Why is my 426 hemi stamped marine

[Jerry Hall]

Wow - this is most INTERESTING.

It's spelled out in the service manual that the maltese cross is 10 undersize.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

It means that the engine is defective and as such, you should sell that silver Charger ASAP.

When you decide to sell, I should be able to locate someone to take it off your hands.

Since the OP is new I’ll give a warning. Never mention you have a 68-70 charger, vultures will try to take your car!

 

[Fran Blacker]

It's spelled out in the service manual that the maltese cross is 10 undersize.

Jerry it also could be .001 US. It could be

.001US or .010US and only on some journals need to look at counter weights.

 

[hemi71x]

As far as machine shop stampings on the engine id pad goes, when i had my hemi GTX, and was sending the block out to a local machine shop for cylinder boring, and necessary machining, i stamped my name, and California drivers license number onto the pad, as to a theft deterrent, or ownership mix up at a company that was new to me.
Haven't a clew if the owner of the car did anything about that, after i sold it off, and it's changed hands a few times since i sold it.
For all i know it still might be stamped jim valuckas, with my numbers xxxxxxxxx still stamped on the pad, without being filled in, or ground off.

 

[440 PHIXX]

I know for a fact that the MALTESE CROSS means that the short block is not to factory production specs. I had a 440 that came in a 72 Charger RT/SE and it had that Maltese Cross on it. My shop is on Dave Koffel's property in Huron, Oh. and he told me he would like to see the crank & rods when I pull the pan as I was rebuilding the motor. Well it had A FORGED crank & six pack FORGED rods ! The crank rods & mains were .010 under and this motor was NEVER apart because this was the original owner. His Dad bought this car from Hollywood Dodge in Calif. and had ALL the docs including the original cancelled check that he put down as a 100.00 deposit ! Come to find out it was used in several commercials and was on Mannix TV show.

I’ve torn down several 440 HP 4 bbl. engines 1970-1973. They all had a forged crank and heavy “Six Pack” rods. The blocks are the same as the regular 440’s.

 

[Ron H]

It's spelled out in the service manual that the maltese cross is 10 undersize.

As an old Mannix fan be neat to see the episode when the car was shown. Having seen all the shows, they often had the same cars in the background - one was a 65 GTO dang near every show. Bad guys usually drove black Imperials, lol.

 

[mrhemi]

Keep in mind that all of the 426 Hemi's were assembled at the Chrysler Marine plant in Marysville Michigan. That doesn't explain the OP's odd stampings on his block though. That facility also did factory reman's as well. Approx. 1 year ago there were two very crusty NOS hemi short blocks for sale on flea bay. One of them had a reman tag from the Chrysler Marine plant. The seller was located in Michigan, not far from the marine plant site.
Also, Chrysler did make a marine version of the 426 Hemi. It is possible that the OP's car has a replacement engine that originally was a marine hemi. I do not believe he mentioned a VIN on the block.

 

[Thrashingcows]

Keep in mind that all of the 426 Hemi's were assembled at the Chrysler Marine plant in Marysville Michigan. That doesn't explain the OP's odd stampings on his block though. That facility also did factory reman's as well. Approx. 1 year ago there were two very crusty NOS hemi short blocks for sale on flea bay. One of them had a reman tag from the Chrysler Marine plant. The seller was located in Michigan, not far from the marine plant site.
Also, Chrysler did make a marine version of the 426 Hemi. It is possible that the OP's car has a replacement engine that originally was a marine hemi. I do not believe he mentioned a VIN on the block.

If I remember correctly the marine motors run in the opposite direction than the ones put in vehicles...so a few things need to be changed to use one in a car....crank, oil pump, distributor...etc.

 

[maxwedgechar]

If you have a twin screw one is left the other is right. My friend had 2 331 Hemis like that. The engine numbers were marked L and R.

 

[mrhemi]

If I remember correctly the marine motors run in the opposite direction than the ones put in vehicles...so a few things need to be changed to use one in a car....crank, oil pump, distributor...etc.

Not all marine engines run opposite, only RH rotation. I do not recall if Chrysler offered a RH rotation Marine 426 Hemi back in the day. On a RH rotation engine, the camshaft, distributor & oil pump all run in the normal direction because a gear drive with no idler is used for the cam drive instead of a cam chain, spinning it in the opposite direction from the crank. It is possible that the OP has a factory reman engine that the core originated from a marine engine.

 

[mattsmopars]

I think all stampings other than BH 426, 2-28-26, and the maltese cross came from somewhere else.

I am with you on this, The BH 426 means this engine was originally used in a 1966 production car application. The 12-28 was the date the engine was assembled. The marine stamping was something done at a later time.
Matt

 

[Terry Mccannix]

i know a guy that actually worked at the Hatteras Yacht facility here in High Point NC back in the late 60's and 70's . he said they use to use the hemi engines in the Yachts there and told me about the pallets of Hemi's they kept in the engine room at that time

I have a set of valve covers from a Hatteras built 426 W.
They were pretty active back in the day with Mopar marine.
Several years back, a friend and I bought a 426 Hemi engine that came from the Miss Budweiser boat that sank
in Ontario waters in the early 70's at a boat show.
It was an early one , 64 block, K heads with Don Garlitis injector sytem on it....have pictures somewhere

 

[wstrowig]

I had a 440 block with a maltese cross on it. The cross was to signify .010 under spec.

 

[Old Sparky]

My take on this is that originally the engine was modified to run counterclockwise as a lot or most marine engines do.
I have seen 440's modified in this fashion. The difference being the camshaft of course.

 

[mrhemi]

My take on this is that originally the engine was modified to run counterclockwise as a lot or most marine engines do.
I have seen 440's modified in this fashion. The difference being the camshaft of course.

I did find an obscure post on an old website that had information on the Marine 426 Hemi indicating that it was only offered in LH (normal) rotation.

 

[mrhemi]

I have a set of valve covers from a Hatteras built 426 W.
They were pretty active back in the day with Mopar marine.
Several years back, a friend and I bought a 426 Hemi engine that came from the Miss Budweiser boat that sank
in Ontario waters in the early 70's at a boat show.
It was an early one , 64 block, K heads with Don Garlitis injector sytem on it....have pictures somewhere

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I never knew "Miss Budweiser" to utilize auto based power, always aircraft engines. First Rolls Royce Merlins and later Griffons. Are you possibly referring to "Miss Chrysler Crew" which sported two 426 Hemis? It did sink at one point in the Detroit River. Here is a shot of both circa 1967.

 

[4speed68rt]

I never knew that they had engines that turned backwards. Mind blown!! Imagine putting one of those in your car... 4 reverse gears and 1 forward. That would throw off an unknowing installer.

 

[Terry Mccannix]

Mr Hemi...you are in all probabilty correct.
We were told by the gentleman with the engine that it was from Miss Budweiser, when was likely from Miss Chrysler Crew as you mention.
Some pics of the motor.

 

[mrhemi]

Interesting photos of that engine. Do you still have it? The 1964 cast dates correspond with any info I have been able to find regarding the Marine 426 Hemi engine, indicating they were offered in 1965 and never again, although it probably took a few years for them to be used up. Chrysler's test facility was on the St. Clair river, right across from my house. When I was a kid I saw many test runs of their marine engines early in the morning when the water was smooth. When one of the 426's were up, the sound was unmistakable, and the test barge (for lack of a better description) would do about 60 mph. If I had only known I should have been taking photos1

 

[MarPar]

Mr Hemi...you are in all probabilty correct.
We were told by the gentleman with the engine that it was from Miss Budweiser, when was likely from Miss Chrysler Crew as you mention.
Some pics of the motor.

View attachment 1330231

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View attachment 1330234

Wow! That engine looks like it's been at the bottom of...oh wait. Nevermind.