hey guys i'm having a 360 built for my truck right now and have question. it's a basic rebuild .030 over block. my question is the heads. i've gone through 3 sets of 360 heads trying to find a pair that weren't cracked trash. i found a pair of #163 318 heads i am considering.

New Hardened Cast Guides

Guides Cut Down For Larger Lift Cams

New Hardened Exhaust Seats

New Positive Steal jacketed Viton Valve Stem Seals

New Brass Freeze Plugs

3 Angle Valve Grind

Head Gasket Surface Milled .015

Heads casting # 4027163

Bowl Blended With 75* BowlHog Then By Hand Into The Runners For A Smooth Transtion

New Stock SBI Replacment 360 Intake Valves

New Stock SBI Replacment 360 Exhaust Valves

NEW SEALED POWER STOCK VALVE SPRINGS VS510*16 Good to .510 lift
I am going to to run a "RV" cam...believe machine shop said the cam was 422 intake....444 exhaust lift. and the advertised duration is .278 and .288. Will these heads work well for my needs? 87 w100 Ram work truck. Should i just keep hunting for 360 heads? What can i expect for comp? I know 360 are gas hogs but will these heads help or hurt?

the ports may b smaller which will not hurt you in this app and will most likely help you w increased velocity. These will work excellent for you. On the CR measure the deck height & note if dish and or valve reliefs (no need to CC as the specs will b listed for those pistons & will b very close (close enough) but definitely CC the heads (they vary alot) then plug it all into KB's calculator

I think that the general consensus will be that the 318 heads will be okay for low rpm use but from 3000 rpms and up, they will pose a bottleneck to flow. Finding decent 360 core heads isn't easy. I had similar problems in 2008 when I was looking for good 360 heads for a build. I went through 15 heads before I found a pair on the same engine that were NOT cracked. After taking the 3rd pair to the machine shop for magnafluxing, I started popping the valves out at the junkyards and looking at them with a magnifying glass. It was a real pisser. Now there are better choices. Have you heard of EngineQuest? They make NEW Mopar small block heads that flow better than stock heads and are somewhat affordable. Good Luck.

Enginequest? Has anyone used them?

I would buy a pair of RHS heads. Go to Hughes engines and look at what they have good luck.

This is a budget build for a 4x4 work truck. probably won't see 4000rpms. I'm going for low-end not crazy hp and rpms. I'm curious as to if the heads i mentioned will work for my needs. I know that Indys or RHS would be great but it's just not in my cards.

Trial and Error. If the motor is not seeing over
4500 rpm, I would say yes to the 318 heads. Cam
choice is limited with those heads. Otherwise, a pair of
1.88 int valve 360 heads would fit the bill better. Just have them checked and set comp. in the 8.9-1 to 9.2-1 (no HIGHER than 9.5-1) range, by
either milling the heads and/or zero deck w/flat top pistons.

imho,yes they will work

the 318 on a basic 360 short block makes a nice torque motor for a 4x4,i have done it a few times

bumps the cr up a point,has high volosity in the runners

i liked the 3302 swirl port closed chamber 318 the best for this

but the ones you have will work and have been opened up some for a little more flow

small 4-v carb and headers helps also

not a high reving engine and is done by 4500rpms but has a nice off idle torque curve for low end pulling

Thanks guys...i just bought them so no looking back now!

I think you'll be ok, I put stock 318 heads on my 1984 W150 with the exact same cam you have, along with flat-top pistons to replace the dished stockers, worked well in the low to mid range, nosed over pretty good at 4000 rpm's, but I didn't mind, worked great in my 4x4. Your heads with bigger valves and some port work should be just fine. Good luck!

I was 18 and not a ace mechanic but i put a pair of '69 318 heads on a 74 360(and the torque converter )..it did not work the car wouldnt go over 70 mph it was a 70 Dart but would boil the tires from a dead stop??I mixed martini's on the dash for day then put the 360 converter in. .Good luck.

318 converter would have shook badly unless you weighted it for the 360 cast shaft.

Shake it did

i did that back when i was 16 yrs old too

shake shake shake..shake your 360

wobbled the mains/rods right out in short order

gotta start some where

I put a 79 360 into my 87 Diplomat some years ago. During the time I had it I did numerous things to the 360. One of them is relevant here. Take a stock 79 2bbl 360, add a 340 cam, mid 80's stock 4bbl intake and an edelbrock 750 carb as the base engine. Added a set of J heads, no noticeable change. Added an Edelbrock Performer intake, no noticeable change. Add a set of stock 87 318 (302 castings) heads, very noticeable difference. Down low I had lots more torque. Up top, no noticeable difference. Top speed was a bit over the 125 mph mark on the cop speedo, which turns out to be right about 4500 rpm, same for all three heads and both intakes. The only thing that affected the top speed was if I swapped in my 600 cfm Edelbrock, top speed dropped but mileage went up a lot.

The Diplomat had an A833, 2.94 rear gears and P255/50-R15 tires. I'll bet you have steeper gears, but bigger tires so YMMV.