Many of you have dealt with this sort of thing....
You have a car that needs an engine rebuild or swap so you start thinking of what to do. The options may be all over the place and hard to choose.
For me, I have these two cars to work with:
The black car looks terrible but is as fun as you can have with your pants still on. It currently has a 70s era 360 standard bore but in 2003 or thereabouts it got honed and new rings installed. In 2006 I got it from a friend and put in a MP 280/474 cam and '308 heads. This dude flat out scrams for such a mild build. 360 manifolds, 2 1/4" pipes, a Weiand intake and Holley 750 and boom, it just runs great.
BUT I wanted to step it up a bit. Last year, a buddy pulled this engine from his Valiant:
This is a 1990 360 from a truck. He rebuilt it back in 2012-2013. It has the desirable Air Gap intake, the '308 heads, a roller cam too!
He pulled it when he blew a head gasket. Yesterday I tore it down to find the pistons were just .020 over. Smart move, only bore the minimum to allow for future options to bore again later if necessary. Look at those intake ports. The water that went through it also sat in a few cylinders so boring it will now be necessary.
The cam in it is a Hughes hydraulic roller and it specs out at 218/228 duration @ .050 with .544 lift with an RPM range of 1800-6100. That is excellent for a solid street engine. It has these:
Thicker pushrods too. The man spent some money to build this but once it blew a head gasket, he lost interest in chasing performance so he pulled this one and just swapped in a stock 360.
In regards to the opening comment about a 360 build that has many turns, this engine was almost traded to be built as a stroker 408 for this car owned by a guy named Rich:
FABO member RB Convert owns the '68 Dart above. He has one of those Mopar Performance crate 360s in the car, the 380 HP version. He wants to build a bigger and more powerful engine and wants to stick with a roller cam.
I had the thought to trade engines with him....he could use this 1990 block to have the roller cam type block and build the engine over time, then swap them out and I'd keep his engine. It was based on this trade that I started the thread here looking for intake manifold options for a Magnum 5.9/360.
Intake manifold options for a Magnum 5.9/360
Yesterday we tore down the 1990 engine with the intentions of HIM rebuilding it with the 4.0 crank and Trick Flow heads. As we tore it down, he began thinking that it would be a shame to split this engine up.
It would have been fine for me either way....swap and use the Magnum 360 in my Dart or rebuild this 1990 engine for it.
One factor that would sway the final decision was the condition of the bores. If they could clean up the water damage/rust with a basic hone and cleaning, I'd keep it and reuse the Speed Pro pistons it has. If it needed to be bored, maybe he would go ahead and take it.
Well, the machinist did think it would need to go to .030 at least. I thought Rich would reconsider but I think he might have been doing me a favor by suggesting that I keep it. Now I'm going to move ahead and get this dude together for myself.
Using the search feature, I read that this piston is a common choice for 360 builds:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/uem-kb107ktm-030
These come with rings, pins and retainers for the pins. I won't be spraying nitrous, I won't be drag racing either so this type of piston will be fine for me. Heck....I have stock cast pistons in the 70s 360 that is in the car now and that engine runs great.
You may ask why I am replacing an engine that already runs great?
Here is why....
Last year I picked up that green 4 door and I want to get it up and running. The 4 door has no engine in it so it needs something. The '67 Dart 70s 360 runs great, it just needs attention to some oil leaks. The 4 door is slated to get the 70s 360 and an A-500 4 speed automatic and 3.55 gears for a sweet cruiser that ought to be pretty peppy when I need it to be. This car will get the engine from the black Dart since it is a proven engine so this opened up the options for building another 360 for the black car.
We often feel the need to "justify" the expenses we have with these hobby cars, don't we?
You have a car that needs an engine rebuild or swap so you start thinking of what to do. The options may be all over the place and hard to choose.
For me, I have these two cars to work with:
The black car looks terrible but is as fun as you can have with your pants still on. It currently has a 70s era 360 standard bore but in 2003 or thereabouts it got honed and new rings installed. In 2006 I got it from a friend and put in a MP 280/474 cam and '308 heads. This dude flat out scrams for such a mild build. 360 manifolds, 2 1/4" pipes, a Weiand intake and Holley 750 and boom, it just runs great.
BUT I wanted to step it up a bit. Last year, a buddy pulled this engine from his Valiant:
This is a 1990 360 from a truck. He rebuilt it back in 2012-2013. It has the desirable Air Gap intake, the '308 heads, a roller cam too!
He pulled it when he blew a head gasket. Yesterday I tore it down to find the pistons were just .020 over. Smart move, only bore the minimum to allow for future options to bore again later if necessary. Look at those intake ports. The water that went through it also sat in a few cylinders so boring it will now be necessary.
The cam in it is a Hughes hydraulic roller and it specs out at 218/228 duration @ .050 with .544 lift with an RPM range of 1800-6100. That is excellent for a solid street engine. It has these:
Thicker pushrods too. The man spent some money to build this but once it blew a head gasket, he lost interest in chasing performance so he pulled this one and just swapped in a stock 360.
In regards to the opening comment about a 360 build that has many turns, this engine was almost traded to be built as a stroker 408 for this car owned by a guy named Rich:
FABO member RB Convert owns the '68 Dart above. He has one of those Mopar Performance crate 360s in the car, the 380 HP version. He wants to build a bigger and more powerful engine and wants to stick with a roller cam.
I had the thought to trade engines with him....he could use this 1990 block to have the roller cam type block and build the engine over time, then swap them out and I'd keep his engine. It was based on this trade that I started the thread here looking for intake manifold options for a Magnum 5.9/360.
Intake manifold options for a Magnum 5.9/360
Yesterday we tore down the 1990 engine with the intentions of HIM rebuilding it with the 4.0 crank and Trick Flow heads. As we tore it down, he began thinking that it would be a shame to split this engine up.
It would have been fine for me either way....swap and use the Magnum 360 in my Dart or rebuild this 1990 engine for it.
One factor that would sway the final decision was the condition of the bores. If they could clean up the water damage/rust with a basic hone and cleaning, I'd keep it and reuse the Speed Pro pistons it has. If it needed to be bored, maybe he would go ahead and take it.
Well, the machinist did think it would need to go to .030 at least. I thought Rich would reconsider but I think he might have been doing me a favor by suggesting that I keep it. Now I'm going to move ahead and get this dude together for myself.
Using the search feature, I read that this piston is a common choice for 360 builds:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/uem-kb107ktm-030
These come with rings, pins and retainers for the pins. I won't be spraying nitrous, I won't be drag racing either so this type of piston will be fine for me. Heck....I have stock cast pistons in the 70s 360 that is in the car now and that engine runs great.
You may ask why I am replacing an engine that already runs great?
Here is why....
Last year I picked up that green 4 door and I want to get it up and running. The 4 door has no engine in it so it needs something. The '67 Dart 70s 360 runs great, it just needs attention to some oil leaks. The 4 door is slated to get the 70s 360 and an A-500 4 speed automatic and 3.55 gears for a sweet cruiser that ought to be pretty peppy when I need it to be. This car will get the engine from the black Dart since it is a proven engine so this opened up the options for building another 360 for the black car.
We often feel the need to "justify" the expenses we have with these hobby cars, don't we?
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