360 Magnum upgrades on the cheap?
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360 Magnum upgrades on the cheap?
Hello all. I was working on a my 318 a couple weeks back with some oil pressure problems. We tore down, we discovered, we torched. The poor thing went through hell and back. We found a couple of piston rings had failed and failed big time. We found shards of metal in the oil pan and discovered that more time and effort was going to be invested in this thing then it would take to build a bigger, better power plant. Sad day.
So the new question is, without replacing the cam (cause this is going in my 88 D100 beater and I refuse to invest too much $$$), what can be done to get the most out of the 360 Magnum we pulled from a donor at pullapart?
We talked to a couple of machine shops, and a couple of mechanics. They all come back to..."you'll get the biggest hit with a better cam". I know that. I'm just a cheap scape in this case because of its application. One guy did suggest a gasket matching on the exhaust side, and some cleanup on the intake side...so long as too much wasn't done on the intake side I at least shouldn't lose power without a cam swap.
Any suggestions or guidance from you fine folk would be great! See below for info.
Donor engine:
360 Magnum pulled from a 93 RAM 250 van. At a glance appears to be roller cam. On visual inspection no damage at all. Heads to be ported as mentioned above. Block to be dissected and hot tanked, rings and bearings to be inspected and replaced as need requires. New push rods will be going in (as my assistant dropped the heads on them at an angle while removing them and burred the living daylights out of them) stock unless other wise suggested (remember: NO cam swap). I am swapping the intake from the FI barrel that was on it, to either a TBI system (as was the 318 it is replacing) or a corroborated system. Would really like to NOT have to replace the computer so leaning strong toward TBI though I imagine I'll still have to get the computer tuned to accommodate the 360...right?
Thanks for your help.
So the new question is, without replacing the cam (cause this is going in my 88 D100 beater and I refuse to invest too much $$$), what can be done to get the most out of the 360 Magnum we pulled from a donor at pullapart?
We talked to a couple of machine shops, and a couple of mechanics. They all come back to..."you'll get the biggest hit with a better cam". I know that. I'm just a cheap scape in this case because of its application. One guy did suggest a gasket matching on the exhaust side, and some cleanup on the intake side...so long as too much wasn't done on the intake side I at least shouldn't lose power without a cam swap.
Any suggestions or guidance from you fine folk would be great! See below for info.
Donor engine:
360 Magnum pulled from a 93 RAM 250 van. At a glance appears to be roller cam. On visual inspection no damage at all. Heads to be ported as mentioned above. Block to be dissected and hot tanked, rings and bearings to be inspected and replaced as need requires. New push rods will be going in (as my assistant dropped the heads on them at an angle while removing them and burred the living daylights out of them) stock unless other wise suggested (remember: NO cam swap). I am swapping the intake from the FI barrel that was on it, to either a TBI system (as was the 318 it is replacing) or a corroborated system. Would really like to NOT have to replace the computer so leaning strong toward TBI though I imagine I'll still have to get the computer tuned to accommodate the 360...right?
Thanks for your help.
Last edited by swalker5906; Oct 22, 2009 at 07:01 AM.
Admin
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 8,173
Likes: 200
From: Goffstown, NH
You'll need to get the PCM flashed/retuned.
Headers, coil, wires, intake manifold, and a good dizzy would be good upgrades.
For what you are doing a cam and lifters won't cost that much more and you'll gain huge. I mean, if you want to invest in other performance parts why not a cam then? Even if you don't go with headers and an intake, you can get a cam and lifters and still have some money left over. On the other hand, if you want to do this swap on the cheap, then keep the whole motor stock (no porting either unless you plan on doing it yourself), throw on a used TBI (or even a carb) setup and call it a day.
Headers, coil, wires, intake manifold, and a good dizzy would be good upgrades.
For what you are doing a cam and lifters won't cost that much more and you'll gain huge. I mean, if you want to invest in other performance parts why not a cam then? Even if you don't go with headers and an intake, you can get a cam and lifters and still have some money left over. On the other hand, if you want to do this swap on the cheap, then keep the whole motor stock (no porting either unless you plan on doing it yourself), throw on a used TBI (or even a carb) setup and call it a day.
Mopar Lover
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 837
Likes: 2
From: Springfield NE
oneo the best things about a 360 is that you dont need to do much to them to make a bunch of torque. some bone stock one's have really surprised me. Just careful assembly and some port matching and tuning will do the trick!
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