hemi vs wedge head motor

Hemi vs Wedge

OR Tyranasaurus Rex vs Fukuiraptor (lmao)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuiraptor

Seriously , Over the years , It's been a "romantic" thing , with the Chevys & other Wedges , much like a "DAVID & GOLIATH" syndrome .Then like the woman whom was fantasized at an early age , the "Wedges" have been replaced with "Hemis" of less Romanticism, less Maintenance & more reliability .
Smarter , more educated racers have evolved , noticing "the handwriting on the wall"
before being "smitten" with romantic dreams of slaying the "Giant Hemi" ,so they start right out with a Hemi , eliminating a later bailout from the Wedge ranks .
The Hemi in most , if not all areas is easier to service than the Wedges .

In the "early" days of Drag Racing , the LIGHTER Wedges prevailed unquestionably over the lumbering Hemis , But within a few years TIRE & CLUTCH developement made the Hemi a force to be reckoned with !
Fast forwarding to the Santos Small Block Era , A Contending Hemi racer said to me "It's impossible to beat that SBC , It LEAPS off the line like a FROG !!" (can you say lite)
Discouragment of ALL SBC hopefuls came in the form of lobbying by a well known Hemi Manufacturer , for weight to be hung on Rick till the entire concept was ruined !!
Not the least of the Hemis attributes is It's strength , due to SIZE !
The main & rod journals are larger , the rods themselves are longer , more conducive to racing rpm & lack of side loading , and on & on .

Ya pays yer money & ya takes yer choice & the winners will say "I Told ya SO"

submitted by a WEDGE & HEMI GUY !!

 

Everybody racing is a monkey on some level..lol. If Frankie Taylor says he runs a new PSI prototype blower everybody will call PSI Monday morning.
The original question was why aren't there more wedges when they seem to flow good numbers?
My point is that there is more to it than a completely dominant engine design. At the top level the hemi is king but a lot of bottom feeders like me have been able to go fast with parts deemed obsolete and uncompetitive.

 

The way I see it is that both can run and run fast. The best parts available of each can have great longevity and be easy to work on. It is the same maker of crank, rods, pins, bearings, pistons, valves, rings, -blah-blah-blah.
Talk to the Atchisons. It took them quite a long time to learn how to run the wedge stuff. If you think your BAE tune-up is going to drop into a billet 481x, then think again. So people stay with what they are comfortable with, and have years of tune-up notes for.
If you are going to hire Manzo to tune you, then buy the stuff he is comfortable running. And that goes from the boat stuff into the top fuel classes.
The only way to really measure which one is better is shovel money at a brain trust to have a 2 year assault on a custom made dyno with all the resources that money can muster. And since that is not going to happen, it will be like arguing which oil is better, or which camshaft maker is better. It is just what you like, and what you are comfortable with.

 

Being an old TAD alchohol racer I remember that in the early 90's that if you had a true wedge (Santos) you only had to have 3.90 pounds per C.I. Canted valves (alan johnson 481) was 4.10 pounds per C.I. Hemi's had to have 4.40 per. I believe because nitro and alky burn slower, the hemi chamber is better suited for them. Also the hemi is easier and faster to get the the heads off and back on, especially the Miner hemi in which the heads can be changed without taking the blower and intake off.

Dale

 

Pull the heads on the 481x the same. Except the header has to come off.
A one piece rocker stand (easy) the intake stays in place.

 

So now I'm a monkey, good thing I like bananas The fastest I went with a Chevy Wedge motor (Big Chief) was 6.13 at 225mph, same blower, same basic fuel system (cept. changed to a little bertha from an enderle 1100) and went out and ran 5.85 at 237.88 with a 14/71 psi and a powerglide (small shaft) with my MBR Fontana Hemi, you do the math

Jody that's a stout gain that makes the wedge look weak. I was hoping a bunch of people would throw down gains like that on this post.
We stick with the Chevy because we can't justify the upgrade unless it's going to pay big returns.
We run 4 teens@2900 lbs with a roots. Not many cars to compare to but I've seen another good running roots Chevy car switch to MBR and picked up .10. Low 4's to high 3's.Nothing to laugh at, but that was an expensive tenth. An old PSI d rotor would make that Chevy run with almost any roots car for WAY less money.
I don't think the combustion chamber design holds the best gains.At least for an outlaw car.

 

ford Hemi

So Mike C. How does the ford hemi compare to the BAE and others?

 

Ford vs ford

Both of them

 

Jody that's a stout gain that makes the wedge look weak. I was hoping a bunch of people would throw down gains like that on this post.
We stick with the Chevy because we can't justify the upgrade unless it's going to pay big returns.
We run 4 teens@2900 lbs with a roots. Not many cars to compare to but I've seen another good running roots Chevy car switch to MBR and picked up .10. Low 4's to high 3's.Nothing to laugh at, but that was an expensive tenth. An old PSI d rotor would make that Chevy run with almost any roots car for WAY less money.
I don't think the combustion chamber design holds the best gains.At least for an outlaw car.[/QUOTE]

\My deal was I told myself if I hurt my Chevy again I'd change. I hung a rod out and used that as the excuse to go ahead and change.

 

I realise it is not the easiest thing trying to compare different type of engines like theese, and in this type of racing the hemi propably is the favorite, considering all, ease of maintaince, parts etc.
But, trying not to do the apples vs. oranges, what was Walt Austins opinion of the 481 after racing the engine for a couple of seasons, and what kind of numbers did they run whit the 481 compared to the hemi?
I also belive i read somwhere years ago when they were running the 481, that Pat Austin said it showed the same or better numbers on the dyno than their hemi after a few pulls, but im not sure.
(sorry for the bad english)

 

ford hemi

Mike C I was thinking mostly about the C&C or the indy Billet copy.