Rebuilding A Junkyard Mopar 360 With Minimal New Parts - 440 horsepower for $1500??

[Sam69sat]

I'm calling B.S. on this. Finding a high performance used 360 engine with aluminum heads, carb, performance cam, not blown up for $475???? Maybe once in a lifetime but these guys make it seem like you just go to craiglist and buy one just like that. Add a $1000 buck for engine paint, new bearings, and a carb and you have a cheap 440 horsepower engine. If any of you know where i can find an engine like that for less than $500 let me know. I'll buy them all day long.

 

[tmaleck]

I think this is from 2013

 

[Sam69sat]

I think this is from 2013

That could be. Those must have been the glory days where you could go pickup performance engines like pop cans on the side of the road. I'm late to the party as usual.

 

[69Bee]

1) Must have got it from a crack head as a normal person wouldn't sell a motor that cost between $5k to $6k to build for $475...
2) Those are OEM Chrysler cam bearings as ALL of the replacements I have seen and used are not split, but solid. IMHO, they were never replaced the first time
3) They discovered it had a 3.58" stroke?? But I thought they already knew it was a 360???? Chry 360 Bore 4.000" Stroke 3.580"
4) New main bolts, but they look like old OEM to me!
5) What Mopar aficionado doesn't know that Mopar was derived from "Motor Parts Division"

I guess it wouldn't be impressive enough to actually do this to a "real" junkyard 360 they found at a swap meet, so they probably pulled it from the back room, or one of their friends needed their engine freshened up for free. I agree, I call BS too...

 

[rumblefish360]

Cost prices are old. This is an old episode.
I still call BS on a few things. But the idea is still there and very doable today. Start with a 5.9 Magnum engine.

The path I took was:

My daughters wrecked ‘00 Durango = Free 5.9
340 trap door air cleaner, you use whatever you want, but, this was a decades old buy @ $60. I used a K&N filter.
Internet found 600 AFB and rebuild kit. $250 done deal.
Lokar throttle and trans kick down cable set up.
(Price not remembered)
Edelbrock rpm intake and gaskets.
Hooker Super Comp headers @ 1-3/4 into 2-1/2 exhaust pipe w/an H pipe and 2 Hooker Aero Chambers. Flow Master B body tail pipes.

No cam has been done to date.
Some prices left out since everything has gone up crazy like in the past few years. The headers were $330 when purchased new. Goggle the Super Comp Hookers (for an E body, they fit perfectly) and see what they get now!
Whoa!

Cam swap can be cheap as swapping out a roller for roller. Or a step backwards and get a FT cam and new P rods. Remember to use hollow pushrods.

Today there are only two head choices available, RPM or TF heads. Add cost of oil through rockers. Or use the OEM heads and get the Hughes engines spring kit for the Magnum head for more valve lift.

 

[MoparRobTX]

Yup they probably actually filmed that in 2012. Powernation YouTube is odd. They put up random old episodes of shows in no real order.

 

[Master Gunner]

Cam swap can be cheap as swapping out a roller for roller. Or a step backwards and get a FT cam and new P rods. Remember to use hollow pushrods.

Flat tappet cams and lifters must be swaped together, or use new lifters. Hollow pushrods are only needed in magnum engines, A engines (and B, RB engines) oil through the rocker shafts.

Mark

 

[rumblefish360]

Thanks, been there done that a few times already.

Flat tappet cams and lifters must be swaped together, or use new lifters. Hollow pushrods are only needed in magnum engines, A engines (and B, RB engines) oil through the rocker shafts.

Mark

 

[Master Gunner]

Wasn't for you, just anyone who didn't know who was reading this, lighten up Francis.

Mark

 

[YY1]

I used to absolutely HATE those all too common magazine "budget" builds where they didn't count the cost of-

the $300 carb and $200 cam we had "laying around" from another build.

...or the "dyno room" headers.

 

[rumblefish360]

lighten up Francis.

LMAO, you assume to much with those words.
I was just sayin, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[62 Dart Convertible]

I agree that in the vid, that was the steal of the century.
In the late 80's I bought a used 360/727 for $500 off a guy at work. Outwardly it had a Holley 600 on a Torker, an Accel dual point dizzy and Edelbrock alloy rocker covers. Inside it was stock bore with Arias forged slugs and thin rings on stock rods, Erson Hi-flow 1H cam and stock heads. It was a total mismatch, used oil and no wonder he pulled it out of his Dodge van and sold it. I sold the short block for $500 and other parts for another $500 and kept a few bits for the motor I built.
Sometimes you get lucky.