My 360 Saga

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USCG CHARGER

USCG CHARGER

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Ok I bought a 360 from a forum member a few wks ago.... The thing looked amazing... I had some friends go overthere to the sellers house and check it out for me. Everyting looked fine they told me. After DHL shipped it from San Deigo to TX the realness of the engine started coming to life.

The 1st thing I did was pull the valves covers and dist. After looking into the block and in the heads it looked like it had been sitting open for a while. So I decided to take the Tunnel Ram off and look inside the block. It was dirty and had some carbon deposits on it but at least it wasnt seized. After truning it I wanted to find the clearence from the piston to the cyl walls so I ending up tearing the entire thing apart. OH BTW when I took the heads off I found water in the cyl .

The cam looks ok but I'll prolly change it to something else. The crank was great.. The block hasn't been bored and the pistons and rods appear to be stock cast ones. the Clearance # we came up w/ was .002 I think spec is .001-.002. the cyl wall have ver very slight rust in them. The heads are fine but they are those cast stock smog heads 1.88 1.60.

I already spent $1200 on this engine and it was suppost to be turn key ready. I really am on a tight budget around $600-$700 to make it thing run and not be a dog.

My plan is as follows:
keep the pistons, rods, crank...

BUy a rubuild kit something like this http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/sealpowkitb.html

Have my heads ported on the intake side and get a nice valve job that opens it up to 2.02.. them plug the smog holes w/some JB weld and sand it down. I would like to mill some off the heads to bump the CR but I'm not sure how much to take off. I feel the the CR is my biggest goal in thei build. If I can get that to around 9.5is or 10 I think it should be a nice little street rod.

Swap the came out w/a cam kit like this hydraulic pkg http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/maravapopa.html

Then have the block hot tanked honed just to clean it up a bit. I didnt want to bore it b/c then I'd need to buy new pistons and that might put me outta budget.

How can I find out what my CR is w/these pistons that I have? Do I have to put it back together then do a Comperssion test? What was the stock CR on a 360?

How hard is it to reassy. all this to working order...lol... I have a local guy that wants to charge me $600 to do it.... I'd like to di it myself it sure wasnt hard taking it apart..lol...

I'm also thinking about changing the intake to a duel plane M! or Air gap w/a 750 or something.. I was hoping to sell this Weiand Tunnel Ram w/ 2 holly 450's on it. I hear nothing but night mares on these and I want want a rough running car.

Here are some pics
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Jason I think if I bought an engine that was supposed to be turn-key and it was in that bad condition I wouldn't be able to keep quiet about it. The seller should take it back and refund your money or at least refund part of it if you want to still keep the engine. Looks to me like you got a rebuildable long block with smogger heads which is worth about $200. The tunnel ram and carbs. (provided the carbs didn't have water in them which ruins them) might be worth $300-400 if the carbs are rebuildable. Have you contacted the seller to let him know the problems?

I can understand the budget but I can tell you there's not much chance of rebuilding it for $600-700. If I had a guess looking at what you have and what you want your going to need about 3-4 times that amount of money.

The stock compression on 360's was in the low 8's so that's not good for making really good power. To raise the compression you'll need to swap out the pistons to either kb107's or sealed power cp116's. Either of those will get you in the high 9's for compression if the heads haven't been decked.

As far as the heads go. The exhaust side needs more help than the intake so porting the intake side is only going to make the imbalance of flow worse and the Mopar 284/.484 cam your looking at is a straight grind. In other words no extra lift or duration on the exhaust side. A split duration grind would help balance out the difference but that's JMHO. If your going pretty wild on power the bigger valves will help but if your just looking for about 350-375 hp you really don't need them. The smaller valves usually produce more velocity too so it will have more torque with them.

Here's a link to a compression calculator that you put measurements in and it tells you the comp ratio. You will need at least the crank and one piston assy. to take some measurements. You'll also need a dial indicator to determine how far in the hole the pistons are. You'll also need to know some figures on the head gaskets you'll be using. If their the Fel-Pro's I can tell you the compressed thickness is .039 and the bore is 4.180 If you use anything else you'll have to find out their measurements.

http://www.csgnetwork.com/compcalc.html

Reassembly isn't really hard. You just have to have a very clean place to do it and be careful when assembling it so as to not scratch a piston or the crank. You'll need a ring compressor. And be careful installing the rings because they break pretty easy if spread too far. They make a ring installation tool that works good and it's not too expensive. The big thing is clean, clean, clean. Everything has to be very clean. Any debris floating around in it will scar something. If you haven't ever rebuilt an engine before definitely get a book that tells you the in-s and out-s. There are several on small block Mopars.

An Air-gap is a much better intake than the M1 dual plane from what I've read.

Any questions just call. I think you should still have my phone number since I just sent you an e-mail a couple days ago and I put it in there. Tracy
 
Tracy I didnt get any e-mails from you. PM me ur number. Thx for the info as well bud.

Jason
 
Where did the water in the cylinder come from? There's not a crack between the valve seats on that cylinder is there....?
 
mo cracks anywhere that I can tell. I'm thinkin it was left open w/out the intake and valve covers on it.
 
Whats the ideal CR for these enigines running on pump gas? So if I do order a rebuild kit w/pistons I'll know the info. If I do a pisont repacement do i need to have in rebalanced for stock size pistons but a different top?

The cam is a SIg Erson High Flow 1H or IH I cant tell....

Would it be easier to get my Compression from the piston or be milling the heads?


Jason
 
Liquid can fall into the cylinders when you take the head off. Even if it has been sitting outside of an engine bay for a while. Once the head tilts to come off, any fluid left inside will spill right out.

No rust on the cylinder wall? Then your good.

Those pistons are in the basement, or so they look. The re-ring/bearing kit with KB-107's or sealed power cp116's (Like Fishy said) is what I would do and cam as you like with a RPM and 750.

Single pattern cams are not what I would prefur to use in the street unless the heads have been very well ported to a better balance. Use a split duration cam. There better in most cases.

I myself would re-sell those headers (unless there good for you to use) & flex fan.
 
Mancini has basic rebuild kits without pistons. Rings and bearings in the size you spec with a gasket kit. I don't know what piston those Sterlings are. But the 2 mentioned above will have that ratio.
 
USCG CHARGER said:
Whats the ideal CR for these enigines running on pump gas? So if I do order a rebuild kit w/pistons I'll know the info. If I do a pisont repacement do i need to have in rebalanced for stock size pistons but a different top?

The cam is a SIg Erson High Flow 1H or IH I cant tell....

Would it be easier to get my Compression from the piston or be milling the heads?


Jason
Click to expand...

You'd have to mill the heads a ton to get it even in the 9's. Piston replacement is the best way to go. Mid 9's is a good compression for the street. High 9's works if your running a bigger cam that bleeds off some cyl. pressure. My 360 is 9.9 to 1 and it works fine on 93 octane because I have a fairly large cam in it. That being said you really need to keep it to 10-1 max.

The post with the link to Mancini's kit with pistons shows them to be Sterling pistons. I could be wrong but I think Sterling only makes stock type pistons. Not like the KB's or Sealed power ones that have a higher comp. distance.

With the KB's you would definetly have to have it balanced because they're alot lighter than stock pistons. The Sealed power units are pretty close to stock weight so you could get away without balancing but if you can afford it balancing is allways a good idea since they were'nt balanced great from the factory.
 
ok heres the deal I just called Mancini and they told me w.this kit http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/sealpowkitc.html they could change the pistons to the KB107's and the price would be about a $20 difference... that would raise my CR to arounf 9.7 he said....

I also called a local machine shop and got a quote for my block honed and tanked..... $115

So now I'm up to $550
 
Do you guys have a good place to buy all the stuff I need for good prices? I only know of Mancini
 
Sorry, don't have an answer, but good luck.

I'm not too impressed with whoever sold you that motor. What's worse is it's a member here?
 
Wow sure looks pretty in the first picture,i guess looks can be deceiving..good luck correcting it..
 
Sumit and jegs have the best prices in general, mention it to Mancini for a price beater check.
 
Just a couple of items to add to 'fishy68' info: best to file-fit the end gaps on the new rings for proper clearance; and lube the rotating assembly with a good-quality assembly lube. Also, pre-lube the engine prior to initial starting up to make sure the engine doesn't initially spin over dry.
Take your time, have fun, and good luck! It's a great feeling when someone asks who built that strong engine and you're to say 'Me'.
 
That intake and carbs are worth yeah, $300 or so. I would sell each carb and the intake alone, not as a package deal. Put it on E-bay and sell them.

Water does get in the cylinder when the heads are pulled. No rust means the water just got in there.

You did not prime the motor and started it, so you don't know how it would have ran. It still was a used motor, right ?

BTW...I was not the seller
 
dodge freak said:
That intake and carbs are worth yeah, $300 or so. I would sell each carb and the intake alone, not as a package deal. Put it on E-bay and sell them.

Water does get in the cylinder when the heads are pulled. No rust means the water just got in there.

You did not prime the motor and started it, so you don't know how it would have ran. It still was a used motor, right ?

BTW...I was not the seller
Click to expand...


I dont know if it would have run or not.. But **** man I glad I investigated b4 hand. It might have run but how long and to well.. The guy who sold it to me said it ran strong... Total bs man!
 
Thats how things go.

Its ashame but.

I have had good luck on E-bay, theres lots of junk or over price stuff but once in awhile its a great buy. Buy it Nows, when they first get listed are the best.

Dam, thou. $1200 you should have gotten better, I agree but you did get a nice intake and maybe carbs. Is that $1200 with shipping, how much was shipping. I would guess a used 360 with that intake and carbs should be around $800-thats wihout the valve covers and headers. You should have shopped around on E-bay but not sure how you would have done. People have been screwed more than you

Are those your valve covers and headers or did they come with the motor. How was the motor describe? Did it say newer HP pistons? Was it painted like that? A freshly painted USED motor is a no-no in my book. I like to see older paint and how it looks. Can tell if its 3 years old or 13 years old
 
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