I have heard that some people question whether we have true Hemis in our Challengers. The name Hemi is short for hemisphere, which is the shape of the top of the combustion chambers. Ours are not perfectly hemispherical, but there has not been a true hemisphere-shaped Hemi since 1971. The new 5.7 and 6.1 engines do not have true hemispherical heads, but they look vaguely like hemispherical heads with parts filled in.

The bottom line is that we, in fact, have a new Hemi- one that has evolved and improved with time to deal with emissions. (Note: The Hemi design combustion chamber is one of the poorest designs for emissions). In fact, Chrysler boasts that the new Hemi puts out more power per cubic inch that any engine it has ever produced.

So be proud that our engines’ ancestor was the 426.

 

Amen brother!

 

If you read the tech on the 426, you will find that even it was not a "true" Hemi....(but does it really matter....to me it's a Hemi..as are the "modern" hemi)

 

Kinda like Fords Boss 429 "Semi-Hemi" It says Hemi on the hood thats good enough for me!

 

Hemi is a Chrysler trademark and technically they could now put the word on a Fiat if they wanted to. Let's hope the term continues to refer to v8 5.7, 6.1 and future high performance v8's of the same basic design configuration.

 

Even more technically, HEMI was and always has been a marketing ploy. So it can be argued that our HEMIs are just as much authentic as any HEMI ever was.

 

But Ford could not use the term HEMI alone in any advertizing because Chrysler had dibs on the word via copyright.

 

I've had people ask if it looks like the old Hemi. And I tell them it doesn't . The old Hemi ( factory ) didn't have dual plug's per cylinder that I know of . It has Hemi on the hood . And since the rear of my R/T had no marking's other than Dodge on the tail light's . My personal plate reads HEMI RT . And thats all most other car guy's need to see to know this is not your Gandpa's Car. Even if I just turned 60 this week and I am a Grandpa . Grandpa has had some fast cars before. And if feels good having a new Challenger R/T again.

 

Great for you Bro', you have done the time and I am sure you have worked hard for it. Sweeeet, enjoy the ride again. You see, you are on the second go around. I was only 6 in '70, so I am down one round as I see it. Sure, in HS, I rode in those beauties, but it's not the same to experience it as they came out. New or old Hemi, they are all crazy Mopars!

 

Being an owner of both the original 426 as well as two 5.7 equipped vehicles I had the same question posed to me many times. It is true, the 5.7 & 6.1 pistons look nothing like the 50's-70's era hemis. They are true hemis in the dome shaped piston, arrangement of the valves in the cylinder as well as plug location. Chrysler frankly defined hemi heads even though they were not the first to design it, they perfected it.

The 5.7 and 6.1 to me can be argued (as above) the evolution of the hemi...in my opinion. The older hemis were having great difficulty passing the 1970 era emissions...imagine now??? The valvetrain looks quite similar and the geometry of the design is obvious. The pistons are probably the major point for the naysayers as they are essentially flat tops, not domes.

To me, I'm quite glad an American-owned company (for now), called Chrysler is producing a "hemi" for the modern era. End of story for me...IMO