Help with tired old 360

Crovus1969

Hi all. I just bought a 1983 Jeep Wagoneer with AMC 360. Its never been touched. What the logical first step for performance on this engine?

ironman_gq

first make sure the engine is sound. What kind of oil pressure does is have both hot and cold, does it burn any oil or smoke, is it in need of any maintenance, do a compression check all cylinders should be withing 10psi of each other, If everything checks out the first thing I would do would be upgrade the ignition, then the intake/ carb, then possibly headers and a free flowing exhaust. If your serious about more power have the heads milled and ported, do a cam swap, upgrade the oil system. The 360 should be pretty easy to get a lot more power out of, just look around the site and see what others have done for more power. :t:

Crovus1969

oil pressure is 45 psi all the time compression is good found a decent 4 barrel and intake installing it this weekend

Crovus1969

intake is no good big ole crack in it. Anyone have suggestions as to what mods i need to do? I am serious about mudding here. Just installed new 31x10.5x 15 tires all around it but now lack any serious power. Please be very very specific. I aint the hottest plug in the block. :shock:

tufcj

An engine is an air pump. Do what you can to move the most air thru it to make the most power. I'd go with a dual plane manifold (like a Performer), a 600-650 CFM carb with vacuum secondaries, have the heads redone with a quality valve job, a mild cam (similar to a Summit 8600 or Edelbrock performer), a free flowing exhaust, upgraded distributor. Headers are optional, but a 2 1/2" dual or 3" single exhaust will help. That's pretty much how my CJ is set up, I have plenty of power. Just putting a 4BBL on without anything else will just make it use more gas. Bob tufcj

Crovus1969

All the info i found on this motor states less than 200 hp. Is it me or does that suck? Probable upgrades performer intake 600cfm carb, custum built headers, AMC V8 High Energy 268H Cam,291c heads and lots of blood sweat and tears. Sound good to anyone or am i barking at the wrong cat?

fifesjeep

Crovus1969 wrote
All the info i found on this motor states less than 200 hp.
Is it me or does that suck? Probable upgrades performer intake
600cfm carb, custum built headers, AMC V8 High Energy 268H Cam,291c heads
and lots of blood sweat and tears. Sound good to anyone or am i barking at the wrong cat?

Yup the stock HP for these smog motors suck, But, AMC's are good for mid 200hp to low 300hp with minimal/the basic bolt-ons. If you change your cam etc toss on some roller rockers have the heads worked and toss in some chevy valves (Smaller stem diameter and lighter weight, freeing up even more HP on the mechanical efficiency).
The Performer Intake is a good choice and a relatively safe choice for low to mid lift cams.
Edelbrock or Holley 600-670cfm carb is a good match (670 Offroad truck avenger is nice).
Get away from the custom headers, that's too much money spent for little hp gained... If you want the noise go with a good set of mass production headers... Dynomax, heddman, hooker etc etc... But, in all reality the stock block huggers breathe really well.
The High Energy 268H is a nice cam choice for the 360... It has a good power range. Just go with a solid lift cam or spend the money on the roller setup and machine work :?
DON'T BOTHER WITH THE 291c HEADS... The later Heads breathe much better and have bigger valves... 2.025" Int 1.625" Exh??? (The 69-70? motors had the 2.080 int and 1.68" exh valves).
Just my few cents

Crovus1969

The custum headers will cost around 150$ from engine to backbumper. My uncle has his own shop and will do them for me. All i have to do is put a sticker for his shop on my Jeep. Which will be covered in mud in less time than a ford rusts. A buddy of mine came up with this setup and im wondering if its reliable. Rebuild the 360 to 9.9:1 compression,eddelbrock heads,eddelbrock RPM Airgap intake 600 eddelbrock carb hughes cam #HE2430 with 224/230 degrees @.050, .504/.515 lift. He swears it will have 397hp at 5,500 rpm and make 436 lbs of torque at 3400 rpm. Thinks it will cost around 1500$. Almost 400hp sounds good but will the motor handle it?

fifesjeep

Crovus1969 wrote
The custum headers will cost around 150$ from engine to backbumper. My uncle has his own shop and will do them for me. All i have to do is put a sticker for his shop on my Jeep. Which will be covered in mud in less time than a ford rusts. A buddy of mine came up with this setup and im wondering if its reliable. Rebuild the 360 to 9.9:1 compression,eddelbrock heads,eddelbrock RPM Airgap intake 600 eddelbrock carb hughes cam #HE2430 with 224/230 degrees @.050, .504/.515 lift. He swears it will have 397hp at 5,500 rpm and make 436 lbs of torque at 3400 rpm. Thinks it will cost around 1500$.
Almost 400hp sounds good but will the motor handle it?

Depends... the 600 cfm will choke the motor if you go with that set-up. The Air-Gap really isn't needed in my opinion... with AMC's you're limited in the sustained rpm range due to the poor oil drain back (flooding the heads) which equals a near dry sump. You can spend the money for the oiling mods but imo it's not worth it... if you want a screamer go Chebby or Ford :shock: Just teasing. If you build the 360 to the 1970 specs you'll be around 300hp and 400ft lbs torque with about 10:1 compression. With that cam listed above it should bump the hp a little but it might take from the torque, definitely get a bigger carb... at-least a 670 cfm. (IMO)... But, you never know until it's dynoed.. On paper anything can be made to look good.

Mudrat

fifesjeep wrote
On paper anything can be made to look good.

And when are you coming up for YOUR stuff?? You've been back and I'm still here.

Crovus1969

Sorry about that my mind said 750 but fingers typed 600. Uncle is pulling engine out today and is tearing it down for rebuild. He has owned many amc's and told me that he will do an oil mod "Even if you say no, Im not gonna ruin this engine because you dont know Squatt about amc's" Will post the results when its done. :lo1l: Chebby's sux, Fords rust, but jeep's Run forever. PS would the AMC EFI 1000CFM from yall be overkill?

fifesjeep

Mudrat wrote
fifesjeep wrote
On paper anything can be made to look good.

And when are you coming up for YOUR stuff?? You've been back and I'm still here.

When I have a minute of free time and the extra cash to get the left-over junk.
(Just purchased an old/new 401 crank for my next 360)... $562.38 shipped to the door #-o :oops:
My ole' lady is making me sell the Big Jeep :smile: (The one with the built 360).. 🙁: No worries though, she said I can build another motor... (I guess she doesn't realize I need a vehicle to put it in) :!: AMX or Javelin is in mind... Maybe a tubbed Gremlin :-|

Mudrat

fifesjeep wrote
My ole' lady is making me sell the Big Jeep :smile: (The one with the built 360)..

And there-in lies my problem too. Spousel units say's I have to get rid of some of my 'stuff' before I bring home the next project - a 1986 Grand Waggy.

The good new for you is I may be able to trade a-bunch-o-'stuff' off for the Wag. :t:

I'll let you look through what's left, but I don't think it's really worth keeping :oops: The 401 heads are really 360's and beat to crap so a deep-mill and serious chamberwork are in order.

Call me when you get a chance - we'll talk :mrgreen:

fifesjeep

Are you interested in Buying an 1982 CJ-7... With more than a few ponies under the hood :mrgreen: T18 granny, D20 twin stick, I already yanked out the 14 Bolt and D60 front... tossed under a d60 rear and HD D44 with flat tops, (4.10's)... It still has the 42's but I'm going to remove those and put on some 38's... I'm also taking out my Pro-Billet Distributor.. I'll toss in the Cardone Distributor (part # 304891 with MSD part # 8414... Cap, rotor and adapter, and MSD part # 8869, Ford to MSD pigtail)... The 6AL will go with the Jeep... So sad... All that time and money dropped into that heep...

Mudrat

fifesjeep wrote
Are you interested in Buying an 1982 CJ-7... ...

Me? No. I have a Waggy comming and an 86CJ to finish after surgery. I do still have the parts here you wanted from Jack though.

fifesjeep

Mudrat wrote
fifesjeep wrote
Are you interested in Buying an 1982 CJ-7... ...

Me? No. I have a Waggy comming and an 86CJ to finish after surgery. I do still have the parts here you wanted from Jack though.

It was worth a shot... I think I'm going to run this Jeep hard for a little while to see what I can get out of the 360 :shock: and then drop it off or rebuild it for a stroker.