i have a 1969 charger and 1970 roadrunner.. i havent put the engines in them yet.. my dad said i should put a 425 hemi in to them but i was thinkin the 440.. which one?

 

First things first, it's a 426 Hemi. Second it depends on what you plan to do with them and how much money you have to spend, the Hemi is most impressive and most potent as well as being the most expensive (perhaps the most costly motor to build in the world) and the 440 is far more common and less expensive than the Hemi. If your going for show and jaw dropping or simply have tons of money, then definately go with the 426 Hemi, but if your not rich or plan to race it then go with the 440. If your loaded and want big power and awe factor, then get a fully blown 600+ cube Hemi.

 

I personaly like 440s because they are not bank breaking to work on, but yet can make a potent package set right.

 

i would have to go with the 426 hemi

 

If I had the $$$s, I would go with the 600+ Cu. In. Hemi! But, I have a 440 in my '73 charger and it goes nice on the street. I think a regular crate Hemi is going for $12k-15k and you will be on a waiting list to get one. And if something happens to certain parts (like a starter), you will not find one at your local NAPA store. The Hemi starter is unique, and the crate motors do not come with one last I knew.

Like 71RoadRunner said, if you have the $$$ and want the jaws to drop when you open the hood, the Hemi is the way to go.

 

Which K member is in the car? The hemi will not bolt up to a BB k member and vice versa. I am a purist I say put it back the way the boys built it, even if that means a little 318! By the way the K members for the LA block (273,318,340,360) will not work with a BB or hemi either and before you guys yell the charger did come with a 318.

 

There are adapters for putting basically any motor in any car equipped with any K member. There are also other options as well.

This Hemi is in a Barracuda with it's original 318 K member:


[IMG]local://upfiles/193/1689CAD188F945C69EAEC35DCD15E9E9.jpg[/IMG]

 

Yes there are adapters but why would you want to take a chance breaking parts chevy-rigging something together when you can drop 4 bolts and put the right parts in place? Especially if you are dropping 15k for a Hemi crate motor obviousely money is not the deciding factor. If you are going to make the change do it right and buy the correct parts, The engineers didn't design a different K member just to screw with us 30 years later, there was a structural reason. If you look at the 3 different K members there are OBVIOUS visual differences between the 3 of them. As a moderator I would expect a more responsible answer to someone new asking questions about restoration!

 

I simply stated that they can be put in regardless of the K member and they can. You stated that they cannot which is false. No one asked about which way would be best and there was no mention of what application it would be for. The mention of a $15K crate Hemi was just as an option and as an extreme which can be as much as triple that amount for the blown Mopar Performance Hemi. If it's simply for cruising and show, then it doesn't matter much. If it's going to be driven alot or have a good amount of power, then the K member swap is a must. If it's being raced and/or has lots of power then it should have a full tube frame chassis. There was no mention of restoration and the mention of engine swapping is a given to the fact that it cannot be a restoration since a restoration requires numbers matching parts. At the closest it could be a restification which keeps a stock appearance while using different or modern parts. Next time you might want to read before replying since you seem to be assuming plenty of things that were never even mentioned or even hinted at. You did bring up a good point, but how you did it was far from responsible.