Dead 360?

[shumbody]

I saw the puddle of oil in the snow too late this morning - 20 minutes later my engine locked up with no oil in it at all. Is this the end, or is there hope that this engine is salvagable?
AAARRRRGH!!!!!

[NYC]

Ouch! I hope one of the guys here who knows (a lot) more than I can tell you everything's going to be okay... but the two bits of info you provided don't sound good.

Did the oil "dump"? Or has it always had a good leak and that was just the last of it? If the block's not cracked, it can probably be salvaged.

Just in case, keep this website handy... hope you don't need it http://www.jasperengines.com/frames.html

good luck. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[shumbody]

I haven't taken a close look underneath yet, but the oil seems to be concentrated around the filter area.

I was headed up a small hill at about 20mph when the truck stalled; I was only about 200 yards from my driveway, so I restarted it. It ran with no guts for about 30 seconds then quit again; after that, the starter wouldn't crank it (brand new starter last week). I let it cool, but it still won't crank.

I think the block is ok.

[Rockwagon]

How long was the engine actuly running? Did you here any knocking? Have tried refilling the engine with oil? I wouldn't think that in 200 yards you could do that much damage unless the engine was on its last leg anyhow. I lock up a L6 once with no oil in it. Two hours later refilled with 50wt and drove for two more years. Good luck

[shumbody]

I drove it for about 20 minutes, about 4 miles round trip, plus about five of idling. The oil gauge broke last week, other wise I'd have seen the drop in pressure and taken appropriate action. The engine was noisy, but my y-pipe was due to be replaced this morning; I thought I was just getting a lot of racket because of the bad exhaust. I hope she'll come back, or at least be rebuildable, but things aren't looking too good right now. This is my primary car, too.

I've got a deposit down on a '74 Matador with a good-running 360, so I guess I could swap it in if need be.

[Lugnut]

I'd go for the donor 360 engine.
There's probably been a lot of damage done on your engine that could possibly not show up until after you've done a rebuild. There are just too many components in the engine that depend on oil to survive that don't get replaced in a rebuild. Find another engine. Start over.
Rebuilds are just too expensive (especially AMC V8's) to risk it with an engine that's been run out of oil.

[shumbody]

I've got a guy who's going to try and break it free - then we'll fill 'er with oil, fire 'er up, and see if she smokes too bad. If not, we'll look for a used 360, or an Auto Zone reman engine. One way or another, she's going back on the road!

In the meantime, guess I'll drive the Matador.

[Lugnut]

Well, there are worse things than driving a Matador....could be a PACER...