I might cry

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Well it was supposed to be balanced and after talking with the builder there was a loss of communication whatever with the machine shop and it was just an externally balanced plain old 360. But because it was supposed to have been internally balanced because it was going in place of my 340. On the first start up it shook BAD so I put the weights in the harmonic balancer which cut it down a lot at that point they realised it wasn't balanced and sent me an SFI flexplate. which cured the vibration but that first trip with an untuned carb and it had power and after it was never the same. I've always wonder if something wasn't damaged by the vibration. It ran for 20mins at 2500rpm and then to the exhaust shop a few blocks away.

Hind sight being what it is I should have shut it down and started looking then but it sounded good and I was a bit excited being my first engine.
 
dodge freak said:
Contact Muscle Motors in Lansing Michigan. They are great honest guys there, Eric usally answers the phone. I live just an hour away but still, if I lived a 1,000 miles away, I still would use them.

All they do is Mopar motors, they have short blocks too. A 408 is $3,850
http://musclemotorsracing.com/m/ind...facturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31



Heres the # 517-482-4900 they also have a web mail and answer their E-mail faster than most...

http://musclemotorsracing.com/m/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Click to expand...

I built a 340 for a friend a few years ago and had an absolutely HORRIBLE experience with Muscle Motors. They sent us a pair of heads that were completely unusable due to massive core shift, so we sent them back. The second set was just as bad, but for different reasons - iron shavings from the port work fell out of the heads when we unbagged them. These heads were fully assembled. My friend took them to a local shop to have them disassembled and cleaned. That's when they noticed that the bolt holes on the exhaust flanges were drilled but not tapped. How can a shop sell new heads, port them and do a valve job and assemble them without noticing that there are no threads in the exhuast bolt holes?

Their custom made pushrods were a joke. They were all bent and it wasn't shipping damage. Eric was a complete a$$ every time we talked to him. I'll never buy anything from them ever again.

Funny how Mopar Action used to use them, but now they use Ray Barton. Maybe they had a similar experience?
 
Demon Seed:

I went to the block shop today, they are indeed the canadian distributor for Hughes, also I get a 10% discount for being an Edmonton Mopar Club Member.

His quote was much easier to handle at $4000 he said he'll build it my way and to my budget. And that 350hp out of a 340 you can do blindfolded, I did ask about bringing my 360 to him to be checked and freshened up he said they can do it but price wise it'll end up getting close to building an engine and a dyno session is not cheap everyone quotes from 700-1100 bucks. And he was the first to say a dyno session is only relative and wont be the same as in a car everyone else was eager to sell me a dyno session. So I need to contemplate but these guys look like where I'll end up going.
 
71Duster said:
Demon Seed:

I went to the block shop today, they are indeed the canadian distributor for Hughes, also I get a 10% discount for being an Edmonton Mopar Club Member.

His quote was much easier to handle at $4000 he said he'll build it my way and to my budget. And that 350hp out of a 340 you can do blindfolded, I did ask about bringing my 360 to him to be checked and freshened up he said they can do it but price wise it'll end up getting close to building an engine and a dyno session is not cheap everyone quotes from 700-1100 bucks. And he was the first to say a dyno session is only relative and wont be the same as in a car everyone else was eager to sell me a dyno session. So I need to contemplate but these guys look like where I'll end up going.
Click to expand...

Great to hear that the Block Shop is a little more reasonable cost wise, keep us informed about the rebuild if you end up going to them cuss I need to find a good machine shop to prepare a 400 of mine for stroking. Also you could contact your Mopar club president and ask if anyone has a track record with the block shop.

Terry
 
So heres the question to put to vote because both have pros and cons.

Build the 340 fresh
Pull the 360 and have is checked and freshend?
 
Have you run a compression test on all cylinders? I may have missed that.

If so what did you get?

The engine shouldn't rattle and shake as in a vibration. A lopey cam is one thing, an inherent vibration is another issue all together.
 
71Duster said:
So heres the question to put to vote because both have pros and cons.

Build the 340 fresh
Pull the 360 and have is checked and freshend?
Click to expand...

If it were me I'd only put $mall into the 360 - build the 340 I'd say.
 
You are doing the same basic things. I'd bet with a cam loss, the pistons are not very good anymore. So you have honing, new pistons, the deck may already be too short... I think I would either start witha fresh 360 core, and maybe reuse some part fromt eh old one, or just re-do the 340.
 
PAW has a very competent shop (Chatsworth, CA) and some of the best prices on parts anywhere, (and the exchange rate with Canadian dollars is in your favor right now). "Mopar John" is the guy to talk to there.
 
the 360 has a longer stroke,, makes more torque,torque moves you down the road,,its a toss up
 
I don't know what current prices are for a stroker crank, but I was told a cast crank for the 340 can be had for less than $400. Probably about the same as turning a 360 crank. For a mild street engine they claim cast is OK, so that would take care of the crank.

I think for $7,000 I would go with a crate. You can get complete engine intake to oil pan with some warranty and change to spare for the headers, carb and other goodies
 
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