ADVERTISEMENT
I had the heads and carburetors rebuilt and bolted them to a 440 Six Pack shortblock with 10.5:1 TRW pistons and a Mopar Performance .528 solid cam. The Max Wedge block and connecting rods were sold off – the block to a Detroit area Max Wedge restoration project and the rods were traded to Bob Mazzolini for a set of reproduction Max Wedge air cleaners. What with a monthly college loan payment to deal with, it took me almost exactly one full year to transform the Polara from ho-hum 383 power to its 440 / Maxie hybrid configuration.
But on October 25, 1990 I twisted the key for the first time and the car was a smash hit with all my street racing buddies. Was it fast? Well it ran 13.1 at 105 a few times at Lebanon Valley Dragway in New York and held its own on Route 67. It ran about like a “real” Max Wedge ran in street trim – according to magazine reports. I figured the 440’s extra displacement made up for the 2-point drop in compression.
But without question, its best feature was the way that crazy motor looked. I stayed away from flash chrome gee-gaws and let the natural beauty shine through. I used to freak people out by reaching under the car to un-cork the reproduction Max Wedge exhaust system I bought from Jim Kramer. In fact, if I left just one of the four exhaust dump cap bolts in place and tightened it snug, I could pull the caps to the side then push them back after the race. Despite missing three hold-down bolts, the plates and flanges were thick enough to seal all but about 5-percent of exhaust leakage in this mode. You barely heard the escaping gasses at all and cops paid little attention.
I eventually traded the Max-ified Polara to New York collector Chuck Bubie for cash and a sweet 1973 ‘Cuda 340. I was liquidating my stuff so I could move to California. The last I heard, a subsequent owner had removed the Max Wedge stuff as well as the 4.10 Dana rear axle from the Polara. So be it, you can’t control what others do to “your” stuff after you sell it!
Which brings us to the present. Yes, I am still a Max Wedge fiend and as you will see in the hood trimming story in this issue of MoparMax, I have another Max Wedge in my garage. Unlike that first one, this one is based on a rebuilt 1978 Dodge motor home long block and one of Rick Allison’s daring new A&A Transmission 440-port Max Wedge cross ram intake manifolds. What he’s done is made it possible for owners of garden variety 440s to get the wild appearance of the Max Wedge without having to source Max Wedge heads. This one will soon power the altered wheelbase ’63 Dart in the story – a car you may have seen go together in previous issues of MoparMax. With 9.75:1 compression, dual Edelbrock 500’s and an Isky Mega 292 flat tappet hydraulic cam, it made 439 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and a stump pulling 491 lb/ft of torque at 4100 rpm on Joe Jill’s engine dyno just a few months ago. No, this one doesn’t have any tangible links to the super stock era and doesn’t give me the same kind of goose bumps like those used factory goodies did ay back in ’98. But it does the job just fine and will surely throw the altered wheelbase Dart down the street in fine form.
Whaddaya Think? Click here to write a comment! Close this box
Recent Stories
