ATTN. RICHARD PETTY GUYS!! post-1971 426 WEDGE (after Hemi was removed from NASCAR)

[motorparts92]

I am looking for some info on the 426 wedge engines Petty Enterprise used after the hemi was "removed" from NASCAR in 1971. I was told petty used the existing hemi engines he had, but turned them to wedge engines to satisfy nascar. I am trying to find out what kind of heads did he use for this conversion. I believe i have a set of these heads, cast by chrysler, with MASSIVE oversized intake ports (these are not ported, they are CAST THIS WAY) am trying to find out if i can verify that these are from a petty engine, or what else is special about them. I believe they are 346 castings but will have to double check.

 

[Jim's Maxie]

If they are 346 castings,that is 71/72 383,400 and 440.Valves are 2.08 in and 1.74 ex.You probably have a set that someone may have modified.

 

[motorparts92]

they have 2.14/ 1.88 valves. i know that they were bolted on a 426 hemi shortblock with the head bolts modified so the wedge heads would work. (was changed back to hemi by my grandfather) i just wondered if they were a special head made by chrysler for petty or ? because if you took a stock 346 head and ported it to match these, they would cave. these are bigger than max wedge!

 

[Mark B]

Sounds cool how about some pics.

 

[Budnicks]

I'm not aware of any special WEDGE head castings used by Chrysler Dodge or Plymouth Racing teams even by the Petty's, we really need to see these heads, when the Hemi's were 1st downsized aka - destroked, or restritor plates installed with 1-1/4" openings when Ford was allowed 1-5/8" opening on the wedges & Mopar wedges 1-1/2" openings, then down to the limited to only 5.0 liter/305ci if you had a Hemi Head, before they were outright banned, over competitive BS, the cubic inch displacements went down too, across the board, wedge or canted valve engines too, for all brands, makes & models, this could be the engine in question, no information or photos on the heads what so ever thou

 

[Hemibelvedere]

they have 2.14/ 1.88 valves. i know that they were bolted on a 426 hemi shortblock with the head bolts modified so the wedge heads would work. (was changed back to hemi by my grandfather) i just wondered if they were a special head made by chrysler for petty or ? because if you took a stock 346 head and ported it to match these, they would cave. these are bigger than max wedge!

I have a pair from Petty Enterprises.These are new.Yes 346 head,intake port are BIG....278CFM@28" with 2.19

 

[YY1]

What did they do about the valve train?

 

[dvw]

A wedge head will not bolt on a Hemi short block. The upper bolt hole for the head is in the wrong location. The pushrods are in a different spot so the block clearancing is not the same. Pistons and cam layouts are different. 278 cfm wasn't going to be very competitive in my opinion. They might make a decent head in F.A.S.T.
Doug

 

[Cartel]

I wonder what these extra holes were for? water? and the used both oiling holes? maybe so they could use the heads on either side of the engine?
I'd like to know if they used stock rockers are a heavy duty variant?
They blocked the exhaust crossover too, I wonder if the used a H pipe in nascar or just straight pipes?
And I wonder what diameter springs they used?

cool stuff

 

[Runcharger]

Nice looking heads, I always assumed they used Max Wedge heads on the 426 "wedges".
NHRA and NASCAR did whatever it took so GM could win in "heads up" "open" class racing.

 

[DeltaV]

Red arrows are pointing to coolant passageway holes. Keep the spark plugs cooler.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[autoxcuda]

I have a pair from Petty Enterprises.These are new.Yes 346 head,intake port are BIG....278CFM@28" with 2.19

View attachment 1367601

View attachment 1367602

View attachment 1367603

View attachment 1367604

View attachment 1367605

View attachment 1367607

View attachment 1367608

View attachment 1367609

View attachment 1367610

View attachment 1367611

Do you feel the ports were casted larger than stock 346 head to get that port size?

I have lot of interoffice memo's between Tom Hoover and Bob Tarozzi and it's obvious the casted part number did not always represent what the configuration was. Many references to "good" heads. And "Petty" heads, "SVI" heads...

This is a single 4bbl wedge intake that Petty sold out of their 1974 Catalog

 

[autoxcuda]

I believe Petty sold a 426 wedge block with cross bolts. I don't have access to my catalog right now. There's a picture of it I think.

 

[qkcuda]

Looking at my 346 heads, the castings appear the same, just opened up to the max.

 

[RemCharger]

Yep just some heavy ported stock emmision heads. Open chambers,,, heat crossover,,,,...

 

[vance.dykes]

why dont you look hear and can ask the Petty's them self

Petty Brothers Racing

It’s our story and we’re sticking to it! Follow along as we archive our family history!!

www.youtube.com

 

[autoxcuda]

Looking at my 346 heads, the castings appear the same, just opened up to the max.

Just wonder is the port walls are casted up or/and over to allow a bigger port window.

 

[qkcuda]

Just wonder is the port walls are casted up or/and over to allow a bigger port window.

View attachment 1794732

I don't think so. if you look at my heads when I was marking them for gasket matching, the eyebrow at the top of the port seems to be in the same position relative to the valve cover rail.

I added a picture of a port matched to a stock gasket size. It appears they went about 1/8 inch larger all around.