Xe268 cammed 360 and very light body

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ValerianMagnum

the little car that could
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Friend of mine is selling me 78 360 standard bore all new gaskets , bearings , rings and new lifters and cam, double roller timing chain and holley 650 cfm carb douple pumper with a 1" spacer and headers , it was in a 71 charger , 360 ran very good : i wanted to put 440 but im very limited with my budget at the moment and im sure a nice 2000 stall 904 trans and a 360 that has maybe 350hp in a light 2 500 1969 valiant would be fun , i cant upgrade the major components right now but a ratty 350 hp valiant should be fun , wanted more power but theres not much left in the wallet right now , rear end will be next , any tips to upgrade the 360 , tought about a super cheap ebay turbo or a cheap moded 3.8 supercharger or even a tunnel ram , youre opinions guys ; car is more a test mule to have fun with my little cousins and try stuff , that need to be streetable of course / not a track car only

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Run it and don't look back. Plenty of power for a light A! You'll still have traction issues.....You can put a heavy 440 in it but I dont think it will be any quicker.
 
Could use more convertor. At least a 2500 with that cam. 3000 would be my pick. What rear gear and tire size will make a big different as well.
 
You have the "car" engine mounts, pan and p/u tube to convert this? Engine mounts in pic looks like it was in a truck.
 
You have the "car" engine mounts, pan and p/u tube to convert this? Engine mounts in pic looks like it was in a truck.
It was in a truck before being rebuild , after being redone it was in my friend's charger ; i have everything to make it fit , my green valiant was born with a 273 and k member is there
 
It was in a truck before being rebuild , after being redone it was in my friend's charger ; i have everything to make it fit , my green valiant was born with a 273 and k member is there
I see u have the 360 balancer but what about the flex plate? 360 is externally balanced and requires a different one than most small blocks.RJ
 
The best bang for the buck is a higher stall converter and rear gears. Couple these items with some good sticky rubber and a suspension that works well.

For the engine itself, stop where you are and ether stick with the plan or create a new one before any more money is spent. Otherwise it’ll get really expensive.

IMO, there is nothing cheap about a turbo even from eBay.

What other components do you have for the engine now?
Intake? Headers?
What is your current gear ratio?
 
Yep just get that engine in and running as-is, it's already fairly 'optimized' as a combination there isn't really one part you can swap out for a big increase. Turbo ain't gonna be cheap unless you're great at fabrication and blower manifolds for SBMs are few and far between. Not to mention I have a Buick 3800 with the M90 blower and those are way too small for a 5.9L V-8; the biggest blower Eaton made was the M112 which is still borderline on a warmed-up 360, those are ideal for 4.5-5.5L engines. Funny video on YouTube of Richard Holdener testing either a 4.8L or 5.3L LS with a M90 supercharger and it killed a TON of HP. You can technically spin them faster with a smaller pulley but they become less efficient (makes more heat for the amount of boost provided).

I agree with putting a good converter in it and proper gearing, those will have the biggest effect by far on how the engine performs in the car. 350 HP in a 2,500-lb car is quite a bit anyway, do the math that's almost the same HP/weight ratio as a new Hellcat Challenger! A 360 will live forever at that power level too, you can beat on it all day and it'll just keep asking for more.
 
I have headers for it , goal is 2 500 pounds or less , im a big fan of removing weight and my duster we dropped 300+ pounds 12 years ago in the build : i know its sounds funny but i just didnt want to spend money and have an slow & ugly stupid looking car , already it look like **** , at least a strong and fast driver that looks shitty sounds better to me ahahha
 
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