can someone confirm horsepower?

[KramerSwinger70]

im prolly gonna pickup a 1988 Ram 360 v8 this weekend and im a little concernd. i want to get good gas mileage outa iut and like 250-280hp at the same time. ive read that these engines produce like 170-190hp stock. can spomeone get me a 100% positive confirmation on this? would it be hard to get an '88 360 up to mid 200's hp wise?

 

[yellowdartdave]

88 was the last year for carbs on a 360--170 hp
89 was the first year for EFI -- 190 hp

I think the 89 was a throttle body setup and just like all the emission choked ones before it, it was a slug compared to a 93-03 360. (245hp and 350 ft/#s of torque)

You would probably have to throw a nice 340 cam in it and a 4bbl and performance distributor to wake it up.

Wish I could be of more help. Maybe somebody else with more thorough knowledge on this subject could chime in.

 

[SGBARRACUDA]

And if it is a 4bl it will be GM quadrajet carb. Had an 87 D-250 that think would pass everything but a gas pump.

 

[mikedevore]

i had a 1990 w150 4X4 club cab. I was very pleased with it. it was real tourquey, it could boil the tires at will. It only got 16MPG on the hiway empty. the thing that hold back any mods are the camshaft & TBI injection, although they came with the 308 heads on them. it would run with 350 chevs & run & hide from the 351W fords of the period.

 

[Prine]

think of it as a GREAT foundation longblock...it will respond to mods as good or better than a earlier 360 due to the roller cam/lifters and mentioned 308 heads.

your goal is achieveable, easily.

 

[KramerSwinger70]

think of it as a GREAT foundation longblock...it will respond to mods as good or better than a earlier 360 due to the roller cam/lifters and mentioned 308 heads.

your goal is achieveable, easily.

thanks for the english! haha much of what the others said was technical gobbledy-gook to me. yeah im really excited about this motor but i read that it didnt have much power and it worried me. so its good to hear that itll respond well to mods =)