915's or 587's

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67/6barracuda

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Hey guys,

I need you all to talk some sense to me about my novice knowledge about Mopars and motors. I have a 71 360 on my engine stand. I never heard it run but look's to be low mileage. I pulled the oil pan replaced the oil pump and pan with a center sump piece. The issue I have is it has 973 318 heads on it. It was rebuilt at some point because the rods have their respective cylinders punched on the caps. Looks like stock replacement pistons because they have the pentastar on them.

My issue is I have my eyes on a set of 2.02 1.60 915's that already been gone through and ready to bolt on for 400.00. There's also a pair of 587 1.88 1.60 for 150.00 but might need to be redone. This motor has come from an RV with 727 trans. I have no idea what the cam and stall is and I already want to by the heads and replace the 973's. I also have a set of 340 exhaust manifolds 21/8th outlet.

My practical thinking for drivability is leave the 318 heads on and throw a performer w/600cfm carb on there and run it. I know it will probably run good but be out of breath by 4500 rpms. This is going into my 67 barracuda. I was thinking a dual pattern cam either lunati or comp ex268 something along those lines if I get the bigger heads with a RPM manifold.

If I pull the heads I will have a better idea of it is overbore and a better observation of the cylinders condition. Will the 915's or 587's kill compression on a stock 360? I'm sure the 973's I already have probably make up a 1/2 a point or so for compression.

I hate to pass on good parts and find out later my engine is a dog. Not really sure what I should do guys mind you I still have the rest of car to deal with like upgrade the 71/4 and brakes drive shaft. You know the usually swap stuff.

Thanks guys in advance and I'll leave with….What would you do?
 
The only way to know is to cc your heads and block if the piston doesn't come out of the block. Then you can make an educated decision. i will always have 2.02 intake valves any day over 1.88. Exhaust is really a wash at 1.60. If doing a valve job you can jump the exhaust to 1.65. In cc the heads you can also see how close all 8 cylinders are. Or if you need to machine the head to get the desired compression. May need valve guides. Also you can check how much lift the heads can support. One other thing 360 motors are externally balanced motors. So if you are not going to balance rotating assembly, you are stuck with putting weights on the torque converter. These are things you need to check to answer your questions. Oh yeah lots of main caps are stamped with cylinder #. However that doesn't mean they were installed that way.
 
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