I am going to pick up a 360 short block this week. I got it for what I feel is a super sweet deal for what I am getting. It is a .030 over 360 block with flat top pistons and an MP 508 cam. It was raced only a couple times by the guy who built it (a friend of a friend) before he sold the car it was in. The builder is a long time Mopar guy from the area and I have reason to believe he would have done a very good job on this motor. The buyer of the car was dead set on having a 340 so he yanked the 360, pulled the 2.02 X heads off it and stored it in a dry shop for 10 years. Nothing is seized, a good friend looked at it for me. I will disassemble and clean it all. Likely install new bearings and rings, and build it from there. I will get pictures, numbers and measurements as soon as I pick it up.
I will be putting it in my 74 Duster with an A-500 Trans and currently a 3.23SG 8 ¼ rear. I use this car primarily as a cruiser but if it could make the low 13s or high 12s I would be ecstatic. It needs to idle well, cruise at 2000 to 2400 for extended periods, but go like skin hell when asked to. I will keep my A-500 which my tranny guy says he built to easily handle 500 hp in my car. Oh, and I have and will keep my Air Conditioning on the car too. My suspension is not drag race suspension at all. I have 1.03 torsion bars, front and rear sway bars, Bilstein RCD shocks, tubular UCAs all for the nice handling feel and I don’t want to give that up either. These are my goals for the car.
I need advice on the top end and cam that will get me there. I have an Edelbrock Performer 318/360 intake and a 670 Street Avenger Holley on my current 360 but am not dead set on using them, however if I can, I will. I have stock Mopar ignition which I will keep if possible since I hope a Sniper EFI with timing control will be in my future but I am not thinking about that now.
I am not committed to any specific gear ratio, but I will end up with a 28” tall 10” wide tire in the back when I am done. Likely a 275/60-15 Drag radial. I have an A-body width 8 ¾ I will build up over the winter with whatever gear ratio I decide on. I will definitely install whatever convertor I need to but I am not sure what will be available as mine is a lock up. I assume there are custom ones out there for $$.
I will go with whatever head is best value, I want Edelbrock or better yet the new Trick Flow Aluminum but is there a cheaper Iron alternative that would get me there. I have a bare set of J heads, a currently operating set of mid 70s 360 heads and a set of stock mid 80s 360 heads in my possession now and will definitely port them myself or have them done. I won’t waste my time though if it won’t meet my goal.
From what I have researched, the MP 508 cam is not what I want for my intended use. It should be worth something to sell I hope (more likely I'll squirrel it away ona shelf and forget I have it). I’ll likely go to a hydraulic roller. And likely it will come from a custom cam grinder (Racer Brown etc.)
What am I missing? Where will I fall short? This is my first time at something like this. As long as I’ve had my Duster, it has had the motor it came with and it worked OK so I left it alone. Any comments you have are appreciated. Oh, and I did research old threads for a while and got some great ideas but I still felt I wanted to start my own for my particular situation. I’m not chasing a horsepower number, just good drivability/cruisability and a decent time slip.
Cley
