360 build suggestion

What heads...J's, 302's, 587's...??

MAKE SURE whoever does the head work has a good, reliable flow bench and has small block Mopar head EXPERIENCE. These are not Chevy heads. Flow them before any porting is done. Flow them as the port work progresses, etc...etc. Case in point: A buddy has a set of 2.02 X heads that LOOK like a work or art. Excecpt for one thing: They flow WORSE than a STOCK X-head and a STOCK J-head...AND even a stock 587 head. Same bench, same day comparisons.

Mid-High 11's are CAKE with a 3.58" stroke 360 and even near stock heads. You will be better off with more flash in the converter than 3000, though. Which is another word of caution: What/who's converter?? There is alot more to a converter than advertised or assumed stall speed. Slippage in high gear and especially shift point recovery are critical.

Make sure the block is PLATE honed and I would even have the valve job done with plates bolted to the head as well.

What's with the solid lifters on a hydraulic cam? The main advantage of a solid cam is the lobe rate-of-lift vs. a hydraulic so I don't see the point, other than no lifter pump up.....????

I'd bet you'd even hit the goal with those 3.91's and a 26-27" slick. A mild combo might be hurt by a stiff SW tire. You're simply not going to "hit" the suspension hard enough and a stiff SW tire might have issues hooking. On any car part of the suspension IS the tire. Stiff SW's are designed for high HP hard leaving cars. Just food for thought...

Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING ! ! !

Oh by the way, Eagle Field was a hoot! I'll be there next year, hopefully with my Dart to join in the fun.
Thanks for the input Doug. I was on the phone with M&H talking to them about tires when I read your post. They agree with you. Going to stay with the 26" slick and experiment with gears.

Glad you enjoyed Eagle Field. There will be a fundraiser dinner on 12/15 in Dos Palos. Look them up on facebook. The guy building my motor is the "Y" block guy who had the convertable white T bird towing his FED. The heads are J heads. The reason for the solid lifters is as you stated..."no lifter pump up". This came from a old mopar guy up in Canada who is good friends with the builder. I am putting it in their hands. I myself am not a engine builder, I`ll be the first to admit that.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you too!!