50s Hemi Engine Build With 21st Century Technology - A Contemporary Chrysler - Tech

The last piece of internal hardware to be installed before the engine really starts to take shape is the intermediate driveshaft. This couples the oil pump with the cam and distributor.

The assembled 331 is now ready for all the external components to be installed.

Before the Hot Heads timing cover is slid into place, the modified oil slinger and keyway are installed on the crank snout. The stock oil slinger is slightly different than the modified version Hot Heads provides and will not work with their timing cover without modifications.

Here's the Bill's Hot Rod Company brackets installed on the Chevy water pump as they come shipped, ready to bolt on from Speedway Motors.

Note the difference between where the Bill's brackets bolt to the small-block Chevy front intake bolts and where the Hemi intake bolts are. The intake bolt portion of the bracket supports the backside of the assembly and needs to be tied into something.

The 331 heads each have a tapped hole in the front side and we used this as our mounting point for the backside of the bracket assembly instead of the intake bolt. Here, a cardboard template is made up ...

... before being transferred to a piece of 1/8-inch steel and welded to the bracket assembly.

With the brackets dialed in, the accessories are installed and everything checked to make sure all the pulleys are going to line up. It all looks good, so it's disassembled and the timing cover and water pump are painted to match the block.

A Mooneyes finned aluminum valley cover, painted to match the engine, replaces that old, beat-up stock cover.