Hi all,
Bit of a confusing engine combo here and I'm not versed enough in the ways of the Hemi on my own, hoping someone here with more experience can help.
I have this 426 "Hemi" with leaking head gaskets. On teardown I've discovered that the engine is sporting a pair of Stage-v heads that look like the conversion heads and the block doesn't look like an original Hemi block, sort of. The heads have the inner row bolts down thru the intake ports instead of studs and they also have external oil drains at the rear corners like the Wedge conversion heads. The block however has square outer corners at the deck like a Hemi and does, in fact, have 1 oil drain drilled at the LF corner, but it isn't machined for inner row head studs like a Hemi would be. I also noticed the block isn't cross bolted. The block is cast with 2468330 which seems to come up as a 66-71 426 Hemi, but obviously this isn't. I am guessing the block is some manner of crate block but I'd like to ID it more accurately. The pad numbers are H2522 244, which I haven't been able to decode.
Biggest issue for me right now is the head gasket. A standard Hemi gasket has a pushrod(?) notch that goes into the coolant passage on this block and a wedge gasket isn't going to deal with the 1 drilled oil drainback so I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what gasket to order, at $100 ea I'd rather not have to order several before getting the right one.
One other issue I'm curious about is on teardown I've found 3 out of the 4 head dowel pins fractured, with half stuck in the block and the other half stuck in the head. I've never seen this before on any engine.
Any insight from the Hemi guru's ?
Bit of a confusing engine combo here and I'm not versed enough in the ways of the Hemi on my own, hoping someone here with more experience can help.
I have this 426 "Hemi" with leaking head gaskets. On teardown I've discovered that the engine is sporting a pair of Stage-v heads that look like the conversion heads and the block doesn't look like an original Hemi block, sort of. The heads have the inner row bolts down thru the intake ports instead of studs and they also have external oil drains at the rear corners like the Wedge conversion heads. The block however has square outer corners at the deck like a Hemi and does, in fact, have 1 oil drain drilled at the LF corner, but it isn't machined for inner row head studs like a Hemi would be. I also noticed the block isn't cross bolted. The block is cast with 2468330 which seems to come up as a 66-71 426 Hemi, but obviously this isn't. I am guessing the block is some manner of crate block but I'd like to ID it more accurately. The pad numbers are H2522 244, which I haven't been able to decode.
Biggest issue for me right now is the head gasket. A standard Hemi gasket has a pushrod(?) notch that goes into the coolant passage on this block and a wedge gasket isn't going to deal with the 1 drilled oil drainback so I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what gasket to order, at $100 ea I'd rather not have to order several before getting the right one.
One other issue I'm curious about is on teardown I've found 3 out of the 4 head dowel pins fractured, with half stuck in the block and the other half stuck in the head. I've never seen this before on any engine.
Any insight from the Hemi guru's ?