Anybody know where I can find a block or a rebuildable core for one of these. Nobody in Dallas wants to mess with anything this old.
Anybody know where I can find a block or a rebuildable core for one of these. Nobody in Dallas wants to mess with anything this old.
Any local junkyards? I bought a complete running Magnum 360 for $350 a few years ago from a local yard. They even pulled it.
If you have room, buying a complete truck is the way to go. Van is even cheaper, but more fiddly to part out.
Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:If you have room, buying a complete truck is the way to go. Van is even cheaper, but more fiddly to part out.
My HOA is going to love that.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
That's what I was afraid of.
I actually have two houses right now. One has an HOA, the other is filled with ratty project cars. All of them are running and licensed except the truck. There is no room. I can get away with working on the truck at the ratty house. I also store an old motorhome there. Not sure about leaving a half dismantled Dodge van in the driveway though. Not sure there is anyplace around here where you can part out cars in your front yard.
I am waiting for one guy in the Dodge Ram forum to get back to me. Says he has a couple of blocks in his garage. I am also waiting for a wrecking yard in East Texas, but he says he got rid of most of his old cores. He is looking in the back to see if there are any left. That seems to be the problem with most wrecking yards. When you mention 1991 they don't want to mess with anything that old. There are a bunch of shops across the country that want to sell me a complete rebuilt engine for $5,000 plus the cost of shipping. Summit has a crate motor I can pick up right here at their store in Dallas. All of that is out of my budget.
My local FBMP has anything from a 1974 $450, 1981 $500, 2000 5.9 Magnum $500, 1979 360 with trans $700, 2001 $750.
Michigan it pretty far from you.
It's weird, I figured there would be tons of old Dodge stuff in junkyards down in East Texas. There's no shortage of them up here. Hell, I didn't even have to leave town to buy one, and they had no less than 5 of them the day I went just in that one yard. Have you checked car-part.com for nearby yards?
akylekoz said:My local FBMP has anything from a 1974 $450, 1981 $500, 2000 5.9 Magnum $500, 1979 360 with trans $700, 2001 $750.
Michigan it pretty far from you.
If I understand correctly from his other thread, he's looking specifically for a 1988-1991 TBI LA 360.
Motojunky said:akylekoz said:My local FBMP has anything from a 1974 $450, 1981 $500, 2000 5.9 Magnum $500, 1979 360 with trans $700, 2001 $750.
Michigan it pretty far from you.
If I understand correctly from his other thread, he's looking specifically for a 1988-1991 TBI LA 360
Any of the pre-Magnum blocks would work. A 5.9 Magnum will also work, but there's a bit more work involved in regards to intake manifolds and such.
Motojunky said:akylekoz said:My local FBMP has anything from a 1974 $450, 1981 $500, 2000 5.9 Magnum $500, 1979 360 with trans $700, 2001 $750.
Michigan it pretty far from you.
If I understand correctly from his other thread, he's looking specifically for a 1988-1991 TBI LA 360.
Ahh... that would make sense then. Those are the in-betweener roller cam LA engines. They are hard to find. It's almost worth it to Magnum swap the thing if possible since they are better engines and more readily available, but there are a few mods needed to make it all work.
Tony Sestito said:It's weird, I figured there would be tons of old Dodge stuff in junkyards down in East Texas. There's no shortage of them up here. Hell, I didn't even have to leave town to buy one, and they had no less than 5 of them the day I went just in that one yard. Have you checked car-part.com for nearby yards?
Texas is a weird market. All of the wrecking yards here are crushing all their old stuff. Nobody wants to mess with old stuff anymore. Investors are buying up land everywhere. Even in East Texas. Still waiting for the one guy in East Texas who was crushing all his old blocks to see if he has any left. I'm willing to bet he doesn't.
Shipping from out of state isn't out of the question. It isn't that expensive.
Recon1342 said:Motojunky said:akylekoz said:My local FBMP has anything from a 1974 $450, 1981 $500, 2000 5.9 Magnum $500, 1979 360 with trans $700, 2001 $750.
Michigan it pretty far from you.
If I understand correctly from his other thread, he's looking specifically for a 1988-1991 TBI LA 360
Any of the pre-Magnum blocks would work. A 5.9 Magnum will also work, but there's a bit more work involved in regards to intake manifolds and such.
How much more work would a 1992+ Magnum be, and what kind of work. I really don't want an older engine because I don't want to mess with a carb. I am building the truck to haul a pop up camper and tow an open car trailer or a boat. It isn't going to be a dragster.
In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :
Looks like exactly what I need. And right down the road from me. Thanks.
I just messaged him.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
The Magnum uses different heads and a different intake manifold. The block has slightly different oiling because the heads have pedestal instead of shaft-mounted rockers. If you snag a magnum block and heads, the accessories will move over from the old engine, you'll just need to source a magnum intake manifold. Everything else bolts on.
I think the hardest part of a Magnum swap for a factory TBI engine is going to be the intake. I think the Mopar TBI uses a proprietary mounting pad for the throttle body, and the intake will not bolt directly on, because they changed the angle of the bolt holes on the Magnum heads. Magnum heads have straight vertical intake bolts instead of the angled ones on the LA engines. It is possible to drill and tap Magnum heads for the angle bolt holes, but that can be a lot of work.
The LA accessory drive does bolt on, and you'll have to use a LA timing cover as well. That means you'll miss out on the serpentine drive of the Magnum. This also allows you to use a mechanical fuel pump, but that doesn't matter in your application since you have TBI anyway.
The engine mounts should be the same as your 360. The LA 318 ones are different on one side; when I swapped my truck, I ended up making a spacer to make it work for the bolt hole that was too short.
The biggest difference is the balancing. The Magnum engines are externally balanced and have a weighted flexplate/flywheel. You will need to use and modify the Magnum part. On my truck, since I had a 318, all I needed to do was elongate a bolt hole on the flexplate and bolt it on. Since you have a 360, if you are running an automatic, you will also need to get a neutral-balanced torque converter. The LA 360 ones are weighted and will not work. For me it wasn't an issue because my 318 came with a neutral balanced converter.
The benefits are worth it in my opinion. The Magnum engine in my truck makes roughly double the power as the old 318. I've seen junkyard fresh 100k mi+ Magnum 360's put down 300hp/400 ft lb of torque on an engine dyno with headers. That's pretty decent power bone stock, and it woke up my truck for sure!
More information can be found here: https://www.magnumswap.com/
Looks like I just scored a motor for my truck. I bought the one from Greenville for $800. It should be a drop in. It the worst case I should have enough parts to build one running one.
It was actually in a farm in Caddo Mills, Texas. A farm five miles down a dirt road from Caddo Mills, Texas. With horses and donkeys and a big old white Grand Pyrenees dog guarding the front gate. And about 20 pickup trucks in various stages of being dismantled.
You gotta love East Texas, Every farm in the area has about 20 cars in the back 40. It was kind of a long drive. I did pass Buckees on the way. They had great BBQ brisket.
If you're still hunting one, good friend of mine is pulling a 360 out of his 68 Cuda in the next couple of weeks that's a really good running engine that's been freshened up sometime just before he bought it. Looking at about a grand for it in North Carolina
And now its all painted up and back in the truck...
OK. Time for the build thread.
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