Advice on buying junkyard engines?
Well there you go, not just a difference from north to south, but different central to the coasts. I went to the ten or so yards left south of Seattle, and the largest Binford's has 13 acres and I don't know how many thousand cars, but few cars more than a dozen years old. When they get anything older than 2004, they go straight to the crusher and no parts pulled.
There really aren't a lot of cars that are older than 10 years or so on the roads around here, or even in driveways, like when I was a kid. With the amount of traffic here, hovering around 3rd worst in the nation after LA and Boston, there really isn't much allowance for people to be driving old cars on a daily basis.
Anything older for Mopar parts the recommended choice about half a day's drive is Oregon, Wildcat, and I don't think they've added much to their stock in the last couple decades. As for the original poster, have you tried posting a wanted ad on here for at least the 360 engine that might be within driving distance to pickup?