Had a thought for hopping up my 360

[dartswinger74]

I have a 360 in my dart with a solid bottom end. Low miles since rebuilt. My problem lies in the valvetrain area. Stock heads stosk valve springs cheap 340 repro cam and lifters.

Anyway Im thinking of installing a crane energizer 284 cam. But Im afraid the low compression in this thing isnt going to work out.
So here is the thought I had. Open up the valve seats in a set of closed chamber 318 heads to the stock 360 valve size. (If im not mistaken the 360 is 1.88 and 1.60 and the 318 is 1.78 and 1.58)

There has been a lot of talk about htese heads lately and since I have a set laying around I thought it may be worth a try.

Will the ports be large enough to flow for the 360. Or can I open them up enough.

Any rough idea how much this will up the compression.

Am I better off milling my 360 heads.

[rumblefish360]

I have thoughts all day on doing 360's. (Ha ha ha)

Stay with the 360 heads and install 2.02 valves. The 318 head has skinny ports that will hurt flow/power. The 318 shows good improvment with 360 heads. 318 heads on a 360 is going backwards.
Mill your heads a bit to meet the comp. requirements.

Skip over the Crane cam. I'm preety much on the thinking page of getting custom cams for your engine. For a few pennys more, you can get a custom ground cam for your set up.
Reason being is allmost every manufacturer of cams will use a lobe that is not going to take advantage of your larger liffter.
Crane and other cam makers grind there cams with the same lobe on different sticks to fit other engines. This lobe is smaller than what a Chevy can handle. This is bad since a Chevy has the smallest liffter. MoPar and AMC have the largest liffter.
The larger the liffter, the larger, more aggresive the cam can be @ .050 duration. More duration at .050, the same or small duration on the advertised side.
The bottom line, this could mean an easy 15-20 HP on a street ride. This is where your at right? Nevermind the race engine gains.
These larger , more agersive cam lobes can be custom ordered by Crane, Comp etc... If you know what your looking for.

Confused on what to order? Call Racer Brown. Look up top in the phone book post.

[dartswinger74]

Thanks rumblefish.
That is kind of what I thought abou the ports. But I was itching to use those heads I have laying around.
I do agree that a custom ground cam is in most cases much better for your money. But in this case the cam and lifters are FREE and Im just trying to get this thing back together so I can drive it while I work on my big block.

What do you think of these cam specs guys. Maybe to radical for my wimpy street car.

112 lobe seperation
480 lift
228 duration @50 degrees

[rumblefish360]

Well, with the little info given;

112 lobe seperation is good for broad torque and low comp. engines. Low comp engines benefit from a wider lobe seperation to build compersion.

.480 lift. Low lift cam. Low horse power engine. Easy on springs.

228 duration @ .050 this info with the advertised duration of 284 makes this a lazy cam.

Here is a cam to compare from Comp Cams.
280 Adv. 230 @ .050 w/.480 lift on a 110.
This cam has more punch and peaker top end.
Less advertised duration, more duration @ .050 makes this a larger cam in the same power band.

Now, a MoPar cam;
280 adv. dur, 238 @ .050 w/ .480 lift on a 110

[dartswinger74]

Originally posted by rumblefish360
228 duration @ .050 this info with the advertised duration of 284 makes this a lazy cam.

Lazy as in bottom end? Maybe Ill have to pass up the freebie no sense in making this thing a dog off the line

[rumblefish360]

Look at this. I had to get up (Ughhhh, crack, moan)(LOL) and check out the MoPar catolog. The stock re-pro cam looks like this;
268/276 advertised duration
228/235 duration at .050 44* overlap. (Smooth running/sounding will not chop like an axe)
114 centerline. (Wider centerline again for low comp. engines and broad torque curve.)
This cam should make more power easy.
Also being a split duration, which is very good for stock heads or ported heads as so it can breath better and make more power.
Factory rates it from idle to 5800 rpm. Better power band than the Crane with more duration at .050. Need more lift to work with your heads? Try 1.6 rockers for increased intensity. This will also fool the engine (In a manor of speaking) into thinking it is a larger cam.
And you thought that was a whimpppy cam huh?

[dartswinger74]

Is that the 340 repro cam? That is allegedly what is already in mine.

[rumblefish360]

IMO, take 1 set of 360 heads and pocket port with S/S 2.02 & 1.60 valves, mill slightly to up comp. and add headers.
This should put a smile on the face.