Did the 360 ever come with a forged crank?

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cosgig

cosgig

MoBro Inc.
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Howdy all, cosgig here! I have a very early 1971 casting 360 motor with what looks to be a forged crank dampener on it! I was under the assumption that all 360's came with a cast crank, and I am aware of the physical differences between the 2 dampeners, so I am looking to the knowing gurus of the FABO world!! Did the 360 ever come with a forged crank?? If so, was it changed to a cast crank the same time as the late 72 340 motors?? The trans that is mounted to this motor specs out to a C body 1972, which I assume is what the motor came from also! I believe that only the C bodies came with the 360 until 74, is this correct?? What do I have here?? Thanks for any and all replies!! Geof
 
Nope. All 360's came with cast cranks from the factory. But they tend to be stronger than the 340 cast cranks because of the bigger mains and more overlap between the main & rod journals. I believe the 340 cast cranks were specially treated and have read that some people believe certain 360 crank castings are of a higher quality than the others. But I haven't seen any confirmation of it.

Cast cranks have a thin casting line while forged have a wide one, about 3/8", that may look machined.

116_0308_crank04_z.jpg


People have put the wrong balancer on cast cranks many times over the years. Your's may have been mistaken for a 318.

360's started to be cast in 1970 for use in 1971 model year cars & trucks.
 
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cosgig said:
Howdy all, cosgig here! I have a very early 1971 casting 360 motor with what looks to be a forged crank dampener on it! I was under the assumption that all 360's came with a cast crank, and I am aware of the physical differences between the 2 dampeners, so I am looking to the knowing gurus of the FABO world!! Did the 360 ever come with a forged crank?? If so, was it changed to a cast crank the same time as the late 72 340 motors?? The trans that is mounted to this motor specs out to a C body 1972, which I assume is what the motor came from also! I believe that only the C bodies came with the 360 until 74, is this correct?? What do I have here?? Thanks for any and all replies!! Geof
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For the most part, no.

HOWEVER, there were some non-chrysler application 360s that did infact get forged cranks. Mostly in tractors, forklifts, generators, that kind of thing. I have seen a couple of those personally and can attest to that. Also, the nascar engines supplied by dodge after the big blocks/hemis went away were also forged cranks if i recall correctly.

with that said, chances are someone put a 318 dampner on it...
 
cosgig said:
Howdy all, cosgig here! I have a very early 1971 casting 360 motor with what looks to be a forged crank dampener on it! I was under the assumption that all 360's came with a cast crank, and I am aware of the physical differences between the 2 dampeners, so I am looking to the knowing gurus of the FABO world!! Did the 360 ever come with a forged crank?? If so, was it changed to a cast crank the same time as the late 72 340 motors?? The trans that is mounted to this motor specs out to a C body 1972, which I assume is what the motor came from also! I believe that only the C bodies came with the 360 until 74, is this correct?? What do I have here?? Thanks for any and all replies!! Geof
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As others have said, except for a few specific applications, all 360s had cast cranks and there is a possibility of a wrong damper on there. Does it look as if he motor has ever been apart? If so, could it have been rebuilt with an internally balanced rotating assembly? Either way, if you're super curious, you can always drop the pan if you can't extenally ID it. Now I'm curious to see what you're got. GL.
 
GTXperience said:
As others have said, except for a few specific applications, all 360s had cast cranks and there is a possibility of a wrong damper on there. Does it look as if he motor has ever been apart? If so, could it have been rebuilt with an internally balanced rotating assembly? Either way, if you're super curious, you can always drop the pan if you can't extenally ID it. Now I'm curious to see what you're got. GL.
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It's in the car and reportedly runs great! I was under there trying to ID it and noticed the balancer, among other atrocities!! I'll get a pic tonight when I get home if it's not still raining and it's not too dark!!
 
cosgig said:
It's in the car and reportedly runs great! I was under there trying to ID it and noticed the balancer, among other atrocities!! I'll get a pic tonight when I get home if it's not still raining and it's not too dark!!
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if its running great, then keep running it lol. if it had the wrong balancer and wasn't balanced internally, itd be vibration city.
 
dukeboy_318 said:
if its running great, then keep running it lol. if it had the wrong balancer and wasn't balanced internally, itd be vibration city.
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I haven't gotten it running yet, the car is partially disassembled, and I just got it on Monday! The FO told me he drove it home when he got it in '09, and it was "running great"!! I need to reinstall the cluster and such and try it!!
 
Many things can change when a motor is rebuilt. I have a cast crank 340 that is internally balanced so i have the correct damper and flywheel.
 
As usual, the gang here is right on! It is a cast crank dampener, looking at it from above! Thanks for the replies all, now to wake the beast!!

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old mopar small block race manuals say yes but i have never seen one
 
I appreciate that this post is not really responsive to the original question ("did the 360 ever come with a forged crank?"), but for those who are curious, there were three billet steel cranks for the 360 (i.e., large main journals) available from the factory for those who wanted to go racing: the P4529819 with a 3.55" stroke; the P4452978 with a 3.58" stroke, and the P4452979 with a 3.79" stroke.
 
In the 45 years I've been in the mopar hobby..."I've" never seen a production 360 crankshaft that was forged. Direct Connection/Mopar Performance...yes.
 
MMissile said:
In the 45 years I've been in the mopar hobby..."I've" never seen a production 360 crankshaft that was forged. Direct Connection/Mopar Performance...yes.
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Exactly. That's because they never came with one. The Direct Connection and MP stuff was as close as they got.
 
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