I was thinking of picking one of these motors up from the scrap yard but i really would like to make it a carb'd motor with a pretty decent camshaft. Anyone convert one of these motors over to a carb and put inan aftermarket camshaft in? How do they run? I was thinking also about putting the od tranny in the dart also....

Any thoughts and opinions are welcomed and appreciated.

I'll let you know if I can get mine running. Take care.

I've got a mopar crate magnum in a car I just bought. I haven't driven it yet but its the 380HP magnum crate which I think is just a regular magnum with a good roller and M1 intake. I don't think the heads are anything special and it has 9:1 cr.

380 sounds high to me though.

yep,all the old LA front fits on the engine

you need to swap in a long nose roller cam,and a flat tappet will work with the right push rods,to run a mech fuel pump

you will need valve spring with the cam swap..stock wont take much..GM3100 v-6 springs and retainer IIRC

a new intake with the correct bolt angle
and carb

the old LA dizzy will fit and same headers

the old tranny fits with the right flex plate set up

just swaping on an intake and headers makes a good improvement on them with a stock engine

IIRC there is a felpro vc gasket that can use the 5 bolt vc on the 10 bolt mag head also

well worth the effort,IMO

I run a pre-mag roller cam 360 headed 318,all stock and a Voodoo cam

worth it to just go roller cam,IMO

380 horse crate motors regularly dyno 380-410 on an engine dyno....

your cheapest way for getting more cam in there is to get yours reground. contact bulletcams.com about regrinding yours. I just had them regrind the roller cam in my '86 roller motor (I put magnum heads on it). I used the HR259/316 lobe on both the intake and exhaust for my 318. if you want a little rumble/higher RPM powerband, I'd probably look up to the HR273/316 lobe. about .320" lobe lift is the max you can look at without some expensive head work to get more installed height or spring travel before coil bind and seal to retainer clearance. regrind plus shipping there and back was less than $200.

to run a mechanical fuel pump you'll have to swap to an LA t-chain cover and accessory drive, and buy the camshaft snout extender from hughes.

to get springs on there that'll work with a fairly aggressive hydraulic roller lobe, you'll want to get some retainers from a couple 2.2/2.5L mopars in the junkyard and run hughes 1110 springs. you'll be limited to ~.520" valve lift before things start hitting (retainers to seals, coil bind, etc).

comp cams makes some retainers in both 7 degree and 10 degree that might work, and get you a little more installed height. they're for LS1 applications. I couldn't wait for them to get in stock at summitracing before I had to get my magnum heads together to investigate and report on them.

a cheaper (if you pull them off of junkyard heads)/ similar cost (if you buy new) alternative is GM 3100 beehive springs, they provide about .030" less coil bind clearance than the hughes springs, though. again, comp makes some retainers for LS1 applications that might gain a little additional installed height with these springs.

intake, the best options are the RPM air gap for magnums, or redrill the heads for LA intakes. I did the latter, since I couldn't use the eddie magnum air gap due to the water outlet location (offset to pass side), I didn't want to use a chinese manifold (professional product crosswind/summit intake) and I already had an LA RPM air gap. I did it on a bridgeport mill, took about an hour at a machine shop that rented shop time out at $15/hr.

I've done the conversion also. Some little tips and tricks here and there, PM me if you need help.

This sports a Hughes 1418ALN 520/544 lift, 214/218 @ .050 with a 108 LSA.

I run Hughes 1110 springs with Hughes retainers (1278 I think) on RHS iron heads. I couldn't justifty Edelbrock alum heads for the price (these cost me less than half of the price of the Edelbrocks).

From the top down, it's running a Holley 4160 650cfm, an Edelbrock Air Gap intake, RHS heads, a Hughes cam which I've previously mentioned, Speedpro pistons and rings, stock rods and crank, a Melling oil pump, and MP LA oil pan.

That sounds like what I am wanting Sharpie.. I can't see that image here at work but will look at it when I get home...

Unfortunately, it's not a finished picture. I actually don't have one of those yet, lol. If you can get to photobucket, here's a link to the video of how it sounds. Bad audio, but you'll get the idea. It's through Hooker Comp headers and the A-body 2.5" summit exhaust:

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/sharpie1k/videos/?action=view&current=DSCN4041.flv

I just fired mine up last weekend on my dart.
one thing you want to find is a 99 or earlier motor. the reason is 2 piece harmonic balancer and pulley set up. You will also need the fly wheel with the weights as they are externally balanced. I went the with clearwater heads drilled for the la intake manifold. Lot more options there and they were under 400 a piece, with the correct springs for my cam. I have a mp cam in it and hooker headers for a abody. word of advice if you are putting it in a abody go with exhaust manifolds as it will make it easier to get to put the mini starter in. Do not get the chrome oil pan for the car as it will probably not seal right. professional product manifolds are junk, I got one sitting in my garage right now that I took off due to not sealing properly.
good luck with your swap and if you have any questions pm me and I will see what advice I can give you.

the mini starter will work fine in there with headers, but the headers have to go on after the engine's set generally in place and the starter should go in before the engine's even hoisted off the ground. That means between the stand and the car, bolt the transmission on and the starter.

The headers go in from the bottom (make sure the oil filter's off, pass. side won't fit with it on there). The problem is, the starter may not come OUT that easily. The good thing about Hooker Comps is that the Summit kit bolts right to them.

yeah thats what I did with my dart, used the hooker headers and the summit kit. the starter will go in but you may have to put heat wrap on it as it is very close to the headers.

Mini starters go on real easy with the TTIs in my 68 cuda. It is not real close to the tubes and never gave me any trouble restarting after a good heat soak or lots of highway miles even in 100 plus weather I have had experiance with other headers and A-bods and say either use TTIs or manifolds

What are people's opinions
on a reasonable price to pay for
a Magnum 5.9V8
from a salvage yard
with appropriate $ adjustments for mileage on the engine?

i payed $450 for mine with a rebuilt 518 and all the wiring and computer from a private sale, motor has around 110,000 miles. JY's wanted $800 4 just a motor like that but they are crooks in my area. I got to hear the motor running before i bought it too, i thougt it was a good deal

I let a 5.9 go last year that needed a rebuild, I got like 75 bucks for it.
it was long block minus distributor

I found my 2001 magnum 360 on the website below. It had 12k mile for $650. I was even able to hear it run before they pulled it.

www.car-part.com/

I just got to drive it for the first time last night. Ran pretty good for a stock truck motor. I need to rejet my demon carb, other then that it all good.

Best small blk combo's, factory .430/.444" 340 hp cam, 4 speed, and 3.23 gears. Set up with headers, and a performer manifold, it will have spirited performance in all situations.

Been experimenting on releasing spring pressure with moderate cams. The GM V6 beehive spring may take back some frictional losses due to a lighter seat pressure. If you drive it avoid heavy springs at costs.

Looks great I think you will be really suprised on how well a pickup truck motor runs with the intake & exhaust opened up- considering it can idle at 500rpm with 21" of vac.

I've got a 380HP crate that I have yet to "test".

I think it uses stock magnum heads. The newer 390HP crate uses big valve R/T heads but only nets 10hp more.

I suppose it has to do with the low cam lift not letting the big valve heads get into their zone???