Ball Stud Hemi

[moparnation74]

DOHC was a valve train experiment. Never a running engine, from what I remember the guys in the HP Motor room saying.
Ball stud was supposed to be a cheaper version, and try to meet early emissions, too, for post 1971. The muscle car market, in general, tanked after 71.
Cars like the Charger turned into "SE" and did well, especially in 73.

Greg...Thanks for chiming in! Great info!

 

[MCODECUDA]

Hoover’s cuda started life as a 440 cuda and John Arruzza built the ball stud hemi for it.

 

[moparedtn]

The car apparently currently resides here:
http://natmus.org/
I remember when Mr. Hoover acquired it and have actually heard it running at a show, oh, maybe like a dozen years ago?
Interesting sounding engine. Interesting looking engine.

 

[Wingfoot]

I saw one of the DOHC Hemi's in Kansas City in the mid 80s. It is very cool.

Greetings 69 GTX & fellow FBBO members! In 1989 I touched the famed and elusive A-925, 32-valve DOHC HEMI!

​

My buddy, a MOPAR salesman, took me to the A-925 DOHC owner's house in Kansas City and there it was...……… in the attached double car garage...……… on an engine stand...……… the DOHC HEMI short block...……… with all the internals...……… one head bolted to the block...……… one head missing...……… one loose DOHC HEMI valve cover...……… oil pan & water pump attached...……… an external front cam drive pulley attached to the head...……… with matching internal cam gears...……… the two cams and support girdles for the head were missing...……… the plate that held the lifters was laying loose on top of the head...……… I was speechless!

I picked up the tappet carrier that held the 16 tappets in line under the 2 cams and it was aluminum, cracked across 8 in-line tappet bores and distorted at the crack. The owner said he was told by the seller the motor was on the dyno but never ran under its own power. The best he could figure, the 8 tappets under one of the cams got dry, hung up, galled the aluminum plate making the plate crack during static testing.

There was a small number of 16-valve DOHC heads poured and most were sawed into pieces to check for casting measurements. Chrysler engineers cannibalized the missing DOHC head for casting measurements which left only one DOHC head bolted to this block. The A-925 DOHC project was killed before there was a redesign on the valve train.

I don't remember seeing an intake, carburetor, distributor, header, the missing cams or girdles. I am sure what I saw on the engine stand was everything he bought; no other parts hidden in a box somewhere in the corner of the garage.

The owner, which will remain anonymous, politely refused to answer my questions of when, where, who and the price paid. The owner told me he is not planning to ever go public with the DOHC. Even though this DOHC laid in a scrap pile by the back door of Chrysler way back when and nowhere close to being a complete DOHC today, his fear is Chrysler may want to reclaim ownership of the DOHC if they know any of it still exists. He knows what he's got, worked hard to get it and has no plan of losing it intentionally or unintentionally.

I talked with the owner again at the 2008 NHRA Topeka Nationals and he still had the DOHC.

This much I know, the DOHC is in the right hands. The owner is a super nice guy, totally involved with our sport, a B-body owner himself and is just as much as die hard a MOPAR lover as the most fanatic FBBO member on board here.………. just sayin.'

 

[moparnation74]

Greetings 69 GTX & fellow FBBO members! In 1989 I touched the famed and elusive A-925, 32-valve DOHC HEMI!

View attachment 640846​

My buddy, a MOPAR salesman, took me to the A-925 DOHC owner's house in Kansas City and there it was...……… in the attached double car garage...……… on an engine stand...……… the DOHC HEMI short block...……… with all the internals...……… one head bolted to the block...……… one head missing...……… one loose DOHC HEMI valve cover...……… oil pan & water pump attached...……… an external front cam drive pulley attached to the head...……… with matching internal cam gears...……… the two cams and support girdles for the head were missing...……… the plate that held the lifters was laying loose on top of the head...……… I was speechless!

I picked up the tappet carrier that held the 16 tappets in line under the 2 cams and it was aluminum, cracked across 8 in-line tappet bores and distorted at the crack. The owner said he was told by the seller the motor was on the dyno but never ran under its own power. The best he could figure, the 8 tappets under one of the cams got dry, hung up, galled the aluminum plate making the plate crack during static testing.

There was a small number of 16-valve DOHC heads poured and most were sawed into pieces to check for casting measurements. Chrysler engineers cannibalized the missing DOHC head for casting measurements which left only one DOHC head bolted to this block. The A-925 DOHC project was killed before there was a redesign on the valve train.

I don't remember seeing an intake, carburetor, distributor, header, the missing cams or girdles. I am sure what I saw on the engine stand was everything he bought; no other parts hidden in a box somewhere in the corner of the garage.

The owner, which will remain anonymous, politely refused to answer my questions of when, where, who and the price paid. The owner told me he is not planning to ever go public with the DOHC. Even though this DOHC laid in a scrap pile by the back door of Chrysler way back when and nowhere close to being a complete DOHC today, his fear is Chrysler may want to reclaim ownership of the DOHC if they know any of it still exists. He knows what he's got, worked hard to get it and has no plan of losing it intentionally or unintentionally.

I talked with the owner again at the 2008 NHRA Topeka Nationals and he still had the DOHC.

This much I know, the DOHC is in the right hands. The owner is a super nice guy, totally involved with our sport, a B-body owner himself and is just as much as die hard a MOPAR lover as the most fanatic FBBO member on board here.………. just sayin.'

Thank you for posting that.....great information.....

Glad it is in the right hands and I do understand his concerns about ownership.

 

[69 GTX]

Sounds like the same guy I met with it! I felt very honored to be able to see it!

 

[odcics2]

The guy loves Turbine stuff too.

 

[moparedtn]

I'm willing to bet there's no one left at Chrysler that's even remotely concerned about that engine now - or even knows about the existence of it.

 

[odcics2]

And since the old Chrysler went bankrupt, technically closing down and selling off all the remaining assets, the new one is a different company...

 

[Richard Cranium]

The guy loves Turbine stuff too.

 

[ws23jrt]

This engine is news to me. Check the date on this issue of Motor Trend.

Another pic of the A-925 engine.

 

[69hemibeep]

Under the valve cover

 

[Budnicks]

Ball Stud A279 Hemi 444ci
looks a lot like the BBC Canted valve design, same era
{well sort of}
from the Gen III-IV mystery engine GM was doing,
that became the 396 & 427 (-454-)
'the other guys', was doing at the same time

funny how these guys/engineers do some of the same/similar type stuff

 

[POMONAMISSEL]

here it is floating in air

 

[ws23jrt]

I remember reading that they ran the DOHC, not under its own power, but by spinning it up with another motor & that something on the heads (or cam drive train) kept breaking.

This looks like a DOHC engine hooked up to an electric motor.

 

[ws23jrt]

View attachment 641093 here it is floating in air

The lightweight version?

 

[ws23jrt]

This could be a cylinder head from the A-925 project.
A quote that went with this picture.--
"Is this 4-valve head one of the sold off Chrysler "A-925 project"
It could be that some parts are out there that would be cool to reunite with the engine that--Wingfoot posted about.

 

[Fran Blacker]

That Larry Shepard's business card. he's had it on ebay. $5,000?

 

[Photon440]

Adding to the 'what if' section...
As well as the Chrysler Ball-Stud Hemi that failed to make production, what about the Oldsmobile DOHC semi-hemi? Designated the W43, development started in the mid 60's with a planned introduction in the 1972 model year.

First attempts used a raised cam position to fix valve train angles, but then they went to cams in the head.

This is one of the survivors. It could have been a contender.

DOHC version actually has similar looking heads to the Oldsmobile 2.4 four cylinder engine. Maybe they looked up their old work.

On the dyno, their 455 cubic inch test engines ended up putting out 700 hp. at nearly 7,000 rpm. Nascar versions were developed. Then in 1970, the announced upcoming drop in compression and drive for emissions ended work on this engine.

 

[slimt]

Sweet Barracuda.