Dumbest question ever asked!

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Silver68GTDart

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You know how it is. Cold in the barn where you store your prized possession. There's work you should be doing on your car but decide to stay in the house where it's warm. Your mind starts to wonder and your thinking of putting a bigger engine in the car. Have been looking for a 360LA with a 727 trans. out of a car, and in Northern Ohio there's not too much to choose from. Here is the question: what is the difference between a 360LA and 3.9 Magnum. Are all the bolt patterns the same ie: head bolt, exhaust manifolds, flywheel (converter) housing, engine mounts, crankshaft bolt pattern, timing cover, distributor bore and any others I can't think of now. Are the physical dimensions the same. I've rebuilt the 273 that's in the car now and have put only about 50 miles on the car since rebuild before winter. May be happy with what I have but Tim The Tool Man and I are on the same page (MORE POWER).
 
You do realize that one is a V8 and the other is a V6 correct, a 3.9 is a 318 with 2 cylinders removed. I'm sure Tim would tell you its all about cubic inches....
 
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Red63440 said:
You do realize that one is a V8 and the other is a V6 correct, a 3.9 is a 318 with 2 cylinders removed. I'm sure Tim would tell you its all about cubic inches....
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I said it was the dumbest question. I'm looking for a more current 360. What would that be in the Magnum series.
 
In your original post did you mean difference between 360LA & 5.9 magnum? The advantage to the magnum is that it has roller lifters, not worrying about zinc additive in the oil. Disadvantage is intakes are different and maybe a few other things like serpentine belt for water pump, power steering pump and water pump. You have to decide what's best for you.
 
tonysrt said:
In your original post did you mean difference between 360LA & 5.9 magnum? The advantage to the magnum is that it has roller lifters, not worrying about zinc additive in the oil. Disadvantage is intakes are different and maybe a few other things like serpentine belt for water pump, power steering pump and water pump. You have to decide what's best for you.
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Ok. But is the bolt pattern on the front of the 5.9 the same as the 360? This would include the bolt holes in the heads If so then I could use everything on the front of my 273 including timing cover, p/s and water pumps and alternator brackets?
 
Silver68GTDart said:
Ok. But is the bolt pattern on the front of the 5.9 the same as the 360? This would include the bolt holes in the heads If so then I could use everything on the front of my 273 including timing cover, p/s and water pumps and alternator brackets?
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Answers to these and many other questions you will have can be found on magnumswap.com: (no title)
 
Silver68GTDart said:
I said it was the dumbest question. I'm looking for a more current 360. What would that be in the Magnum series.
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The same as in the 360 LA. 5.9. The Magnum simply uses the liter measurement to make it sound "more modern". The displacement is the same for both. 360 cubic inches or 5.9 liters.
 
By the way if you don't know the answer to something it is not the dumbest question. The people on this site that know the answers to a lot of questions is because they have been there and done it. It always pays to ask the question before you commit. An example, I ordered 2 1/ 2 dual exhaust for my 318 Duster. I got the passenger side in no problem. The drivers side I couldn't make fit. I called up the Co. and they said they sent the wrong exhaust pipe. I was tempted to make that pipe fit. So calling and asking questions saved the day.
 
I have it in my mind that the reference to a Liter size of engine came simultaneous to fuel injection. Meaning, a carbureted engine would be called a 360. Where the same (basic) engine modernized with fuel injection is then referred to as a 5.9L. Hence, an LA 360 and a 5.9L Magnum. FWIW.

And I am the King of dumb questions!
 
7milesout said:
I have it in my mind that the reference to a Liter size of engine came simultaneous to fuel injection. Meaning, a carbureted engine would be called a 360. Where the same (basic) engine modernized with fuel injection is then referred to as a 5.9L. Hence, an LA 360 and a 5.9L Magnum. FWIW.

And I am the King of dumb questions!
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Thanks to one and all. May you all have a Merry Christmas.
 
The 5.9 designation was the result of one dumb President saying we are going to convert to the metric system. So all the car Mfgrs. went to metric fasteners on there engines and converted engine displacement to liters. The growing pains of the metric system had cars blowing head gaskets because the engineers didn't know what size fasteners to use.
 
Silver68GTDart said:
You know how it is. Cold in the barn where you store your prized possession. There's work you should be doing on your car but decide to stay in the house where it's warm. Your mind starts to wonder and your thinking of putting a bigger engine in the car. Have been looking for a 360LA with a 727 trans. out of a car, and in Northern Ohio there's not too much to choose from. Here is the question: what is the difference between a 360LA and 3.9 Magnum. Are all the bolt patterns the same ie: head bolt, exhaust manifolds, flywheel (converter) housing, engine mounts, crankshaft bolt pattern, timing cover, distributor bore and any others I can't think of now. Are the physical dimensions the same. I've rebuilt the 273 that's in the car now and have put only about 50 miles on the car since rebuild before winter. May be happy with what I have but Tim The Tool Man and I are on the same page (MORE POWER).
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One of the biggest changes (I hope I have this right) is the oil pan/ timing cover

If you are putting a magnum into an A/ B body Mopar you need a front sump pan, here' s the deal as I remember:

All 273/318/340 pans interchange between those LA engines so far as fitting the block. The sumps are different between various cars and trucks

The 360 LA is unique due to the smaller "half moon" in the rear around the main bearing

Magnums use the 360LA "pattern" for BOTH 318 and 360 magnum (5.2/ 5.9) HOWEVER the pan gasket is different LA to magnum, and the TIMING COVER area where the pan seals is different. THAT is important. The LA pan has a couple of bulges where the pan meets the timing cover. If you use a magnum pan gasket with an LA pan, there are two huge gaps created that you must fill with silicone/ other

If you use the LA timing cover setup, LA pan and gasket, that is avoided. On mine which is NOT installed or run yet, I'm "going to try" using an LA pan, LA timing cover, and Magnum gasket, and fill the gaps

You cannot bolt an LA intake to a magnum headed engine. The magnum manifold bolts are vertical, the LA intake bolts are "canted" and perpendicular to the block

If you want to "carb" a stock magnum, you have to buy one of two or three manifolds available for a magnum
 
7milesout said:
I have it in my mind that the reference to a Liter size of engine came simultaneous to fuel injection. Meaning, a carbureted engine would be called a 360. Where the same (basic) engine modernized with fuel injection is then referred to as a 5.9L. Hence, an LA 360 and a 5.9L Magnum. FWIW.

And I am the King of dumb questions!
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The 66 Galaxie 500 sport coupe had this in the grill. And a carburetor.

7 LITRE.jpg
 
Worst thing about this "liters" horse$hiate is that it is not "convertible" You can't convert liters into CID it is not accurate enough.

I once got into a hell of an argument back in the "parts counterman" days when metrics was first showing up in cars. Some woman comes in and starts bla bla bla about how the metric system is "so standardized."

I told her "that is not always true. There are different bolt threads commin in different countries just like anything else."

"NO NO NO!!! A metric bolt is a metric bolt!!" She raged

OK lady. Drive your Jap car to France and then try to buy a bolt to fit it, the French like to use different thread pitches.

And plumbing................there IS NO real standardization with plumbing fittings, and worst, "some" are so close to 'Murican 1/8 pipe for stuff like oil pressure that you are "tempted" to just "strip it right in"
 
Just for reference: 61 cubic inches = 1.0 litre of displacement....
 
AJ/FormS said:
Up here when Metric first started, we had standard bolts with metric heads. I still have a bucket of those orphans in the shop.
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"Back then" a Chev line mechanic once wasted some two hours on this. Came into the store, he had already been to our fasteners shop "down the street". He had a bolt with a 10mm head "so he knew" it must be metric. The bolt shop was no help they could not identify it.........because it was metric, and was an odd thread

No, boys 'n girls, it was 1/4 USS thread.............with a 10mm head

I believe some of the magnums use these on the valve cover studs
 
Abodybomber said:
Just for reference: 61 cubic inches = 1.0 litre of displacement....
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The problem as I said earlier is that litres are not accurate. If you are truly goiing to "convert" stuff like 302, 305, etc small changes, they need to be in decimal or CC
 
tonysrt said:
The 5.9 designation was the result of one dumb President saying we are going to convert to the metric system. So all the car Mfgrs. went to metric fasteners on there engines and converted engine displacement to liters. The growing pains of the metric system had cars blowing head gaskets because the engineers didn't know what size fasteners to use.
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IF that is true,i would not blame metric bolts but rather the clowns who claim to be engineers and cant figure out what boltsize is needed.
 
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