Building a Mopar 360 Stroker Motor

Contents

  1. Prelude to Madness
  2. Dirty Promises
  3. Gratuitous Nudity
  4. The Parts Arrive
  5. Pulling Itself Together
  6. The Motor Finds Its Heads
  7. Getting Gussied Up
  8. The Motor Comes Home
  9. Putting on Makeup
  10. Cover Me!
  11. Living in Harmonics
  12. Headers Up!
  13. Sparks and Wires
  14. A Minor Setback
  15. She Lives!

  16. Assorted Problems and Quirks

  17. The Future

  18. Acknowledgements and Resources
  19. Full Price List
Prelude to Madness
At the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year, I enrolled in an engine building class at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.  At the beginning, I thought that it would be a guided course through the ins and outs of building a traditional V8 engine, with parts being supplied by the college.

Boy was I wrong.

As it turned out, each student was required to produce their own parts and build their own motor.  After getting over the slight shock, I realized this would be an excellent opportunity.  I had been interested in motors for quite a while, especially those produced by Chrysler.  After reading several articles on how many gearheads were taking regular small blocks and producing high power monsters out of them simply by lengthening the crankshaft stroke, I decided to build my own 360 stroker motor.  After purchasing a book on rebuilding small block Mopar engines, and a book dedicated to building stroker small blocks, I set to finding a used 360 block in the nearby junkyards.
 
Dirty Promises
A couple weeks in to the class, I located a used 360 long block at All Cars Auto Parts, located here in Santa Ana.  The motor itself came out of a junked Dodge transport truck, and was pretty beat up.  Luckily, most of the damage was merely cosmetic, and only a few parts had to be discarded.  The water pump and timing cover had completely corroded through, and had to be beat off with a cold chisel and sledgehammer.  The exhaust manifolds were in good shape, but the studs holding them to the block had completely rusted tight to the heads.  Some beating was necessary to remove them.
 

Freshly delivered from the junkyard,
the old, well used 360 long block awaits teardown.
The backside of the long block.
 
Passenger side.
 
The intake manifold and valve covers
are removed, to expose the gooey center.
Close up of camshaft, lifters, and pushrods.
 
 
Gratuitous Nudity
After the motor had been completely stripped down to the bare block, it was hot tanked and cleaned before being put on an engine stand.  After preliminary cleaning with soap and a stiff brush, I took the block to Burlington Engineering in Orange for a chemical dip.  This procedure almost completely dissolved all the rust and corrosion inside the water jackets, as well as stripped off all the paint.  The block is now down to bare metal.  The casting flash, common on Mopar engine blocks, was ground off, and after another wash with soap and water, the bores were miked for roundness and taper, and the block is ready to be bored and honed.
 
 
1000 pound test chain is bolted to
the block and attached to the hoist.
 
Up she goes!

 
The block is placed into the stand.

 		  
 
The hoist is slowly lowered.

 
The block enjoys its new digs.

 
Several weeks later, the block has been
chem-dipped and is clean enough to eat off of.
 		  
 
The Parts Arrive
After a brief downtime due to lack of funding, parts for the short block are ordered from Summit Racing and CNC-Motorsports.  They arrive a week or two later.  They include:

CNC-Motorsports

  • Eagle crankshaft, 4340 forged steel, 4.000" stroke
  • Scat H-beam rods, 4340 forged steel, 6.123" length, floating pin
  • Keith Black forged stroker pistons, 4.030"
  • Clevite 77 rod bearings
  • Clevite 77 main bearings

Summit Racing

  • Speed-Pro Plasma-Moly rings, 4.030"
  • Brass distributor bushing
  • Comp Cams camshaft and lifter kit
  • Cloyes True Roller timing chain set
  • Hardened oil pump driveshaft and distributor gear
  • Federal-Mogul cam bearings
  • ARP main studs for windage tray
  • ARP accessory bolt kit for small block Mopars
  • Mopar Performance water pump, six blades
  • Fel-Pro motor gasket set
  • Melling high volume oil pump
 

Eagle forged 4340 steel crankshaft,
four inch stroke.
Clevite 77 rod bearings.
 
View of the bearings.
 
Clevite 77 main bearings, half grooved.
 

View of the main bearings.
 
Scat 4340 forged H-beam connecting
 rods, 6.123 inch length.
Part number for Scat rods, plus
big end and small end weights.
Brass freeze plugs and pipe threads.
 

Hardened oil pump driveshaft and
distributor gear.
Cloyes True Roller timing chain set.
 
Comp Cams camshaft and lifter set,
Grind CRS XE268H-10		  
 
Pulling Itself Together
During the downtime while waiting for parts, the block was bored to 4.028 inches.  After receiving the parts and miking the pistons, each cylinder bore was fine honed to four thousandths larger than its respective piston to allow for thermal expansion of the forgings.  Accuracy was within five ten-thousandths of an inch.  Installation of the bronze distributor gear was also done at this time, using a bushing driver and reamer made by Miller Special Tools.

Because the pistons had a slight step, they were milled down to flatness in order to fit closed chamber heads without interference.  After milling, the rotating and reciprocating assemblies were weighed and ground down to equal weights, and the crankshaft was balanced.  Approximately forty grams had to be removed on either end of the crankshaft.  After balancing, the short block was assembled and bagged up.
 

Installing the SpraLox on the piston
and rod assembly.
Close-up of the SpiraLox.
 
Some of the finished rods.
 
The crankshaft in its home.
 

Installing the pistons and rods.
 
The pistons and rods are in the block,
attached to the crankshaft.
The windage tray and oil pickup
are installed.
The camshaft and timing chaing are
installed and the short block is completed.
 
The Motor Finds Its Heads
After yet another lull in assembly due to lack of funding, parts for the top end were ordered through Summit.
  • Edelbrock Performer RPM cylinder heads
  • ROL Manufacturing hi-temp head gaskets
  • Proform roller rockers with hardened chromed rocker shafts, 1.5:1 ratio
  • ARP head studs

Other miscellaneous parts were also ordered off of eBay. 

After receiving all the parts, the heads were installed on the block and secured with ARP head studs.  Proform roller rockers were then temporarily installed for mockup purposes before installing Comp Cams ball-and-cup pushrods.  Lifter preload was set, and the motor was bagged up to await more parts.
 

Edelbrock Performer RPM heads
are installed on the motor with
ARP head studs.
Proform roller rocker arms and chromed
rocker shafts are mocked up before
the pushrods are installed.
 
Getting Gussied Up
A couple weeks later, more parts arrive from Summit and eBay.
  • Weiand Stealth intake
  • Edelbrock 750CFM carburetor with manual choke
  • Summit brand distributor with blue ignition computer
  • MSD Ford Duraspark 45,000 volt ignition coil
  • Autolite spark plug wires, 8mm core
  • Mopar Performance stock replacement oil pan
  • C.A.T. fluid filled harmonic balancer
  • Mopar Performance front cover bolt kit

The intake manifold gaskets were dressed with Permatex gasket fastener and located on the heads and block.  The intake manifold was then dropped into place and secured with ARP bolts.  After torquing down the intake manifold, the carburetor was bolted to the manifold with regular 5/16th bolts, the front cover, water pump, and fuel pump are installed, and the valve covers are put on temporarily.  After a failed attempt at installing the harmonic balancer, the engine was bagged up and is now awaiting being transported off campus to my garage.
 

A Weiand Stealth intake manifold
has been installed, along with an
Edelbrock 750 manual choke carb,
front cover and water pump.
Passenger side of motor, with exhaust
manifold temporarily installed with gasket.
Stock valve covers used to keep
dust and grime out of the valve train.
Close-up shot of the front of the
top end of the motor.

 
 
The Motor Comes Home
After finishing the last final of the semester, the motor is loaded into my dad's pick-up truck.  I had already built a wooden transport cradle, so it was only a matter of getting the motor strapped down and secured for driving thirty miles up Interstate 5 to my home.  The engine stand was partially disassembled and loaded in the truck as well.

Once at home, the stand is reassembled, the motor is lifted out of the truck with a rented hoist and loaded back onto the stand, and the entire package is wheeled into the garage to be stored and worked on over the summer as funds and time permit.
 

The motor sitting in its
permanent home.
Gratuitous valve train shot.
 
750CFM Edelbrock carburetor
 
A few of the remaining parts that
need to be installed.
 
Putting on Makeup
After a few weeks of sitting around, I resumed working on the motor.  I attempted to cut the intake manifold gaskets, but inadvertently ripped one of them apart at the intake ports, so the manifold had to come off.  This wasn't a total loss, since it gave me an excuse to get a nine piece Craftsman wrench set and a wheel cylinder hone to use on the damper.

After returning with the tools and getting the manifold off, I painted the front cover and oil pan with Bill Hirsch's engine paint.  After the paint had dried, I installed a new front seal, put the front cover and water pump on, and put on the oil pan with its gaskets in order to get them set to the block with silicone while I painted the rest of the block.  After spending a couple hours masking off all the bolt heads, open spaces, heads, lifter valley, crankshaft flange, and water pump I bagged it up and called it a night.

The next day I wheeled the motor outside to be painted.  A light coat is misted on, allowed to set for a couple minutes, then the final coat is applied.  A few touch-ups were necessary after it had dried, mostly in places where I couldn't see if the paint had reached.  After drying for about fifteen minutes, I took off all the masking, installed the fuel pump, and then bagged up the motor to await new manifold gaskets.
 

Bill Hirsch automotive engine paint,
Chrysler blue.
 
The motor with masked off bits,
ready for painting.
 
View of the masked off head.

 
Masked off water pump and front
oil pan seal.
 
The light first coat.

 
Other side of light coat.

 

Front side of light coat.
 
The second coat is applied.
 
Another view.
 
Other side.
 
The masking has been removed,
and the fuel pump installed.
Other side.
 
 
Cover Me!
School has started up once again, and the motor is back in the shop getting the finishing touches put on.  I made another attempt at installing the harmonic balancer, but since it came from the factory at six thousandths undersized, there was no way I was getting it on.  CAT instructed me to heat it up in boiling water, but that was unsuccessful.  After attempting to hone it out with a wheel cylinder hone and failing to install it, I decided to junk the damper and just purchase a new one from Summit.

I also received a set of Weiand cast aluminum valve covers from a very nice lady in New York.  Since they were used, I had to bead blast and hot tank them before mocking them up on the motor for installation.  I have not yet decided if I want to paint them, or just clear-coat them and leave them au naturale, but I'm leaning more towards the clear-coat.

Since it's also a new school year, I have to do all the assignments over again.  This means cylinder boring, honing, decking, and other assorted tasks on an entirely new motor.  I have been looking for a 440 block, since I want to learn about big blocks, but all I have currently managed to find is one long block for five hundred dollars in Huntington Beach.  However, my professor asked me if I was interested in doing a Chevy 383 stroker for a member of the college computer staff, and since I'm fairly broke, I accepted.  That might have its own write-up, but I am not sure what my customer wants yet. 
 

A valve cover as it arrived from
New York, with no cleaning.
The inside of the valve cover.
 
Dirty Weiand!
The other valve cover after
getting a bead blasting.
The inside of the blasted cover.
Clean Weiand!

A comparison shot.
Inside the two.
The most fun machine in the
entire machine shop.
Both covers mocked up
on the motor.
Other view.
Close-up shot.
 
Living in Harmonics
With the arrival of a Summit-brand harmonic balancer, the proper tool to install it, and a few other parts I still needed, I was ready to finally get this motor fully assembled.  I double-checked the internal diameter of the damper to make sure it had the proper interference fit with the crankshaft snout, and seeing that it did, I applied a small amount of anti-seize on the internal diameter and some motor oil on the outside of the hub so it wouldn't tear the front oil seal when it was pressed on.  I then set up the tool, slid it through the damper, and threaded it into the internal hole in the crankshaft.  Using a standard 15/16 wrench I pressed the damper onto the hub, made sure it was seated properly, and then installed the crankshaft retaining bolt, torquing it to 100 lb/ft as per Chrysler specs.

After dealing with the damper, I then installed a one-inch spacer under the carburetor.  A spacer is a simple and inexpensive way of adding torque and horsepower, and also helps keep the fuel temperature down.  While I don't think I'm going to have any problems with boiling fuel, I do like having a little bit of extra oomph and a slightly snappier throttle response, so for twenty-five bucks, it's hard to go wrong.

All that's left to do now is to purchase exhaust headers and spark plugs and attach the flywheel, and the motor will be ready for its first start-up.
 

The instructions for the damper installation
and pulling tool.
The tool itself.
 
Setting the tool up to press
on a damper.
The damper, fully installed on the
motor with retaining bolt.
The 1-inch aluminum spacer
underneath the carb.
 
Headers Up!
The exhaust headers are the next and almost last thing to install on the motor.  These are plain-Jane Summit brand painted headers that will fit a multitude of Mopar vehicles, and supposedly massage a decent amount of horsepower out of a good build-up.  From my inspection, they do appear to be of good construction, though there are a couple problems regarding bolt clearance on the inside of the outer two pipes.  The pipes are bent a bit too close to where the head of the bolt needs to be in order to thread it into the head, and as such, those bolts don't get installed.  I'm planning on going to exhaust studs instead of bolts, though I might also have to do a bit of grinding on the pipes in order to make the fastener fit.

After I bolted the headers to the motor and hooked up the reducers, I added valve cover gaskets and fastened the valve covers down.  The ARP bolts that came in my kit last year again gave me problems, and were far too short to pass through both the cover flange and the rubber gasket, and I had to scrounge up ten quarter-inch bolts of about an inch in length in order to actually fasten the covers to the heads.  Luckily I could use the ARP washers on the bolts, so my covers are still fairly protected from getting gouged or scuffed by a rotating bolt head.

When the valve covers were on, I attempted to install the spark plugs, but for some reason they will not fit in my Edelbrock heads.  I'm able to thread them in about two-thirds of the way, and then the hex part of the plug comes into contact with the head, effectively preventing me from getting a spark plug socket in there or allowing the plug to do any further rotation.  Extremely odd, since the Edelbrock heads are supposed to be the same exterior dimensions as a stock 360 head, and indeed, the plugs fit in my Doba's 360 motor.  So apparently I need a smaller plug.

With the headers and valve covers on, all that's left is to get a new set of spark plugs, some header studs, a few pipe plugs to plug up some holes in the intake manifold, an oil filter, and an oil pressure sending unit.  After that, it's only a matter of putting the motor on the run stand, installing the flywheel, bell housing, and starter motor, wiring up the distributor to the coil and ignition computer, getting the base timing set, filling it up with five quarts of Rotella 15w-40 diesel oil, priming the oil system, and finally firing it up. 

It's almost a shame to see it come to an end.
 

The headers, leaning against
a Rottler cylinder hone.
The exhaust ports and
manifold/header mating surface.
Summit brand gasket on top,
Fel-Pro on bottom.
Reducer and flange.
 
The headers, mounted
to the head.
The reducer flange with bolts.
 

The reducer, attached
to the flange.
Silicone applied to the valve
cover to hold the gasket.
The gasket, trimmed and fixed.
 
A Champion RN14YC spark plug.
 
The motor, with headers
and covers.
Other side.
 
 
Sparks and Wires
After realizing that the only way I was going to get a spark in the cylinder would be 5/8s sized spark plugs, I purchased a set of Autolite 3924s at my local Kragen.  I took these, along with a piece of scrap wood from a household re-flooring project and the ignition coil bracket, to class to trial fit them in the heads.  Upon seeing that I would indeed be able to fit both the plug and a socket into the plug recess, I slathered some anti-seize on the plug threads, and snugged them down.  After all eight were in the motor, I labeled the wires, then routed them while making sure to criss-cross adjacent plug, and plugged them onto the distributor in the correct firing order. 

After installing the spark plugs, I started building the mount for the ignition computer, ballast resistor, and ignition coil.  I bought a couple metal braces from Home Depot, drilled two 13/32 inch holes at one end of each, and bent them in the specific spots to get the right angle for mounting the board.  Once the braces were properly shaped, I mounted the board to them with wood screws, mounted the computer with a grounding wire, and bolted the mount to the heads.  I measured the coil wire, and mounted the coil so there would be just enough slack to allow engine movement without interrupting the ignition voltage.  I then mounted the ballast resistor, did all the preliminary wiring, and tidied it up with zip-ties and masking tape.  I then installed the temperature and oil pressure sending units, and called it a day.

All that's left now is to bring in five quarts of Rotella diesel oil, mount it on the run stand, and fire the bitch up.
 

The labeled plug wires.
 
Routed wires, complete with
criss-cross.
The wires plugged into the
distributor.
Materials for the ignition
system mount.
The brace, bolted to the head.
 
Both braces attached
to the heads.

The computer's mounted
with a ground wire.
 
The coil's mounted in place.

 
A shot of how the coil
bracket's mounted.
 
The coil wire, leading
to the distributor.
 
The ballast resistor gets
mounted, and the wiring
starts coming together.
All the basic wiring's
completed and ready.
 

The whole she-bang.
The oil pressure sender.
The temperature sender.		      
 
A Minor Setback
After getting a set of motor mounts, I attempted to mount the motor on the run stand.  However, when I attempted to fit the mounts to the engine block, they would not line up with the mount holes, and the mounts themselves hit the headers.  After trying every possible orientation, I realized that the mounts wouldn't work anyway, because they were intended for use with a cross member in a passenger car, not a simple stand mount, and I would need mounts intended for use in a pick-up truck.  Unfortunately, I had thrown away my old mounts because I though they were junk, and Freeway Auto Supply would not be able to get the proper mounts in until the next morning.  However, there was another person in the class doing a Dodge small block, and he had a set of truck mounts he didn't need.  After bumming them off him, I bolted them to the block, and set about mounting the motor to the stand.

After the motor was bolted to the stand at the mounts, I attempted to install the flywheel.  At first, there was a problem with the holes not lining up.  Mopar motors use a special bolt-pattern on their flywheels and flexplates, where one hole is offset from the others.  Each hole must line up, otherwise the flywheel can not be installed.  Mine was only lining up with four holes, not all six.  Since it was near the end of the class period, I had to leave it for the next week.

At home, I thought about this problem some more.  I didn't understand why it wasn't lining up, since the flywheel was made for Mopar motors.  Then, while on the can, an idea hit me: why not use my old crankshaft to mock up the flywheel and see what's what?  I hadn't had a great perspective with the motor at school, because I had to hold the flywheel with one hand and crane my head around in order to see, so having an unobstructed view of the flange and flywheel would be very advantageous.  After finishing up, I got the flywheel from the car, and went out to the garage.

Turns out I was putting it on backwards.

The next week I tried again, this time with the flywheel properly oriented.  Using a set of ARP bolts I had purchased, I tried to thread it into the hole.  No-go.  The bolt was too short, and would not even reach through the flywheel to the flange.  I was enraged, because the problems I've had with ARP have now come to a head.  I'm swearing off ARP forever, except for main, rod, and head bolts, where it's fairly easy to get it right.  Otherwise though, I'm going with Mr. Gasket or some other brand.

After doing some other jobs that needed doing, I went home and ordered a set of Mr. Gasket bolts.

After receiving the bolts, I tried again.  This time, the bolts were too large in diameter.  Turns out that Summit's online catalog system had listed a set of Pontiac bolts as also working for my Mopar.  Obviously, this was incorrect.  I finally went down to Freeway Auto Supply and purchased a set of Help! brand bolts for six bucks.  Of course, these worked perfectly.  It's always the cheap stuff that works, while the expensive stuff fails to live up to its name.

After buttoning up the bellhousing and installing the starter motor, I poured in five quarts of Rotella diesel oil and started to prime the system.  Almost immediately oil started hemorrhaging out around the oil filter adapter plate.  After cleaning it up and asking my professor what the deal was, I learned there is a gasket that goes between the block and the plate, which I had not known about.  Neither book I bought or the shop manual mentioned this gasket, and I thought the circular rubber gasket in my set was just a left-over.  So another week goes by without a start-up.

The next week I install the gasket and prime the system, checking for leaks.  This is the extent of my work for that week, since I knew we would have a guest speaker in class and I had not planned on starting it up.  The motor sits dormant.
 

The improper mounts.
A truck mount bolted to the block.
The crankshaft flange.
The flywheel.
The bolts.
The motor, almost ready to go.
 
She Lives!
It is the week after Thanksgiving, and there is no work left to be done on the motor.  All that's left is to prime it, time it, fuel it, and start it.  I immediately roll the motor outside next to the water hose and begin wiring up the ignition system and hooking up hoses.

After all the connections have been made, I prime the oiling system by bringing pressure up to around forty pounds of pressure for about three minutes, ensuring every nook and cranny in the oil system has been lubricated.  Then I reinstall the distributor driveshaft, align it, and install the distributor, making sure to align it properly as well.  Once all buttoned up, I turn on the water and watch for it to come out the return hose.

It doesn't.

Instead, it comes out from the back of my intake manifold.  Apparently, one of the bolts holding the manifold to the heads had bottomed out without actually bringing the manifold into good contact with the head, while another was a bit too loose.  After shimming the one bolt and tightening the other, I tried the water again.  Still leaking, but not so much.  Then my buddy suggested removing the thermostat.

After removing the thermostat, the water flows way it should: in through the pump and out through the water neck.  With everything working properly I then fill the fuel tank with some 91 octane gasoline, and attempt to start it.

At first it would not start.  The starter would turn the motor over, but it wouldn't fire.  The cause was simply a lack of spark, due to not flipping the run switch to "On."  After correcting that problem, I tried again.

It still would not start, but we were getting ignition.  However, it was through the exhaust.  I was 180 degrees out, even though I had followed the book precisely.  A simple correction, as I just had to loosen the distributor, rotate the rotor, and reinstall it.  The cap was snapped back on, and I tried again.

After a couple burps and belches, the motor roared to life.  I quickly brought it to around two thousand RPM, and my professor played around with the idle settings and throttle screw in order to keep it there.  After getting it all set, I let it run for ten minutes to seat the rings and break in the camshaft, then shut her down.

She sounded strong, really strong.  At idle there's just enough throat to sound menacing, while it's subdued enough to not raise suspicions from any would-be racers.  With open headers she sounds like a monster; I figure with a good set of mufflers she'll sound like a trained attack tiger.

Now to just find a car to put it in.
 

All the hoses connected up.
Close-up of the hoses.
The motor hooked to the battery.
The oil priming tool and pressure gauge.
 

The first attempt.
The second attempt.

The full break-in procedure.

High Quality Video
 First attempt   Second attempt   Final break-in
 
Assorted Problems and Quirks
Oddly enough, the vast majority of the problems I encountered with building this motor stemmed from ARP's bolts.  Their accessory bolt kit did not label which bolts went where very well, and the front cover and water pump bolts were either the wrong size and thread pitch, or simply too short.  I later purchased a Mopar Performance bolt kit for the front cover and water pump, and while many of the bolts worked much better than ARP's, there were still two bolts that simply were not long enough.  I was forced to go to Home Depot and Ace Hardware to find the right length bolts, and have yet to be completely successful.

There were other problems with ARP's bolts as well.  A couple intake manifold bolts were too long, though this might be the fault of the heads.  The heli-coil inserts at a few locations in the heads might not be properly installed, or at the wrong depth.  The head studs were also missing two extra long studs for the Edelbrock heads, though this is more of a fault of Summit Racing's online catalog system, as it did not show the proper stud kit for Edelbrock heads.  In place of sending the kit back, I simply used a bolt Edelbrock provided with each head, and used the proper stud in the location indicated. 

The largest problem with the ARP bolts, aside from the front cover, is that the exhaust header bolts are too short to bolt a stock exhaust manifold onto the heads.  This, and the poor labeling of their bolts, has caused me to rethink going with ARP for future motors. 

The other major problem I encountered with this motor was with the harmonic balancer.  I ordered the balancer off eBay, and while it is a quality balancer, the inner diameter of the hub is six thousandths undersized.  When I called C.A.T., they told me to heat up the hub and press it on.  Given the massive undersize of the hub, this is not an acceptable method of installing the damper, as it would be impossible to remove the damper after installation, if it could even be installed in the first place without destroying the damper in the process.  However, their website states that using any method other than heating the hub will result in voiding the warranty.  To me this is unacceptable, and C.A.T. will not be getting my business in the future.

Another annoying problem was the water neck.  The one made by Mopar Performance was not wide enough, and would not fit on my Weiand intake manifold.  I do not know if this is the fault of Mopar Performance for making a shoddy water neck, or Weiand for having a non-standard thermostat hole, but I am more inclined to believe it is the fault of Mopar Performance, as a Summit brand water neck fit perfectly.

The other problems I encountered with building the motor were very minor, and are probably avoidable by anyone who is more organized than I was with this motor.  All the parts were ordered in bursts, according to how much money I could afford to spend, and in the process it became fairly disorganized.  Because of this, I have learned that I need to wait until I know I can afford to purchase the vast majority of parts at once, and not just piecemeal it together over the course of many months.

I also learned that I should bead blast anything small enough to fit in the bead blaster, engine internals and new items excepted.
 
The Future
I am currently deciding between putting the motor in a 1968 four door Dodge Dart, a 1972 four door Dodge Dart, or a four door Plymouth Belvedere.  The transmission will most likely be a manual shift, since putting all that power in front of an automatic would probably just be a waste.  In the meantime it will reside on the stand until I purchase an engine cradle, which will then serve as the core for a run stand. 
 
Ackowledgements and Resources
Websites:

Books:

Parts:

Other Resources:

  • All Cars Auto Parts, 2200 W. 5th Street, Santa Ana, CA.  (714) 547-1611 - Salvage Yard
  • Burlington Engineering, 220 W. Grove Avenue, Orange, CA.  (714) 921-4045 - Metal treatment and chemical dipping

 
 
Full Price List
 
Part Part Number Price
Mopar 360 cast iron engine block, 1976 casting (Complete long block) N/A $350.00
Eagle crankshaft, 4340 forged steel, 4.000" stroke ESP-436040006123 $692.15
Scat H-beam rods, 4340 forged steel, 6.123" length, floating pin 2-360-6123-2124 $334.95
Keith Black forged stroker pistons, 4.030" KB745 $365.36
Speed-Pro Plasma-Moly rings, 4.030" SLP-R9902030 $99.95
Clevite 77 rod bearings CB-481H N/A
Clevite 77 main bearings MS-1051P N/A
Federal-Mogul cam bearings FEM-1484M $33.39
Brass freeze plug kit PE-113-BR $10.89
Bronze distributor bushing DCC-1737725 $6.95
Bronze distributor bushing DCC-1737725 $6.95
Fel-Pro complete engine gasket set FEL-KS2109 $70.99
Fel-Pro front cover gasket set FEL-TCS6563-1 $28.39
Comp Cams camshaft and lifter kit, grind XE268H-10 CCA-CL20-223-3 $179.95
Crane Cams pushrod set, ball and cup CRN-69691-16 $77.88
Cloyes True Roller timing chain set CLO-9-1103 $41.88
Melling hardened oil pump driveshaft and distributor gear MEL-IS-72 $30.39
Melling high volume oil pump MEL-M72HV $47.88
Melling oil pickup MEL-72-S2 $17.95
Milodon windage tray MIL-32230 $45.95
Mopar Performance stock replacement oil pan DCC-5249059 $112.95
Chromed oil dipstick and tube TRD-9224 $11.88
Mopar front timing cover, used N/A $15.51
Mopar Performance water pump, six blades DCC-5249558 $56.95
Carter fuel pump CRT-M6902 $65.95
Crankshaft key MRG-983G $2.95
Crankshaft key MRG-983G $2.95
Front main seal   $8.95
Front main seal   $8.95
Rear main seal FEL-BS40240 $15.69
Edelbrock Performer RPM cylinder head, assembled EDL-60779 $614.50
Edelbrock Performer RPM cylinder head, assembled EDL-60779 $614.50
ROL Manufacturing hi-temp cylinder head gaskets HG31030HT $32.00
Proform roller rockers with hardened chromed rocker shafts, 1.5:1 ratio PRO-66869 $199.95
Mopar Performance chromed water neck with gasket DCC-4452025 $11.95
Summit brand water neck with gasket TRD-4987 $12.88
Thermostat, 180 degree operation DCC-4876307 $10.69
Weiand Stealth intake WND-8022 $208.88
Edelbrock 750CFM carburetor with manual choke EDL-1407 $245.88
MSD Ford Duraspark 45,000 volt ignition coil MSD-8205 $39.88
Ballast resistor, 1 ohm resistance DCC-5206436 $7.95
Ballast resistor, 1 ohm resistance DCC-5206436 $7.95
Summit brand distributor with blue ignition computer and ballast resistor SUM-850003 $169.95
Autolite spark plug wires, 8mm core ACC-5047K $49.69
C.A.T. fluid filled harmonic balancer, internally balanced HBF-318 $85.00
ARP main studs for windage tray ARP-240-5501 $59.88
ARP head studs ARP-144-4001 $81.88
ARP accessory bolt kit ARP-544-9601 $129.88
ARP thread lubricant ARP-100-9903 $6.88
ARP thread sealer ARP-100-9904 $7.88
Mopar Performance front cover bolt kit DCC-4529256 $36.95
Hirsch aerosol engine enamel, Chrysler Blue, one 14oz. can N/A $14.00
Rebuilt mini-starter N/A $49.02
Flexplate, 7 inch N/A $10.00
CAT Power flywheel, 130 tooth, 11 inch, SFI approved, internally balanced FW1900 $109.99
Mopar bell housing for A833 manual transmission, 10.5-11" flywheel opening P-3743859 $70.00
Summit brand internally balanced damper SUM-163273 $80.69
ARP torque converter bolts ARP-240-7301 $7.88
     
     
  Parts Total $5,533.26
     
     
Tools Model Number  
How to Rebuild Mopar Small Blocks book 0895861283 $12.89
How to Build Big Inch Mopar Small Blocks book 1932494065 $12.89
Motor Repair Manual, 1974-1979 0910992681 $10.00
Engine stand, 1000 pound capacity   $59.99
Miller Special Tools distributor bushing driver and reamer C-3053 $111.29
Mopar Performance oil pump primer DCC-4286800 $6.88
Summit damper installer and remover tool SUM-G1025 $94.95
     
  Tools Total $308.83
     
     
  Grand Total $5,856.57

*Total does not include shipping costs or applicable taxes.*