Finally, my first 360 and goals for it! I'll be asking a lot of questions.

-
trebor75

trebor75

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
981
Reaction score
452
Location
Sweden
I'm picking up a complete 360 this weekend. It runs great and everything is there except the carb. I won't know what cam is in it before I have it apart. It's a hydraulic though. The heads are the 3769974 casting and it comes with a LD340 intake.

I have a 1970 Duster. It was a /6 car when I bought it with the 7 1/4 rear. I have swapped out everything. it now has a 8 3/4 rear with 3.73 gearing and a suregrip. 727 trans with shiftkit. 10" 3000 stall coverter. Upgraded brakes, torsionbars and leaf springs. I have been running a 273 Commando while hunting for 360's and I have done a lot to that engine. it runs really strong. I have a solid cam in the 273, so I have a complete valvetrain with adjustable rockers and Beehive springs, should I choose to go down that road. In the 273 I have the Magnum 270S grind. The carb I have at hand is a 650 Street Demon.

So to list what I have at hand today:
Heads: 3769974 casting
650 Street Demon Carb
LD 340 Intake
Complete valvetrain: Solid lifter Comp Cams Magnum 282S - 282/282 Lift 495/495
Beehive Springs
Hooker Headers
2.5" Dual Exhaust / Super 44 Flowmaster
PerTronix Ignitor II Billet distributer & Flame Thrower coil
8 3/4 with 3.73 and suregrip
3000 stall converter
275/60-14 rear tires

I'm of to a good start. My goal for this 360 is to have a strong running, reliable street engine. I'm gonna have to use most of these parts listed except cam for now. I always missed torque with the 273, it's a high winder, but I never had much use of that on the street. I want this one to be fun on the street with lot's of torque. I'm starting this thread so I can get advice along the way. Budget is very limited so I want to make it right the first time and will be paying close attention to the advice of the experience on this forum. Of course I'm excited and have already started looking at cams etc and the XE268H looks like a good fit for me. But I wont be rushing anything. First I need to find out more about the engine and have remove the heads. If I'm lucky there might be a good cam in it already, the owner said it ran strong.

I'm happy and exited!
 
trebor75 said:
I'm picking up a complete 360 this weekend. It runs great and everything is there except the carb. I won't know what cam is in it before I have it apart. It's a hydraulic though. The heads are the 3769974 casting and it comes with a LD340 intake.

I have a 1970 Duster. It was a /6 car when I bought it with the 7 1/4 rear. I have swapped out everything. it now has a 8 3/4 rear with 3.73 gearing and a suregrip. 727 trans with shiftkit. 10" 3000 stall coverter. Upgraded brakes, torsionbars and leaf springs. I have been running a 273 Commando while hunting for 360's and I have done a lot to that engine. it runs really strong. I have a solid cam in the 273, so I have a complete valvetrain with adjustable rockers and Beehive springs, should I choose to go down that road. In the 273 I have the Magnum 270S grind. The carb I have at hand is a 650 Street Demon.

So to list what I have at hand today:
Heads: 3769974 casting
650 Street Demon Carb
LD 340 Intake
Complete valvetrain: Solid lifter Comp Cams Magnum 282S - 282/282 Lift 495/495
Beehive Springs
Hooker Headers
2.5" Dual Exhaust / Super 44 Flowmaster
PerTronix Ignitor II Billet distributer & Flame Thrower coil
8 3/4 with 3.73 and suregrip
3000 stall converter
275/60-14 rear tires

I'm of to a good start. My goal for this 360 is to have a strong running, reliable street engine. I'm gonna have to use most of these parts listed except cam for now. I always missed torque with the 273, it's a high winder, but I never had much use of that on the street. I want this one to be fun on the street with lot's of torque. I'm starting this thread so I can get advice along the way. Budget is very limited so I want to make it right the first time and will be paying close attention to the advice of the experience on this forum. Of course I'm excited and have already started looking at cams etc and the XE268H looks like a good fit for me. But I wont be rushing anything. First I need to find out more about the engine and have remove the heads. If I'm lucky there might be a good cam in it already, the owner said it ran strong.

I'm happy and exited!
Click to expand...
the biggest thing with the 360 is compression, for most of the 360's life, they were low compression smog engines. So there's 2 area's i'd focus on. First, heads, being on a budget, I dont know what those flow like, @IQ52 will know better but they're 75/76 360 heads with 1.88/1.60 valves. Get with IQ as he is a master when it comes to this.

Second, compression, only way to do this is with new pistons or decking the block, not sure what octane fuels are in Sweden, but stay under 10:1.

Any idea what rear gear you're gonna be running?
 
dukeboy_318 said:
the biggest thing with the 360 is compression, for most of the 360's life, they were low compression smog engines. So there's 2 area's i'd focus on. First, heads, being on a budget, I dont know what those flow like, @IQ52 will know better but they're 75/76 360 heads with 1.88/1.60 valves. Get with IQ as he is a master when it comes to this.

Second, compression, only way to do this is with new pistons or decking the block, not sure what octane fuels are in Sweden, but stay under 10:1.

Any idea what rear gear you're gonna be running?
Click to expand...

I'm not planning on racing this car at all. I want to build a fun street driver. Gears will be 3.73 and converter will be 10" turbo action with 3000 advertised stall. I propably cant afford to send heads of to have work done to them. I could get help with porting though. We have good quality gas here. 98 octane and 99.
 
trebor75 said:
I'm not planning on racing this car at all. I want to build a fun street driver. Gears will be 3.73 and converter will be 10" turbo action with 3000 advertised stall. I propably cant afford to send heads of to have work done to them. I could get help with porting though. We have good quality gas here. 98 octane and 99.
Click to expand...
Nice. Port matching may help some. I tagged IQ52 for you, he's a true master builder, listen to his advice whenever chimes in.

If I may ask, why the switch from the 273?
 
dukeboy_318 said:
Nice. Port matching may help some. I tagged IQ52 for you, he's a true master builder, listen to his advice whenever chimes in.

If I may ask, why the switch from the 273?
Click to expand...
Thanks. I want more bottom end torque. The 273 is all about high winding and I cant really use that on the street.
 
I'd reuse that 270S grind in the 360 with a 9.0-1 / 9.5-1 max ratio.
I'd also reuse everything else I could from the prior engine. The LD-340 & the carb you listed will be great up top.
 
rumblefish360 said:
I'd reuse that 270S grind in the 360 with a 9.0-1 / 9.5-1 max ratio.
I'd also reuse everything else I could from the prior engine. The LD-340 & the carb you listed will be great up top.
Click to expand...
Thanks Rumblefish. You have answered plenty of my questions in the past too, thank you! The 360 I'm buying comes with a complete valvetrain for hydralic, so I could go that way too. I just dont know what cam is in it today until I have it apart, or maybe if I can learn to use one of those degree wheels I've read about. Is that possible? it would be awesome if I could use the valvetrain and the Magnum cam from my 273 and still have a great street friendly torque motor. I have also looked at the Hughes Whiplash cam, but it is really expensive.
 
Oh, and another thing Rumblefish. I dont know if I can afford to bump up the compression, at least not if that includes new pistons or head work. Remember I'm in Sweden, these things cost me at least twice as much as for you guys in the US.
 
Yeah, everything around american iron is quite expensive in Europe.
While you could keep your pistons you could still perform a few things mentioned on FABO all the time:
deck the block 0.040 (quote from 318willrun) and use a thinner head gasket. Gives you at least almost
one point more compression. According to the nice guy mentioned above you won't have to cut your intake.
Everything else as what Rumble said.
 
stixx said:
Yeah, everything around american iron is quite expensive in Europe.
While you could keep your pistons you could still perform a few things mentioned on FABO all the time:
deck the block 0.040 (quote from 318willrun) and use a thinner head gasket. Gives you at least almost
one point more compression. According to the nice guy mentioned above you won't have to cut your intake.
Everything else as what Rumble said.
Click to expand...
I actually said "cut the heads .040", not the block :)
 
OK, got it. Well....

Learning a degree wheel isn't hard but it does take a little time to get a understanding and a good working relationship with it. Every time I degree a cam In, which is not often anymore, it takes a little while. You can find the duration in degrees. Desk top dyno had a manual input for this and it would spit back durations for you.

The mechanical 273 gear will work in a 360 head. The cam (270S) is small enough that it will be very good in torque. I would not hesitate to use it. You already have it.

If new pistons are out of the picture, then the head milling mentioned would be an excellent alternative. Considering the size it f the cam and the iron heads, I would not bother with more than a 9.0-1 ratio.

IMO, I think your going to have a nice machine there when your done. It will have plenty of torque. Your going up a serious amount in cubes and a bunch of it in stroke. Which equals torque.
 
just curious..... is that the older LD340 intake that has the Chrysler part number casted on it?
 
His ratings are equal to our top grade 93. (IIRC)
 
Your overall combo sounds like til add up to a fun,reliable ride. Run the stuff you already have since you said you're on a tight budget. If you're comfortable with it and have a steady hand, get out the die grinder and clean up the bowls and ports on the heads. Have them milled to bump the compression up a touch and you'll be pretty happy with what you have already
 
rumblefish360 said:
OK, got it. Well....

Learning a degree wheel isn't hard but it does take a little time to get a understanding and a good working relationship with it. Every time I degree a cam In, which is not often anymore, it takes a little while. You can find the duration in degrees. Desk top dyno had a manual input for this and it would spit back durations for you.

The mechanical 273 gear will work in a 360 head. The cam (270S) is small enough that it will be very good in torque. I would not hesitate to use it. You already have it.

If new pistons are out of the picture, then the head milling mentioned would be an excellent alternative. Considering the size it f the cam and the iron heads, I would not bother with more than a 9.0-1 ratio.

IMO, I think your going to have a nice machine there when your done. It will have plenty of torque. Your going up a serious amount in cubes and a bunch of it in stroke. Which equals torque.
Click to expand...

Thanks again. I think I will take this advice. I can use the money I planned to spend on a cam and use them for head milling instead. I'm gonna start looking around for shops who can perform the head milling and get quotes. Just out of curiosity, what do they charge for that over in the US, what is a reasonable price? And also, is there a way to tell if they have already been milled?

A body said:
just curious..... is that the older LD340 intake that has the Chrysler part number casted on it?
Click to expand...
I have not seen it yet myself. I will get back after I picked up the engine this weekend.

Valkman said:
I think your octane ratings use a different scale in Europe make sure you keep that in mind
Click to expand...
Good call, thanks for reminding me.

rumblefish360 said:
His ratings are equal to our top grade 93. (IIRC)
Click to expand...
My Commando is supposed to have 10.5:1, this I dont know for sure, but I have never had any trouble with it running our 98 octane.

Dartish said:
Your overall combo sounds like til add up to a fun,reliable ride. Run the stuff you already have since you said you're on a tight budget. If you're comfortable with it and have a steady hand, get out the die grinder and clean up the bowls and ports on the heads. Have them milled to bump the compression up a touch and you'll be pretty happy with what you have already
Click to expand...
I think this seems to be the way to go the more I think about it. I can use the money I planned to spend on a cam and use them for head milling instead.

Thanks for the help guys!
 
Can someone recommend me a good gasket kit? Is there a kit with those thin gaskets for the heads available?
 
Most gasket kits that I have investigated come with .038 or .050/.055. You may have to ether poke around some or order the head gasket separately.

Fee's for head milling vary a lot depending on the shop, location, & amount removed. I have paid as little as $35 for the pair of head just to give a resurfacing type of cut to $100 for removing (IIRC) .050. This was also some time ago. I forgot what the was charged last.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Most gasket kits that I have investigated come with .038 or .050/.055. You may have to ether poke around some or order the head gasket separately.

Fee's for head milling vary a lot depending on the shop, location, & amount removed. I have paid as little as $35 for the pair of head just to give a resurfacing type of cut to $100 for removing (IIRC) .050. This was also some time ago. I forgot what the was charged last.
Click to expand...

I'll do some poking around. Thanks :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top