1988 grand wagoneer engine questions

[bassertn]

I have an 88 grand wagoneer, i have owned it for about 10 years, i love it. however the 360 is a dog, and of course gets miserable mileage and has not been reliable for several years. I have not felt comfortable letting my wife drive it for quite some time because of the reliability problem. there is 180000 miles on it. should i rebuild the 360 or do an engine swap? I can do some work but have never swapped an engine and it seems a little overwhelming. If it costs a little more to do a swap that is no big deal, i just want it to be more fun to drive and of course be more reliable (more fuel effiecient would not be bad either). any help or direction would be much appreciated. thanks

[hippymill]

you probably won't get much better mileage out of any v8 carbureted engine. the 360 is a strong motor, and when rebuilt carefully with some better aftermarket parts(cam, intake, carb) it will be a very reliable motor, with some decent horsepower and torque. It will be much more reliable after you remove all that extra emissions crap(if you can in tennessee)

[ February 17, 2004, 10:40 AM: Message edited by: hippymill ]

[bassertn]

I am actually moving to virginia this year and they do smog checks, any advice on the smog crap? also what specifically would you do with the cam, intake, and carb. I am relying on you guys as to what i do, i dont know enough about it. thanks.

[1BDWAGN]

For its time the AMC 360 was right there with the rest of the Domestic V8 truck engines. But I don't think AMC/Chrysler put anymore development into the 360 because they were planing to end the Wagoneer and bring in the G. Cherokee with a Dodge 360. Now being a GM guy and buying a Wagon nearly 7 months ago this is my opinion. The stock gearing sucks. Maybe it's ok with stock tires but it's sucks with larger tires. That would make any truck feel doggy. Also in terms of reliability there are some components that the factory missed the mark on. The first being the ignition. The factory system just bites. I would buy a HEI and be done with it. I made the mistake of getting some water on my cap at the car wash and couldn't get the GW started for about 10 mins. never had that happen with the HEI. Now I am use to Quadrajets, I don't have alot of experience with the Motorcraft 2150. Some like and some don't. They are a few years old but I'd rather have a Q-jet and not worry about the power vavle leaking. The factory carb only flows about 420 CFM anyway. That's not much so it would help by getting a 4 bbl intake and a 4 bbl vacuum secondary carb. The stock cam is meant to be docile and idle smooth and operate under all variations possible. You can check into something like the edelbrock performer or just a little larger and still maintain a decent idle, gain some power, and not lose mileage. Stock AMC 360 heads are suppose to be decent so just have yours rebuilt using good components and quality machine work. Same with the shortblock. I've read the exhaust manifolds aren't bad either but I intend to smooth mine out using my extension on my dremel. The exhaust system could benefit from a newer cat with a low restriction core and a larger muffler as well. I am going to increase the pipe size to a single 3" after the cat to the largest cased muffler I can fit under there. Doing these simple modifications should help. Another option is adding fuel injection (like a GM TBI system). I can't say your going to match the power or mileage of a new truck but you won't have the payment.

[bassertn]

thanks a ton for the info, i have to ditto your ignition feelings. which HEI should i buy? what did you buy? also what particular intake and carb did you buy? the reason i am asking is it seems like you have had great results, not just ideas. thanks for your help,

[AM Woody]

Ask jeepguzzi, he has 4 bbls and headers on his trucks with AIR and EGR intact and they pass emissions here...

Andy

[1BDWAGN]

bassertn,
I bought the HEI setup from a board member. His name is Ted Wendell and I think the price is $165. So far I have an edelbrock intake but I am getting rid of the carb and putting on a GM TBI that I got from a 1990 Chevy Van. I've finally got all the parts and have began to change the settings in the "chip". Install is scheduled soon but paint is my priority. The stock GM throttle body only flows 450 cfm so it is not a huge gain hp wise, but there are some modifications that can be done to help it out more. But I think that the tbi will give a nice gain and add to reliability. It'd be nice to hit the key when it is 40 degrees out and not have to wait til the wagon warms up before I take off. I have a 454 throttle body that flows a little over 650 cfm but that may come later if it seems like the stock 350 throttle body isn't enough. I would look for a late 70's Rochester Quadrajet if it were me and I was staying with a carb. Something from a car just before they went to computer feedback carbs. They will have all the necessary connections to hook up your smog equipment. Also most will flow 800 cfm. Not that you will use that much but that is the beauty of vacuum secondaries it only flows what the engine wants. One other thing that bothers me is the way the factory routed the fuel lines. It seems like my truck vapors locks a lot. When I install the TBI I am going to reroute things a little to cooler locations and insulate the lines that are near heat sources. Good luck.

[hippymill]

you can use an edelbrock cam, intake and carb on this and still make smog specs. make sure to buy the egr manifold, and the 1400 carb(has egr port), not the 1406 carb.