Heads

[willard]

My j-10 shortie has a 304amc in it (not stock), and I was told that putting a set of 360amc heads on will help it breathe better and generate more ponnies. will they bolt straight up??
am I being told right?
I have the 360 heads, but I need to know for sure.
Also, is there any benifit to swaping in a 360's cam??
obviously I am new to amc, but I really jove this rig and want to make it better.

[mdill]

The 360 valves will hit the cylinder walls unless
you notch out some mateial from the top of the bore.
I have not done this and the only reason to to this
would be if you were building a CID limited race
engine that would turn enough RPM's to warent the
bigger valves.

Other than that it should all bolt up fine.

Mike D.

[carrotman]

Don't mess with the 304 heads. Flow better at lower RPM and have slightly higher compression than the 360. With your 70's era FSJ, better to fix the ignition first, then exhaust and intake.

[4x4n In A Cherokee In Colorado]

If you have a tech question on a AMC engine try this forum..They seem like good people there also.....Just like here.....Maybe its just a AMC thang....But it seems everyone involved in these AMC's are good people...

http://cgi.amcforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

[willard]

Than-you all for the info.

[AMX factor]

You will have no problems installing the 360 heads on the 304. Depending on year of 304 may have to install new dowel pins in the block to align the head properly. Only thing to stay away from is the rectangular exhaust ports heads. You want the "dogleg" ports.
Changing cams won't hurt it either, with large free flowing heads, camshaft and 4 barrel intake and carb that 304 can run pretty rampant. You should be able to get ahold of a new or used Edelbrock Performer intake fairly easy, stay away from the SP2P model as it has the small ports that go with the original 304 heads.

[ February 14, 2004, 07:12 PM: Message edited by: AMX factor ]

[billyrb]

Everyone's info is correct about problems with installing 360 heads on a 304. The MORE important mod is to have 304 heads reworked and use them on a 360! I am buddies with a few of the top AMC engine builders in the country, and this is a common mod for them. But, you can EASILY spend $1,000 to $2,000 on a set of properly-built 304 heads to transplant. From what they explain, the power difference is unbelievable. Check some of the AMC forums and start poking around. They will have ideas for how to upgrade your heads for your 304, as well as for those who have 360's.

[175 Ranger]

THe really cool mod for your 360 is to use 1970 360 or 390 heads with 51 cc chambers and 2.02 valves. yielding 9.5 to 1 compression, or so. they also have escrew in studded rockers. that with HEI and the performer intake works great. still shopping cams though...

[AMX factor]

Ah yes the 291 casting heads. 2.02 with 51cc chambers. I happen to have a set of those nice heads. Plan to add new 7/16" studs, Angus purple roller rockers and a nice bowl hog port job. Great heads can be hard to find.