Ok, so here it is. I was planning on rebuilding a 360 to put in my '72 318/904 chally. I had the engine already, with the catch that I found it sitting, dumped outside. Its all standard measurements, and everything looks good with the exception that 5 pistons are stuck. Seriously stuck, to the point where my machinist says even going 60 over won't save the block
. I don't know anything about the 360, so probably not a bad thing to skip it. So, here is my dilemma. I have a '66 383, complete, needing a rebuild. I also have a 440 interceptor, machine work completed, now 60 over that I was planning for a '53 dodge truck build I have. The truck is a few years off completion, so this is an option (I'll just use the 383 for it if I use the 440 now). I have the 318 in my chally now, although I had hoped to just do a straight engine swap as the chally is the only car I own at the moment, so I want to minimize down time. The 318 is an '84 I know almost nothing about, supposedly rebuilt "a few years ago" by the PO. It seems to run fine, good compression check across the board, no engine problems in the almost 3000 miles I've had it. And I still have the crank and rods from the '77 360.
I had hoped for a ~360-400 hp build on the 360, ~9:1 compression with eddy rpm heads, intake and cam (all budgeted to purchase, but not purchased yet). I had intended to stay SB, as I wanted to make the handling as good as possible for a '72 challenger and keep it close to the current mpg's at 13-14 around town and 16-17 highway (904 with 2.76 gears
). Whatever engine I go with will be hooked to a A833 OD (already purchased) and with 3.55 gears in the rear. I have the SB bell already, but the fly I bought is a 143 external balance (might work on the 440, not sure if its cast or forged crank, stored at another location). Either way I'm not too worried about that, I can get another bell/fly pretty easily.
The Chally is going to stay my daily driver, so the trade off between HP and mpg is a concern. I'd love to have the extra ponies (who wouldn't !
), but I'd also like to be able to afford to drive it, and sub 10 mpg isn't sitting well with me. Although for what its worth I also ride a motorcycle and only put about 10 -12,000 miles on my car annually anyway.
So what would
you do?
Stick with the plan and find another 360 core? +100-200 bucks to buy a block to rebuild.
Rebuild the 383. Add 70 lbs and a few hp, lose a couple mpg? No real cost change.
Use the 440. Gain ~170 lbs on the car, gain ~100 hp, lose some MPG, save machining cost (at the moment anyway)
Use the 318. Pull the engine and mate it to the A833OD (4 speed crank?), bolt on the extra stuff (heads,cam,intake,carb), and hope the PO was accurate about the rebuild. Lose HP vs. 360, hope the internals are good. Save the cost of the rebuild, save time if no issues (like an auto crank in the 318).
Rebuild the 318. Lose the car for the time to do the machine work, lose some hp vs the 360, gain knowing the engine internals, comp., balance, etc..
