Got my junkyard magnum motor in the 11s!

JoeDust451 said
Myron, did you read the "title" of this thread, it says "junkyard" magnum, don't know where your going with this, I'm sure he is running a bolt-on junkyard magnum, Lets see a 70s stock longblock 360 do that & over 110 MPH in a somewhat fully dressed A body, i've never seen it, I've messed with several LA 360s with stock longblocks, they don't run as strong, obviously the guy asking about his build is impressed, I guess his LA ain't cutting the mustard IDK, Sure he doesn't need to get a magnum, just drop some good heads on the LA, but if he wants a roller cam, thats another story.

I quoted "wedgie" in that one post who said he had a LA race engine he is considering replacing with a Magnum. He didn't say if it was worn out or not. But if not, the LA-X heads could go a long way in in boosting his performance which are pretty much just like the other aftermarket cast iron Magnum heads. It would also boost his compression. He would need to make sure that the rest of the upgrades and set-ups were correct for the overall combo, but then he could expect similar performance to LXguy.

LXguy apparently found a Magnum that was well maintained, added a variety of parts to the engine (mainly the Iron Ram heads) and has a good combination of parts throughout the rest of his car that works well together.

A Magnum short block or a roller cam aren't magic parts that will automatically improve performance. A long block, as you brought up, will not do 110 mph in the 1/4 - LA or Magnum. But his Iron Ram heads helped the most on the Magnum just like the LA-X heads can on wedgies LA. Wedgie would just need to find the correct parts and tune-up to go with the LA-X heads. If his short block is in good shape and the pistons are at "0" deck or below, swapping heads would be a lot cheaper than a junkyard short block and aftermarket heads. LXguy changed the cam also, so that's another thing that can be done to a LA short block, even if it's a flat tappet hydraulic. So I'm just offering some ideas to save money if the existing LA short block and valvetrain is in decent shape. Money could be saved on the intake too!

Personally, I think an OEM '74 360 4 barrel would run pretty close to an OEM 360 Magnum with a 4 barrel added if both were in the same condition and tune.