Marine Firepower Hemi - 331 or 354 - What's it worth?

[Secret Agent Toast]

So, a friend of mine bought an old wooden Cabin cruiser that he's going to restore and live in. When he first got it and uncovered the engine he expected to find a pair of old V-8's under there, apparently for 50's era Cabin Cruisers that was standard.

Instead he found a single, untouched, (sadly) frozen 'firepower' Hemi. For the fact that it's a four-barrel we were able to tell that it's either a 331 or 354, but he still hasn't found the I.D. plate for the engine, only the engine serial number. Apparently, this usta be a 'cop' boat, whatever that means, and due to the size of the boat my guess is that it's the 354.

So anyways, he was thinking of selling it, due to his total lack of interest in rebuilding it (he wants to replace it with something more modern and easy to take care of) and the fact he figured someone else probably wants it a lot more than him.

He asked me if someone would want it for a car restoration, and I doubted that someone restoring a car to show would want the motor, for it wouldn't be a proper match. But that someone else (myself included) might want the motor for fun.

So he's wondering what it's worth, ballpark figure. Personally, I think he should keep it, but there's no accounting for taste

I looked all over the web and couldn't find much out about what MARINE early hemis go for... It's a marine motor, straight from Ma Mopar, untouched sense the fifties... but it is frozen...

or maybe i should start looking at a way to shoe-horn it under my '68 coronet's hood... and tell him the motors worthless and he should let me ‘take it off his hands for him’


toa

[rumblefish360]

HEY S.A.T. !

Whats up dude! I think the last paragraph is what you should do. To a point, he's right. It would be easy to take care of something else a bit more modern.
A HEMI under your hood sounds better than a HEMI under his.

[Larry S.]

I agree with Rumblefish, get the Hemi and let him put something newer in the boat! The swap isn't hard to do, but I gotta be truthful with you, early hemi parts (or any hemi parts for that matter) aren't cheap! I don't regret a dime I've spent on my 392 though, there's just nothing like a hemi under your hood!

[Secret Agent Toast]

OK, so I love the idea of having Hemi valve covers with 'firepower' stamped on them under my hood. I'm thinking of making an offer on the engine... what do you think? For a complete, but frozen, Marine firepower Hemi?

BUT my car is a '68 B-Body with a stock 318/904 Auto w/ 8 3/4 sure-grip rear. If i dropped in this 50's era Hemi, once rebuilt, that would mean I'd have to get: a larger radiator, a new 727, a new drive shaft, special motor mounts, thicker t-bars...

A few questions...

I know that they make aftermarket torque converters that will allow a 50's hemi to hook up to a 727. But what about a A-512 (i think that's what it's called, the 727 Auto w/overdrive)? i was thinking of replacing my 904 with a A-500 for mileage (before i started getting Hemi fever...)

Also, this car is a weekend cruiser / daily driver. Can early hemi's go on road trips? Will it last and last like my 318? Can i expect to any kind of mileage out of it? Or would i get 10 MPG...

Also are there major modifications to make a Marine engine into a car engine? i would guess that going from car to boat is harder than going from boat to car...

Thanks guys,

Toast

[Larry S.]

The overdrive tranny will bolt up to the 354 with the 727 adapter setup and work fine, but you will have to modify the crossmember that the rear ends of the torsion bars mount in because that tranny is bigger in that area. You will probably have to massage the floorboard tunnel too. You can use the 318 motor mount brackets on the hemi block with a minor modification and the engine will bolt right up to the K member. Your torsion bars should be okay, I'm using the stock ones on mine with no problems. I'm also using the stock 26" radiator with no overheating problems, and it hits 100 degrees regularly here in the desert. As far as longevity goes, that's no problem as long as the engine is built right. Hundreds of them were used in this area for irrigation purposes (sorry, most went down to Mexico when everyone switched over to electric pumps) and what the would usually do is fill the gas tank up and start the engine to irrigate and let it run untill it ran out of gas. The farmers here preferred the Chrysler hemi because it was so damn dependable! As for mileage, I have a 480 lift 300 deg. duration cam, 4.10 gears in the rear, a 3500 stall convertor and a Holley 750 and get 7 MPG in town, and 11MPG on the highway. I'm sure with a milder built motor and some decent gears you could get over 15 MPG easy. Some of the marine hemi's had extra water outlet holes below the water pump holes, but an aluminum timing cover is available that covers these holes. If you decide you want to try the swap, I'll be glad to help you out any way I can, just email me at l_srader@hotmail.com .

P.S. You can't run power steering with these motors, no room for the bigger power steering box!

[Secret Agent Toast]

Wow! Thanks for all the great info! That was a big help!

And the last line just saved me a bundle. I didn't know that you couldn't use one of these hemi's with a power steering gearbox, and seeing that i just bought a new one from firm feel (haven't gotten a chance to install it just yet, but it will be going in soon...) I guess that makes the decision for me. It's probably for the best, I'll just hot rod my 318 for now, which I’ve already been stocking up parts waiting until i have some time. Then maybe in a few years I'll swap up to larger. when i can afford the gas!

But you know how it is, that Hemi fever hits, and you start thinking, dreaming, yea, it would be great, i should cram that big mother under the hood and put the fear of god into the locals... set off car alarms when cruising the streets... and to have the word 'firepower' stamped on your engine is just too cool... damn... well i haven't installed the power steering gear... maybe i could swap to manual steering... parking in the city would be a bear... naw it'll just make me stronger, hell my girlfriend's been saying i need to work out more anyway... hemi... must... buy... hemi...

Listening to the siren song of the hemi,

Toast
:

[goose]

My dad's got a 354 block he's looking to sell if it turns out your block is too damaged to use...

[Larry S.]

Toast, check out the attachment!