Small block confusion

NewToMopar said
I have a 1965 Barracuda. It has a 79 318 in it with a 340 four barrel intake and an Eddie 650 carb. I am about to remove the engine and am confused about 360 engines. I like roller cams, but I also like shaft mounted needle bearing rocker arms. I have heard that 1985 to 1991 360's are roller cam motors but I am not sure you can put LA Shaft heads on them. Any information would help. I am not a fan of the stud mounted rocker arms, bad hojo from CHEBY days.

Should I just through a roller cam at the 318, upgrade the rocker arms, I also like the idea of rollers on the valve contact patch.

I have no idea what heads this thing has or cam, that will have to wait for the tear down.
Thanks
Gary

Hey Gary. I also have a '79 318 in my Duster. There could be an issue with installing a roller cam in a early engine. Theres a thread here where a fella installed a "Retro fit" roller cam in his engine. The issue was the lifter would come up out of the lifter bore very far and uncover some of the oil band on the lifter leading to low oil pressure. His cam was reground to work.

The reason behind this is the earlier blocks have shorter lifter bores than the later redesigned one for the roller cam. This would be the possible problem with your '79 - 318. You wold be much better off, price and hassle wise to just go simple and grab a Hyd. cam.

I forget what year started the roller cam engines.