Help choosing a v8 for my dart

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RustyRatRod said:
He's right about the sealing. I think the chamber design on the Magnum is better than the LA, but now you have sissy stud mounted rockers like a Ford, so to me the heads are a wash. They come with roller cams which is a positive. The block is a shorter deck height for more compression, so that's a positive. The Magnum exhaust manifolds are a better design, but then, most people building for more power throw the stock manifolds in the ditch, so you can call that a wash. Now, had Chrysler machined those blocks for a one piece rear main seal, like both Ford and Chevy did, then that would have been the deciding factor, IMO, but they did not. Last, but not least, there are more Magnums layin around now as good buildable cores than LA, so by sheer numbers, they have an advantage. I'll stop short of saying Magnums are "better" than the LA, but to me, they aren't trash, either. I guess it's all in what you want and a matter of personal opinion.
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The last ford I worked on head shaft rockers...
 
j par said:
In the last two weeks I took two tons of scrap metal in and 90% of it was mopar parts..
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Was any of that 2 tons any good or was it truly junk? Someone here might have been able to use some of it
 
rumblefish360 said:
I think not building a Magnum because it’s a Magnum is stupid. Same for the LA. The Magnum’s lack of a head oiling hood is small potato’s but an extra expense with the appropriate rockers & pushrods needed for the Magnum block and LA head combo.
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I e done the opposite, I've put magnum heads on a couple of LA engines over the years.
The Magnums had some differences vs the LA series but much was still the same.
One " advantage" quoted on the Magnums was metric rings. I don't see it as an advantage.
 
volaredon said:
Was any of that 2 tons any good or was it truly junk? Someone here might have been able to use some of it
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There was a lot of heavy stuff like front Dana 44 4x4 axle and 3/4 ton leaf springs... A 318 block.. three sets of factory pistons and rods and three cranks all stock 318/360 440... Factory stamped rockers 318 heads bunch of junk distributors and a load of factory starters... A lot of which I had on Craigslist at dirt cheap prices with no calls... Kept a few things and put them on Craigslist currently with no calls at dirt cheap prices... I live in the city and I don't have a lot of property and places to store junk that I'm never going to use and don't have patience to wait for years and years and years for it all to go away.. I'm not a hoarder and I had a hoard... The peace of mind and space I have now is priceless...
 
'68cuda416 said:
I take the same stance on the POS Gen 3 Hemi.......ugly, expensive and is modern day government built BS TRASH!!!! I will absolutely not covert my old school Mopars over to the very thing that has ruined society overall and that is Government intervention. I like my cars rough around the edges, unrefined, built by men, driven by men, and not 1 single thing on them to remind me of the overpriced **** trash that's being built today.
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Your sound like a political rant. While the government didn’t build squat saw you assert, they demanded low emissions, that’s it. If you think the government built engines, your head is up your ***. Your rant is way off base. It boarders a political discussion.
volaredon said:
I e done the opposite, I've put magnum heads on a couple of LA engines over the years.
The Magnums had some differences vs the LA series but much was still the same.
One " advantage" quoted on the Magnums was metric rings. I don't see it as an advantage.
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Neither do I in a big way, but it will show up the further up the hp scale you go.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Your sound like a political rant. While the government didn’t build squat saw you assert, they demanded low emissions, that’s it. If you think the government built engines, your head is up your ***. Your rant is way off base. It boarders a political discussion.

Neither do I in a big way, but it will show up the further up the hp scale you go.
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And with low emissions comes changes to the whole engine.......wow I actually thought you were smarter than what you just portrayed.
 
I am, but decided to narrow down the thought path of your rant to basic facts. Otherwise, I nearly posted your exact reply to me. Very surprised by the thought pattern you laid down.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yup, the FE motors did. The Y blocks too. They're dated, but still mighty good motors.
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Yes he went ahead and paid the machine shop to get it all set up and quality controlled. I still had to take the rockers and push rods out to put that 6 ton intake on... I wasn't sure the engine stand was going to hold the weight LOL....
 
j par said:
Yes he went ahead and paid the machine shop to get it all set up and quality controlled. I still had to take the rockers and push rods out to put that 6 ton intake on... I wasn't sure the engine stand was going to hold the weight LOL....
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Yes, they are extremely heavy. I would have talked him into an aluminum piece just so I didn't have to lift the factory one. In fact, I've done several intake swaps on FEs through they years, and I always used an engine hoist to both remove and install them. It works good.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yes, they are extremely heavy. I would have talked him into an aluminum piece just so I didn't have to lift the factory one. In fact, I've done several intake swaps on FEs through they years, and I always used an engine hoist to both remove and install them. It works good.
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Believe me till I was blue in the face... And even found one at the swap meet for him last week..
It's a funny thing about people with money... They'll spend $100 to save 10...
You can lead them to water...
 
Didn't read through all the post. I wouldn't pay 700 for a used 318 2bbl/904. 400 for a magnum??? maybe, if I could hear it run and knew the mileage, other than that, 200 bucks. Between the two, I'd start with the magnum.
 
j par said:
Believe me till I was blue in the face... And even found one at the swap meet for him last week..
It's a funny thing about people with money... They'll spend $100 to save 10...
You can lead them to water...
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I would have told him he has three choices. He either gets the aluminum intake, He gets the engine from me without an intake, or I don't do the job. LOL
 
RustyRatRod said:
I would have told him he has three choices. He either gets the aluminum intake, He gets the engine from me without an intake, or I don't do the job. LOL
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It's a 72 highboy and it's a full restoration job that I'm helping them with... It would be cruel and unethical to not let him make the decisions on his own vehicle. I just give him all the options and let him weigh the options. He's following in my footsteps and had the frame powder coated at the same place as me. He's having the paint done by my guy. And he went to my engine builder and just got a full meal deal where I just got a short block and built out everything the way I wanted it. Unfortunately we have to buy him a new carburetor or at least rebuild his. For the time and money he has into that 6 ton piece of scrap metal having it hot tanked and so forth he could have had a nice aluminum intake on it. As a matter of fact the last time I was at my machine shop there was a fe on the quality control table... I shot him a picture...
PXL_20220406_221659380.jpg
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yes, they are extremely heavy. I would have talked him into an aluminum piece just so I didn't have to lift the factory one. In fact, I've done several intake swaps on FEs through they years, and I always used an engine hoist to both remove and install them. It works good.
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i sat in the engine bay of a mates 66 galaxie to lift the intake off of the FE when i fitted an aluminum one, lol.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I would have told him he has three choices. He either gets the aluminum intake, He gets the engine from me without an intake, or I don't do the job. LOL
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Ug.. the stock intake on a FE... what.. 80lbs+? Nearly herniated myself swapping it out on my 390 for a Streetmaster. And you have the added bonus of the pushrods going THROUGH the intake as well! Next ask how fun it is to get longtube headers between the shock towers on an older Ford. 390FE in my 67 Fairlane as it sits today.

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Yes.. my home is integrated.... Mopar shares it's home with my Ford. :D
 
74Scooter said:
Ug.. the stock intake on a FE... what.. 80lbs+? Nearly herniated myself swapping it out on my 390 for a Streetmaster. And you have the added bonus of the pushrods going THROUGH the intake as well! Next ask how fun it is to get longtube headers between the shock towers on an older Ford. 390FE in my 67 Fairlane as it sits today.

View attachment 1715905878

Yes.. my home is integrated.... Mopar shares it's home with my Ford. :D
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I love that body style! That is a nice car!
 
j par said:
It's a 72 highboy and it's a full restoration job that I'm helping them with... It would be cruel and unethical to not let him make the decisions on his own vehicle. I just give him all the options and let him weigh the options. He's following in my footsteps and had the frame powder coated at the same place as me. He's having the paint done by my guy. And he went to my engine builder and just got a full meal deal where I just got a short block and built out everything the way I wanted it. Unfortunately we have to buy him a new carburetor or at least rebuild his. For the time and money he has into that 6 ton piece of scrap metal having it hot tanked and so forth he could have had a nice aluminum intake on it. As a matter of fact the last time I was at my machine shop there was a fe on the quality control table... I shot him a picture...View attachment 1715905700
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So you did go with an aluminum intake.

It's not about ethics. Something unethical would be doing something lesser than what he's paying for. What I'm talking about is a double edge sword. It helps him with a better flowing intake and helps you save your back for another day. Ethics has nothing to do with it.
 
RustyRatRod said:
So you did go with an aluminum intake.

It's not about ethics. Something unethical would be doing something lesser than what he's paying for. What I'm talking about is a double edge sword. It helps him with a better flowing intake and helps you save your back for another day. Ethics has nothing to do with it.
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No again that is somebody else's Fe at the machine shop but when I was there I took a picture of it to show him of what he could have had... I showed him pictures of ones for sale for $150 and $200 at the swap meet last week.. again he doesn't take my recommendations but he pays the bills LOL.. for instance he wasn't going to rebuild the axles but I said let's take the cover off the rear Dana 60 differential and take a look.. he kept going on about how he drove it 4 hours home when he bought it and that it had to be fine... When we pulled the cover of the spider gears literally fell out in my hand or what was left of them... So instead of us rebuilding it he opted to take them to a professional and have them rebuilt. They couldn't find emergency brake cables. So one day he finally pulled the trigger on the last set that was possible to find for that year and we had to put them in.. which leads to another case in point... I've been telling him to get a $79 Harbor Freight impact drill with some socket drivers... You know to save time LOL but no we have to work with cheap ratchets and you know to take those full floaters off we have to take all eight lug nuts on both sides all the axle nuts.. I told my wife before I left I said watch this less than 1 hour job is going to take at least 3 hours and would have paid for the impact drill in my labor alone. And true to my word that's exactly what it took LOL but it was money in my pocket instead of Harbor Freight...
You can lead a horse to water...
 
j par said:
No again that is somebody else's Fe at the machine shop but when I was there I took a picture of it to show him of what he could have had... I showed him pictures of ones for sale for $150 and $200 at the swap meet last week.. again he doesn't take my recommendations but he pays the bills LOL.. for instance he wasn't going to rebuild the axles but I said let's take the cover off the rear Dana 60 differential and take a look.. he kept going on about how he drove it 4 hours home when he bought it and that it had to be fine... When we pulled the cover of the spider gears literally fell out in my hand or what was left of them... So instead of us rebuilding it he opted to take them to a professional and have them rebuilt. They couldn't find emergency brake cables. So one day he finally pulled the trigger on the last set that was possible to find for that year and we had to put them in.. which leads to another case in point... I've been telling him to get a $79 Harbor Freight impact drill with some socket drivers... You know to save time LOL but no we have to work with cheap ratchets and you know to take those full floaters off we have to take all eight lug nuts on both sides all the axle nuts.. I told my wife before I left I said watch this less than 1 hour job is going to take at least 3 hours and would have paid for the impact drill in my labor alone. And true to my word that's exactly what it took LOL but it was money in my pocket instead of Harbor Freight...
You can lead a horse to water...
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Gotchya. Let's stop the sidetrack. LOL
 
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