To Stroker a 360 or Not

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Mexmarine

Mexmarine

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Gentlemen, ladies, (or whatever you define yourself as) of FABO. I recently bought a 72 Dodge Dart with a 318. It has a 511 lift Voodoo Cam with 2.62 duration and 9.5 to 1 (I don't really know what that means in terms of actual speed). It has a four barrel Holly carb (750) with electronic choke, and headers. It also has a larger than oem radiator and an A833 four speed tranny. I don't know what the rear axle gears are. I have never owned a "fast " car so I don't know if it is fast. The original owner spun the wheels in second gear when I was test driving. I am considering putting in a strokered 360 to make it go faster. Three trusted mechanics from different shops have told me to leave it alone. They've told me that that swaps never end well and I'll always have to be making adjustments. The last guy told me that there won't be that big a difference in speed anyway. He said, "besides, we have speed limits." I thought that was funny. So I guess my question to anyone who has made the swap is, was it worth it? Did the speed change drastically?
 
I'd leave it alone, drive it a while, and make that one as fast as you can with what you got. Then you can decide if you want to go faster. As the old saying goes - 'Speed costs money son; how fast do you want to go?' Always a bit to be gained by just tuning on it instead of throwing money at a new motor, especially if you never had a 'fast' car before. Fast is relative to that person. Take it to the drag strip, learn how to drive it, and get some 1/4 mile times and come back here with your results.
 
A little less than 100 cubes. I love my stroked 360! 408 ci, after 55,000 miles and over 700 1/4 runs i pulled it apart. New bearings/rings (due to piston change) good to go! I can't see me ever rebuilding a stock stroke small block.
 
A 4" crank in a 360 is going to be much less needy than the rest of the almost 50 year old car. Sure drive the car and build the motor as you enjoy the car. Then swap motors.
 
furrystump said:
A little less than 100 cubes. I love my stroked 360! 408 ci, after 55,000 miles and over 700 1/4 runs i pulled it apart. New bearings/rings (due to piston change) good to go! I can't see me ever rebuilding a stock stroke small block.
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Please excuse my ignorance Furrystump but what do you mean "A little less than 100 cubes"? Is that the difference between the 318 and strokered 360?
 
Yes, 318 ci to 408ci with a 4" stroke crank in a 360 block. You can go bigger stroke, atleast to 444ci but then you getting in the "needy" motor range
 
Mine is actually 410ci because it was bored .040 over when originally built. It will be night and day difference.
 
It ran 12.50 with an untouched eddy aluminum head and i would drive it from ct to md race sat sun and drive back to ct
 
abodyjoe said:
Guess it all depends on your intended use of the car.
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I'm not going to race or anything but I'd like for it to respond whenever I stomp on it (especially around newer cars). Like I said, it moves pretty well now I just want to know if swapping will make a big difference.
 
My 408 ready for cylinder heads. So you know the direction I'm going.

20170306_115923.jpg
 
Mexmarine said:
I'm not going to race or anything but I'd like for it to respond whenever I stomp on it (especially around newer cars). Like I said, it moves pretty well now I just want to know if swapping will make a big difference.
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if it runs good as is then i'd leave it alone then..

though with a 408 it should be kinda more street-able then a high strung 318...
 
it all depends on you.. i loved my higher stung 360 around town.. hated it when i decided i wanted to get up on the highway and cruise for as few hours..
 
The big difference is in the amount of torque it makes down low and a bit of HP up top. For a demo, engine masters did a (.030) 360. VS 408.

This should help.
See it here -->
 
rumblefish360 said:
The big difference is in the amount of torque it makes down low and a bit of HP up top. For a demo, engine masters did a (.030) 360. VS 408.

This should help.
See it here -->
Click to expand...

Alrighty then, that was a lot of numbers that went over my head. But I got the gist of the comparison. So it appears that there is a major difference between a stroked 360 and a 318 with just a cam. I wonder what that means it practical terms. How far behind will the 318 be in a quarter mile run?
 
I'm not sure what you mean about it not running good at 75-80 mph. What is the problem?
 
Mexmarine said:
Gentlemen, ladies, (or whatever you define yourself as) of FABO. I recently bought a 72 Dodge Dart with a 318. It has a 511 lift Voodoo Cam with 2.62 duration and 9.5 to 1 (I don't really know what that means in terms of actual speed). It has a four barrel Holly carb (750) with electronic choke, and headers. It also has a larger than oem radiator and an A833 four speed tranny. I don't know what the rear axle gears are. I have never owned a "fast " car so I don't know if it is fast. The original owner spun the wheels in second gear when I was test driving. I am considering putting in a strokered 360 to make it go faster. Three trusted mechanics from different shops have told me to leave it alone. They've told me that that swaps never end well and I'll always have to be making adjustments. The last guy told me that there won't be that big a difference in speed anyway. He said, "besides, we have speed limits." I thought that was funny. So I guess my question to anyone who has made the swap is, was it worth it? Did the speed change drastically?
Click to expand...
First, get rid of your "trusted mechanics".. swaps are no big deal and a good mechanic can and will build a streetable engine, stroked or not.

Then you might want to figure out what you have first first and fine tune it from there and see if you get it where you want it. Wrong cam can hurt more than help, got to have the right gear ratio, right carb?? etc.

I bought mine with a 340 that was done all wrong. Slowly figured out what I had and made changes and it ended up being a really nice running engine. Fast, strong and reliable.
That said, I just put a 410 stroker in over the winter and can't even compare the two. Night and day difference in power. Down right scary if you aren't careful and yet very streetable around town. More speed for sure but hard to tell how much since traction is a major issue now.
 
dgibby said:
First, get rid of your "trusted mechanics".. swaps are no big deal and a good mechanic can and will build a streetable engine, stroked or not.

Then you might want to figure out what you have first first and fine tune it from there and see if you get it where you want it. Wrong cam can hurt more than help, got to have the right gear ratio, right carb?? etc.

I bought mine with a 340 that was done all wrong. Slowly figured out what I had and made changes and it ended up being a really nice running engine. Fast, strong and reliable.
That said, I just put a 410 stroker in over the winter and can't even compare the two. Night and day difference in power. Down right scary if you aren't careful and yet very streetable around town. More speed for sure but hard to tell how much since traction is a major issue now.
Click to expand...
Wow. Scary sounds good. Did you build it yourself?
 
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