My Dad, who is 77 years old, just bought a new Dodge pickup with the 5.7 Hemi. Everyone knows the reputation of the 60's Hemi, but I doubt the motor in his truck is anything like those...right? Comments? Call me a pessimist, but I think Dodge is simply taking advantage of the Hemi badge. Pat
I heard its not a true hemi...from a design stand point. But that is from high school kid who know nothing.
I myself question them new HEMIs as an original new HEMI from dodge, carb to pan cost $20,000. I can't see any car company putting $20,000 motors in a car sold for $30-40 as you got lots of other stuff to pay for.
It's not all bad..... The combustion chambers aren't truly hemispherical, but it shares many of the same features that made the original hemi so good. The basic valve-layout is pretty similar to the old hemi, they just changed the geometry a little to make things more efficient. The old 'true-hemi' chambers were huge and required a massive dome, which goes against the modern small, fast-burn chambers. Making the chambers shallower on the new design might mean it's not a 'true' hemi, but it does help quench and emissions. The block is obivously quite different, since the new one is a small-block, but it still has the deep-skirt block and (i think) cross-bolted mains. Plus, the camshaft is quite high in the block, meaning that the pushrods are shorter (and therefore lighter) and there's lots of room for stroker cranks. So I guess it's not like the old hemi; it's better.
They have like 340 HP don't they? Thats nothing to sneeze at nowadays, straight from the showroom floor. Thats a respectable HP number...even in the 70's. :beer
Especially if you consider the whole net/sae thing. We're getting the 1hp-per-cubic-inch every carguy wants now with these new hemi's/mustang engines/ls1's/etc, now we just need some big blocks goin in there. :TU:
