360 shortblock from Mopar

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70440duster

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I'm thinking about a 360 short block from Mopar performance. Has any body ever installed one. I heard in the past that they are put together like crap. Any comments?:angel9:
 
I got a create 360 short block 10 - 1 verison and if I didn't have a great need for it right there and then, it would have gone back by any means possible.

Zero deck pistons on the passenger side, positive height pistons on the drivers side starting at plus .010 @ piston #1 and getting larger to .012 by cylinder #8.

Save $1200 or what ever and have a shop do it.
 
i'm running a mp pre magnum 360 short block in my dart... has been very good for me... 12.17 @ 108 mph.


have another friend running the same 9.5 to 1 360 short block in his 72 cuda.. he is going 11.50's and has had the motor for years now with no problems..

there are a few other guys in the area running the same short blocks in the 11's without any problem..


i constantally see people bashing them but all i can say is i and a few guys i know have had no problems at all with them.



i figure its like anything else that is out there.. there are bound to be some lemmons that slip out.... i hear of bad motors comeing from great shops too.. **** happens sometimes...
 
Hey Joe;

Your freinds running the cresate short block....are they

still running the purple cam?
Best times? and speed?

12.17 is very good. Is it still as delivered?

Piston deck height problems?
Cures or serpintine around it?

I had problems with the decks milled to 2 different heights. A hard time sealing the intake to the head. etc.....
 
rumblefish360 said:
Hey Joe;

Your freinds running the cresate short block....are they

still running the purple cam?
Best times? and speed?

12.17 is very good. Is it still as delivered?

Piston deck height problems?
Cures or serpintine around it?

I had problems with the decks milled to 2 different heights. A hard time sealing the intake to the head. etc.....
Click to expand...


my cuda buddy is now running a scott brown cam.. think his best with the mp cam was in the 12.20 area. all he did was pull that motor out of the crate and bolt his eddy heads on it and bolt it in. he was just at the track a couple weeks ago and i have video of it going an 11.56 at i'll have to look at the mph on his first run after driving to the track.. but he has never had a problem with the short block... he did just freshen it up and ran into no problems at that time.. the motor had been in the car since about 2003 and had a ton of runs on it so he figured he would freshen it up last winter.. basically just a rering and new bearings....


mine was the same way.. out of the crate and eddy heads bolted on. my 12.17 was at 108.85 mph.



sounds like you just got one that someone over looked.. its bound to happen.

djvcuda did a 383 a couple years ago for his old mans car and it had the same problem you had.. his father is the original owner of the car and the motor has never been out and there was a 15 thousandths. difference between the decks side to side.. and that was straight from chrysler in 1970...
 
70440duster said:
I'm thinking about a 360 short block from Mopar performance. Has any body ever installed one. I heard in the past that they are put together like crap. Any comments?:angel9:
Click to expand...

Ya,save your money and have a PROFESSIONAL build you a quality one,crate motors/short blocks are built by who knows who!!! the quality work is just not there, thats why we call them "crap motors"....
 
There was a point in time quite a few years back that the crate motors were being built by Arrow Racing Engines and from what I have heard they couldn't keep up with the demand and quality suffered. They switch the production to Cummins and there have not been issues since that change.

FWIW, I have two buddies that bought 360 crate motors, one 300 HP and the other 360. In both cases they dropped them in fired them up and have been driving them trouble free for years now.
 
Actually, the early ones were decent. It's the Cummins "use every part" and thier production line assembly that create the issues. I think the new big strokers are sourced elsewhere, but I'm not certain. I wouldnt let Cummins do anything for me unless it's a straight 6 deisel. They also have the Hemi builds.. yuk. But, the lower the power level, and the more stock the displacement, the better the product is. IMO, that says if it's an easy level to reach, they can do it.
 
Moper, that's exactly the opposite of what I have read.

Also, everything I have ever heard about Cummins is they are considered a world class example of how to do things right.
 
Ask anyone who bought a crate hemi and had issues. I've seen 2 360 crate LAs that had issues from the first turn of the key. Both attributed to rod molts not beign torqued. Both told by different dealers "sorry, that's MP's warranty, not ours..." and they got stuck with them. I do know also of several positive stories of 360s from years ago. And Abody Joe and IIRC that's CudaDan, right Joe? But, not a single Cummins produced Hemi I know of (meaning friends/associates bought them) has ever been good right out of the box since Cummins took over. I was working dealer parts when the crate hemis were re-released. They were on back order because the original builders were rejecting the MP parts they were shipped to assemble with. So, they got an "in pipeline" vendor, and voila, no more delays. Least that's whatthe regional parts muckity muck said. Because the substandard parts went right into the engines now, they had all kinds of issues. Not advertised power. Oil leaks. Smoke. Lower end noises. Out off 3 I personally know of, three had issues resulting in eventual rebuilds at reputable Hemi special shops at the owner's expense. I should say, a friend bought one. It leaked and made noises after about 10 miles. MP sent another to warranty it. With the disclaimer "this is it..no more warranty". That one was noisey, and smoked after about 100 miles. So it went off to V&V (Lou Vigonia) and it was rebuilt by him. It's been in service for about 4 years now. Great way to buy parts. Poor labor asembling them. Do an internet search on Mopar Crate Engines. My last guesstimate was 360s running about 70% good, 408s about 80% good, Hemis about 30% good on the first try. As a major manufacturer's efforts, I'd call that unacceptable. Gotta love low bidders.
 
i'm running the mp 360 short block 10:1 with eddy heads. i just pulled it out of the crate bolted the stuff on and drove it. still am. i did check the crankshaft/camshaft endplay and torque and the mains, and all was where it should be. at the 500 mile mark, i took it to the track and put 4 passes on it shifting at 6300 rpm. can't remember my times, but they weren't much to write home about. knowing how much "hecho in mexico" and "hecho in china" and "hecho in taiwan" there is floating around mp, screw them. give a better company your money. i use bob mazzolini racing for alot of parts and he only carries a portion of mp stuff cause he only likes a portion of their stuff. find a builder, however long it takes.
 
i took it to the track and put 4 passes on it shifting at 6300 rpm. can't remember my times, but they weren't much to write home about.
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well is nothing to write home about 15 sec. quarter mile or is it 12.9 and you thought it should be better?? a bit of a ball park number would help... maybe its the way you have it set up making it nothing to write home about... there is just too much that could be done wrong to post a statement like that without some kind of number... gears,converter,carb,exhaust. ??
 
abodyjoe said:
well is nothing to write home about 15 sec. quarter mile or is it 12.9 and you thought it should be better?? a bit of a ball park number would help... maybe its the way you have it set up making it nothing to write home about... there is just too much that could be done wrong to post a statement like that without some kind of number... gears,converter,carb,exhaust. ??
Click to expand...

man oh man are you grillin' me!! i think it was low 14's, high 13's, cause i was really slow out of the hole, no headers, and the carb was not set up like it is now. after tti headers, msd distributor, proform main body and rear metering block, this car runs harder. even a buddy who races alot who was there, looked at my time slips and said i could lose .5 just by getting a better r/t and 60 ft time. it was the first time i had raced the car and was thinking about to many things, hell they kept telling me to roll up my window!!
 
lol... i was just wondering .


the window thing is funny.. i think everyone does that their first few times down the track.
 
My very first run, I had borrowed a helmet, and my glasses didnt fit thru the visor. I was paired with a 9 second duster. So by the time I hit the stripe, he was on the return road. I had no idea where the end of the 1/4 was...lol. Ahh youth...
 
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