. In the last 2 years I've seen 2 of those new Street Hemi short blocks that Gratiot Auto was selling for $795 in 1976. Those 2 were 1969 casting dates. They were around $25,000 each. And one of them was only 60 miles away from me (and that's saying something when you live in rural Arkansas). But there's no way I would pay that much for one because the rotating assembly is worth nothing to me, so it was really $25,000 for a new block. For me, I would much rather have a 90's Mega block so I can have 4.500" bore. (Some of the 90's block were siamese bore.) I love the power of the big cubic inches.

 

[AR67GTX]

As someone noted above, the 1966 cast blocks were in the system for a long time. I think my block came out of a 68 car with a 66 casting date.

 

[Runcharger]

My opinion. Either a block is the original one or it's not. However I can tell you a lot of those 66 blocks had cracks on the main web. On my 66 Hemi Coronet I didn't want some burnt up, ex racer, patched nightmare. So I bought a new and correct looking 90's MP block. It made sense to me but the ex Corvette collector types wanted nothing to do with the car when I sold it because they would have preferred a patched up 66 block instead of the solid piece in the car.
Next time I do it, I'll be putting an aluminum block in the car.

 

[6PKRTSE]

I have had 2 iron Hemi blocks in the past. Both were 66 blocks. My current Hemi block is a Mega block. I also have 3 KB aluminum blocks for future twin turbo builds.

 

[AR67GTX]

I have a friend with a 69 Hemi RR who sourced a dated replacement block, had an experienced Hemi builder build it and only upon the dyno test did they discover a crack in the valley. With the cost he already had in it he had the crack pin stitched and the builder said it would be good to go for street use. It’s been on the road for about 6 years now and he’s not afraid to run it hard so seems to be holding up OK.

 

[HersheysHemi]

Kind of sounds like a lose/lose.
Aftermarket block hurts the value of the car but yet you can dump a bunch of money into building a original block and have it crack later.
I know there's another white automatic 69 hemi for sale by the owner and his doesn't have the original engine.
He put a aftermarket 540 in it.
I believe he is asking $140k for his car.

 

[Al T]

Ok thanks for the information guys.
It was actually my wife's idea to try to put a correct hemi back in the car.
I have to get a loan to put up my 40x60 shop and she thinks I should just add the cost of the hemi into what I need to borrow.
What am I looking at spending for a street hemi block?
Is it really possible a 67 or 68 block ended up in an October of 68 built car?

I’ve got a somewhat current opinion on this question. I’m currently at the tail end (hopefully) of an engine build for my ‘66 Belvedere II. The car came with a ‘66 June cast block. Once my engine builder mag’d it, the decision was made to go with a different block (it would have been fine for a stock build, but would have needed a lot of love). I start looking for a replacement stock block. I looked for a year, and the only block that I found that didn’t need major work, or was unrepairable, was a June 66 cast block that had not been decked and had no cracks. He wanted $11k for it and would not budge. I tried.
I ended up finding a “new” late 90’s/early 2000’s Mopar reproduction block that became the foundation of the build. I paid $6500 for it shipped from Minnesota to St. Louis. The engine is close to being done and was built with a stroker kit, so 472ci. EVERYTHING for a Hemi is $$$. I’ll have over $20K in the build and that is taking into account I’m good at finding parts. That north of $20k number doesn’t include the stock intake, stock carbs, and stock air cleaner that came with the car.
As mentioned above, with what it costs to build, I’d be finding the best block available, that’s why I sold my block and bought a replacement. The block I sold was a June ‘66 casting that had minor cracks in the main web that would have been fine for a stock build but not the stroker we had planned. It had been decked .100, so there would have been some gasket magic for the intake also. The bores were .060 and likely would have cleaned up with a hone (possibly). I sold the block on eBay for $2600.

Here’s the block I ended up with, and a few other photos.

Hope this helps.
Good luck with the build.
Allan