your opinion on the magnum 360?

my LA 318 engine is done in my 87 w-150. talked to a fellow member today about putting a magnum 360 in my truck, along with possibly upgrading the driveline to a lock up type 4 speed trans as well.

just wanted your thoughts on the magnum 360 engine. you guys like it? been reliable?

my other concern is the tranfer case in the newer drivelines. push button 4wd or is there a shifter like my 87 has?

the 360 is a good roller & push rod engine, just its tough to squeeze the full potential out of them for performance applications. these obdII trucks really need a tuner chip and low gears. they run long and strong, not unheard of to surpass 300k miles. and it seems the aftermarket mechanical performance end is still being supplied well enough.
as for the 46re/ 46rh or chrystler trans "what ever" automatic, you may want to consider a stick, or spend $2k on a great upgrade in automatic.
the 4x4s are a stick selector on the floor

i have a 727a 3speed auto right now. i've been told the magnum 360 will bolt to it. i was thinking that if i find a good donor 4x4 with a magnum 360 i might as well take the drive line too and get a 4 speed trans instead of the 3 speed. just for fuel mileage.

as for the EFI. my plan so far is to put an edelbrock rpm air gap intake on it and carb it. no computers allowed. keep it simple.

I say do it. My the 5.9 engine from my old 96 Ram worked hard from 100k to 180k before the rest of the truck rusted out from under it. I put new gaskets in the engine and swapped it into my 96 Grand Cherokee where it continues to run strong. Engine now has about 185k on it and I expect it to last as long as the body of the Jeep does.

Just don't ever expect good fuel mileage from them

As for the transmission... it sounds good on paper, and may work because your older Ram is lighter than what the drivetrain came out of (lighter=less work) but I trust the mid-90's Dodge truck auto transmission about as far as I can throw them (3 feet). I've had 5 auto transmissions between the two vehicles. That is why the new truck is a manual and why the wife gave me the go ahead to MAKE the ZJ a manual when the time comes.

Swap out the stock 5.9 cam for.....anything!!! The factory ones are smogged down heavily. Heck, the 5.2 has a better cam

well i have a ton of 318 parts laying around. i think i'm just going to rebuild a roller pre 92 engine.

besides that i have found many articles on how to build a 400 HP 318 engine. but when i start looking for articles on 360 magnum builds.....cant find anything.

You might find this article helpful-

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/e...e/viewall.html

thanks for that. reading it now

i have read that article before. the issue is they changed the heads to aluminum aftermarket. from some of the articles i have read about using LA 360 and LA 318 parts is that you can achieve 400 HP with limited after market parts. you can build a beast of a motor with very little cost. this build shows after market heads....which are $$$$$$$. granted this build puts out more HP and torque. but the build options for the LA318 are plentiful and achive close (about 45 HP less) to the same goal at half the price.

For the price then I agree- since you have the parts anyway the 318 is better.

Here is great episode of horsepower tv for a "budget build" 360 with the original heads but they only squeeze just over 300hp out of it.
http://www.powerblocktv.com/episodes/HP2009-17

thanks. i'll give it a look later on

Originally Posted by RedRam1500Sport

Here is great episode of horsepower tv for a "budget build" 360 with the original heads but they only squeeze just over 300hp out of it.
http://www.powerblocktv.com/episodes/HP2009-17

What a waste of time. They use an LA 360 instead of the much more plentiful Magnum 360. The stock Magnum heads flow much better than the LA heads. With even a little bit of money they could have built a decent 406-408 stroker. I don't understand what the were trying to accomplish??? Everything is stock ???????????/

I think their goal was to keep the costs down, but I agree with you. They should have used a magnum. I believe the newer Magnums addressed some issues that improved reliability too.

Also just curious, but does anyone know if the Magnums use the special "high nickel alloy" like the LA's?

According to Larry Shepard in his book How to Modify you Mopar Magnum V8 "All Magnum engine blocks are made of high-nickle alloy, the same material used for DaimlerChrysler's special race blocks and 426 Hemi." He goes say that most other manufaturers only used this material for their race blocks but Mopar used it in all their production including 318s, 340s, 360s and Magnums.

If anybody is thinking about building a Magnum motor, I highly recommend Larry Shepard's book as well as How to Build Big-Inch Mopar Small Blocks by Jim Szilagyi.

The Magnum 360 with a carb is the way to go. Forget about the 4spd tranny - too much work and expense in my opinion. If you are going to spend that much money beefing up a 4speed auto, install an aftermarket overdrive and have a bullet proof 6speed 727.

I'm going to buy the book. I never heard of it before.

huh cool info. especially about the 6 speed 727. i havent gotten around to reading any of it yet, been crazy busy at work.

thanks guys. i started this thread when i was just about to buy a 360 magnum from a local neighbor. he wanted too much money for the mileage on it so i declined.

my point now is that i could make a budget 318 with 350+hp, especially since i have most everything i need to build one. just a block, crank, and a few odds and ends and i should be set to build.

Aftermarket overdrives aren't cheap either, especially if you're talking about something like a gear vendors. Be better in the long run to swap in a mild built 46rh.

I would also keep the 318 you have now, and build that, save a lot of money on the swap, and that will get you a good bit more horsepower.

This is the unit I was talking about. It bolts in place of the transmission extension housing.

http://www.gearvendors.com/