Im looking to purchase a 1980 ramcharger that has a 360 in it. The engine is stock and is a great running engine and uses no oil. I am looking for a small block to put in my 70 'cuda to get me through the next couple years until I finish a house remodel. I was considering using some parts I have from a 340 that needs rebuilt on this engine. I have J heads with 2.02 valves that I would like to use if it will not lower the compression more than it already is. I also have a hughes engines whiplash cam that I would like to use. This cam is supposed to work great with low compression engines. I have a few 4 barrel intakes and an edelbrock 600 carb. Also have headers. Would these parts work okay on the engine? More importantly... would the heads be a good swap?

Use all the parts you mentioned on that 360, they will only help. I would regasket it and throw in a new timing chain/gear set while you're in there, then give the motor a fresh coat of paint. And yes I would run the J heads. The 1980 360 is going to have as big of chambers as ever made anyway so you won't be losing any CR by changing them. Should give you a fun combo to beat on for a few years until you're ready to step it up.

if the motor is tight and original, I wouldn't bother with the J heads. I'd just keep what's on it, on it.

if you do pull the heads, I'd look for some of the (sounds like now discontinued) .028" thick Mr. gasket head gaskets...last I saw, amazon.com still had some.

I'd probably just keep the stock intake on it, it's a pretty decent piece, unless you plan on using a square bore carb...

for a cam, how big is the whiplash? I would keep intake duration 218 or lower. I used a comp XE262 in a stock pistoned 360, with cheapie hedman headers, an RPM air gap, and eddie 600...it ran real strong.

All the 340/360 heads will on the average uncut have approximately 70/72 C's. The 2.02 valves usually do not come into play until you start using the higher RPM range and can in fact hurt your low end performance. The 1.88 valve heads a lot of the time will actually help the low end torque.

Hughes engines has the mopar performance 0.029 gaskets. Will these benefit me much more than say a .040 gasket though? I already have a ton of gaskets around that thickness is why I am asking.

yes it would be better than a .040 gasket



leave the heads on it,add a t-chain,whiplash,paint it and hammer it

done lots of them this way

So my J heads wouldnt help much with performance over the stock heads on it now?

at high rpms it would

but the 1.88 valves are gonna help the low end torque and work almost as good,IMHO

why R&R them if not need,

The only reason I was going to use them is because Im not using them and probably wont use them on anything else in the near future. If they would give a little extra performance then I will use them. If not, then is it even worth it to pull the heads off to put the thin gasket on?

I would pull them either way even if to just clean the heads, valves and tops of the pistons. Not like you're going to pull the heads off that motor again after that so I would go for it. But there's pros and cons to going either way.

well with that in mind(not use them later) then

pull them and run 2.02 with the whiplash

and clean it up some with fresh gaskets ect..

I am just on the 0$ budget and need the daily driver to run by monday

but if time & budget allows and your not ever goning to use them later

get all you can get out of the best pieces

I think the whiplash is gonaa work good with either valve size

runwhatyabrug

For those of you that have used or are using the Whiplash cam, are you running it with the stock factory vlave springs or something else? Thanks

I'd use hughes #1110 springs with standard retainers (dump the rotator ones if you have them)