[AndrewT]

What I want to do....
I want to build a stroked 360 with 400+ ftlbs and high 300 to low 400 on the horses. I would prefer to do as much of it as I can. I am also trying to go low budget, but I understand hp cost money. I am considering using the heads as cores for hughes stage 1 or maybe 2 heads. I think that would be the best thing to do. They are known to produce quality stuff.

So far I found an 86 prospector with a 360 (not sure of cast on heads) and an old 360 with 596 cast number on the heads. I am going to some bigger junk yards this afternoon.

 

[TheRamChargerMan]

Well, my engine is not stroked, has stock heads/valves, and is only 9.4 cr. It is making right around 325 hp @ 4500 rpm and 400 ft lbs @ 3000 rpm.

I have a friend who ports heads for himself and a bunch of other racers, and he told me he could pull another 100 hp out of my engine with some good port work and larger valves.

So, why not get some good port work done on some stock heads and do the same thing for less money ??

Why spend the money on hughes parts when you don't need to ?? Now, granted, my cam is from them, but Engle Racing really made it. And it is no longer available thru hughes.

 

[AndrewT]

I plan on getting some good port work done with 202 valves. The reason I was looking at hughes was it was a complete head that was ported. I still need to send them a core (or pay $350). That is why I was looking for heads and a block now. I figured I could get heads and a block for a reasonable price from a JY.

I will price a complete head with a good port job before I go with hughes. hughes is a maybe at this point.

Off to the junk yards....

 

[TheRamChargerMan]

well, I hate to say it, but normally, the port work on heads like that are not as good as you can get from a good porter who knows exactly what you want and what other parts you are using. Port work like hughes does is based on what the average buyer wants....not what YOU want. It all has to work together. My head porting friend knows my truck and engine pretty well, and he has his own flow bench in his garage, and another friend (the guy who did all the machine work on my engine) has a dyno at his shop.

You need to know what parts you are gonna use for sure before you go gettign port work done. Cam is the biggest thing.

 

[chrysler300le]

I wouldn't go the hughes route either. Thier first stage of porting only includes some port and bowl cleanup. Hell anybody with a diegrinder can do that. So go get a few carbide bits and smooth out the ports and bowls and you did the stage one porting all by yourself. That level of porting is good for 350 hp depending on the rest of the setup such as headers, cam and intake.

 

[AndrewT]

weel sounds like hughes is out of the question. I found a 90 250LE with what I think is a 360 base on the vin number, no idea on the casting numbers yet. I thought the 89-92 360 heads were suppose to be good heads with 2.02 valves. Anyone agree?

 

[Guest]

Okay, just to give you an idea of what's possible, in 2001 Mopar Muscle did a stock rebuild on a 340. Using stock unported heads, with stock rockers, they gradually added aftermarket pieces just to see what the stock heads etc could make. They added The Comp Cams Xtreme Energy 268 with appropriate springs, Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake, Edelbrock Performer 800 cfm AVS, headers, and Mopar electronic ignition. They showed 391hp at 5700rpm, with 412 ft/lbs torque at 3800rpm, with over 400 ft/lbs available from 3800-4800rpm. This was a 340 with stock heads....no porting. Anyway, it gives you an idea. Granted, the porting would've easily pushed them over 400hp, but that appears to be a bull's eye to your goals. Anyway, as you can see, it doesn't take all that much.
They also managed 335hp from a smogger 360. It managed 400 ft/lbs torque with 8:1 compression, headers, stock 1.88/1.60 valves, no porting, Edelbrock Performer intake (which they admitted would've done better if they'd port matched it to the bigger 360 head ports), Thermoquad carb, Mopar ignition, and Comp Cams XE 262.
I hope this is encouraging, and helps keep you from sweating the porting issue too much. It helps, but you can do well without it. Have fun.

 

[AndrewT]

Sounds like my goals are very reasonable. I assume the 90 360 is a good one. I'll give them an offer next week and see if I can it get it for a reasonable price. Thanks for the help again.

 

[chrysler300le]

weel sounds like hughes is out of the question. I found a 90 250LE with what I think is a 360 base on the vin number, no idea on the casting numbers yet. I thought the 89-92 360 heads were suppose to be good heads with 2.02 valves. Anyone agree?

Your half right. 89-92 360 heads are swirl port heads but still use the 1.88in/1.60 ex valve size. They are a good set of heads to start with. For a torquer below 5000 rpm truck engine i would stay with the 1.88 intake valves. If your looking for maximum HP and high RPM then go with 2.02

 

[Scoots]

I have to ditto chrysler300le on this one.
A lot of the stuff you hear about peak HP#'s are pretty high RPM ranges and thats not really what you want in an offroader short of a mud bog rig anyway.
318/390 stroker is a nice way to go IMO.

Good luck

 

[Evildriver-3]

What I want to do....
I want to build a stroked 360

I have to ditto chrysler300le on this one.
A lot of the stuff you hear about peak HP#'s are pretty high RPM ranges and thats not really what you want in an offroader short of a mud bog rig anyway.
318/390 stroker is a nice way to go IMO.

Don't confuse building a 318 with a stroker they are 2 entirely different motors wanting 2 entirely different things, a stroker will make huge torque with huge heads and valves.
If you build a stroker and don't go with a big valve and a good head then you are wasting a huge effort.

 

[AndrewT]

I don't want to waste any effort(or money). I want to do it right the first time.

 

[Evildriver-3]

Well when building a stroker forget all the other stuff , you are not building a 318 you are not building a 360 you are building a very big sb with alot of big block characteristics and heavy breathing, you are not building a sb

 

[AndrewT]

roger that, large sb that breaths like a bb. 2.02/1.60s and some porting.

 

[AndrewT]

roger that, large sb that breaths like a bb. 2.02/1.60s and some porting.

 

[chrysler300le]

well i did overlook the stroked part of your original post. All i paid attention to was the high 300 to low 400 hp. That HP range is within reach with a unstroked smallblock. With 9:1 compression good dual plane intake and carb and headers you can expect about 1 hp per cubic inch. More radical cams will increase that number.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I kinda missed that "stroker" part too. :-(