360 build help

[stinky]

Okay, couple of questions. Going to do a mild build up on this spare 360 I have lying around. I am going to go with the edlebrock performance package, but put a summit 8600 cam and a holly truck avenger carb. Someone have a link on where to get a good rebuild kit? And what machine work do I neet to get done to the motor. It do not need a race motor, but do want decent power. any thoughts?

[tgreese]

Depends. I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions.

Most of the machine work depends on the condition of the engine. You can do as little as new rings and rod bearings, or as much as a long-block exchange. Also depends on whether you want an as-new motor condition or not.

Most people would buy a "crank kit" or its equivalent, which is a reground crank and matching rod and main bearings. They'd also hot-tank the block and have new cam bearings installed. The next most popular is probably a cylinder overbore and new pistons. Pistons are pretty expensive, so you might want to hone the bores and install old pistons and new rings, again depending on the condition of the engine, your need for a like-new engine, and the depth of your pockets.

You most likely will want your cylinder heads rebuilt, at least with a good 3-angle valve job. Here, you pretty much have to trust the shop about what parts you can keep and what you can reuse. At a minimum I'd plan on hot tank, valve job and magnaflux to check for cracks. Check the surface flatness with a straight edge before you send in the heads, since most shops will routinely spec some head surfacing.

Personally I wouldn't buy a rebuild kit - I'd let my machine shop sell me the parts I needed. If you're going to rely on a shop to do the work for you, you may as well let them make some money off the parts sale rather than some disinterested third party. JMO.

hth Tim

[ January 14, 2004, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: tgreese ]

[tgreese]

BTW always keep in mind your stop-loss condition. Have an idea in advance how much you could buy another engine in good condition for, and how much used heads cost. For a common engine like a 360, it's definitely going to be cheaper to start out with an engine that's in good condition than to spend a lot of money on machine work to salvage a junker. The same principle applies to your cylinder heads - if they're cracked, junk 'em and buy good used ones.

[Knucklehead]

Check out PAW for the engine kit. They advertise in all of the mags. Your'e machine shop should be able to cut you a better deal on the kit, though.

With that cam and induction system plus a stock rebuild on the bottom end, you should get about 250-300hp at the crank.

[J10man]

I just built the 360 in my J10 and it turned out real strong. My brother-in-law gave me an Edelbrock dual port 360 intake for it which I topped with a Holley 600. The intake made a HUGE difference and I would recommend them to anyone that would would listen! It's not a race intake, very responsive on the low end though. I'm running 33 12.5 14 mud terrains and I can light them up anytime I want with a flick of the gas.

[FSJ Thing]

There's a rebuild kit on ebay right now that came upwhen I typed "AMC 360" for $425. I can't remember if PAW was cheaper or not or what the different PAW kits came with, but you could use that as a reference point on what you'll want to pay.

[stinky]

does PAw have a website I can look at?

[tgreese]

PAW: http://www.pawengineparts.com/

They want you to buy a paper catalog.

[Gawdzilla.]

not really. you can order the catalog thru their website though.
Summit doesn't offer a kit?

[FSJ Thing]

Nope. Summit and Jegs both seem to have found it un-cost efficient to provide AMC parts. PAW still might, but for a while there I remember that I didn't see AMC listed in usual place on the second page upper left corner in thier ads. I've been throwing all my money at Christmas and now my jeep so I haven't bought any mags to see if they got the AMC stuff listed again.

[Knucklehead]

Your machinest will be able to get the kit as cheap as anyone. He will be the one who will order the parts anyway as he is the one doing the machining. Pistons, bearings, etc are not ordered until the machine work is done. The machinest I use always beats the catalog prices.

If you are just looking for a reference, look in jp mag or 4wheel... mag. PAW always have a big add in there with engine kits for jeeps/amc

[Madcobra]

If you can get away with just honing the cylinders, and hot tanking the block, northernautoparts.com, has a re-ring kit that is pretty complete. It cost me $149.75, with fel-pro gaskets, but didn't include the intake gaskets. It may work for you depending on the present condition of your engine.

[Bowfan]

Has anyone ever picked up one of these kits? I've seen them on Ebay all the time.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33620&item=2454291607

Seems like quality brand names.

[hippymill]

talk to your machinist!!!!! I had mine done by the machine at carquest here, and the build parts and the machining were the most reasonable prices i've seen in 10 years. The entire build kit (rering kit and pistons) was only about $200. i got my edelbrock stuff from summit(free shipping and low prices). northern auto is definitely a great source for mail order rebuild kits.(got my rocker arms there, simply because it only takes a day to ship stuff from them to me)

[DBSINWI]

stinky, I'm going to go with a Napa rebuild kit. The parts are better quality than PAW and the cost isn't that much more. I'm also going with the Edelbrock Performer and a 600 CFM Carb. Eventually, I'll get a Holley Projection kit, but that's $800 away. That should get you a strong, reliable engine that won't leak!