A True Low Dollar Backyard Build

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I’ve got an oil pan sitting on a 5.9 on a motor stand you can have along with the pickup. I’ll get it off tomorrow or Tuesday and send it on. That will give me incentive to do something with that motor as it’s an original truck motor with low mileage. I’m not sure if it’s a Durango/Dakota pan but I can shoot you some pics and you can let me know if it’ll work for you.
 
I'm into the spirit of this, especially the father and son aspect. I have the stock oil pan, pump, and pick up from a 5.9 Magnum, 1998 Jeep Cherokee that's morphing into a 408 for my 70 Swinger 340. I'm 2500 miles away, but if any of the closer offers don't work out, I'll donate them for the cost of shipping. I have no idea if the pan would work for your application.
 
So I got a hold of the guy that use to own the cam, rockers and heads. As he recalls from a couple of decades ago, the cam is a hydraulic piece. Says the rockers he saved from a 273 he had in a dart many years prior to his 340/360 days.

So is it worth running the adjustable rockers with the hydraulic lifters, or just stick with the stamped steel rockers?
He does not remember if the J heads ever had any work done to them. For now we'll assume not. It'll be a while before I get around to dragging them out to look closer at them.
 
ragtopfury said:
So I got a hold of the guy that use to own the cam, rockers and heads. As he recalls from a couple of decades ago, the cam is a hydraulic piece. Says the rockers he saved from a 273 he had in a dart many years prior to his 340/360 days.

So is it worth running the adjustable rockers with the hydraulic lifters, or just stick with the stamped steel rockers?
He does not remember if the J heads ever had any work done to them. For now we'll assume not. It'll be a while before I get around to dragging them out to look closer at them.
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Yes, use the 273 rockers.
 
Just so everybody knows, this is what the oil pans look like (all rear sump):

Dakota/Durango:
s-l200.jpg


Full size truck:
s-l200.jpg


Grand Cherokee:
s-l225.webp
 
Been working from home since today last year.... took my lunch hour in the garage and pulled the front and the pan. Found it has a double roller chain, no oil hole drilled thru the top left cam plate bolt, no scrap metal in the pan. Tops of the pistons/cylinders carboned up a bit, but over all not too bad for a motor that looks to have been run too rich for too long.

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This is the pan I’ve got. Looks like the full sized truck pan. It’s here if it’ll work for you but it’s def not the top Durango Dakota fate is showing us.

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67dartgtgo said:
This is the pan I’ve got. Looks like the full sized truck pan. It’s here if it’ll work for you but it’s def not the top Durango Dakota fate is showing us.

View attachment 1715708049 View attachment 1715708050
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I'll give you an E for effort and a nod of appreciation. That's the same pan I've got that came on my motor. The sump well is about 3 and a half inches to big front to back.
 
Depending what school does to the 13 yr old today/tomorrow, I hope to get him out there so we can stamp the rods 1 thru 8 and see if we can push the slugs out past the carbon ridge at the top of the cylinders.
Btw, the lifters all popped out rather nicely.
 
ragtopfury said:
I'll give you an E for effort and a nod of appreciation. That's the same pan I've got that came on my motor. The sump well is about 3 and a half inches to big front to back.
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Hahaaa.. ty..I’ll def try harder. Bummer.
 
ragtopfury said:
Been working from home since today last year.... took my lunch hour in the garage and pulled the front and the pan. Found it has a double roller chain, no oil hole drilled thru the top left cam plate bolt, no scrap metal in the pan. Tops of the pistons/cylinders carboned up a bit, but over all not too bad for a motor that looks to have been run too rich for too long.

View attachment 1715708042 View attachment 1715708046 View attachment 1715708047 View attachment 1715708048 View attachment 1715708051 View attachment 1715708052 View attachment 1715708053
Click to expand...


They stopped drilling the hole in the bolt because it does nothing. A waste of time and effort.
 
Mine is definitely from a 1998 Grand Cherokee. I can post pictures tomorrow, but I saw the truck it was pulled from.
 
I remember back 37 years ago, the 71 360 I refreshed had them all stamped when i took it apart and found them off by 1 hole. In other words, 2 was in 1, 3 was in 2 all the way down to 1 being found in 8. That motor came out of my uncle's Plymouth wagon and had never been apart.

So in this 84, I found the side of the rods/caps already number stamped 1-8 like they were in 71 except they ARE in the correct order. Got them all pushed out past the carbon ridge without getting hung up. Standard size bearings that don't look too bad for unknown mileage. And the end of the oil pump drive is barely worn.

Only have 1 minor issue. One piston got dropped as it popped out of its bore. Landed on the 3x layer of cardboard on the floor and bounced onto the gagage floor. Broke the end of the skirt. GRRRRRRRRR ! ! ! No tempers flared, as the boy is learning and really didn't know what to expect when it came out. I should have have showed him one coming out before just telling him "get ready to catch it".

So anybody have 1 standard 360 LA piston that I can pay shipping on? LOL. Don't worry Mods, I'll make a wanted ad if need be. :)

Check it out.

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ragtopfury said:
I remember back 37 years ago, the 71 360 I refreshed had them all stamped when i took it apart and found them off by 1 hole. In other words, 2 was in 1, 3 was in 2 all the way down to 1 being found in 8. That motor came out of my uncle's Plymouth wagon and had never been apart.

So in this 84, I found the side of the rods/caps already number stamped 1-8 like they were in 71 except they ARE in the correct order. Got them all pushed out past the carbon ridge without getting hung up. Standard size bearings that don't look too bad for unknown mileage. And the end of the oil pump drive is barely worn.

Only have 1 minor issue. One piston got dropped as it popped out of its bore. Landed on the 3x layer of cardboard on the floor and bounced onto the gagage floor. Broke the end of the skirt. GRRRRRRRRR ! ! ! No tempers flared, as the boy is learning and really didn't know what to expect when it came out. I should have have showed him one coming out before just telling him "get ready to catch it".

So anybody have 1 standard 360 LA piston that I can pay shipping on? LOL. Don't worry Mods, I'll make a wanted ad if need be. :)

Check it out.

View attachment 1715708614 View attachment 1715708615 View attachment 1715708616 View attachment 1715708618 been View attachment 1715708620
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I’d give you one if I had it. But I’ve been in a pinch before and it’s paper rolled the sharp edges off and sent it. You didn’t break enough of the skirt off to make me nervous.

As I always say...doo doo occurs.
 
yellow rose said:
They stopped drilling the hole in the bolt because it does nothing. A waste of time and effort.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it does nothing. If you have the drilled bolt in place, it does dribble oil down the oil pointer and onto the chain, so it does supply a little oil. But you're right for the most part. I would much rather drill a hole through the cam thrust plate and get pressurized oil there. I drilled a 1/16" hole through the oil galley plug in the slant six I just put together. It will blast oil all over the back of the cam gear.
 
I thought about smoothing the broke edge down and letting it ride in the true low dollar fashion. And I just might do that if an El cheapo single piston doesn't show up in a couple of weeks..
 
Just spent a whole 15 minutes and knocked the main caps off and lifted the crank out. 1st impression is it looks pretty dang good. Haven't inspected it yet other than a visual.
And this is as far as I'll get today. Life. LOL

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Reamed the carbon ridges during lunch today. They were not very bad at all. As stated before, mileage on this motor is unknown, but can still see the cross-hatching in the cylinders. A very light hone is all they should need.

Gasket kit and bearings/rings showed up today. Except the head gaskets. Not using the .039-.042 head gaskets that came with it. Going to try a pair of .028 thick gaskets from Mr Gasket in an effort to bump compression up just a tad from the factory rated 8.0:1. I might be able to score a used set of original flat top pistons from a 71 360. If I do, that might get me up to the 8.5 range.

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ragtopfury said:
Reamed the carbon ridges during lunch today. They were not very bad at all. As stated before, mileage on this motor is unknown, but can still see the cross-hatching in the cylinders. A very light hone is all they should need.

Gasket kit and bearings/rings showed up today. Except the head gaskets. Not using the .039-.042 head gaskets that came with it. Going to try a pair of .028 thick gaskets from Mr Gasket in an effort to bump compression up just a tad from the factory rated 8.0:1. I might be able to score a used set of original flat top pistons from a 71 360. If I do, that might get me up to the 8.5 range.

View attachment 1715713657
Click to expand...
If you go with the earlier pistons, you'll need different rings again- Magnums take a 1.5/1.5/4.0mm ring pack, LA pistons take a 5/64 5/64 3/8 set... :rolleyes:
 
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