72 Demon slanty-to-340 Resto

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moparmat2000 said:
Why not build a 360 with a stroker kit to make it a 408?
340s were good for their time, and still are to a point. They had a lot of hot roddy stuff but were essentially a large bore 318. Car companies always do **** on the cheap if they can get away with it.

In the case of the 273, 318, 340 i believe they all share the same crank stroke and same length rods, and only the bore is different.

360 shares the same length rods, has the bigger bore like the 340 but a longer stroke.

The 340s claim to fame was it could wind up quickly to 6,000 rpm. This made em a 1/4 mile contender. If your planning on a 6 speed manual, modern upgrades and not really going for an original resto because of the vin which will always say its a slant 6, then id recommend to, buy a 360, add an eagle or scat stroker kit and be done with it. Scads of HP compared to the 340, same amount of money spent.

I payed $200 for a mid 70s 360 truck engine and i sold off what i didnt need. Stroker kits w forged cranks for SBM are coming down a bit in price. You can find em for around $1,500 now.

Magnum 360s are plentiful in junkyards now. Stroker kits are the same as for LA 360s. And they are a roller cam engine. Engine quest sells an iron monster magnum head. All new casting eliminates the cracks associated with the stock heads. You can buy em machined for an LA intake bolt pattern, or for a magnum head bolt pattern. I believe they are machined for 2.02 - 1.60 valves. Part numbers are CH318A, and CH318B part number determines how its machined for an intake manifold. Also 5 bolt valve covers will work on the 10 bolt magnum heads.

As far as a manual goes, i cant help you there. I set mine up for an A-833 OD box. I will likely swap that out later on for a passon 5 speed.
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The funny thing is, I've been checking out 360 blocks lately, and tbh I haven't really been seeing a super great selection of em. Besides junkyard Magnum blocks, there were only about 4 or 5 showing up on craigslist and facebook market in the whole state. I came across one worked over Magnum block at $400 (I heard a couple rumors that had me iffy on the Magnum blocks), a motorhome block also for $400, a dirty-looking 360 going for $800, and the same guy selling that 340 short block was selling a 360 core and just internals for $1000 (all the same stuff he was selling with the 340). There was even a guy trying to sell off a 5.9 Magnum crate for $3K! Some of these blocks are so far out, I'd spend a couple hundred just in gas on a day trip to pick em up. Parts may be plentiful there, but here there seems to be slim pickings (maybe reason for the markup?). Hell, I had to bide my time and scan craigslist all across the western states just to find the Demon!

Sorry if I'm resisting the attempts to blend in with the crowd, and I know the 360 has 20 MORE WHOPPING CUBES, but I'm still stuck on the 340. Besides, the few 360s I found that were cheap look like they're due for the machine shop, putting them in the $1500 ball park and curbing the appeal of them being cheaper. Certainly haven't found any for just $200.......
 
Wow that sucks. Where you located?
I'm in Texas. Here its truck country. My local boneyard is chock full of vans and pickups w magnum V8s. Of course pulling a van motor would be a *****. Out this way it would be a couple $300 hundred for a longblock minus EFI and distributor. Prob even cheaper maybe $150-$200 if you tell you dont want the heads, since stockers tend to have cracks anyways.

Do you have access to a beater 4 cylinder hatchback that gets good mileage? It may be worth the trip in gas to buy one out this way. Take a weeks vacation etc. The pick n pull yard on loop 12 in D/FW area 2.5 hours east of me has even better deals than my local yard.

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knote72 said:
LOL my 318 Dakota is what towed the Demon home, but I'll be saving the 318 for another project. She deserves a good rebuild anyways.......
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Here is mild build 318 with a nod of tribute to the stock look. Even though that air cleaner decal was only ever used on 318s in Australia. Thunder from Down Under!
 
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DusterDaddy said:
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My 318 is gonna stay a pickup engine. Although, I may swap it and the a518 into a power wagon, and hop up that 318 with new heads, cam, intake, and twin-mini-turbos to build boost and power in midrange revs. Nephew and I ran the total costs of that restomod project, LOL it'd be cheaper than buying a brand new pickup!
 
Anyhow, the LA small blocks proved to be quite a success for Ma Mopar didn’t they?
 
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moparmat2000 said:
Wow that sucks. Where you located?
I'm in Texas. Here its truck country. My local boneyard is chock full of vans and pickups w magnum V8s. Of course pulling a van motor would be a *****. Out this way it would be a couple $300 hundred for a longblock minus EFI and distributor. Prob even cheaper maybe $150-$200 if you tell you dont want the heads, since stockers tend to have cracks anyways.

Do you have access to a beater 4 cylinder hatchback that gets good mileage? It may be worth the trip in gas to buy one out this way. Take a weeks vacation etc. The pick n pull yard on loop 12 in D/FW area 2.5 hours east of me has even better deals than my local yard.

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Yeah, welcome to Oregon! Our junkyards are full of compact cars and minivans, with the occasional pickup (even fewer Jeeps, as I found out when looking for parts for the jeep I'm selling). Worst part, at most of the yards the guys at the counter won't even waste their time on you if you bother to ask if they have <Make & Model> between <Year> and <Year>. You'll just get something like "UHHHHH I know we might have a couple Jeeps back there" and they won't even use the computer right in front of their faces! A couple of em even charge a fee just to check out the yard!

Just to show you what I'm looking at as far as engine blocks, here's a couple snapshots
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Sorry about the double
Post and hijacking your thread.
Enjoy the Demon
 
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DusterDaddy said:
Everyone loves that 340 callout on the quarter...
I love my 318...
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Yeah but you can put a 340 callout on the quarter and run a 318 or a 360. With a 4 barrel and headers you can't tell the difference unless you actually look at the numbers on the block. The 340 in my Duster doesn't look any different than the 318 in my Challenger from the outside.

knote72 said:
If only........
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I'm surprised that 360's are so hard to find and expensive for you. They're not super common around here on craigslist, but the later trucks and vans still hit pickNpull frequently enough. I probably couldn't get one tomorrow or maybe even in a week or two, but I bet I could source one for under $300 in a month or so. I've paid as little as $50 for a 360, and that was a complete standard bore, original longblock. Granted that was 5 or 6 years ago, and was a bit of luck as I was there to buy other parts when it was offered to me.
 
knote72 said:
Yeah, welcome to Oregon! Our junkyards are full of compact cars and minivans, with the occasional pickup (even fewer Jeeps, as I found out when looking for parts for the jeep I'm selling). Worst part, at most of the yards the guys at the counter won't even waste their time on you if you bother to ask if they have <Make & Model> between <Year> and <Year>. You'll just get something like "UHHHHH I know we might have a couple Jeeps back there" and they won't even use the computer right in front of their faces! A couple of em even charge a fee just to check out the yard!

Just to show you what I'm looking at as far as engine blocks, here's a couple snapshots
View attachment 1715134163 View attachment 1715134164
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I bet you could come down from oregon to california and hit their pick n pull yards. I hear they are the bomb. You might want to get a long block if you went magnum because the headbolts, pushrods and rockers are different than LA engines. Most guys building magnums have stated that typically the bores show very little wear even with high mileage because the EFI meters the fuel way better so theres not excessive wear from too much fuel. Just flip it over, pull the pan, and the rod n main caps in the yard to check the rod n main journals before buying. I mean its a rebuilder core anyways, but nice if the crank is clean. Can you get ahold of a friends cheap 4 cylinder beater for a few days to go to cali to get one. I remember bringing my dads entire 79 360 for his lil red express to the machine shop dissassembled in the back of an 86 reliant station wagon.
 
72bluNblu said:
I'm surprised that 360's are so hard to find and expensive for you. They're not super common around here on craigslist, but the later trucks and vans still hit pickNpull frequently enough. I probably couldn't get one tomorrow or maybe even in a week or two, but I bet I could source one for under $300 in a month or so. I've paid as little as $50 for a 360, and that was a complete standard bore, original longblock. Granted that was 5 or 6 years ago, and was a bit of luck as I was there to buy other parts when it was offered to me.
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Yeah as my post a couple comments up shows, they're few and far between here, and people fancy em a bit more than they do here. If I really hassle one of the junkyard attendants to DO HIS JOB I could probably find a Magnum 5.9, but I'd have to hope it comes cheap because knowing the state of rigs taken to the junkyard it's almost certain that block is going straight to the machine shop (easy $1K spent). And as we know, those Magnum heads have a reputation for cracking, so toss in a few more hundred$.

Like moparmat suggested, if I had a cheap 4 banger I could take a week trip and head over east to buy an engine, might be cheaper than prospects here.
 
And they even have a truck with a 360, if it hasn't already been pulled
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moparmat2000 said:
I bet you could come down from oregon to california and hit their pick n pull yards. I hear they are the bomb. You might want to get a long block if you went magnum because the headbolts, pushrods and rockers are different than LA engines. Most guys building magnums have stated that typically the bores show very little wear even with high mileage because the EFI meters the fuel way better so theres not excessive wear from too much fuel. Just flip it over, pull the pan, and the rod n main caps in the yard to check the rod n main journals before buying. I mean its a rebuilder core anyways, but nice if the crank is clean. Can you get ahold of a friends cheap 4 cylinder beater for a few days to go to cali to get one. I remember bringing my dads entire 79 360 for his lil red express to the machine shop dissassembled in the back of an 86 reliant station wagon.
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I have a 4cyl Ranger, that's not the issue. I just typically don't take super long road trips solo. My brother rode with me to go get the Demon, that was a 23 hour trip his wife was most certainly not happy about. Bear in mind, much of the scenery along the way was this
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But yeah, Cali has better pickings than here. When I was still searching for the Demon a few of em popped up around the LA area (I favor my life so I won't go there). Along the west coast there aren't great prospects til you get to south Cali. I'm still saving back up from getting it, that's why I'm not in the position to jump on a block right now. Plus, it's a bit early to dedicate to that. If I can save up and hold out, I'll have enough saved for a 340 block, if not that one I found then the next one. Since I have my own setup in mind for it, I can sell off parts like heads and intake and recoup some coin off the end total. If I can't find a 340 core, then I'll give in and try to find a 360 block that isn't more than $1000.
 
Looks like texas. That trip from abilene to lubbock, or from dallas to texarkana are flat like that. Its like the drive that sucks the life outta you.
 
moparmat2000 said:
Looks like texas. That trip from abilene to lubbock, or from dallas to texarkana are flat like that. Its like the drive that sucks the life outta you.
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Well truth be told that's about half the trip. The other half looks kinda like this
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Half that trip was desert flatland, the other half was either carving thru canyons or climbing mile-long grades (Dakota got a whopping 10mpg that whole trip). You can see not all of Oregon is green like the Cali-migrants think, in fact over half of it looks like either of the two pictures above. If you wanna be secluded, eastern Oregon is the place to go.
 
Pick n pull in portland. 3 locations. A little higher but reasonable price wise. Have you tried the pick n pulls in oregon. Pick n pull have standards they keep as a franchise. Are you just hitting the local scuzz bucket mom n pop **** yards?

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moparmat2000 said:
Pick n pull in portland. 3 locations. A little higher but reasonable price wise. Have you tried the pick n pulls in oregon. Pick n pull have standards they kerp as a franchise. Are you just hitting the local scuzz bucket mom n pop **** yards?

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Not sure if its part of a franchise, but we have a pick n pull yard here that I checked out. Cost a few bucks to even go into the yard and the attendant behind the desk doesn't even wanna look up on his computer. Got treated the same way when my brother went to look for a part for his Corolla. Crap service there
 
Hmm. I dont ever bother w the counter help. Its min wage crap job. They dont give a ****. Every time i go, i pay the entrance fee, sign the waiver, and go look for myself.
 
moparmat2000 said:
Hmm. I dont ever bother w the counter help. Its min wage crap job. They dont give a ****. Every time i go, i pay the entrance fee, sign the waiver, and go look for myself.
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Believe me, I did that while looking for parts for this jeep I got. Also kept an eye out for any old cars as well. ALL they had, besides a couple incompatible newer jeeps and a few pickups, were a bunch of compacts and minivans. That's all that ends up in the yards in my area. It's almost as if soccer moms are worse drivers than the rest of us.......

I finally had to order the jeep part online.
 
knote72 said:
Not sure if its part of a franchise, but we have a pick n pull yard here that I checked out. Cost a few bucks to even go into the yard and the attendant behind the desk doesn't even wanna look up on his computer. Got treated the same way when my brother went to look for a part for his Corolla. Crap service there
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You can search all the pickNpull's with row52.com. Just enter your zip code, how far you're willing to travel, and search for stuff that would have an LA 360 in it. That's how I pulled up that truck. Super easy, you never have to talk to the attendants. They can't really tell you if parts have been pulled off a vehicle anyway, just that one's there or not.

Like this. This is the PickNpull in Sherwood, OR.
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That 4x4 ram truck at the top of the list just got there jan 8th this year. Bet the engines still in it.
 
72bluNblu said:
You can search all the pickNpull's with row52.com. Just enter your zip code, how far you're willing to travel, and search for stuff that would have an LA 360 in it. That's how I pulled up that truck. Super easy, you never have to talk to the attendants. They can't really tell you if parts have been pulled off a vehicle anyway, just that one's there or not.

Like this. This is the PickNpull in Sherwood, OR.
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Thats slick. I need to use that.
 
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