im building a 360. i have some h405cp pistons coming. other than that bottom end is stock with a 4.040 bore. i have 3 head options. 915 J's, 596 or magnums. cam im looking at something like a comp xe268 or 270, not sure on intake,but carb will be a 850 TQ tuned for a mild 360. im wanting to make 325-350 hp if possible without tons of money. rear has 2.71 open diff,but will be changing eventually to a sure grip 3.55 or 3.73. be running a 904 unless i get lucky and find an affordable 727. looking to add a windage tray as well, no ac for now. whats your thoughts and/or input
Sounds similar to the build I'm doing on my 360, not sure on your compression, but mine is coming out to 9.7-1 with some H116CP pistons from Speed Pro. I bought the XE268 for my motor, seemed like a good overall performance cam, but you aren't able to use the factory torque converter.
As for heads it depends upon what you are planning to do with the car, if it's all street driving, the 1.88's in some factory J's with some home porting will be ok. Higher RPM street/strip, you might want to consider some aluminum heads or W-2's. I'm putting on some J heads that I had hardened seats put in and ground the 1.88 valves. Everyone says go for the 2.02's, but unless you're going to put some serious time/money into the factory iron or spring for W-2's, they won't flow any better than the off the shelf aluminum heads.
So save your money here initially and get a good running motor with some home port J-heads, then throw on some aluminum heads.
As for power, I figure that I'm going to be 330-360hp and could be pushing 400+ ft/lbs of torque with my combo, and when I spring for aluminum heads I should be 400hp+ without breaking a sweat. So I would guess you could expect similar results.
As for the intake, go for the Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap. PN 7576. It's pricey, but its generally considered the best dual plane intake out on the market.
As for cost, I'm looking at around $2000 for everything right now. A lot of the cost depends on what kind of deals you can find at swap meets/internet. All of this is just my 2¢ and I am by no means an expert! Best of luck to you with your build!
