Mopar 360 Build on a $2,500 Budget

A few like Mopar muscle machines. You're gonna love today's horsepower

just like we love this bright orange 72 duster.

When Plymouth introed this car in 1970 some guys called it the working Man's hot rod.

The base price was just a test

over 2500 bucks.

But if you stepped up and got a 340 small block in yours, well, you had yourself a road rascal that could dust away Camaros and mustangs.

Look what we just put together.

1969 Dodge Poleo

500 part beauty

part luxury

part performance,

all excitement.

The 318 was one of four L A series engines that powered factory mo

bars starting in the mid sixties,

a lighter version of the A engine. Hence the name L A.

They were efficient, durable and fairly powerful small blocks found in A B and C body dodges in Plymouth.

The superstar of the family was the 340

high, low heads, big ports

and a six barrel option were reasons. They often called it the hemi

of the small blocks.

340 only had a six year production run thanks in part to a successor. That came along in 1971 the bigger 360

it got most of the 340 performance parts and enjoyed a much longer production run.

And it was a popular option for cars like the duster in 1974.

However, since a factory horsepower free fall was just around the corner,

the 360 never got the respect of the 340.

Today, we want to change that

since they had a production run of 30 years. Boneyard three sixties are still really easy to find like this one that we recently had a machine for our budget build up. Now it's also easy to identify what block you've got by simply looking at the casting number on the outside of it.

Another cool feature about these blocks castings are that all the three eighteens, three forties and three sixties are made of a high nickel alloy. Now, that's the same material that other manufacturers only use in their special race blocks.

Recently, we built some low budget versions of classic Ford and Chevy engines. Well, this time, this low money Mopar is going together with most of the original parts, but like this cast crank that was standard in all the factory three sixties.

Now it's got a 358 stroke, it's externally balanced and well over the years, these things have proven to be tough enough to handle the abuse of Super stock racing.

Pistons for the 360 are also cast and the Fords connecting rods measure 6.123 center to center, which is also the same for the 318 and the 340. Now you might wonder how can the 360 use the same length with a longer 3.58 inch stroke? Well, the answer is in the piston which is shorter and also the lightest, unlike the other L A series engines that use floating pins. These are a press fit design.

Our 360 uses a flat tap at hydraulic cam shaft which gets us to a interesting quirk in the moors

oiling system.

The push rides are solid with no oiling hole in the middle of them. So how is the oil gonna get to the top of the valve train?

Oil is fed from the number four main to this number four journal in the can which has a through hole.

And from here it's forced up through an oil gally

and because of the odd shape of the rocker shaft bolt hole, here it goes past the bolt and through this large hole in the rocker shaft. And thanks to the smaller holes, well, the rockers and push rods get fed plenty of oil a little weird but it works.

The cam is a direct replacement with a basic operating range of 2000 to 4500 RPM. S duration is 218 and 228 at 50 thousands lift with a max lift of 441

this timing chain, oiling tab attaches to the thrust plate which keeps the cam in place.

And by the way, we're using a double roller. Our cam and these lifters came as a kit from summit racing.

The L A engines used two different cylinder heads. The small part which was used on the 318 and the large port, which was used on the 3 43 60. But there's two different versions of the large ports. 372 used a 202 valve on the intake side and a 160 on the exhaust. Later 72 used a 188 with a 160 exhaust valve also. So let's see what we've got.

And that lets us know we have 72 and later heads,

we'll finish our budget bill after the break.

Meanwhile, we're just loaded with Duster Trivia today.

In addition to the 3 43 60 dusters, did you know other models came along with names like the gold duster, the silver duster, the space duster, the duster twister

and this one ought to tickle you

the feather duster. No lie.

We'll be right back.

Very funny.

They are,

we're back, but the mo part is gone.

The dusters off to a car show to chase down another trophy

and we're gonna finish off our budget 360 build. Now earlier Joe showed you how the oiling system works in this engine. The next step is to drop in the solid push rods,

just like in the old days, we're using stamp steel rockers loaded onto the original one piece shaft. Now, since the rocker ratio is 1.5 to 1, the valve tip moves farther than the push rod tip on the arm itself. For example, if the tapping and push rod tip move upward 400 1000th of an inch, then the valve tip will go downward 600 thousands.

Now we can bolt up the stock timing cover with the water pump as an assembly.

And for dyno purposes, a fuel pump,

walk off plate for budget minded induction. We're going with this win and stealth high rise. Now it's got a broad power band from idle to 6800 RPM.

If you're building your first Mopar

360 you see this big gap here, you might be saying to yourself, hey, I got the wrong intake. Well, no, you didn't.

It's a design feature with a useful purpose. You see there's a closed channel under the intakes EGR and these gaps allow some of the heat that builds up in the intake to escape

back on the bottom end. We can handle the three sixties oiling system first with an oil pump and pick up assembly followed by the pan which are all Mopar stock replacements.

By the way here and throughout the bill reviews kinetic gaskets.

This was the first for us connecting a Mopar small block to our DTs

dyno

fortunately, it went on with few modifications and pretty much like any other small block we've had in here

and like every hydraulic flat tap, it's set up a

good break in. Period is a must.

Hey, remember those oil holes we showed you in the rocker shafts. Well, now you can see how effective this tried and true system is for quickly lubing the rocker

for budget minded engine feeding. We went with a 600 CFM street strip car from Summit racing

and one of their electronic mobile

distributors

to evacuate the exhaust gasses. A set of hooker competition headers with inch and a half primaries

leading to 2.5 inch collectors.

I think. I know why it's running so smooth.

I think it's that the rocker shaft or what? I think it's those really shiny pulleys

despite all the glare, we ran the engine for 20 minutes at various RPM. Now, let's find out what our conservative combination really makes.

We got a bus 300 on this thing.

Yeah.

Remember the stock 360 was factory rated at 255

370 ft pounds of torque. 295 horsepower.

Yes.

Not a bad start. Now, let's see what Mike and his neck for timing can do.

Let's try it again like this and see where it takes

us. It's

time

that

no, I, I actually backed it off just in here.

73 81

3 81.

Of

torque. That is really good. 3800 RP OS got 381 ft pound.

Look at the torque curve on this thing straight up, flat level across and down right in the operating range of the camshaft. And the power is just nice, steady ramp all the way up. No drops or dips just real consistent.

Can't beat that. No.

Very nice.

Of course, we're galley nice is not good enough changing the timing and tiny increments. He's determined to squeeze a few more ponies out of this 360 before we hang it up

and persistence has a payoff. A grand total of 314 horsepower

power is just a really nice flat curve. No hiccups, no dips. Well, you couldn't ask for anything more on. No, that's, that's a good little deal right there.

So this little motor would be good in a truck, heavy passenger car, your duster and all that

all around. Good moat,

that little motor and this is just a stock, but we still got a performance deal.

Ah, that's gonna be fun.

Yeah. Now

that ain't bad for a little small block that's now making more horsepower and torque than it ever did in its heyday. And soon we bring it back for a performance build up.

Well, stay tuned for a surprise visit with a racer who's one of the rudest, most obnoxious vile, foul mouthed.

He's also a good friend of mine too. Stay with us.

It's outlaw racing time on horsepower and we're not here to cover an event. Exactly. We're here checking out a new class one that's hotter than sun lotion at a new discount. Automatic promo

Pro

mods are the fastest door slammer race cars in the world.

Any size engine, just about any power adder in a car running on any size tire

in

Oska's version as the name of WS

Automatic Pro Mod. The only, no, no is a clutch

difference in them. Power wise. I mean,

some of these beasts produce

as much, maybe even a little more as some of those cars. They're in a class where they're competitive with each other

and they're not coming out gunned. I mean, any car this weekend that's on this track could win this race.

One definite contender is Dennis Jordan.

He's already run his blown hemi

executioner vet in the high threes on an eight mile strip

and we always said that one good pass in one of these cars could cure cancer.

Jordan's engine is an air style

hemi more commonly seen in tractor pull vehicles.

And unlike most automatic Pro

mod drivers, he uses a power glide to transfer the power and a lot of guts to stay in the group.

He kind of got a total package. You know, he, he's good on the tree. He's one heck of a driver.

You know, we used to drive him and I rotated,

I drove one week and the next race he drove.

And finally I said, man, you're a lot better drive than I am. You might as well start doing all the driving. We kind of race each, each lap like it, whether it be John Force or, or whoever, you know

them all serious because anybody could win at any time in this kind of racing. No surprise finding a racer like Dennis here.

What did surprise me was finding the driver of this pro mod Nitrous Camaro,

an old

friend, a racing legend and

all around. Nice guy.

How often, how long you gonna stay around here? I got a lot of stuff to do and I go on,

well, Tony Christian and I go way back to the mid nineties when he and his 57 Chevy personified the pro street racing class.

Now, the ever sarcastic king of street is back racing. An automatic promo.

Yeah, I got an 820 in here. This thing should run good.

The last time out with the car was the first time with this motor

and that kind of a, it should go a lot faster than what I'm going with. I'm doing a lousy job. See, I gotta wait

back down for the first session. I don't know how good this track is.

I hope it's good

because then I'm gonna throw some fire to it. We'll see,

man. I'm glad I'm glad to see you're still doing it. We'll see.

Come back if I do good if I don't do good. You know, the old routine. Stay the hell away from me.

See you later, Joe

in his first qualifying shot. Tony's modest tune was good enough for a 418 at 100 and 89 miles an hour.

Then in round two, he lays down a ferocious 406 to leave the qualifying pack.

Well, Dennis was having a little trouble executing a comparable pass in the executioner vet. It's all fuel and uh

and, and

air to make these things run and we just don't have enough air today. So, uh it's, uh

it's a big learning curve and it's uh sending us back to school. We're gonna make a fully change and try to increase a little bit of boost on the motor and hopefully that'll work. Tony came out last night and proved that uh

he can lay the smack down with that nitrous car.

Tony has a, a way of talking, but always seems to back it up.

That's why

thank my mom who died,

who left me a little bit of money. I've been using that.

She could see what I'm using it for. She'd die.

Christian's win hopes are alive and well, despite the fact that here in the pits, he's doing most of the work alone in the old days, you'd have people begging to go to the races with you. Now, it's,

well, how much you're gonna pay me? Well,

the hell with you, you wanna go to the races with me?

I

think you should pay me. That's how I look at it

no matter how you look at it. This guy is one of the best ever,

check out this 408 solo elimination run.

It's like he's riding on rails,

but beware of a Dane jackass's last kick. I'm not done yet.

Unfortunately, Dennis Jordan was done by a round two of eliminations.

Ne

Pro was winning round two and this semifinal match on his way to the finals

and a match up with one of his many old rivals, Steve Kirk.

Well, here they go sing up for the last run of the weekend

and oh no, Tony Christian red lights handing the wind to Curtis.

Yeah. Well, I was waiting for him and I wanted to just come in and hammer him

and when I came in

one little through fire,

hold

on, we had tuned up a little bit for that run with him because

he didn't win an 08 1st round today. So

we

step it up a little bit.

Well, you can bet on one thing though. As always, Tony Christian will be back. I'm not gonna let

a redneck beat me two times in a row.

You know, hey, you gotta remember something. A broken clock is right two times a day.

Ok. That's his time.

Mustang owners are impressive. As soon as they buy a new ride, they can't wait to get aftermarket parts put on it. Well, if you own a 2010 model, you don't have to wait any longer for an after market exhaust system. Cherry bomb just released their GT axle back system that has the most aggressive sound ever. It has

features like manual bent tubing,

aluminized powder coated construction with massive four inch steel tips. Now they claim 4 to 5 horsepower at the rear wheels and as far as the price tag, I don't think you can blow the back tires off fast enough to get somewhere to pick one up at

275 bucks.

You don't have to spend a ton of money to put a monster transmission behind your motor. In fact, monster transmission and performance has a complete line of transmission converter packages

like this one for the four L 60 E major engines that produce up to 650 horsepower. Now

each comes with a long list of upgraded internal parts and even brand new electronics.

They road test each transmission before they ship it to you. Oh, and speaking of that,

they'll ship it to you absolutely free. Which is pretty rare these days. Prices vary starting at just over a grand

when you think about antifreeze protection, cooling systems come first to mind. But what about your fuel system?

Water in your system can cause gas line freeze up as well as rust and corrosion. A

bottle of iso

heat with your next fill up can remove harmful water while also cleaning your fuel injectors or carburetor

works in all engines and it's designed for year round use

if you've got work to do in tight places. Matco tools has the answer for you. Check out their new slim line 88 tooth ratchet. Now, the high number of teeth allow for shorter ratchet throws while allowing maximum rotation on the nut or bolt you're working with. They come in either green or orange handles. Next. How about a palm size tool for special grinding jobs? This is their two inch mini grinder that has a rubber sleeve to reduce vibration

and side exit exhaust for better motor efficiency

to check out more information on these tools and many others just get a hold of your local macro distributor. You know where to find us right here next week for another episode of horsepower.