392CI CHRYSLER HEMI

> JOE KURTOVIC, SYDNEY, NSW

IS THERE a more iconic drag racing engine than a blown and injected Chrysler Hemi? Considering it’s still the mill of choice for the quickest cars on the planet, there’s not much that comes near it. Admittedly, the 10,000hp-plus engines of today bear little resemblance to those that powered Chrysler products back in 1955, but the one you’re looking at here is the real deal – a genuine relic of cast-iron goodness from 1958 topped with a host of super-cool, mostly magnesium speed parts from the 60s.

The 392ci Hemi belongs to Sydney hot rodder Joe Kurtovic, who’s no stranger to blown cars; his ’34 Ford coupe sported an 800hp SBC and ran low 10s, while his front-engined dragster runs deep into the eights with a blown 202 Holden. “I just happened to sell the SBC out of the hot rod and decided to put the Hemi in, do a few burnouts and see what happens,” he says.

Yep, this monster is going into Joe’s ’34, and as if a blown Hemi isn’t crazy enough, this thing sucks down a healthy diet of 86 per cent nitromethane and will make somewhere between 1600 and 2000hp!

The whole deal came together in just three months thanks to the expertise of Queenslander Graham Slapp, a man who knows a thing or two about nitro engines. “I rang him to buy a few bits and pieces to build my own Hemi, and he said he could build me the whole lot with parts he’d collected over the past 20 years,” says Joe.

The block has been grout-filled and converted to four-bolt mains that clamp down a billet Bryant crank. Aluminium GRP rods connect to JE pistons with just 6.0:1 compression, but combined with the 33 per cent overdriven 8/71 Bowers blower – rebuilt by Jim Reed – the squeeze factor will increase considerably.

The heads are factory cast iron, but they’ve also received some special treatment from a drag racing legend: “They’re killer Joe Mondello race heads,” Joe says. “They’ve got 2.00-inch intake and exhaust valves, all set up for nitro.”

Joe has slotted the engine into the ’34 using the existing driveline, with a Wilcap adapter mating the Hemi to a Powerglide, but there’s a Reid-cased ’Glide going in soon. Similarly, the tried-and-tested nine-inch will probably be updated to a 40-spline fullfloater in the future. “If I want to do some burnouts it will be fine, but if I want to get serious I’ll have to rebuild the whole thing,” Joe says.

MAGNESIUM MAGIC THE engine – and the car itself – features a healthy dose of that lightweight wonder, magnesium. Whether polished to a mirror-finish like the Enderle Bug Catcher hat or left in its natural oxidised grey finish like the blower and wheels, it’s cool as hell and the perfect look for this allbusiness coupe. “The front spindle-mount wheels came off a funny car from the 60s, and the rear wheels came off a 60s hot rod from Sydney,” Joe says. “To get all those parts within the past three months has been ridiculous.”