Whats Up With Hemi's?

[deffenbaugh03]

Seriously, what is the big deal about a Hemi? It seems to me that its a major misconception over here in america that a hemi is so much better. Why do so many people hear the word Hemi and think wow thats a really sweet car. Half of them don't even know what a Hemi is! If Hemi's are so great than why aren't they in most modern day cars, or at least modern day sportscars? I always thought the Hemi had been replaced by that conical cylinder head because it was better. If that's the deal than i can understand why an old muscle car with a hemi engine is cool, but why is it still in some new cars like the new Chrysler Hemi 300C?

[Quiggs]

Actually, they are in most modern day cars. They just aren't called Hemi anymore. Today it's really mostly a marketing gimmick cashing in on the 60s racing heritage.

[Smokescreen]

Image, mostly. Chryco just advertised it so well that people fell in love with it, and the car that hade them were all pretty fast so it worked both ways. Plus, how many engines can be recalled by a name, rather than just a number?

[Egg Nog]

Modern HEMI's are pretty much only called that to serve as a marketing gimmick, just like Mercedes stupid &@#$ing "Four door coupe".

[Godlaus]

Are hemispherical combustion heads in most of today's production cars? I thought they had moved to pentagonal heads.....

yeah, a markteing gimmick, much like the horsepower numbers they throw at you.

[250 GTO]

Crystler is now using the Hemi at the last moment before gas prices get so high that no one can afford or mabe its because muscle cars are going up in price that Crystler thinks that they can get away with this but this is just my opion.

[250 GTO]

Was'nt the first Hemis from BMW??

[bk4uyeah]

Are hemispherical combustion heads in most of today's production cars? I thought they had moved to pentagonal heads.....

Most have, but it doesn't make that much of a difference eaither way

[targa]

Crystler is now using the Hemi at the last moment before gas prices get so high that no one can afford or mabe its because muscle cars are going up in price that Crystler thinks that they can get away with this but this is just my opion.

acctually, i read somewhere that chrysler is developing a four-cylinder "hemi" to put in the neon or whatever

havent done any further researech on it though...

[250 GTO]

What a four cylinder Hemi sounds odd to have a Hemi on such a small engine whats next a Hemi crossfire

[targa]

What a four cylinder Hemi sounds odd to have a Hemi on such a small engine whats next a Hemi crossfire

i dont know, but i do know that the hemi 300c has that cylender shut off mech, so part of the time, it only runs on four cylenders

[lightweight]

The "Hemi" refers to the design of the top of the combustion chamber. It doesn't affect the architecture of the cylinders i.e. you can make V2, V4, V6, V8, I4, I67,89 or whatever.
The thing about Hemi's is that it gives more valve area when compared to a simple pre-Hemi Design. So the cylinder accepts more air per revolution. As a result it can burn more fuel and then produce more power. It's a technology that enhances power in the lower-to-mid rev range, thus perfect for the American market!
Anyway most (if not all) engines have hemispheric design, so it's not a big deal.

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

but its also impossible to orient more then 2 valves per cylinder in a true hemi design, today's 4 valve per cylinder heads offer more valve area and better heat distribution iirc and renders the old design obsolete, the only reason to use 3 valves is for emissions (mercedes) or 5 vlaves (better breathing, ferrari and alfa romeo i think)

just take a circular piece of paper and put 2 equal sized circles onto it, there is no way those 2 circles can cover as much area as 3 circles, as 4 circles, so on and so on

the only reason you dont use 6 vavles per cylinder is cuz u fit that many valves, rocker arms, lobes into that small a space

atleast that's what i think

[Prius]

really, I never saw the big deal with hemis, thay were good for acceleration but didn't have any speed to back it up, and these hemis are NOT fast, but are a gimick, and look, they said they revived the hemi, but if you look, it is not the same hemi we found in the Roadrunner.......

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/0407_hemi/index.html

[johnnynumfiv]

really, I never saw the big deal with hemis, thay were good for acceleration but didn't have any speed to back it up, and these hemis are NOT fast, but are a gimick, and look, they said they revived the hemi, but if you look, it is not the same hemi we found in the Roadrunner.......

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/0407_hemi/index.html

Ahh karrmann, we've gone over this before, the new hemi's are technically a Hemi, they use a pentroof design head. So what if they are different designs, they are still a hemi? What is so gimicky about them? They sound good, perform good, and kick ass.

Oh they aren't fast at all:
http://www.440magnum-network.com/inf...lestones.shtml

1956 Chrysler 300-B sets World Passenger Car speed record at Daytona Beach - 133.9 mph.
1965 Bob Summers sets present 409.227 mph Land Speed Record in "Goldenrod" using 4 HEMI®s in tandem.
1964 Don Garlits breaks 200 mph quarter mile barrier in HEMI® dragster - 201.34 mph in 7.78 sec.