street/strip 360

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74Dusterkid

74Dusterkid

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im a 16 year old kid thats still in high school and i got a 74 duster with a 360 2bbl and i was wondering what should i do to help with performance other than completely tearing the motor down. i know stuff like headers,4bbl,intake and stuff like that. i dont want to go crazy with this cause im on a tight budget with insurance and gas and stuff any advise is appreciated.


P.S. I do want to be faster than the 68 gto and 72 gran torino at my school lol
 
It sounds like you understand the basics. A cam can help along with the headers/duel exhaust & 4bbl intake. After that you can look at gearing. I refer to the rear end gearing as it will assist you in getting going quicker. The main draw back of changing gears is higher RPM's at speed. As for beating the goat & torino, you will need to know what they have under the hood first and then decide if you can afford to out do them.
 
well the gto has a 400 and from what i hear its worked so i can live with that. but as for the torino its my best friends and it has a 351 cleveland with a 2bbl carb and intake,open rear(we make fun of his 1 tire fryer burnouts), full interior, and his tool box in the trunk lol. and the only performance part that has gone on the car is a set of hedman headers wich i helped put on it. and he says that hes going 13's but hes full of it im saying more like 16's cause it weighs like 4000 pounds.
 
The Torino should be no problem spanking, but those GTO 400 small block's can open up a can of whoop *** on you real quick.

I say find a buddy with some good engine building skills and build yourself a nice 360.
 
I'm by no means an engine guy but if you can afford it I would pick up a nice little cam and an intake manifold with something like a 650 4b. Next I would get a set of hooker comp headers. you should be around a grand if parts are new, then look into gears. See if you can find a 4dr or something that has a 323 8 1/4. The 8 1/4 is an under rated rear and should hold up to the 360. Remember used parts are just as good as new parts most of the time, and a heck of a lot cheaper!
 
yeah i know those 400's can run cause my dad has a 74 firebird with a 400 and hes running low 12's all motor with a full interior on drag radials and the torino keeps saying hes faster just for the reason that my headers are gonna be a pain to put on. so im just waiting til i finish the duster and get it on the road to prove my point to him lol. and all the advise is appreciated. so i think im gonna go with the headers then the intake and 4bbl.
 
res1vw21 said:
I'm by no means an engine guy but if you can afford it I would pick up a nice little cam and an intake manifold with something like a 650 4b. Next I would get a set of hooker comp headers. you should be around a grand if parts are new, then look into gears. See if you can find a 4dr or something that has a 323 8 1/4. The 8 1/4 is an under rated rear and should hold up to the 360. Remember used parts are just as good as new parts most of the time, and a heck of a lot cheaper!
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That is what I would do right there. Then there are other ways to get your car going faster. One good and free way is to loose some weight. If you don't need it get rid of it. It you need it can you lighten it up some? This will help some and like I said. IT IS FREE!!!
 
maybe race him and see what he can do then you can range what you need done to beat him?
 
yea i pulled the whole interior outand my dad was saying that we should get it mini tubbed but i dont really know if i want to put that big of a tire in the back yet. cause i want to see if i will need bigger tires with what im gonna do to the motor first.
 
well one day i was in my dads chevy duramax 4 door long bed (6000 lbs) which has an exhaust,cold air intake and the mini edge power box and had him handled easily and that doesnt run faster than a 15.5 i dont think
 
o then a intake cam and headers and your good.. The summit headers are not that hard to install I did them in like 6hrs becasue I dident know what to do, And I went to MAnual steering at the same time
 
cause he has a full frame and a duster doesnt and he also has alot more interior than i do, he also has a big block 351, and a 360 is a small block for plymouth right? so theres more weight once i can get the car inspected its on.
 
Simple build, CompXE268H or Lunati Voodoo 262-268, LD340/RPM/Air Gap, 750 holley carb, headers and a decent ignition. Should make 320-350hp and decent broad torque numbers

That set up in your car could push it in the 102-104 range in the 1/4. That speed has the potential for a high 12's time hooking up with decent gearing.
 
I'd change the cam to a similar cam as the MoPar purple shafts 292/.509 and mill the heads for a decent ratio. Then get a converter and 4.-10's and whoop him.

Watch them Poncho's, they make mad torque and if it's used effectivley......
 
I agree that the Torino is no problem. He's full of crap saying it will run in the 13's. I'd say 16's if he's lucky. I know cause I grew up with a buddy that had exactly that and it was a dog. The GTO could be a whole different story. When I was right out of high school I had a 72 Grand Prix that weighed 4000 with me in it and was a low compression 400 but was the HO engine for that year. It had a very mild Crane cam, aluminum intake with 750 carb., headers, a stock converter and stock peg leg 3.08 rearend and still broke into the 13's so I know those Poncho's can be made to run good. That said the GTO is the real challenge. A mild cam like the ones Crackedback mentioned along with a good intake like an Air-gap, headers, 2,500 stall, trans-go shift kit, and some 3.55~3.91 gears will make a dramatic difference. Without going deep into the engine and raising the compression and port work on the heads that's probably your best bet to giving the GTO a whoopin. JMHO
 
On a budget, I did a 360 a while back that ran real strong for low, low bucks. Here's what I ran:

Mopar .430 lift 260 duration. (For comparison, the '68 340 ran, i believe, a .430 lift and 268 duration) Carter Competition Series AFB and standard 360 heads with decent springs and hardened exhaust seats. Ran great with an untouched bottom end.

You don't want to run a monster cam in the thing without increasing compression. Your cylinder pressure will be too low. But, if you did a complete tear down and rebuild, you can make some compression and run a bigger cam.
 
thanks every one for the input here are some pic of the motor so brace your selves its not pretty

motor 1.jpg


motor 2.jpg


motor with out cleaner.jpg


motor left side.jpg


motor right side.jpg


2 bbl.jpg


2 bbl top.jpg


641.jpg


642.jpg


646.jpg
 
A little work with a pressure washer will help a lot. The only thing I see that is a big problem - the inner fenders near the hood hinges. It's a chore to fix that.

Are you eliminating the a/c, or will you make it work again?
 
i would like to have the a/c but the last owner must have wanted to fast but be really hot cause he ripped everything out and he butchered the inside of the dash but i didnt get any pics of that. yea i was going to power wash the whole car but it got a little cold out to do that in pa in december lol. and if i really hit the whole car it would peel that knock off hemi orange right off of the car and return the car to the original white.
 
res1vw21 said:
I would pick up a nice little cam and an intake manifold with something like a 650 4b. Next I would get a set of hooker comp headers. you should be around a grand if parts are new, then look into gears. See if you can find a 4dr or something that has a 323 8 1/4. The 8 1/4 is an under rated rear and should hold up to the 360. Remember used parts are just as good as new parts most of the time, and a heck of a lot cheaper!
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Best advice you could get right here^. Just make sure your ingnition and wires are up to date and a good set of tires and brakes for all the new speed and you should be able to show them what old school mopar is all about.

a 650 carb is all you need or you will over carb it. A well designed dual exahust off of exhaust manifolds has worked for years but if you wan tto bust some knuckles and learn words you never knew, go with headers. flush and paint that radiator, get rid of the paper weight AC unit - its a muscle car, roll down the windows!
 
well we were more worried about the body and rust since the motor and all is fine and in running order but the body is another story so most of this will happen after the body gets fixed.
 
Rust is natures way of lightening your car for better et's!
 
yea what are your plans for the cars body? you doin the bodywork yourself, or is someone else? colour ideas???
 
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