360 magnum vs 5.7 hemi
Kind of shot your self in the foot on that one. Taking your numbers;
$1500 for a used hemi (for that price it will be relatively low miles not
requiring a rebuild).
$ 200 for a cam that will push the power to an easy 450 HP (been done many
times in the magazines).
$1200 for headers and motor mounts.
$1000 for an aftermarket EFI controller
For $3900 you have a 5.7 in your A-body that is making 50 HP more than your rebuilt 340 and still can go to 500 without much additional work.
I wanted to compare apples to apples, that's all, which is why I included a rebuild on the hemi.
You're comparing apples to oranges, a fully rebuilt engine to a junkyard find, to come out with slightly better numbers. And I'm not sure thats everything you need for the swap either, I was just throwing a few big ticket items out off the top of my head. I forgot the hemi swap oil pan and pickup, adds $475 to the total (from XV anyway), for a total of $4,375. Maybe someone that's done the swap can give us better numbers?
I think its pretty obvious that a 'low miles' magnum 360 could be had for less than a low miles hemi, and since its pretty much a straight swap, that leaves $2,675 (plus whatever you saved on the engine) to make 450 hp with. Hot Rod magazine built a
high miles 318 with $1500 in junkyard parts and came up with 406 hp, so I don't think its crazy to think you could make 450hp with a low miles 360 and over $2,600. They did it without rebuilding the engine, just heads and up
http://www.hotrod.com/howto/113_0304_318_small_block_build/index.html
But regardless of price, I'd still rather have an old LA, or an old 426, than one of the new hemi's in my ride. :-D
