Small block confusion

-
N

NewToMopar

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Location
Naselle Washington
I have a 1965 Barracuda. It has a 79 318 in it with a 340 four barrel intake and an Eddie 650 carb. I am about to remove the engine and am confused about 360 engines. I like roller cams, but I also like shaft mounted needle bearing rocker arms. I have heard that 1985 to 1991 360's are roller cam motors but I am not sure you can put LA Shaft heads on them. Any information would help. I am not a fan of the stud mounted rocker arms, bad hojo from CHEBY days.

Should I just through a roller cam at the 318, upgrade the rocker arms, I also like the idea of rollers on the valve contact patch.

I have no idea what heads this thing has or cam, that will have to wait for the tear down.
Thanks
Gary
 
88-91 was maybe 89 was a roller engine 360. They generally came with 308 heads and shaft rocker systems.
 
technically the magnum are not stud mounted rockers..they are mounted on a pedestal but can be converted to studs...
 
Don't forget the top end oiling is completely different on the Magnum engines.
 
The late LA series 360 would have shaft mounted valvetrain and roller cam as noted by crackedback. They will have the 308 casting LA head,basically the predesor of the magnum with much improved exhaust ports over the LA head,but not quite as good as the Magnum.

The Magnum series would have pedestal style rocker valve train like a chev but the heads are closer to the old AMC heads. They have a roller cam as well.

Earlier than 88 you probably wont find a roller cam 360. You will find roller cam 318's as early as 85 with shaft rockers.

The LA series ended in 92.
 
The 85-91 motors (most, if not all) were roller cam motors with shaft mounted rockers. When you pull the intake off you should find a roller cam and lifters. The heads should have shaft mounted stamped steel rockers that oil through the head, not the pushrods.

Do yourself a favor and stay away from shaft mounted "full roller" rockers. The only roller you want on your shaft mounted rockers is at the valve tip. The fulcrum uses a pressure oiled bearing surface that works great. the needle bearing type will fail.
 
NewToMopar said:
I have a 1965 Barracuda. It has a 79 318 in it with a 340 four barrel intake and an Eddie 650 carb. I am about to remove the engine and am confused about 360 engines. I like roller cams, but I also like shaft mounted needle bearing rocker arms. I have heard that 1985 to 1991 360's are roller cam motors but I am not sure you can put LA Shaft heads on them. Any information would help. I am not a fan of the stud mounted rocker arms, bad hojo from CHEBY days.

Should I just through a roller cam at the 318, upgrade the rocker arms, I also like the idea of rollers on the valve contact patch.

I have no idea what heads this thing has or cam, that will have to wait for the tear down.
Thanks
Gary
Click to expand...

Hey Gary. I also have a '79 318 in my Duster. There could be an issue with installing a roller cam in a early engine. Theres a thread here where a fella installed a "Retro fit" roller cam in his engine. The issue was the lifter would come up out of the lifter bore very far and uncover some of the oil band on the lifter leading to low oil pressure. His cam was reground to work.

The reason behind this is the earlier blocks have shorter lifter bores than the later redesigned one for the roller cam. This would be the possible problem with your '79 - 318. You wold be much better off, price and hassle wise to just go simple and grab a Hyd. cam.

I forget what year started the roller cam engines.
 
The early LA blocks oil into the heads differently. The newer 360 "Magnum" engines oil like a chevy with oil coming out of the roller tappets up each pushrod. SBC roller rockers can be made to work. The earlier 360 heads are the way to go for 318 because they are shaft rocker and have larger valves and flow well for a mild street car. You would never regret getting a 360 Magnum roller engine and putting that in your car. It is tremendously better than a 318 even after you dump a lot of money into it. Get an Edelbrock intake with the magnum bolt pattern and a set of headers and you'll have one hell of a tire burner!
Pat:cheers:
 
Just to clear this up....I am a roller cam LA Small Block advocate....built a few since 1997.

Roller Cam 318's are 1985-1992, carbs or TBI after 1990, and 302' Heads
Roller Cam 360's are 1989-1991, have TBI Fuel Injection, and 308' heads
ALL ROLLER CAM SMALL BLOCKS ARE BLACK.

You can find the 318's in such "exotica" as Dodge Diplomat's, Chrysler 5th Avenue's, and 85-92 Dodge D100 or D150's.

The 360's are more scarce, but can be found in 89-91 Ramchargers, Rams, or Dodge Passenger Vans....There were no Roller 360's installed in cars.

The Roller Cam engines are most desireable to me because of the Roller Cam/Lifters, there is less friction, more aggressive lift rates, better "breatheability" and they respond well to boltons even in Stock OEM form.

They both have shaft mounted rockers, and shorter pushrods than a typical LA SB...to compensate for the longer lifters....they do oil through the pushrod...they are hollow.

They have Air Injection ports under the exhaust ports....and need to be plugged before use....I drilled, tap'd and plugged them with pipe plugs with JB Weld all over them.

The roller lifters can be reused on a fresh cam.

Good luck with your decision, & quest.

One thing I noticed in my builds....You cannot bolt a OLD LA STYLE Crank Pulley on a Roller Cam Harmonic Balancer unless you modify the pulley....1 bolt hole will be out of sinc....pretty much everything else was Issue-Free BoltOn.
 
I wouldn't shy away from the pedestal mounted rockers of the magnum engine. Unless you are planning to be running in the 6500-7000 rpm range on a regular basis it just doesn't make a difference.
 
Prine, the roller LA's oil through the push rods??? with shaft rockers?
Are you sure? Are they just double oiling the rockers then?
Oil for the push rod tip from the push rod and oil for the rocker fulcrum from the shaft?:dontknow:
 
The magnum engines oil through the push rods. LA engines whether they are roller or not oil through the block to the rocker shaft.
 
dgc33, that has always been my understanding.
Prine says that they (factory roller LA's) ALSO oil through the push rods.
 
the 89-91 LA engines roller lifters did not oil thru pushrods..oil thru shafts...in fact the lifters did not allow for oil thru pushrods..

the 92+ magnums oil thru the pushrods and the lifters had provisions to oil thru pushrods...

there was two separate part number for roller lifters....pre 92 and after 92....

but now there is only one part number which covers the magnum engines...and can be used in the LA roller motors...and if you have solid pushrods they wont oil...
 
Yup, that's what I thought.
I have my 69 340, an 85 318 roller and a 98 Magnum to compare. I didn't really feel like pulling the valve covers off to check them out.
It seems like it would not be a bad thing to have the Magnum lifters and pushrods so that they pressure oil both ends.
 
Ok...they OIL THE LIFTERS THROUGH THE PUSHRODS...the pushrods are infact hollow.
 
Hmm contradiction, huh?

The Rockers are oiled through the shafts.
The lifters are oiled from the Cam Oil Galley.
The Pushrods ARE hollow...

Someone jump in here and clarify what I am saying.
 
Yes, some pushrods are hollow. No, they do not move any oil anywhere in LAs. :D
 
Prine said:
Hmm contradiction, huh?

The Rockers are oiled through the shafts.
The lifters are oiled from the Cam Oil Galley.
The Pushrods ARE hollow...

Someone jump in here and clarify what I am saying.
Click to expand...

:read2::toothy10:#-o:rock::snorting::homework:=D>:-\":pottytra::compress::downtown::eek:ccasion: :toothy7:

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha, that was funny. Don't worry Prine, we all miss step. I'm guilty in a big way and have to thank the general public for lettin me know from time to time of this. It is funny even when it happens to me.

I gotta thank guys like Moper for catchin me and saying WTF are you talking about Fish? Did ya bang your head? LOL Bwa ha ha hah
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top