Intake ?

[VetteKilla]

I have a 360 block and I want more torque and better gas milage. I currently have a 600 CFM Edelbrock intake and carb and I am sick of it.

I have heard that for more low end torque I should put on the 318 intake, should I?

I heard that Dodge trucking enthusiasts do this quite freqently is this true?

I live in the city and am looking for more low end torque for milage reasons and I am not concerned with top end at all.

[6 packin]

Forget about the 318 intake. It will kill the power, although it would make good botom end power, but loose its grunt fairly quickly too. A Edelbrock Performer RPM or Air gap is the hot ticket for your setup.....bar none,It has a great flat power range. Like the stock 4 barrel intakes but with way more power all around. It will not effect drivablity what so ever. And if you ever deside to upgrade your engine for power mods, like high compression, bigger cams etc. you will have the perfect street intake. Oh dont worry, the resale on those intakes are awsome. You can get shed of it quickly and get back most of your money. That intake will work good on any engine with the correct carb. From a bone stock 273 to a hot street 440.

[holshotbb]

push the compression up with the Mopar thin gaskets and a minor cut on the head say .016.That ll push the tirque and power as well as combustion effecency.Make sure the distributer is recurved for best overall effect.

[dwc43]

The best intake set up is the Weiand action plus with the 800 Thermoquad. This intakes creats lots of low end with out a major sacrefice in top end.

The carb will run on smaller barrels than any holley,afb,etc. etc. This is where you will get the millage from. And when those big sec. barrells kick in the off line throttle response is out of this world. Pulls much harder than any holley I ever used. That's why we use them on all our short track cars to get that pull off the corners. Them chebby guys just can't figure it out. The tq is simple and easier to adjust than any other carb too. Can't go wrong with this set up.

The air gap and rpm wont gove you any extra torque over this combo. Those are more mid to highr range intakes. The 318 intake is a no no. It can produce some very low end throttle response, but kills the engine in so amy ways and mpg will suffer not pick up.

[1972roadrunner]

ever thought about fuel injection from a newer 360 (5.9)?? minus the smog stuffs of course... thats one way you could go... heads, and intake/injection, computer from a newer vehicle.. probably not the easiest thing to setup, and it'll probably beat your wallet a little, but that should give you better mileage than a carb....

[rumblefish360]

VetteKilla;

Can I have your current running engine combo as to make a closer look into this.
I did manage to get 20 mpg's out of a 360 in a 3600+lbs. Dodge Magnum. (It's a car, not a truck)
And it was done without headers. (Never got the chance.)

72 RR, good idea, but I would keep the smog stuff sinnce the engine and computer were designed to run with it. I would remove whats not needed, when I figured that out.
I also agree, the RPM is a hot inatke, a tad much maybe for this MPG exercise.

[1972roadrunner]

hmm...well in that case... thats what i love about my carb, i can change stuffs, then do a little adjustment and it's done. plus, i don't have to worry bout a crappy catylitic converter...

my dad used to run a type of injection (i can't remember) on his sprint car that used runners for each cylinder, and it was used with open headers - of course. only problem though, it was a chebbie engine... 400 small boatanchor with a 350 crank (used bearing spacers...) made a mean stroker...

[rumblefish360]

Yes, A 377, A destroked 400 with a 350 crank. Comp cams makes the spacers as a few other places. A high reving combo.

[pishta]

Try and find a SP2P intake and port match the runners. This intake has pencil thin runners for max velocity and torque, and itll take that 4bbl too. Getting a RPM with bigger runners will kill the low end with the same cam.

[ajmopar]

I have run an SP2P on a small block before, and I wouldn't reccomend it for anything other than a stationary irrigation pump or a tractor. If you want ANY performance, avoid it. It makes max torque really low, which is nice, but it falls on it's face at about 3500-4000 rpm, like badly. I would reccomend the Weiand Action Series, or if you're looking to step up to a bigger cam and headers in the future the Weiand Stealth manifold. A great piece.

[pishta]

AJmopar, I was kinda thinking this is a city car with no reason to get past 4000. with hiway gears that is like 80 anyway.

[VetteKilla]

Thanks for all the input guys/gals.

Here's what I am running.

Stock 360, AT,Vacuum advance & mechanical advance distributor rebuilt, 40,000 v coil and ignition module for dwell, Performer edelbrock intake and 600 CFM matching carb. I suspect a slighty bigger cam but this is how I bought the truck.

Remember I want better gas milage in the city.

[amxauto-x]

Go to a stock cam or a stock 318 cam. My van 360, works great with that intake and 600 Edelbrock carb.

[rumblefish360]

This is what I did to the Magnum.

Installed a '73 340 air cleaner. This has a trap door in the base. But an open element should prove better. K&N inside.
New Carter 625 carb. Wish I had a T-Q.
Stock 4bbl intake.
Torque + gaskets. (Low RPM useage only.)
Dual exhaust off the exhaust manifolds.
(Headers WILL prove better.)
The exhaust was a mandrel bent set of pipes with and "H" connecting them.
(Due to new emmisions laws in N.Y. state et the time, I equiped the car with dual cats. The car was subject to a video camera and a tread mill run. Couldn't find a soul who would cheat the system then.)
Simple Thrush turbo mufflers. Pipes ran to the bumper.
An MSD system complete.
I gapped the plugs @ .050. This is where the engine performed best.

For city driving, a change in gear ratio could help. Although changing gear ratios isn't cost effective, changing tire height can help.
What you want to achive here is getting the car/truck to leave the line easier. As so not to have the engine struggle or work hard in moving the weight of the vehicle.
Also, if you drive the car in it's peak torque at cruise, the engine is working at it's least while giving you the most.
I know that sound like an impossible thing to figure out.
For me, in the Magnum, driving the car into work (about 50 miles round trip to the click of the tenth) , I would cruise at 60-65 in it's hi torque area. To achive this, I reduced my tire size from 205-15/75 to 235/60/15, a reduction of 1 inch. The speedo was off by 2.5 MPH showing faster. This changed the effective gear ratio to 2.90 from 2.76. It was only a few RPM's, but it put the car at 60-65 instead of being closer to 70.
This little change helped.
Since your in stop and go traffic, a higher gear ratio would help seeing cruise's are short. Working the engine up and down in RPM alot will waste gas in a low numeric ratio.
This sounds silly, but a shift kit will help. The faster a tranny shifts into gear, the less power is wasted. Trannys also like quick shift. Keeps them cooler and happier.
Sytheics (sp) If your car doesn't leak, use'em. Engine , tranny and rear.

[sixpackgut]

i have to agree with dwc43. the thermoquad is a great carb for full economy. i wish my dakota got as good gas milage as all the newports i used to drive. my last newport i had ran 14.90s and got good gas milage. that car used to make guys in monte carlo ss crazy.

[VetteKilla]

Thanks for straightning me out fellow enthusiasts.

I will make the required adjustments and keep you's all informed, Thanks again.

[Jacksdad]

You're right about Thermoquads, six pack. If you can resist the urge to exercise your right foot, the primaries will give you great gas mileage and throttle response. And besides, what other (cheap and rebuildable) 850cfm vacuum secondary 4bbl carb are you going to find lying in wrecking yards these days? And that banshee howl as they go on to the secondaries ....

[92whitedak]

72RR: Thats called an "Individual Runner Intake" system. Huge torque/hp down low and very quick throttle resonce. Moon and Hillborn both make these types of intakes. I prices a custom sheetmetal type for an individual runner system and was quoted 4750 from Wilson Intakes... thats just for a nicely, properly bent piece of aluminum. Way out of my reach, atleast right now.

-Fox