Neat thread on M/T HEMI stuff!
A few things....
Was there actually a M/T '63 catalog? I have 3 M/T catalongs. 2 completely different ones both marked '62. The earlier edition shows the Pontiac Hemi heads unmachined and not available yet. The later '62 one shows them ready and available. The most common one is the '64 catalong/handbook which shows them finished and also available for 392 and FE applications. These are great catalogs and they show up from time to time at swap meets and , of course, ebay. I recommended buying a copy they are very interesting to say the least.
I think the rarest part is the intake and the ex rockers. There seems to be a fair amount of heads around but few ( maybe 2?) complete original M/T motors.
I have 7 of the heads myself.
One of the motors is coming along and is ready for balancing and will go together this winter. I changed the crank and stroke and rod type and length too. I will also do some upgrading on the valve train as well.
All M/T Hemi Pontiacs from the day were blown. I have seen no carb or inj intakes for them. The catalogs do not show such an item. They were designed to run in the top and unlimited classes and to compete with the best at the time. Anything other than a blown version was probably built independently of the M/T deal. The Ford M/T Hemi was available with a crossram 2-4 set up. A friend has the '63 M/T Galaxie with a running M/T Ford HEMI. As if the Pontiac Hemi was rare enough, the Ford Hemi is even more so.
As for needed custom parts that are different from a standard Pontiac, of course the cam will be different as the HEMI has all independent intake and exhaust ports. The valve train stands and ex rockers are unique too as is the intake. Pistons too because of the valve location.
I will be using of the the suppossed 'blem' Factory alum V blocks to replace the strong early 389 blocks in my blown nitro burning FED until my forged billet blocks are ready to replace it. I have reinforced it considerably and still have some more to do. I think it will hold up fine. We'll see how it does as time allows.
Someone ought to start some sort of registry of just how much Pontiac M/T HEMI stuff is really out there. I would guess there are 30-50 sets of heads. Maybe a dozen intakes and even less valvetrain related parts.
My next Pontiac Hemi will be a bit different and will use custom T & D type shaft rockers instead of the standard 2 shaft arrangement and will run, of course, on Nitromethane in the fueler. This first one is just a gas burner.
I will try to down load a pic here of the M/T valve train if it takes.
For those interested in HEMI stuff, I try to keep my web site current as to what I am working on and as things go together. There is M/T info on 3 of my pages- 1. "my race cars", 2. "Pontiac History" and 3. "Boats".
I can't wait to fire them up and play with them. What a treat that will be! I should have one ready and running to show at my next Pontiac Heaven event in Phoenix on Sat April 1. All Real Pontiac fans are welcome and encouraged to attend. I had hoped to have it running at this years event but, the crank wouldn't pass mag and it had an odd stroke. Because of that, it took time to get a replacement and suitable crank and then a custom set of Crower billet rods was also added. Well worth the delay to have the peace of mind that there are top notch parts in that exotic and ultra rare motor.
Steve Barcak
www.pontiacheaven.org