Looking for 360 advice on a budget.

Looking for 360 advice on a budget.

Arron, welcome aboard. This (below) is a generaly asked question and hats off for including alot of material others forget. I'm going to answer the questions in bold type after each the quote.

I noticed the exhaust valve springs had some kind of cup over the spring under the retainer.Can anyone tell me what this for?

Sounds like rotors. With the new springs, you'll need new retainers and locks (Keepers) for the new retainers. Throw those other parts away.
You can get them from MoPar or other sources.

Ok here is what I would like to do with this engine.Let me know if it is feasible
1.pull all apart,clean evrything,rehone the cylinders,

Yes, though, you may not need to hone the cylinders if everything looks good. But, it can't hurt ethier. I did just this to my 318 in my Duster. Took it apart, gave it new cam bearings and I was off and running.

2.Install new bearings and rings.

Ops, kind of answered this above. But yes, the new bearings are a good idea if the old ones do not show excessive wear. Look at the crank as well. Make sure theres no groves. I'd prefur a re-grinding of the crank for a sure fit and excellent surfaces for long life.

3.I want to run the Hughes Engines 360 Whiplash cam

Cam choice is ...sooooo fickle. Much like style of socks one likes to wear....or not.

4.regrind valve seats(I have a valve and seat grinder machine),(new springs for cam)I also thought I would try doing a litlle port work clean up

Easy does it on the port work, more is not allways merrier, but it should be good for the cam and task at hand.

Now I have concerns about compression ratio.I believe that it had about 8.5:1 when it was new.I had tossed the idea of trying to scratch up the cash for pistons if new flat tops would help me.

Mill the cylinder heads a little bit. Remember, the more you mill, the harder it is to attach the intake due to the ever growing bolt hole alignment. The more you mill, the worse it gets. You can compisate alot, but only so much.

Theres formulas available to let you know how much to mill to reduce the amount of cc in the head and etc.... to get to your goal. It's also found in the MoPar Engines book. Good to have around. (No wheres mine damn it!)

My plan for the install is to install headers,already have a 2 1/4" dual exhaust with flowmasters.I would like to pick up some kind of aluminum dual plane intake.If I can't I do have a cast iron 4v intake.
I plan to pull my 8 1/4" rear with high way gears and replace it with an 8 3/4" with 3.55.

You could go 2-1/2 exhaust pipe size if you wanted to.
The 4bbl intake isn't a bad part at all. A RPM would be best, but will cost. An amount to save for later.
The 8-1/4 is plenty strong for this build. Save hundreds and just get a sure grip and gears.

I will be rebuilding my tranny and I plan to use a higher stall convertor.
I use my car for cruising and some daily driving.Probably never see the track.Just run light to light
I know I am forgeting some details,but if anyone can give me any tips on my situation I would be thrilled.
later
Aaron

So far, it sounds like you have a good working idea.

For a stall converter, contact a PRO or a guy that has been there done that and understands trannys and converters and such things.

What carb are you going to run?