360 magnum. 1 piston lower in cylinder??

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agree with Aj on the rockers-- were these roller rockers Aj? what did your sweep pattern turn out to be?
Roller tips only. Anodized Aluminum riding directly on the shafts. Extra oil sent to the top. Drains drilled in the valley to piss the excess onto the cam and hope for the best,lol. Drainbacks installed at the rear of the Eddies which are now left and right specific.
Sweep? what sweep? lol.
I don't recall actually, I only checked a couple and I guess I deemed them good enough. I never kept records Cuz I never dreamed that someday it might be important. It mustabin close cuz the heads were fine in 2004, the last time I freshened it up, it then being 5 seasons old and as my DD,probably had over 40,000 miles on by then.
She has well over 100,000 now, but has not been opened since that time. I went non-needle fulcrums, cuz IMO, that's a silly idea for a streeter. And I went non-bushed because I was and still am, a tightwad, and put my faith in the oiling mods and the hi-volume pump.And also because I knew I was gonna be taking it apart a few times for inspections cuz I couldn't afford to lose that engine; which was built on my spec; against the builders recommendations, in 1999. So if I blew it up, I'd be stuck with my winter 318, which altho it was quite strong, there was just no comparison. I figured gaskets were cheap, and the time,as you say, was free since I was the one doing it. I bought reusable gaskets wherever I could.
After the .028 headgaskets took off on me at 11.3Scr,I cut the decks down some more and switched to FelPro .039s . As it turns out, those are reusable lol. I think I got 3 uses on one set.
I know,I know,another novel, you don't have to rubitin.
 
A lot of GREAT info guys. I really appreciate it!! I put about 120 miles on for what may be the final cruising of the year. Getting cold here and I spend a lot of time in the woods this time of year. Anyway...had a blast hammering the heck out of the Satty.
Here is the plan for the coming months.
Install my SG and 3.55 gears.
Tear into my LA360 and have a good look around. If I find all is good then I really like ham's low dollar, high compression piston and EQ heads. Add cam (TBD) and Crosswinds intake all using AJ's calculations.
Not sure what to do with the Magnum except have a hard look for cracks in the head at #8 (head gasket was good) along with the cylinder walls.

Cheers
 
I've been putting off doing a compression check on my Magnum starting to idle a little funny but no way to possibly work on it till December
Time to take the 69 chevy pu out of mothballs
 
OP, do you already have the EQ heads? If not, then look at the Aluminum Edelbrock Performers..... larger intake valves out of the box, and less likely to detonate with the AL. If you have the iron EQ's, then you are probably gonna want to select the cam to keep DCR below 8.0. Either way, you're gonna need to be careful on the tuning.... it certainly can be done.... I've run 10.3 on iron head with quench, but had to be careful on tuning the ignition timing. You don't just slap in any distributor and set the idle timing (initial timing) where you please and get away with it.
 
AJ wrote
"But I'm still going on the assumption that your Crane HV260-2 is a 260 advertised duration cam"
That's at .004 roughly equivalent to a 256 comp or 248 Mopar/ Engle (Mopar Perf/ Engle would have more area under the curve)
OEM 248's about the same- Think of it as a stock 360 cam advanced
270 Hughes/ Engle/ 272 MP would be MUCH bigger- like an effective 20 degrees bigger (and bigger than the popular 268comp)
cam may not be degreed properly, should have all kinds of low end then runout of gas because it's not a fat cam- should run forever though (correct springs, oil etc)
is there a cranking compression results available?
 
Rider....I degreed this cam years ago and as I recall, it is straight up. Not sure which springs but probably stock 360. Engine is out of a 78 lil red express originally. Has an hv oil pump and I measured 170 cranking compression with all plugs out and cranking about 8x.
 
So I have my used 2001 Ram 70k Magnum completely disassembled. Still cannot find cause of #8 bent rod. Thinking hydrolock but no signs. Heads good, head gasket good, cylinder walls good with cross hatching. Piston skirts good, rod and crank bearings ok.
I acquired a piston/rod assembly and indexed the crank. Measured crudely with feeler gauge at TDC. All look to be around .050 in hole. My local machine shops are booked for weeks. My next step is to ball home and install new bearings and H116CP std pistons and rings but feeling uneasy not knowing root cause. I did find a thread where it was stated that a bad injector could cause and that engine still ran fine like mine did according to previous owner. This is my first magnum build. Is cracked cylinder wall common? Crank sound good to go? Anybody with experience care to comment?
 
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Eye candy
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That's crazy, my last 360 broke a chunk off the top of one of the KBs after years of detonation I was unable to get rid of (would have fixed it with the correct cam for the cubes/compression but 20/20 hindsight and all), seized the wrist pin and put a huge crack in the cylinder but the rod (and basically everything else in the engine) was still fine! I guess the piston hitting that chunk on the way back up put more side-force on it than downward force. I kept all the rods but not sure if I'll reuse them at least without getting them checked for straightness.
 
I hydro'ed a 340/A833, back in about winter of 71/72. I would have been about 17. I didn't even know such a thing existed. When it wouldn't crank, I just hooked a truck to it and tried to tow-start it. Well I guess water got into a hole, and froze overnight,and that crank didn't budge. Then I remembered throwing a belt some time earlier that fall..........Hmmmmmmmmm
Well, the car had a 5 year/50,000 Warranty, so I called up the selling dealer who came and got it. Some many days later I got it back with a different engine. That replacement engine was gutless tho. But being 19, still in school for a few more months, and no job,no money, and no skills, I drove that now gutless engine until spring of 76.
From what I recall, the damage amounted to; the block, 4 rods, plus one head, all on the passenger side. Hmmmmmmmmmm
 
Re-ring was definitely on the list. After advice from you and others, I am upgrading piston for more compression. Considering the cross hatching and reputation of the Magnum, I was not going to have it bored. Just a ball hone.
 
I've seen far worse bends, but I still have the crank checked for straightness. Any marks on the piston top or head?
 
No marks on piston whatsoever. I sold the heads a while back and the guy needed them ASAP so they should be installed and running on his vehicle by now. He was a mechanic by trade and they looked really good. I did check the indexing of the crank as well as Piston to top of block at TDC. All good. Bearings looked good as well.
Good enough or is there something else I should check?
 
No marks on piston whatsoever. I sold the heads a while back and the guy needed them ASAP so they should be installed and running on his vehicle by now. He was a mechanic by trade and they looked really good. I did check the indexing of the crank as well as Piston to top of block at TDC. All good. Bearings looked good as well.
Good enough or is there something else I should check?
Crazy stuff, can't think of much other than hydro lock that wouldn't have left some sort of witness marks on the piston.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Just beat it out straight with a hammer and stick it back in.
 
Does anyone know of an accurate way to check the crank for straightness besides what I have already done? I don't have access to a lathe but I suppose I could rig up some sort of jig and dial indicator. Maybe a straight edge across the length of the crank at the journals? Remember.....previous owner said he heard the engine running fine before it was pulled but I only have his word.
 
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