ATTN. RICHARD PETTY GUYS!! post-1971 426 WEDGE (after Hemi was removed from NASCAR)

[motorparts92]

I am looking for some info on the 426 wedge engines Petty Enterprise used after the hemi was "removed" from NASCAR in 1971. I was told petty used the existing hemi engines he had, but turned them to wedge engines to satisfy nascar. I am trying to find out what kind of heads did he use for this conversion. I believe i have a set of these heads, cast by chrysler, with MASSIVE oversized intake ports (these are not ported, they are CAST THIS WAY) am trying to find out if i can verify that these are from a petty engine, or what else is special about them. I believe they are 346 castings but will have to double check.

 

[Jim's Maxie]

If they are 346 castings,that is 71/72 383,400 and 440.Valves are 2.08 in and 1.74 ex.You probably have a set that someone may have modified.

 

[motorparts92]

they have 2.14/ 1.88 valves. i know that they were bolted on a 426 hemi shortblock with the head bolts modified so the wedge heads would work. (was changed back to hemi by my grandfather) i just wondered if they were a special head made by chrysler for petty or ? because if you took a stock 346 head and ported it to match these, they would cave. these are bigger than max wedge!

 

[Mark B]

Sounds cool how about some pics.

 

[Budnicks]

I'm not aware of any special WEDGE head castings used by Chrysler Dodge or Plymouth Racing teams even by the Petty's, we really need to see these heads, when the Hemi's were 1st downsized aka - destroked, or restritor plates installed with 1-1/4" openings when Ford was allowed 1-5/8" opening on the wedges & Mopar wedges 1-1/2" openings, then down to the limited to only 5.0 liter/305ci if you had a Hemi Head, before they were outright banned, over competitive BS, the cubic inch displacements went down too, across the board, wedge or canted valve engines too, for all brands, makes & models, this could be the engine in question, no information or photos on the heads what so ever thou

 

[Hemibelvedere]

they have 2.14/ 1.88 valves. i know that they were bolted on a 426 hemi shortblock with the head bolts modified so the wedge heads would work. (was changed back to hemi by my grandfather) i just wondered if they were a special head made by chrysler for petty or ? because if you took a stock 346 head and ported it to match these, they would cave. these are bigger than max wedge!

I have a pair from Petty Enterprises.These are new.Yes 346 head,intake port are BIG....278CFM@28" with 2.19

 

[YY1]

What did they do about the valve train?

 

[dvw]

A wedge head will not bolt on a Hemi short block. The upper bolt hole for the head is in the wrong location. The pushrods are in a different spot so the block clearancing is not the same. Pistons and cam layouts are different. 278 cfm wasn't going to be very competitive in my opinion. They might make a decent head in F.A.S.T.
Doug