[eschaider]

One of each, Rick. The '63 was a complete from the factory aluminum front end MaxWedge car. We ran the 11:1 compression engine the first year and the 13.5:1 engine the second year. Both were stunning.

The '64 car was another original from the factory race package that had the aluminum front end, doors, plexiglas side windows etc. — the whole lightweight package. We switched the '64 iron heads for a set of the '65 aluminum heads to get some additional weight out of the car.

The Hemi definitely made more power than the MaxWedge but the engines were cammed very differently. We used a custom version of an Isky 1012-B cam in the MaxWedge. It was around 270 @ 0.050 and 0.540 lift on 104˚ lobe centers. The Hemi used a 590 that was as the name implied 0.590 lift and it was also on 104˚ lobe centers. Later we switched to a Crane R296 with 0.750 lift which was much better than the already very good 590.

Had we experimented with cams like the R296 in the MaxWedge motor I am certain there was considerable undiscovered horsepower to be had. Maybe not as much as the Hemi because of those stunning (at the time) intake ports but still a lot more.

Both cars were torqueflites and we would just idle start the cars because we had those little 8 or 9 inch 069J converters from Chrysler. Idle starting with good air would pick the front tires at the launch in either car. Low speed throttle response was truly amazing no matter which one you drove.


Ed