Tiny Old HEMI - First Generation 241 Hemi on DYNO

[@RestoringChristine1956]

The best 50 minutes I spent this week. Enjoyed absolutely every single minute!

[@chriswalshe499]

Monster effort by Nick.

[@robfrye4664]

Back in 1985 I built a '30 Model A coupe with a 1955 331 ci. Chrysler Fire Power motor. I was surprised to discover the upper bell housing bolt pattern lined up with the late small block torque-flite, and to also find the late Hemi flex plate bolted right up to the early crankshaft. Like Nick found, it required ARP bolts and nuts, as the original f/wheel/torque converter unit bolted on with bolts through the front of the c/shaft flange- straight holes, no threads. I fabricated a 5/8" thick aluminum adapter to get the correct spacing for the modern torque converter, and install locating dowels for the trans bellhousing alignment. I ran a Joe hunt magneto for a 340, dropped right in. I used a vintage Offenhauser log intake with 6 Stromberg 97's, and made up progressive linkage to run the center carbs together, with the other 4 kicking in like a typical tri-power set-up. Halibrand Champ quick change rear. It worked a treat, and ran REALLY well. Fun car, drove it from Seattle to Bonneville for the speed trials in the summer of '91. Cruised at 120+ no problem!

[@christopherprince3250]

I owned a 34,000 mile 54 Dodge Coronet with a 241 Hemi. Great to see one coming back to life. If it wasn't for this there would never have been a 2-4 426. Great job, love your channel Nick.

[@erikcourtney1834]

They still had the same unique exhaust sound back in the 50’s. Even the newer v6’s have the sound, just at a different tone. Love the sound of a Mopar.

[@kenrobinson1601]

I love the pure joy Nick has when he's playing with these old motors.. Show me a man who loves his job and I'll show you a man who never worked a day in his life...!

[@daw162]

That's older than I'm thinking of, but I grew up in the 80s and started driving early 90s. There were still a lot of cars that had a power range like a golf cart. Max torque around 2500 and max horsepower around 4400. You could rev them past that on a whim if charging a hill, but there was nothing to be found in the upper RPMs - they'd run faster rpm but drop back when challenged.

[@oldpilot40]

Enjoyable video. Love those old Hemis whether they're Dodge, Desoto or Chrysler. I used to do oil & filter changes on a '54 Dodge like that when I worked in a Standard station in the '50s. Love that V8 sound. Good stuff. Keep 'em comin'.

[@louishatos861]

My first car was a 54 Dodge Coronet with a Red Ram engine in 1961. It took a while before I realized it was a hemi engine. Thanks for the video from an old timer.

[@raymondjones7489]

Wow!...a small small block hemi!...a piece of gold...what a gem...thank you Nick! for showing us...me for one am in heaven watching this...thank you Nick!😊😊

[@jeremiahchamberlin4499]

That engine reminds me of the hemi I had in my first car, a 1954 Desoto -a wonderful car, great memories.

[@NicksGarage]

Right on

[@Satchmoeddie]

The old Dodge Royale Red Ram baby Hemi. I haven't seen a 241 since I was 16 years old. Thank you so much for showing the little 241. With the Offie, and someone with a tubing bender who could fit & weld to improve the exhaust with some decent headers and some careful tuning these could squeeze out about 175 180 HP. You have to change ALL of the jets in these old Carters. The 331 was far more common back in 1954.

[@chrismorrison9140]

My favorite episode so far. It's exciting to be right in the middle of diagnosing something, and to see the back and forth part swapping that we all go through as part of that process.

[@SmphnyOfBullets]

This was the first engine i ever rebuilt with my grandpa when I was 14, 22 now with a 440 HP and 383, still ones of my favourite engines

[@Ray56z]

That humble is sweet!! I've some history with the 241. I also was born in '56 as Nick was. When I was 10 Dad discovered the building of Farmall F20 tractors with small block chevys. Wasn't a lot of trouble, just had to do whar Nick did with this bell housing, flywheel, etc, and others had done it before so we just had to follow instructions. We built 3 but when it became time to build the one that was actually my dads grandfathers he decided it didn't need no stinking chevy, it was getting the 241 he'd saved out of his new car that was rear ended by a dump truck. It took 2 weeks longer to build but it worked, and 40 hp less than the chevy my butt, at the little county fair tractor pulls that thing put the ones we built and other chevy V8'ed ol' tractors in the dust. With that 4 into 1 exhaust(a tractors exhaust has to point straight up)that sound was so much better than those chevys-it's a hemi. I tried to get him to pull the 392 out of his '57 covered with a tarp in the car shed but that barely got out of my mouth. When I returned from the service he'd sold it and the buyer wouldn't sell it back. It was stolen some time later and the front section was found in a scrape yard.

[@sharonburns4788]

Merry Christmas from Laut and Sharon, we play with Hemis too. Check the carb linkage in two places. 1 the power circuit where the little vacuum piston moves the metering rods. And 2 the linkage that tips in the secondaries. Set them all to factory settings before you move on to richening the mixture. But I think it's that small little lever that's moves the secondaries. I put on backwards once. Looks like no fuel coming out the discharge nozzles and the air valves are not moving. Great vid, just before Christmas,!

[@jroh1609]

Awesome video, did you check the metering rod level adj, might not be pulling the rods out far enough out of the jets. Maybe it got bumped when you put it back together?

[@goose278]

I think you are right too. Those metering rods and that vacuum piston are very touchy.

[@MrStrollerisme]

I have a '56 Imperial South Hampton Crown Royal and it is a C70. It has the the 354 Fire Power Hemi and I have always wondered what it puts out. It purrs like a kitten and runs like a beast. Thing is happy as all get out cruising @ 75-80 all day long. Nothing beats a hemi, except a 440 magnum.

[@jppagetoo]

241 Hemi. That's a rare beast. Very cool to see one. And yet to have it on the dyno as well, total bonus. Only on Nick's Garage!

[@NicksGarage]

Yes!

[@carlsylvester425]

FORGET all the numbers for a sec...this has got to be one of the sweetest sounding engines i have ever heard!! Moving through the 3000 rpm range to max HP and rev, the guttural growl of it just SINGS!

[@BuzzLOLOL]

Plenty of power to blow away the much bigger flathead Fords...

[@tunnelportterror]

Put a blower on any early hemi with nitro will run in the 7s in a dragster.

[@mindtouchone]

Great work as usual. In 1976 I was working for a shop that specialized in performance cars. A customer brought an all steel Model A coupe on a trailer for us to get running and tune. He was going to take it to the big Gatlinburg Tennessee street rod event. The builder operated a tool and die shop and the car had lots of one off billet aluminum before the billet fad had started. It had what I called a "Baby Hemi" and even in 1976 these were very rare. The engine was a new N.O.S. unit with a solid roller cam, a rare dual coil ignition, and 2 4 barrels. All these parts were rare even over 40 years ago. The builder made a bad mistake though. I was installing a clutch next to this car and all at once there was a lot of smoke and someone yelled woa! He had hidden the fuse panel and other electrical items under the seat and the battery was in the trunk. When he put the cables on the seat springs were touching something in his hidden wiring and all the wiring melted. He didn't make his trip. This was such an obvious problem and it proves that even the best can screw up if not careful.

[@slim56]

What a neat old engine. It’s amazing that the modern Hemi still uses the same bellhousing as that 1954

[@johncoops6897]

The bellhousing he fitted was from a 340 "LA" engine (listen again at 2:30), which was introduced in 1968 (just 14 years after this one). The LA is NOT a Hemi, it's a wedge head like the 273, 318, and 360. None of this has anything to do with, nor anything in common with, "modern hemi" motors.

[@01spm]

Its very nice to see this engine on the Dyno, in May when i saw you you indicated you would not be able to run it. Well you did it and i am impressed at how smooth it runs. Well done.

[@RANDALLOLOGY]

The sound of the old HEMI really brings back great memories from back in the day.

[@edwatts9890]

Yeah! America used to be "the sh!ts", huh?

[@roycullum2722]

That was the first motor I did a valve job on. That was over 40 years ago. I love it.

[@alanmydland5210]

I have one on the engine stand now

[@richardfillingim7483]

@@alanmydland5210 . 1

[@rybolsus396]

So that makes you to be in your 70s. it's cool to see Nick put these videos out for generations to come so they can see how we use to make HP because within 10 years most cars will be electric

[@dale7436]

Such a joy to see your enthusiasm and animation in working with these engines, doing what the customer asks and then watching you and your joy. What a pleasure.

[@yambo59]

Hi Nick from Illinois ! Glad to hear you got it sorted and running good, im almost 61 and thanks for giving me my first chance to ever hear one of these old Hemi's run-!! I worked on a lot of stuff over the years but I never came across one of those old Carter 4 barrels, but I sure love the newer Carters they are easy to build reliable and trouble free, for me any way. Merry Christmas to you and all with you there in Canada-!!

[@vannicholas1180]

My Dad bought a brand new ‘54 Dodge Coronet. He had it rebuilt and engine reworked by a mechanic named Manuel in Santa Fe and gave it to me in 1967 when I graduated from Army Flight School... like a new car... when I got back from Vietnam I enjoyed that wonderful car ... and its ‘sweet’ Red Ram Hemi ... I saw 135mph on a autobahn in Germany in 1968! What a car! Thank you, sir, for a superb show!

[@steveshoemaker6347]

l was 13 years old in 1955....l once had a....Golden Cammando 318 with 2 4 barrel Carter AFB carb's on it.....This was a fun video....Thanks very much...MC....From Ky.

[@RobertArthur007]

Sitting back this misty morning with some cowboy coffee watching some video from Nick's Garage! Somehow I missed this video on the first gen hemi. (I love hemi's and one big reason is the plug wires are nowhere near the exhaust manifolds). I love the way you innovate and fabricate when you need to. My machinist father would have loved working with you, God rest his soul! My favorite KZbin channel by a country mile!

[@tunnelportterror]

Nick, what I do is, take timing light spark plug inductive lead, and move it from wire to wire while holding light trigger on, check all 8 while running, just to make sure they're all sparking evenly. Use the timing light flash as spark indicator. It'll stutter on a bad plug or wire and show a misfire. You can Rev it up a little while doing this, I've found MANY bad wires, plugs this way. You may have an ignition problem there. Also check fuel pressure, spray intake for vacuum leaks. Or....a bad coil or coil wire, or cap/rotor. Check center coil stud in distributor. Are points adjusted properly.

[@dennisburdue5052]

Loved seeing this little Hemi! I have a 270 ci Super Red Ram Hemi in my 33 Doge 5 window coupe. It was originaly built in the 60's, Running an Edelbrock intake with 3 Stromberg 97's, bored .060 over with Jahns 12.5 pistons and a Racer Brown flat tappet cam, sodium filled valves with cut down marine push rods and D500 heads with adjustable rockers. After blowing up the old 3 spd top loader, I mated it to a 727 torqueflite with a B&M manual shift reverse pattern valve body with a home made bell housing spacer mounting plate and a TCI high stall converter. It has a unique sound and runs pretty sweet. I never had it dynoed, so this was a fun video to see. Thank You for posting this!!

[@almunger9015]

Hey Nick Very cool seeing a old Hemi (even a small one) running on the Dyno. I was telling my computer screen "Adjust the Primary Metering Rods" . The two "levers" under the cover on the front of the Carb change the accelerator pump "phasing and mixture" if you have good pump function don't mess with that but if it needs to run richer Move the "metering rod lifting lever to pull the rods farther out of the jets, that will richen the mixture of the front venturi but also the overall richness. I run a 1952 Chrysler 331" Hemi in my 35 Dodge hot rod pickup. I am stuck with the horribly low compression ratio as well (mine is worse because) I have '56 (354") heads and intake & exhaust manifolds, on the '52 block. The later model heads have bigger valves and ports but also a larger combustion chamber so, I'm guessing 6.7 : 1 compression. My heads and manifolds are ported out somewhat, I'm running a stock cam/lifters (52 parts) and a 500 C.F.M. Edelbrock A.V.S. carb I don't have Dyno figures but my Little Truck" runs great, pulls a car trailer with ease, I run a lot more timing around 46 degrees and no spark knock/pinging issues. I run it on "regular" low octane fuel, it gets 12/13 miles per gallon (I run a chev 4 speed manual trans and 3:50 geared 9" rear axle) I'd love to see my Engine make some "Pulls" but I'm in NW Oregon (50 miles from the Pacific Ocean) so getting over your way (with my engine in Dyno Ready condition probably not gonna happen). Love your show. Keep up the good work. P.S. My Pickup has over 51,000 miles on the Hemi since 2014.

[@majorpayne5289]

Al Munger -👍Sounds Very Nice👍✌️

[@rollydoucet8909]

Nice to see an old Carter WCFB. Common carb in those days. Some early Corvettes used two on the dual 4 bbl setups. White Casting Four Barrel is what the letters stood for. Later on, Carter brought out the AFB (Aluminium Four Barrel) Things were simple in those days. lol

[@heathwhipple3798]

D2e

[@MichelLinschoten]

From an era when even the small engines sounded glorious! One of the many reasons I have no feel for new vehicles.

[@jonpaulschafer1871]

Yeah I agree with you I have a 1979 267 V8 in my Chevy Malibu and I really like the gas mileage and the horse power and I love having a small V8

[@markmccarty4038]

Nick the choke linkage will prevent the secondary’s from opening check adjustments and you will see how the lockout works from a Chrysler master mechanic with 30+ years in Chrysler dealer with lots old Hemi experience, also 70s Challenger owner love the quality and experience you display

[@davesusek3330]

Agree hope it gets fixed.

[@davidnewton3485]

+2 you could see the secondary side not opening in some runs but the last run they did But the boosters didnt seem to spray fuel .

[@donaldheitger6731]

The Hemi Humble, cool

[@ToxicMisfitsYt]

mark mccarty mopar is trash anyways

[@donaldheitger6731]

@@ToxicMisfitsYt To bad you don't know what your talking about.What did you do ? Play a game with one once.

[@jeffrykopis5468]

Back in 1975, I got my first car, a '57 Chrysler Saratoga. It had a 354 Spitfire V8. What I didn't learn until 20 years later, is that my Spitfire was really a 354 Hemi, minus the hemi heads and domed pistons.

[@ctsolano]

Nick, watch the video and note the overhead carburetor shots. The secondaries were fueling on the first run, but there is no fuel passing through them on any subsequent run. Something is amiss with the reassembly or there is a blockage preventing fuel flow.

[@nickpanaritis4122]

Charles. We went back into the carb and blew air through the rear jets and got it going well after. Went up to 157 HP.

[@susanbalicki7617]

Merry Christmas Nick thanks for another great video

[@charliechristie2949]

Having raced a Hemi in B/MP in NHRA in the early 70'S gave me a special appreciation of your 241 "Fire Dome" Hemi......It was a very expensive combination to race ( a big block Chevy Biscayne would have been a lot cheaper),but, we wanted the RoadRunner / Hemi combination...........Thank you SO MUCH for the videos. They bring back terrific memories for a 60 something ,old wrench turner........ God Bless you, Nick. All the best to you and yours !.........Charlie Christie,Emerson,N.J. USA........P.S. it is strange,but, I feel like I know you !............I see you have a store with sweatshirts,etc. I am on a fixed income,but, maybe in the spring I will treat myself to a nice "T" shirt.( No,I am not trying to get a freebee.I will buy it when the time comes).......

[@bigbear5981]

I love the small block Hemi. 331,354 and 392. Growing up in the 60's ,The 392 is my favorite watching this motor drag race in the Dodge's and rails. Great video Nick. 🎄🎄 Merry Christmas 🎅🎄 and a Happy New Year 🎉💥

[@lawrencekokjr.1376]

Nick, Suzuki developed a silicone especially for a model (LS650/S40) single cylinder motor that was prone to leakage between the head and pipe. It is available through the motorcycle dealerships and is the best product I have ever used for sealing high temp exhaust leaks.

[@lindanelson8400]

Good morning Nick. What a treat for us. First a live stream with a Hemi in need of the services of Nick Panaritis M.D. that stands for Mopar Doctor. Now today we get to see another Hemi on the dyno. That little Hemi wanted to rev, at 5k rpm it sounded like it was ready to really go. Loved it! Merry Christmas everyone!

[@sovrgnman]

Hey i agree, it was just like stretching it's legs a little before a serious run....geeze it just rolled right up to 5200 or more without a whimper!!!?

[@NoralBlundell]

Nice touch on the valve covers👌 I remember in 1974 watching my dad doing the same thing to the mud flaps of his brand new truck the night he took delivery. Big truck you might call a tractor. Could the disease that night, can't help myself just gotta give each of my vehicles some little custom touch. Just to make it mine.

[@scottsigmon926]

Nick, my hat is off to you for rebuilding the little ram hemi and getting it running again. Once again you took a stock engine and made stock power. I’ll never understand, with all the new technology we have, these engines still make stock power numbers!!! New cam technology, new piston technology, etc!!!

[@nickpanaritis4122]

Scott. The pieces we replaced internally were all new old jobber replacement. Nothing high tech here.

[@scottsigmon926]

Nick Panaritis That’s my point exactly. Those are internal pieces that can’t be judged on for original components, so why not use the technology we currently have to upgrade? You have to buy pistons or cam, and nobody probably carries them without special order, so why not go with a Mahle, or a better cam with close to stock specs for the money?

[@randallsimmons1300]

I had a 1954 royal when I was 17 it was an ugly green with a white top it was probably the most dependable car I ever owned. I think I paid $150 for it in 1969 and put it through hell I loved that car. Thanks for the memory.

[@Mercmad]

I Used the LA distributors on my Hemis, 354's. Bolt on Fit there too. I used the orange box for the ignition. I also used the Mellings High volume pump , with the LA heavy duty shaft. It needs a small adaptor made to fit the pump. I think LA bearings also fit the red ram too. On my last Hemi i had a bohnalite twin four barrel manifold ,with Dual WCFB's... urrrgh!. The bohnalite manifold had mopar part numbers but was made for Karl Keikhafer for his Mercury team hemi cars. Oiling to the rockers is always a source of concern because the cam regulates the oil flow,letting oil to rockers every 1/2 turn .so never rev a cold hemi unless you want to wear the rocker shafts.

[@jesseowens2864]

Nick, thanks for this video. I pulled one of these out of the junk yard before they shredded everything (yard was closing). Went to college, got married, had kids, then moved to Alaska. It got sold since I moved up and would not make sense to ship it up. Always wanted to here it run, but never had the free money to fix it up.

[@brentdallyn8459]

Wow, this was really fun to watch, enjoyed every second of it , Nick your mastery is above reproach well done!

[@Brock_Landers]

Nick, now I'm usually the dreamer that loves the unique builds, and it cannot be more unique than a 241 Hemi. When I saw this title, I HAD to watch it ASAP! However, I'm sure you had the exact same thoughts of dynoing this engine in stock form, and then with a 600 cfm 4 bbl, then with a set of higher compression heads and a set of custom made headers, then with the higher compression and two four bbl carbs and a dual tunnel ram just as a comparison and to see how much you can possibly squeeze out of this engine with the stock internals. I realize that this is an extremely rare engine, and you would be so scared to push it, but as much as you love to keep it in stock form, you and I both would LOVE to see it make some higher horsepower levels. I'd be really happy to see it make 300 HP. I'd love to put it in an old Dodge Business Coupe with some upgrades just for the nostalgic effect.

[@Australia-ky7kx]

The attention to detail and the honest depiction of every mechanical problem is what sets Nicks garage apart from other motor car videos. It's great to watch and also instructional. These engines were legendary in the cars driving Brisbane streets all those years ago.

[@hydroy1]

Nick, This was kind of a Christmas present to me seeing that old girl (54 Baby Hemi )back on line as it is almost as old as ME lol . I have messed with them Carter WCFB before and there very touchy to dirt from pulling the top off. A old trick that I use is to use your hand and bring up the RPM to over 2,000 and choke the air horn with your hand and punch the throttle as your chocking the air horn with your hand, then clear it and punch it a few more times to get everything to take a seat inside the carb. Do that a few times chock it down hard , then clear it with no chock . I can't explain WHY it works, it just does . Also install the air clearer for extra draw on the carb .

[@thomasdalton2042]

Yeah I went back and watched it at the beginning and the secondaries definitely weren't opening on those last few pulls but were open on the first pull

[@andrewstewart8704]

Yeahhhh! Check out time 32:53 the linkage to the secondaries may have been in one of the lower holes. More leverage would be applied on the secondaries and that would account for the lean mis because the primaries were exhausted past nominal CFM. His first thought of Increasing the jet size of the secondaries was correct but looks like his helper was left to stuff up the linkage side. What a shame as I would say his prediction of 160 H/P would have been close with larger jets, providing the jets were not drilled out over size!

[@andrewstewart8704]

Love your videos Nick :) don't let people near your work though brother ;)

[@timglassford2793]

Nick, what a character. One thing for certain, you won't miss anything... Nick says it twice for you. Great flics, love it, and I am a Chevy guy. Cheers, Greasemonkey.

[@niceguy2171]

Got that little Hemi on the Dyno! Sounded really good on those 1st runs. The only thing is, after you pulled the carb apart, it started to have a pronounced miss at mid RPM's on..think I'd look closely at that accelerator pump, or the internal and external linkage to make sure nothing got put back wrong or crooked, also that the vacuum advance isn't throwing it out of whack. Get that straightened out, then see about fabbing a set of headers that will fit in the car out of a 340 set or something, as it's almost a crime the way exhaust is so restricted..like taking a big breath in..and only being able to expel a little. Love you paint job on the valve covers though! Merry Christmas everyone!

[@tonyschiffiler4816]

Nice sound , like music , also looks like a Carter WCFB had one like it on my 55 Studebaker. Thanks !

[@I.Live4oldcars.prospecting]

Really enjoyed watching this. Such a beautiful engine. You did a awesome job Nick on the painting on the valve covers .

[@stevelacker358]

Best dyno room show ever! I’m sure about a dozen commenters or more of already said it, but the secondaries were not opening on any run after the first jet change. The overhead camera tells all! It’s amazing that not having the secondaries only cost about 10 hp. I think that really shows what a plug those exhaust manifolds are.

[@nickpanaritis4122]

Steve. We had it fixed the next day.

[@stevelacker358]

I figured you did! I don’t know why, but I enjoyed watching that little old engine hit its design specs dead on the money SO much more than all the shows out there where you can see a Gen3 Hemi or LS hit 1000 horsepower with turbos and electronics. And that sound... I had to stop the video on the iPad and move to the room with the big TV and big sound system and replay it!

[@jtthill5475]

That carb looks like an early QuadraJet. There is an interlock between the choke and the secondaries. After you changed the jets the first time the secondaries didn't open. I bet the interlock is preventing them from opening. You may have put one plate on backwards or it is misaligned. Good luck searching every place else, it is a carb problem. Hope you had a better Christmas.

[@capriracer351]

it is a Carter WCFB. It also has an interlock between the Choke and the secondaries. They came up with it a decade before the Q-Jet.

[@jtthill5475]

@@capriracer351 You're right. It has a similar appearance and that reminded me of the Q-Jet. At least as memory serves, been a LONG time since I built Q-Jets and made them run well. Thanks for the update on the WCFB World Class Four Barrel. LOL

[@nickpanaritis4122]

JT. We had it fixed the next day.

[@terryharding7476]

I've been watching Nick now for about two years I've never seen him happier or more just plain tickled to play with an engine I think nick is in love!.

[@barryfields5655]

I had one of these it was in a 1955 Plymouth dirt track car raced at thunderbird speedway Crandall tx in 1974 gave 150.00 for car had a ton of fun never won a race.

[@mikeyonce2323]

Man, still sounds so good to be a mini-hemi and to be such an older engine.

[@alanschwartz1157]

Cool little engine there, Nick. Listening to you tell us about what you went thru to get this thing up and ready to run, I feel like I'm talking to an old friend. Wow, I wish I could have been part of this project. If I had one one-hundredth of your savvy and knowledge, I'd be running my own shop the way I wanted to when I was a youngster. Great job, Nick.

[@jimbeam5560]

Solutions!that's a great mechanic he finds a way to make it work.a man you can trust,with your car.

[@MrGardman]

Sounds great. I love seeing that old stuff coming back to life.

[@jamessouthworth1699]

I love the sound of that engine. That would be awesome for a lightweight cruiser. I wish I had that in a convertible A body.

[@TheMilwaukieDan]

Great video Nick. Sir, these type of videos are so awesome and important to renew and preserve. It’s ver easy to see how the ingenuity of mechanics and engineers to a simple item and eventually developed the more modern engines of today. Certainly one of my fave videos of Nicks projects.

[@williamlee1429]

I remember these! My buddy had a 1955 red and black Dodge two-door hardtop with the 241 Hemi. His had a 3-speed standard transmission three on the tree. So I know they came with stick Transmissions. This was in 1964 so his car was only 9 years old at the time

[@ds4284]

I like seeing how carefully you control the throttle. Too many people just slam the throttle shut.

[@nickpanaritis4122]

D S. Thank you that you noticed it.

[@samrotheray5805]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing these. My dad raced 331s and 354s back in the day in his 55 Chrysler 300. I never got to see that car. I was born later in his life. Great to here the original that spawned the greatest.

[@samrotheray5805]

I'd love to get to meet you someday. And have you run and tune a engine for me. If I can afford it soon? I have a 1971 Buick 455 that I want to make into a monster.

[@carl_marks1626]

Talk about determination to get that engine on the dyno. Well worth the effort Nick, thanks for going that extra mile for your viewers. It sounded sweet, but would sound sweeter with headers.

[@sonnydee4736]

How's it going Mr. Nick? Hats off to ya buddy, out of all the folks that dyno engines you the only one that slows the engine down slowly instead of just slamming the throttle back immediately after testing. I always thought that don't seem good on any engine parts to do that especially on the timing chain

[@hoppinonabronzeleg9477]

Smallest V8 hemi I can think of is the Daimler 152.56 Cu In. Very smooth!

[@jpalberthoward9]

Hot Rod magazine had a feature on a '61 Valiant with an early Hemi very much like that one. I was a kid, maybe 8 or 9 when I saw it, must have been a really good power to weight ratio.

[@donnatalielucasheimbigner7598]

Neat to see old engines looking & running like brand new. My dad had an old flat head 6 cylinder (216 ci ?). We had to fabricate the coolant tube that ran the length of the block. We had mostly Fords though. A few flat head V8's (both dead stud patterns) & several Y blocks including a '53 239ci & 2ea 256ci, the more common 292's & 312's. Still love to watch your postings. :)

[@nickpanaritis4122]

Don. Thanks for watching.

[@andrewarmstrong7310]

When I got my walking papers from the US Army in 1947 I moved to Detroit just to go to work at Chrysler Corporation. In those days there were a few test mules of the HEMI engine, by 1949 Chrysler and Desoto were first on going to production. Plymouth looked at a few different designs, even a V6, but decided to go with the poly head V8 citing lower production costs and higher customer interest or as my dad used to say, a working man drives a Plymouth home, a well-heeled man drives a Chrysler home. In those days each Division got to do what they wanted. Chairman KT Keller always signed off on anything new and promising, the hardest part was getting it under his nose to look at it. These were considered premium engines.1951 Chrysler called theres the Firepower, 331 cubic inches in certain models, also in Dodge trucks. The 1952 Desoto Firedome 276 cubic inches only the Firedome model. Dodge management being the conservatives they were, you know now that I am thinking about it there was still a few guys in management from the Dodge Brothers days, decided to wait and see how Chrysler and Desoto did. When the numbers came out for Chrysler, and later Desoto, Dodge saw it was a grand slam and jumped right on the 241 they had been using as a test mule engine since 1950, and they put the 241 Red Ram Hemi into everything they made, convertible, truck, sedan, hardtop even the station wagon got one. The fun part about the Red Ram compared to the Firepower 331 and Firedome 276 was the offering of over the counter dealer parts, dual carburetors, dual points., that sort of thing a Chrysler Corporation first. You could get a very reliable 175-250 horsepower from this engine, something completely foreign to most in 1953, no other mass-production engine could touch a Dodge Red Ram Hemi in displacement versus horsepower. Not a one. One thing is for certain, nobody, myself included ever expected these three engines to take off as they did, we could not build them fast enough to cover the orders. In 1955 I moved over to the newly created Imperial division and lost track of development on that stuff.

[@NicksGarage]

Thanks for your very interesting comment, Andrew.

[@rodneybrand8521]

Hi Nick..had a carter on a 390 ford..it bogged when you got on it..it was from a 67 galaxie wagon ..i rebuilt it and same problem ..it was my first car.a 65 galaxie..i was working at good year auto service center in 71..i told the machanic who we called ( Bad Bob ) he looked at it and checked it out and ajusted the floats and that cured the problem..it never occurred to me the floats were off a little bit..after that it didnt bog again..after i put the motor in two spark plug wires got crossed and caused it to back fire..bob asked me if it had backfired and i told him it did and why..then he went straight to the floats..the wires got knocked off during the installation of the motor..i corrected the wires after it backfired..but the damage was already done... i was 16..after that ( Bad Bob ) was my hero...lol..always respect our elders..Hope you and your family and crew have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year see you on the next one Cheers 🍻🍻🍻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@rodneybrand8521]

@Dave Micolichek i did watch him use a float gauge on it so something had be wrong..i had a 360 the coil was intermittent failure it caused it to backfire and blew out the power valve and the accelerator pump to blow out..a backfire can cause some bad problems..it can take the teeth off a timing gear ( the nylon gear ) I've seen this happen on chevys..happy new Year...Cheers 🍻🍻🍻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@rogerclyde2720]

Very historic engine, very fun to see.considering the Boats these had to pull around they did a great job.

[@johndaniels6089]

Nick; That Offenhauser manifold CAME on the engine with the car from the factory, if anyone didn't know. It was not an add-on item. I've got an article somewhere in my old mags that I read recently which was about that model Dodge. Another thing to note is the angle of the lifter bores, which stayed as that cylinder block, with modifications, was made into Polysphere and wedge engines such as the 318 Polysphere and the 273-318-340 engines. By keeping that angle, the valve lift is reduced a little on a wedge engine. Matching some head gaskets of a 315/325 Dodge Hemi and a 318/340 might be interesting to see if they can be swapped as on the 331/354 to 392 Chryslers (and vice-versa). A note about the '57 Dodges for KB10GL too. One fellow in my county bought a new Dodge D501 convertible. It was standard shift with the Chrysler 3-speed and the left-over 1956 Chrysler 300 354 Hemi engine! Needless to say, the transmissions, designed for Chrysler 281" flathead 6s, didn't last long. I heard he was able to adapt a 1937 Cadillac transmission to it. I saw it once at night with a long shift lever in it, but I've never heard of it in later years, so it's undoubtedly long gone.

[@daverasmussen9195]

1971-First car, 48 Willy’s panel with a 53 Desoto 330 fire dome hemi! Blew engine in driveway and sold it. Would have been a great small block conversion project.

[@rosewhite---]

I'm in UK and first heard the Hemi Humble in about 1968 in a 1955 Chrysler belonging to a businessman. Lovely sound.

[@phillipcortel6330]

That 241 Hemi sounds good! And runs so smooth. Like the way you you got it mounted to the dyno! I like the way you tune your motors to start easy. You are a Pro Nick! That's the way those early carbs are. The primary side is where you get your best power on the early carbs Nick!

[@brewskytrucker]

Nick , just like me been building motors your whole life and you still get excited... True gear head

[@dannyfelts1831]

Watching your filming hearing you describe your experiences with your Motors and your automobiles makes me feel like I'm right at home Nick.

[@NicksGarage]

That's good to hear. Thanks for watching.

[@johnnyzonta5173]

Great , no other reality show is like Nick's garage which explains and goes in depth to maximize the engine.....keep up thye good work.....Merry Xmas to all the team

[@NicksGarage]

Merry Christmas to you and yours Johnny Z. ❤️

[@chrismontreuil2206]

Finally read a comment that has to do with the actual video. Merryxmas !

[@clarebutterfield6927]

Now after watching this episode of Nick's Garage, I want one! Don Garlits won a lot of drag races with his 241 Hemi engines. My Dad had a 1953 Dodge Coronet Diplomat, 1954 Dodge Coronet Sedan and a 1954 Dodge Royal Convertible with 241 Hemi engines.

[@bobsmtih3593]

He ran 392 HEMIS

[@patrickbass3542]

I dragged a '53 or "53 Dodge out of a wrecking yard back in 1966, cleaned it up, changed the oil, new plugs, etc and fired it up on first try. Then I ran it like a mad man till Uncle Sam called me up the next year. That thing had incredible torque and would chew-up clutch discs. I was even able to chew up the rear-end spider gears!!! The u-joints were the weirdest design you could imagine with needle-bearing rollers on steel rods.

[@michaelszczys8316]

They made some pretty weird stuff back in 50s Don’t forget this was back in the day when a whole lot of cars were still running flatheads.

[@anteneupitra]

good old days

[@stevengoranson664]

Beautiful cars. I had a 70 Super Bee with a 383 and a slapstick 4 speed. Fun to drive and get 13 to 14 mpg believe it or not on premium.

[@mikeosterhaus9028]

Merry Christmas to Nick and crew from all the guys here at Melling in Jackson, Michigan. Great to hear that old Hemi come back to life. Thanks for all you do to keep those great engines running strong. All the best to everyone at Nick's Garage in the New Year.

[@nickpanaritis4122]

Mike. Thanks to you guys at Melling for still making parts for these engines.

[@frankfitzpatrick5300]

Higher compression pistons . * Holley Sniper E.F.I. * or Carter AFB , Thermo quad. or Holley 6150 series. Fab a set of tubular headers. * That should wake it up and make it really happy ! As always ! From one Hemi guy to another , GREAT JOB NICK

[@70stunes71]

Great moments for sure, nothing wrong with looking for a few more horses lol . Neat old hemis. The WCFB had quite small primary/ secondary butterfly's & with 7.1 compression ratio, 150 HP is ballpark power. The exhaust being another hold-up ...it is also cubic inch limited . Cool passenger car power though for its age.

[@pauldionne1665]

This was so much fun to watch Nick. I had no idea that they even made that small of a Hemi. The things you learn from this place is incredible. PURE ENJOYMENT AND ENTERTAINING. Thank You.

[@carlkrebs1]

Nice work , as usual , Nicky ! That motor would really be fine in my 1942 John Deere B model tractor . Awesome !

[@Shane-Singleton]

It's no 13:1 440 but man that thing sure runs smooth! I'll bet that thing will be awesome in the car! I love seeing stock rebuilds.

[@lewwoodthing]

Offenhauser Intake! That little old lady had some class. Merry Christmas everyone!

[@raymondheath7668]

I always wanted to rebuild a 241, but now that I see how rare the parts are to get....I don't know. Great vid as always!

[@lorenhewitt8279]

A beautiful engine. It would look great in an old school street rod Oran original mopar.

[@Bluswede]

There was a 241 Red Ram out in the barn that came out of a '53 Coronet which had been stripped and sold for scrap by my older brother. It was the first engine I ever turned a wrench on...I was, maybe, 14 years old at the time. The one I played with was in way better condition than this one was when it came in the door...but it was removed as a "runner", and that WAS 42 years ago! I remember seeing marks in the combustion chamber from some sort of rotary cutter that was used to machine the chamber from raw casting to the "hemi" shape. I merely noted it then as neat...but after learning design and manufacturing, the expense doesn't make much sense to me...unless you're trying to squeeze every last bit of uniformity and performance out of a set of heads. I've looked at loads of photos in the past hour trying to confirm this before mentioning it here, but found no close-up, high-resolution photos. I even ran 1/4 speed on Nick's "look at the dirty parts" video...and one where there was a very short bit showing one of Nick's guys disassembling a piston/rod next to a cleaned head. Can someone here be my sanity and say that my memory that machined combustion chambers were a part of the first Hemi's magic?

[@alpo]

he painted the Red Ram on the valve covers in his spare time, what a guy!!!!

[@Air_Devil_Leader_One]

I added Edelbrock Chrome valve covers and got 20 more HP!!! LOL RayC.

[@jmccracken491]

LOL, he is an Artist te mo.

[@johnnyhawkins43]

I just love information about the old original Hemis, because I have never been around them very much, I raced one back in the seventies and got beat, and I may have possibly owned one when very young I do remember that it had some huge valve covers and said Red RAM on the valve covers, and it was a big Dodge something,four door and two tone paint!!!!! Merry Christmas Mr Nick and family and friends and fans of his, Bless you all, from Johnny HAWKINS and family and all of your Kentucky USA Fan's, thanks again for your videos!!!!!!!!!

[@BLD426]

Beautiful. Those engineers were artists. But, they let an intern design the exhaust manifolds while they were at lunch.😁

[@justjamesAMX]

Money was definitely a factor.

[@denjhill]

Jeez that thing brings back memories. Just seeing the hardware on the engine and carb is like yesterday to me. Had a Dodge with this motor. Replaced it with the Chrysler 331ci with a 354ci heads & cam. For that day and age nothing could touch it for torque. Really miss those days.

[@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259]

Cool engine! I never saw one that I know of, 1954 was long gone by the time I started twisting wrenches. 318 was my mopar teacher.

[@pacerodi]

I`ve watched this video, 3 times, by now. And, everytime I do, it makes happier! Changing an the gasket while the pipe is burning hot! Brave and fierce! Down to the bone!