Garlits Tells Stories as Mopar Marks 50 Years of the 426 Hemi

Mopar announced it will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 426 Hemi during 2014. Kicking off the commemoration is a cute little logo that ties the engine to its “elephant” nickname and its traditional Hemi orange color. Mopar also says there will be a line of Hemi merchandise available at WearMopar.com with the logo.

The original Chrysler Hemi was introduced in 1951 and produced in displacements of 331, 354 and 392 cubic inches, although Dodge and DeSoto had versions in additional sizes. The 426 Hemi, or second-generation Hemi, was first designed strictly as a race engine and first hit the track in 1964 at the Daytona 500 where the new engine earned four of the top-5 finishing spots, including Richard Petty’s victory.

According to a Chrysler tech bulletin issued in January 1964, two versions of the engine were available: an “Acceleration” or drag engine with a ram-style intake and dual 4-barrel carbs was rated at 415 horsepower with 11:1 pistons or 425 horsepower and 12.5:1 pistons. The “Circuit” engine was designed for NASCAR came with 12.5:1 pistons and a single 4-barrel induction. The Circuit engine featured horizontal tie bolts for the No. 2, 3 and 4 mains. Intake valves were 2.25 inch and exhaust measured 1.94 inch.

The 426 followed the first-generation Hemi that was introduced in 1951 and produced in a variety of displacements for Chrysler, Dodge and DeSoto.

Hemi-powered cars eventually won 26 NASCAR races that year, including eight by Petty who earned the driver’s championship. Rule changes kept the Hemi out of the NASCAR until Chrysler started offering production versions to the public in such memorable cars as the Dodge Charger and Challenger and Plymouth Road Runner and Barracuda. Meanwhile, Chrysler turned its Hemi efforts to drag racing — both in Top Fuel and Super Stock. Don “Big Daddy” Garlits received one of the first shipments of the new engine in early 1964.

“The very first 426 engines were shipped to me complete with manifolds and carbs and alternators,” Garlits tells EngineLabs. “They had the NASCAR aluminum, single-plug heads and high compression.”

Top Fuel modifications

Garlits personally built all of his Hemi engines — even when re ran in 2002-03 — except for a Keith Black short block that had an extended race history in the ’70s and a larger-displacement Ed Pink model than suffered an oil failure and blew up on the first run. When the first Hemis arrived, Garlits tossed everything but the heads and short block into the dumpster.

“I was nuts,” admits Garlits, thinking of the historical and nostalgic value of those parts today.

The Top Fuel engine sported aluminum rods, different pistons and a Crower roller cam.

Don Garlits built all but two of the engines he raced during his long, record-setting career.

“We ported the heads,” says Garlits. “I also cut the exhaust port, so the exhaust ran straight out! I’d bet $1,000 that you don’t know why Chrysler turned the exhaust like they did and hurt the performance of the Hemi. I would cut the exhaust port into the water jacket and then weld it up to the new configuration.”

“Big Daddy” is a regular fixture at Mopar-related events.

When Garlits’ first 426 Hemi engines hit the track in Swamp Rat VIII and Swamp Rat X, the results were hardly encouraging.

“I carried over every aspect of the 392 tune,” says Garlits, “and that was the mistake. The 426 had large combustion chambers, 176cc to the 392’s 110cc. It took much longer for the flame front to move across the bigger chamber. Plus the brute of an engine didn’t even realize that there was some detonation going on!”

Garlits was well aware that the 392 was threatened with significant ignition lead timing approaching 40 degrees. Sometimes, there were exceptions for the venerable iron design.

More must be better!

“I’ll never forget Bakersfield,” he says. “I had Vance Hunt in the next round. He had borrowed a 392 from Don “Mad Dog” Cook, as his 392 had expired while winning the round. He said to Cook, ‘Do you mind if we put the lead up to 40 degrees for this run with Garlits? We would really like to beat him. It would put a nice feather in our hat. Of course, we will get you another block next week, when it splits the wall.’ Cook responded, ‘You boys can back it up if you like, because it’s already got 42 degrees in it!’ That is why they called him ‘Mad Dog,’ he was crazy!”

The “Acceleration” version of the Hemi in 1964 sported dual 4-barrel carbs.

Garlits eventually dialed in up to 50 degrees timing and quickly set a top-speed record.

Garlits also tried the 392 cam profile but soon realized the engine was begging for deeper breaths.

“Bruce Crower was the driving force behind the cam development for me,” says Garlits. “Bruce was one smart cookie, when it came to cams and engineering.

“Of course, as soon as we found out that the engine was practically indestructible, we really got after it,” continues Garlits. “However we were always restrained by the fact that we were sitting behind the monster. We used to call them the ‘fire dragon.’ Even if it didn’t blow up, you could still drop a valve and put the blower in your face. The Rear Engine car changed all this, and then we really got the full potential out of the 426.

“In my humble opinion, the Chrysler/Dodge 426 Hemi engine, was/is the best production engine ever manufactured by the automotive industry!” sums up Garlits. “No engine, to my knowledge, has the ability to produce so much raw power and still stay together. It will stand forever, as a monument to the engineering ability of the Ramchargers and their team.”

Swamp Rat VIII was Garlits’ first dragster powered by the new 426 Hemi engine.

About the author

Mike Magda

Mike Magda is a veteran automotive writer with credits in publications such as Racecar Engineering, Hot Rod, Engine Technology International, Motor Trend, Automobile, Automotive Testing Technology and Professional Motorsport World.
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