Just brought my 360 home...whats a good combo?

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demon700

demon700

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I just picked up my 200.00 '91 360 this afternoon, and am gonna start tearing it down tomorrow. What would be a good combo for this engine? I am gonna swap the /6 from my demon and put the 360 in. I don't need nything overly crazy, but will take as much HP as i can get for a fairly modest budget. Any advice?
 
Hot Rod Mag had a great article last month(or 2 months ago) on building a 340. Except for the heads, I had already done all of what they did, except I have a bumpier cam and a windage trey, but stock slightly prorted and polished heads. I cant wait to fire it up! HR mag got about 300hp at the wheels with what they did to it, and 400 at the crank.
 
The question is;

How fast do you want to go?
What RPM range do you want to drive in?
What tranny, gear ratio do you have?

Modest build? Search the classifieds for parts on the cheap. The one part I'd purchase brand spanking new would be a cam in the RPM range your going to drive in. To keep head work limited to just a valve spring change, keep lift under .500.

Is your 360 complete, long block etc...?
 
Hey Jeff,

As you and I talked about in my garage the other day, here are my thoughts.
The engine you have probably has the pistons down in the hole a little. plus or minus about .070. You will probably run into detonation problems if you use magnum heads without 0 decking the pistons. If you use J's or O's you probably will end up with a low compression engine. You could go to 302's but will probably run into the same problems as with magnum heads. I would reccomend getting some pistons that give you a zero deck and then use the magnum's or 302's. You should be able to get up to 10.5 to 1 that way and not have any detonation problems. If you go with the stock springs in the magnums you should stick with a fairly mild cam. If you get a bigger cam, make sure you get springs that are matched to it. Remember that the magnum heads can't handle any more than .525 total lift without some machine work. dgc333, (Dave Clement) knows a lot more about this type of engine that I do. You may run into pushrod length problems using the magnum heads, but that is easily cured by getting an adjustable pushrod, figuring out how long it has to be and then ordering custom pushrods. The magnum heads will also mean you will need an intake for a magnum.
Call me any time you want to talk about this stuff. I don't know everything about this stuff but I can point you to people that know more than me.

Jack
 
Thanks Jack, its greatly appreciated, and you can bet on me calling to pick your brain. If your's will do in that Demon what you say she will, you'll end up changing your number...

As of now, its a complete 360 short block. The car will only be used as a street car, so it will run in a fairly low rpm range most of the time. I am thinking of putting in a 5spd transmission. Right now I have a 3:23 sure grip for it. I plan on buying new pistons, cam+lifters, intake, carb, and of course timing gear and most likely a distributor. I have a set of magnum heads lined up for it as well. Thanks everyone for input and advice, what a great site!
 
I'll have to take you for a little ride in the not to distant future. Be sure to bring an extra pair of shorts. LOL

Jack
 
I'll hold you to that. All this rain oughta clear the roads and help open up your yard to get her out. I hope after this week of rain, its 2 weeks of sun, i think we about deserve it.
 
Coyote Jack said:
The engine you have probably has the pistons down in the hole a little. plus or minus about .070. You will probably run into detonation problems if you use magnum heads without 0 decking the pistons.
Click to expand...

The pistons on my Magnum engine are .050 in the hole, and it doesn't have any problems with Magnum heads.

Obviously however, zero decking is a great idea.


Steve
 
pistons being way down the hole will decrease the chance of detonation. i have a 77 360 with 8:1 pistons and magnum heads and it runs great. I have the MP R/T Springs & Retainers, a Summit K6901 camshaft, and the Summit 7.650" pushrods. Now if it would stop snowing, I'd start driving it.
 
You have a very good base engine there. I would rebuild it with hypereutectic pistons that will give you zero deck. The 308 heads are great on thier own. Tap and plug the AIR holes under the exh ports, and have the heads redone with 2.02 intakes. Leave the chambers large. They should yield around 10:1 static with that setup. With a modern cam, headers, and a decent intake and carb, internally balance it... the engine will be a good pump high test street engine for less than $4K in the long block. You cna easilly make 400hp/400tq that way.
 
The poster said he has Magnum heads on tap with a manual 5spd tranny. Nice. If you use them, a nice street cam, something like a 280* Comp Cam would be a great street killer cam and combo.
 
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