Yet again more W2 360 talk

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Sterling said:
I am building a similar engine, 1967 340 block, stock crank and rods, TRW dome pistons, W-2 heads and a Holley intake. I got the short block from a friend awhile ago, it was built years ago and one of the W-2 heads was leaking. So he took the heads and had them repaired, and I got the short block. I got the Crane .600 lift solid lifter cam but no lifters. I sent the block out to get the lifter bores bushed, so I can run a roller cam with the W-2 heads.
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That's really damn close to my story as well. Very very rare and early casting date 360 block (February 11th of 1970) that has the super thick cylinder walls was actually the engine out of my moms childhood family w200 pickup that they used to go camping and do farm chores with. The W2 heads are pieces my grandfather has had since the late 1980s (810 castings), they have sat ever since he got them so they are rusty and need heavy repairing but they are sentimental and go with the build "story" concept. 12:1 TRW forged dome pistons that are NOS and have the heavy duty Direct Connection pins in them. I plan to build the engine to be bulletproof like it's making 800+ HP but only making 600 HP (stud girdle, windage tray, Bryant forged crank, K1 rods, hardened pushrods, Harland Sharpe rockers, etc etc etc.) All of this going into my childhood pickup that I learned how to drive and drive manual in at 5 years old! :thumbsup:

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Christine Picture 3.jpg
 
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What style/type of cams?
Locomotion said:
I ran a 360 W-2 Challenger when I bracket raced regularly. 750 DP on a Holley Strip Dominator, 4-hole space, cams in the .575" range and about 11.5-1 compression. But I footbraked a 727 and weighed about 2,800+ lbs w/driver. Started shifting at 7200, but it ran just as good at 6,800. 5.13 Dana 60 with 14x32 tires. Converter was rated at 4,200, but forgot what it actually flashed to. Ran 10.30's - 50's over the years with a best of 10.22 when I had a template ported set of heads.

Good combo, but I'd watch for cap-walk at higher compressions. I'd strongly suggest a Dana 60 considering the weight and the stick...edit...with a Pro gear & possibly 40 spline axles if you will race it a lot!
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Just because you have an early block doesn't mean it has thick cylinder walls. That's a myth, at best. SONIC CHECK, SONIC CHECK, SONIC CHECK!!!!
 
Roller cam for sure, IMO you're not getting to 600 hp easily with a flat tappet cam.

I had a 340/W2 combo a few years ago. It was OK, car usually ran 12.0 at around 3,200 lbs. This was stock stroke 340 with TRW "pop up" pistons and a solid flat tappet cam, the old Mopar Performance purple shaft .528" 241/241 @ .050". The W2's were older 810-castings with open chambers. They were "cleaned up" but I wouldn't say they were "ported" and just had 2.02 valves. Intake was a Victor W2, not ported and a 750 double pumper. This was a 7,000-7,200 rpm combo. There was not much torque off the line. it was fun on the street but a little lazy at the track with a 1.75 60 ft. It needed gears (4.30+) and a good converter.

At one point I tried switching to a ported Strip Dominator with an 850 TQ. It looked cool but it never ran right. Part of it was that the motor was tired and generally vacuum was under 10" which may have had something to do with it. I do think the intake may have been too much for the TQ. In my mind the TQ was never designed to run on a single plane with a large plenum. Plus it's only a single fuel inlet. Maybe it could have worked with more tuning but I tried for a while and gave up.

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Here is the W2 Strip Dominator. Had the carb flange opened up, would have swallowed anything. It was a good intake. Probably should have kept it but I sold it with all my W2 stuff at Carlie a few years ago.
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Plenum.
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rumblefish360 said:
What style/type of cams?
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From what I remember (This was through the '80's & '90's), it included Cam Dynamics .575/.575, Mopar .571, & some similar Crower grinds. All solid lifter and I believe the ones with the same in./ex. lifts, ground 106* centers and advanced 2*-4* worked best in my particular application.
 
79410aspenrt said:
Solid flat tappet cams perform better the most people think.:popcorn:
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Exactly what I was saying above knowing his goals. The expense of a roller is not needed IMO, but far from it for me to stop a guy from doing what he wants to do. He wants to do a roller, well by GOD do a roller, I really really DGAF. Locomotion has provided the proof and worth of a solid flat tappet.

Now the weight of the truck….. would not have me copy cat his cam. But weight difference going on here.
 
My little 340” W2 headed SFT cam engine has run in the 9’s without to much effort.

the same heads and SFT cam ran 10.20 with a stock bottom end 360”.

the proof is out there. But most people don’t wanna take note cause it’s not a 4” stroker with aluminum heads and a roller cam.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Now the weight of the truck….. would not have me copy cat his cam. But weight difference going on here.
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When you say that, would you expand on it? I'm curious as to what you mean. (not in a rude way)
 
How much more does the truck weigh vs Locomotions drag duster which he listed as 3,000lbs.
 
Might wanna think about the cam your putting into a vehicle that’s 700lbs. heavier.

Or the whole package for that matter.
 
gagembassett said:
I'm thinking of running an 850 cfm Thermoquad with 110 octance race fuel on top of this combination. Spice it up and make it a little different than just a Quickfuel or 950 double pumper. How's that sound? Or should I throw all the balls in and just go dominator?
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I run a 360 stroker, W2 Econo heads, Norris Stainless rockers, Comp Cams roller. I run a 1050 dominator. That's the only carb the engine liked.
 
12:1 compression to me is kind of a waste. Let me clarify that a little. If it’s a dedicated drag race engine it’s too low. If it’s a street engine it’s too high. If you have to put race fuel in it anyway why not step it up even more? Pump e85 or even barrels of e90 are relatively cheap compared to 110 or 116 and you can run 14:1 on it NA. Just some thoughts.
 
TT5.9mag said:
12:1 compression to me is kind of a waste. Let me clarify that a little. If it’s a dedicated drag race engine it’s too low. If it’s a street engine it’s too high. If you have to put race fuel in it anyway why not step it up even more? Pump e85 or even barrels of e90 are relatively cheap compared to 110 or 116 and you can run 14:1 on it NA. Just some thoughts.
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I had a W2 360 with 12.5:1 and a 270ish solid roller in my 73 340 Dart Sport 4sp . It ran awesome ! Actually felt stronger than my current stroker ( although I have yet to really stand on the stroker) but TT5.9 is right . I had to suppliment with race fuel and it was a bit herkyjerky with the 4sp. I swapped in a 904 with a 3800 stall and that tamed it a bit . But boy that puppy revved QUICK ! I had to set the rev limiter to 7500 cuz it would hit 8k in a heartbeat !
 
I have thought about having the heads welded up to be closed chamber when I send them in to be repaired. (Now I realize 100% that I can just buy new heads for way cheaper but the whole point of this build is to use sentimental parts I have so that's why I am going the route I am on) maybe with the welded up close chambers I could reached 12.5:1 or even 13:1? Thoughts?
 
With the swept volume of a stock stroke 360 you’d probably have to have a custom piston made, but that would likely save you from having to weld up a good chamber. You’d have to build it tight and stick the piston out of the hole to get there AND have your **** together as far as machining goes, but it can be done.
 
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