Customer Reviews

Complete Chrysler Hemi Engine Manual

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are a young novice to the world of performance autos, or, an old timer like me that was too enamored with the new Chevy V-8 in the 1950's to appreciate the Chrysler hemispherical combustion chamber engine for the marvel that it is, this is your book.

There were some hot rodders in the 50's, like Melvin Rice, Emory Cook and Don Garlits, that recognized the potential of the Chrysler hemi. These men, and other pioneers in the sport of performance automobiles, have made us appreciate the outstanding engineering design and excellent manufacturing quality controls that made the Hemi the best high performance engine ever to grace the engine room of grandpa's luxo land yacht.

Two decades as the engine of choice for the top dogs in drag racing and Bonneville in the 50's and 60' saw many hemis consumed in the quest for speed. In subsequent years environmental concern saw many hemi powered Chrysler, DeSoto and Dodge vehicles go to the recycling yards.

Recently there has been a nostalgia wave sweeping over the rodding hobby. Part of that nostalgia is the return to engines of the 40's and 50's to power street rods. The Chrysler Corporation hemis are at the top of the list. FYI environmentalists, when properly tuned older engines run as clean as and in some instances cleaner than late model engines.

If you are new to hemis, or it has been awhile since you rodded a hemi, this is a book that you must have. It is packed with vital information on the 1951 through 1958 Chrysler hemi. Things like parts interchangeability and new parts sources. There are tables of specifications that are critical to rebuilding a hemi engine and tables of engine serial numbers and part casting numbers to help identify the age and cubic inch displacement of the various Chrysler as well as some DeSoto and Dodge car and truck hemi engines. All aspects of the engine are covered in individual chapters such as Block, Heads, Oiling, Carburetion, Fuel Injection, etc. The book also contains tips on hemi engine building from experts like Don Garlits and Art Chrisman.

Get this book and get a hemi! Even if you don't get a hemi, get this book. A good read and a great gift for the street rod nut.

Bob Call 10/20/00

Having worked for a Chrysler dealer in the early 60's, I have always had a lot of respect for the hemi engines. This book brought back great memories. It tells of things about them that I never appreciated until now. So I finally bought my first hemi!

By far the best early Hemi book out there! If you are building a 51-58 Chrysler FirePower, a 53-57 Dodge Red Ram, or a 52-57 Desoto Fire Dome, this is the only book you need. I especially appreciated the "Tips from the experts" section. This book has solid contributions from some of the greats like Don Garlits, Gene Adams, Art Chrisman, Mike McLeod, and Junior Thompson. A wealth of valuable information. Anyone building an early Hemi needs this book!

I got this as a gift for my husband who recently purchased truckloads of old hemi engines and rare parts. He needed a basic guide to help identify the things he was not sure of and this book fit the bill perfectly. He was pleased with it so I am too!

This book is full of hard to find info about the Chrysler, Dodge, and Desoto early Hemis. If you have an interest in these engines, or are going to build one, definetely get this book. It also covers the 426 Hemi, but not very much.

This book was just what I wanted and much cheaper then any place else that I looked at. Highly recommend buying from Amazon and I plan to always check this site first. The book has everything you need to know about Chrysler Hemi engines. Thank you

I expected more hands-on information.
I didn't need a how-to on rebuilding a 318!

Even though this is a good book there is a big fault:From page number 3 to page 34,these pages are repeated in the book.The book therefore isnt 194 pages,its 160 pages.Thats the bad news.

The good news is this is a good book that will please most people who want information of The Chrysler Hemi engines.Its a decent size book too.Plenty of information throughout.

If you are interested in the early chyrsler, dodge, desoto hemi's, 392, 354, 331 etc..." not the legendary 60's and early 70's 426 hemi" this book is a must have. It's also almost the only source of early hemi you are likely to find available currently widely in print. For a comparasion, for the past year, I have been searching for all early hemi info and shelled out big $ for stacks of old magazines, 50's hemi service manuals, mopar manuals, magazines, articles going back to the 50's on early hemis etc.. While this book is not an entire bible of early hemi knowledge it's by far the best single source available especially for the price and should have all the basic's needed for a first time early hemier that are not even covered in the old service manuals. They walk you through identification, interchangability, how to rebuilds, replacement parts sources, tranny swaps, factory specs.etc.. In fact the only part I found disappointing with the book was the lack of a dyno test in their section on a rebuild/hop up of a 392 hemi so I'm left with the question how much more horsepower did they get over the factory 375hp?? something I stil want to know... other useful stuff that was left out which I have found elsewhere was bolt in swapping info into a 70's mopar and some of Don gartilis speed secrets he used in drag racing.. but all in all a very complete and useful early hemi book.. if you are even entertaining the idea of an early hemi I would definitely start here before looking anywhere else and if you need more detailed knowledge then start digging into the internet, old timers at swap meets, back issues of mopar mags and late 50's and early 60's hot rod mags and the powerplay early hemi web site.

An excellent manual if you are interested in the early HEMI engines, but if you are building a 426 (or as in my case, a 528) you will be disappointed.