67 Barracuda rolling resto

I hear you on the build your own experience and can relate big time. I have a '76' 360 engine that I purchased for my "340 Ruster" circa 79 from a salvage yard a friend of mine worked at. I was lucky as the Cordoba the engine came from was a fresh wreck, hard rear end hit that totaled the car, you could tell the car was well cared for even tho it was only a few years old = the interior was very clean and the exterior looked as if it had recently been waxed. The car only had 30 some thousand miles on it and I was able to hear the engine run before purchasing, it started right up and idled smoothly. I think back then I paid $250 for it. Anyway, I placed it in my Duster (which when I purchased the car didn't have the original engine or trans in it anyway, it had a 360 engine not sure of the year and a much earlier 4-speed - had a flange instead of a slip yoke), removed the intake, installed my Weiand and connected the headers. It ran very well. I ended up selling the car to a Navy buddy of mine, who decided to rebuild the engine with the help of a Chevy guy who supposedly was an ace rebuilding engines. Long story short I guess the Chevy guy didn't throughly clean the block after receiving it back from the machine shop and/or didn't know about the oil passage plugs etc. and the engine never really ran well. My friend drove the car maybe a thousand or so miles and let it sit for a few years. I was able to take him up on our deal when I sold to him = if you ever decide to sell it I get first dibs. Then the car sat in my garage for many years before I removed the engine and started to explore the inners. What I found was evidence that the Chevy guy who helped my friend build the engine apparently didn't know much about MoPars as there were metal shards in the oil pan, the new Melling oil pump rotors were scared big time, the main and rod bearings were wiped down to the copper/brass. Fortunately the crank, which for whatever reason were cut 0.010" each, appears to "hopefully" be able to be polishable. The rebuild had so little miles that there was still red-ish/orange stripes on the valve springs. Sorry for the long windedness of my reply, but there are a few points here: 1- be certain you know that the Machinist at your machine shop is familiar with the specifics of MoPar engines = oil passages, plugs, etc., 2- be certain if cylinders need to be bored that a "toque plate" is used, 3- have them install the new cam bearings and check before you take the engine out of the shop that the oil holes on said bearings are correctly aligned with the oiling holes in the block... the ones on my engine were not reducing the vital lubrication the cam needs, 4- I'm sure there's many more things to make sure of, but the crank is also key so make certain they check it and if it must be cut that you also have the block align-bored.

So, thinking about all the things that need to be done correctly as well as the expense for this work is the reason I suggested considering, for around $5k, an engine that has been built by an outfit that builds many, many engines, runs them on a dyno, provides all the information on that engine = specifics on cam, lifters, pistons, bearings and so fort, as well as dyno numbers and a "warranty". I know buying an engine that is already built for you isn't as fun as doing your own, but when you first fire it to life you'll still get the same feeling of giving birth to it "and" not have to worry about things like; will it start, will something go wrong upon initial fire up, will something else go wrong down the road...

Don't want to be a "Debbie Downer" but for me, and I do love building engines, if I need to start without an engine at all = not knowing anything about the history of my starting out point with this engine, my $ is best spent on a sure (as possible) thing. I don't own stock in any crate engine place or do I work for one, "just saying" the amount of $ you'll spend in a machine shop and all the parts you'll need for a carb-to-pan ready to drop-in and run engine for your project will most likely be the same if not more than an "already run, proven, guaranteed, with dyno numbers" engine.

I look forward to reading and viewing pictures of your project as time passes and wish you great success with it. Hopefully some day I'll be able to add to my thread (been so long since I've done anything with my car, or added to my thread, I can't remember its name = I'll have to look for it) with some sort of update.

Best of luck to you!

On Edit = Figured since I referenced my Thread and couldn't remember the name of it, as it's been a long time since I've done anything to the car/added to the thread that I didn't even remember its name that I'd include a link for it.
Beginning of the End - my 73, 340 Duster rest-o-rod???

Frozenfish - look at the engine teardown pictures on my Thread to see what I was speaking about above when my friend had it rebuilt...