hey guys i feel that im stuck inbetween a rock and a hard place with this one i have a 81 d 150 pick up with a 360 in it and it has been sitting for the last 3 years it never really ran that well befor i just gave up on it do to money issues but now that it is flowing again and my drive to get the old girl up and running is back what should i do should i try and get the old 360 back in action or should i look to swap it out with a "new" motor somthing from withen the last decade or two my big concern is the headache from all the wiring that will ne to pe done to put in an injection system into it and witch one would break the bank the least if you could give me so insite on witch of these two options would be better that would be greatly appreciated

 

Re-build is cheaper. I would go that route. It should cost you about 850 bucks with the machine work, gaskets and bearings.

 

Here is some pics of a 81 Dually I did, it might help on your thinking. I did it about 7 years ago, and just sold it a few months back.

 

If there is nothing wrong with the motor (block, heads, crank, etc.) then I vote for a rebuild. You can swap in a mild cam with a matched intake and some headers and you'd have a fun little truck.

 

Something new within the last 10 years puts you at the fringe of end of the Magnum runs.

Search my old posts and you will find some detailed listings of how to do swap the magnum long block.

The blocks are the same ( in design), there are casting differences in thickness etc.. but same.

You can reuse your oil pan with the gasket that goes with your aplication, reuse your distributer and all the front accessories minus the mech fuel pump.

The heads are drilled differently for the magnum. They have a vertical pattern for the intake manifold to bolt to. So you need to tig and redrill your intake or grab an aftermarket one.

With this route you get the roller camshaft, better gaskets, lighter pistons, better comression, better cooling, more power, etc..