Dumbest question ever asked!
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).
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
