cheap mild 360 build

Posted By: president61

cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 04:26 AM

heres what I have:
1978 police 360 block, re-ringed with standard bore(very little wear in cylinders), stock bottom end, windage tray
I'm going to have the block square decked and honed, that is it.
factory 72 340 cast intake with 73 thermoquad carb
factory cast manifolds(C-body drivers side manifold) with 2.25" exhaust
factory re-curved distributor.
I'm not buying new pistons. I want the car to run on 87 or 89 octane fuel
its going in a 76 dart swinger with a O500 overdrive trans and 3.23 gears
I have a set of J heads I'm going to get reconditioned. now the questions:
what camshaft? what should I have done to the heads? moly rings or regular. Any help suggestions would be greatly appreciated
ps I would like to get 300 horsepower

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 04:58 AM

30 plus years ago I put a stock bore stock piston 340 together for him. We used a set of 2.02 valve heads that I polished up, a 484 lift purple shaft cam, and a ld340 intake. We used a 727 trans and a 3800 stall conv. Put it in a 72 duster with 4.10 gears and it ran 12.40 his first time at the track. Not very hard to get 300 hp

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 05:02 AM

Have the bowls cleaned up on the heads, valve job
and put the 340 cam in it with the right springs..
not the stock 340 springs

Posted By: 73swinger

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 06:06 AM

I think I would go with the magnum heads that take LA intake.
Enginequest maybe??

Posted By: president61

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 06:16 AM

Quote:

Have the bowls cleaned up on the heads, valve job
and put the 340 cam in it with the right springs..
not the stock 340 springs

Any special valve job? Is it a stock mopAr cam?

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 06:25 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Have the bowls cleaned up on the heads, valve job
and put the 340 cam in it with the right springs..
not the stock 340 springs

Any special valve job? Is it a stock mopAr cam?

For what your doing a 3 angle will work... a 5 angle
will get a bit better power... on the cam.. I remember
.444 lift... if you want to go after market you
can go a bit more but keep the duration down so it makes
some cyl pressure

Posted By: gregsdart

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 07:11 AM

I agree with the short duration cam choice. With 3.23 gears and low compression, no more duration than a stock 340 cam will work well. If there is a cam with similar duration but more lift, I would look into that. If you can back cut the stock valves, that will help. Many years ago I did that with a drill press to spin the valve, and an angle grinder. Ugly, but it worked. A 340 with low compression and a 268H Comp cam ran very well done that way. Be sure and run the thinnest head gaskets you can get, and block off the heat riser crossover if you can live with a bit of a cold blooded motor.

Posted By: OUTLAWD

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 04:26 PM

Had a similar combo in my dart:
- low CR 360 smog motor (~7.8:1 when I pulled it apart)
- Smog heads, 1.88/1.60 valves, no port work.
- Cast iron 340 manifold/600 holley
- Summit .441/.441 with 218/228 @ 0.050
- Hooker 1 5/8 headers
- 999 trans with stock lock-up converter
- 3.23's

Ran best on 87, and ran 14.0's, but I forget the MPH. Real street friendly motor. This was a year round daily driver through the Northeast snow...

Spun a bearing in that and through together another 360:
- H116cp slugs
- XE268H cam
- ported J heads
- LD340, 750 holley

ran consistent 12.80's at 107, but a bit less bottom end.

Headers would help for sure. Like Greg said, thin head gasket, block the heat crossover.

Posted By: Crizila

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 05:15 PM

Quote:

heres what I have:
1978 police 360 block, re-ringed with standard bore(very little wear in cylinders), stock bottom end, windage tray
I'm going to have the block square decked and honed, that is it.
factory 72 340 cast intake with 73 thermoquad carb
factory cast manifolds(C-body drivers side manifold) with 2.25" exhaust
factory re-curved distributor.
I'm not buying new pistons. I want the car to run on 87 or 89 octane fuel
its going in a 76 dart swinger with a O500 overdrive trans and 3.23 gears
I have a set of J heads I'm going to get reconditioned. now the questions:
what camshaft? what should I have done to the heads? moly rings or regular. Any help suggestions would be greatly appreciated
ps I would like to get 300 horsepower

Easy to get 300 HP with what you have. 1. we never use "cheap" on this web sight. 2. Get the heads reconditioned ( 1.88 intake valves will be fine), Take the heads back apart and pocket port them and port match them,3. Moly rings,4. "Hughes" HEH1523AL cam and matching springs. 300 HP easy.

Posted By: president61

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 07:51 PM

thanks to all who have replied so far

Posted By: volaredon

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 08:27 PM

Quote:

I think I would go with the magnum heads that take LA intake.
Enginequest maybe??

I am doing just that on a 360 that I have going together right now.
I did a 318 a few years ago, realy woke that one up too.

on your build; "police" block no different from any other 360 block.
You say "very little" wear; it dont take much out of round or taper to have a rebuild that doesnt last long, sorry to say.

and there are pistons that can be bought that will still bump the compression ratio but will also still run pump gas and they are cheap.
Just got a set of Speed Pro 9:1 hypereutectic coated ones from a place called Falcon Global via Ebay, $134 shipped, WITH moly rings included! Only took 2 days to get here. they have STD 0.020, 0.030, and 0.040 that I saw in seperate auctions.
They sit 0.060" closer to the deck (difference in compression height vs stock pistons) and have 4 valve reliefs.

But if you get a good motor from it as you are going, you have betetr luck than me. If I don't do it all up 100% (machine work, hot tank, etc) I find myself not satisfied with the outcome.

Posted By: president61

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 09:24 PM

Quote:

Quote:

I think I would go with the magnum heads that take LA intake.
Enginequest maybe??

I am doing just that on a 360 that I have going together right now.
I did a 318 a few years ago, realy woke that one up too.

on your build; "police" block no different from any other 360 block.
You say "very little" wear; it dont take much out of round or taper to have a rebuild that doesnt last long, sorry to say.

and there are pistons that can be bought that will still bump the compression ratio but will also still run pump gas and they are cheap.
Just got a set of Speed Pro 9:1 hypereutectic coated ones from a place called Falcon Global via Ebay, $134 shipped, WITH moly rings included! Only took 2 days to get here. they have STD 0.020, 0.030, and 0.040 that I saw in seperate auctions.
They sit 0.060" closer to the deck (difference in compression height vs stock pistons) and have 4 valve reliefs.

But if you get a good motor from it as you are going, you have betetr luck than me. If I don't do it all up 100% (machine work, hot tank, etc) I find myself not satisfied with the outcome.

a reason I decided to just re-ring the motor other than cost is the fact that I had my 383 re-ringed 20 years ago and it still runs great. it leaks more oil than it burns and gets good milage. although the pistons are cheap, i would have to core it get the rods pressed off and back on.

Posted By: volaredon

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/23/15 10:35 PM

Like I said maybe you just have better luck than me on "just a re ring"
I know, guys do that all the time.
I will know later this aft. when I p/u my son's 360 from the machine shop what they charge to swap new pistons onto the rods.

Posted By: president61

Re: cheap mild 360 build - 01/26/15 03:40 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I think I would go with the magnum heads that take LA intake.
Enginequest maybe??

I am doing just that on a 360 that I have going together right now.
I did a 318 a few years ago, realy woke that one up too.

on your build; "police" block no different from any other 360 block.
You say "very little" wear; it dont take much out of round or taper to have a rebuild that doesnt last long, sorry to say.

and there are pistons that can be bought that will still bump the compression ratio but will also still run pump gas and they are cheap.
Just got a set of Speed Pro 9:1 hypereutectic coated ones from a place called Falcon Global via Ebay, $134 shipped, WITH moly rings included! Only took 2 days to get here. they have STD 0.020, 0.030, and 0.040 that I saw in seperate auctions.
They sit 0.060" closer to the deck (difference in compression height vs stock pistons) and have 4 valve reliefs.

But if you get a good motor from it as you are going, you have betetr luck than me. If I don't do it all up 100% (machine work, hot tank, etc) I find myself not satisfied with the outcome.

i think i'm going to look into getting these pistons