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Hemi Variants

John Wehrly joined Chrysler in 1962 and the Ramchargers shortly thereafter. After working in the area of engine cooling, he moved on to the engine development lab. In 1971, he became race engine development supervisor. The intake manifold for the 1966 404 ci circle-track Hemi was a new approach involving extensive development.

"We developed a single four-barrel manifold we called the Bathtub manifold because it dipped down in the center," Wehrly says. "The purpose was to get the hood clearance down and still have the length of the runners we needed. The longer runners in that type of intake manifold were a real challenge—to have a manifold that had good driveability because of all the sharp angles and the fact that the air had to twist through the manifold. We did a great deal of work on that design, look-ing at dozens and dozens of manifolds."

The camshaft was even more radical than the one used in the A864. Intake and exhaust duration was now 328 deg., with 112 deg. of overlap and 0.565 in. of lift.

A number of variations of the 426 Hemi were pursued by Chrysler which never saw production. One of the first was a spin-off of the A990 program called the 300 Hemi. This was a serious consideration to provide the Chrysler 300 Letter Series luxury sport sedan with Hemi engine power in addition to its Wedge engine. Since the engine would be somewhat detuned for street use, the block and bearing cap structure would be made more like the production 440 Wedge engine. This would make it easier to produce at the Trenton Engine Plant.

In a November 2, 1964, program memo, Weertman described the proposed 300 Hemi alongside the A990 Hemi. This engine had a larger 4.32 in. bore with the same 3.75 in. stroke, resulting in 440 ci. The block was to forgo the lengthy and expensive heat treatment and would not have the cross-bolt main-bearing caps, opting for the less-expensive standard two-bolt main-bearing caps. Other concessions for the street included a 268 deg. hydraulic camshaft, single instead of double valve springs and new, less costly exhaust headers. The hot induction setup included three two-barrel Carter carbs on an aluminum intake manifold—a precursor to the Six-Pak that would appear in 1969. Effort was made to install an air-conditioning compressor on the engine. Sadly, the 300 Hemi remained a proposal and nothing more.

Another race Hemi design was the A148. On December 2, 1965, a Performance Planning Letter initially requested a variant of the A864 with a larger 4.363 in. bore and shorter 3.558 in. stroke to allow for the use of larger valves. Intake valves were 2.44 in. in diameter and the exhaust valves were 2.06 in. Longer valve springs were used to permit greater valve lift. Flow testing of the prototype cylinder head early in 1966 proved this design flowed better than the A864 but not as well as the double-overhead-cam A925. Both iron and aluminum cylinder heads were procured for this 426 Hemi. Engines were built and tested, but says Wehrly, "What we really found was that so much development was required to get the same reliability that we didn't pursue it any further."

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426 RACE HEMI

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426 RACE HEMI

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