LOMLWMBO has given me two weeks to get rid of the car (brother's late FIL parked it in his garage in '92, hasn't moved since.)(car has 2bbl version, auto trans, 62K miles) I need an engine for my '49 Willys Overland (little Buick V-6 ain't cuttin it ). So at what point do I give up and send it to Shredderville? a) now b) If it won't turn by hand c) If it won't turn with oil and breakover bar d) After teardown
spend a few hours and try to get it running while it's still in the car. If it runs great if not you need to figure out how much you want to put in it.
What sort of shape is the car in? These cars will bring a few bucks in running condition. Why not take a day and se if it will run if it's in decent shape? If so, sell it and you have the funds to upgrade your drivetrain.
Uh, 60K miles in Michigan, not driven for 12 years Yean, I'm gonna try to sell it for my sister-in-law, but from the rust I've seen I'm not optimistic.
Kentucky rust ain't got nuthin on Michigan rust. Probably just a little "surface rust" he saw on the underside and freaked out. Up here that's darn near "showroom". Seriously though, I've bought cars out of garages in Michigan that sat for longer than 12 years...depends on how it was when it was put away...and how it was stored. If it was already rotting before it was put in a garage and forgotten about...well...
A Dodge Magnum has a little bit of collectibility. One thing is for sure, when the late 70s cars do become popular - and they're just starting to - parts will be a bitch to find because no one has kept those cars around. I can go to junkyards and find 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s cars, but from about 1967-up they become few and far between. Then again part of that here in New York is because they require titles on '73-up cars and it's tough to replace it if you lose it. I would poke around on eBay and Hemmings and see if there is any kind of market for anything from it. If not, it's a swell donor car for a rod. A 360 is a 360, I'm sure a 4bbl intake is just a 1-800-phone call away. I had one in a Ramcharger with the Mopar version of a TBI on it and that thing would really haul ass. Actually, come to think of it, if it is halfway solid even without a motor it's still worth $500 or so - to the demolition derby crowd. I've seen guys win derbies in the Cordoba version of that same car. They were built pretty tough. There's a lot of sites you could list it on just for that reason. Demogear.com I think is one of them. And if I were you and I didn't plan on moving or anything in the next 20 years, I'd stash the header, grille, taillights, and odd trim pieces - hang it on the garage wall - on the off chance it might be good swap material down the road.
Okay -- I finallly got a chance to get a jack under it. (not easy, seems rf suspension is broken) and maybe the rust isn't too bad. Good news is car was "Ziebarted" and the rocker panels are in good shape. All but RF fender is straight, but rusty on bottom of door & fenders. Interior is in very good condition. Can't turn engine by hand. And that's what I'm looking at.
Probably worth more as a whole than the sum of it's parts in THIS case from what you describe. You could probably get $1500-2000 out of it for the whole car if it's in the non-running but decent condition I'm picturing from your description...at least up here. Decent interiors on late 70's Mopars are a hard act to find. If I was you, I'd get on the Mopar boards and advertise this...either with a locked up engine, or pull it and keep it and sell the hulk. Then rebuild yours or find another 360 out of a truck or van or something. Worth a shot. 360's are fairly easy to come by. Just my .02
pull the plugs out of the heads and fill the holes with oil and let it sit for about a day, next day go to town trying to turn it over. more than likely you have a seized piston or pistons, they will work their selves loose after a few minutes of cranking and oiling. Rusty or not a mopar is a mopar people will pay big bucks for what you may think is junk. loyal mopar guys will pay anything for parts. i know first hand and it sucks.
hells yes it is. lots of power potential on stock modified parts. terrible flowing heads is their only downfall, but porting and pormatching the intake will take care of that. also going too crazy porting the heads you can cut into the push rod passages. i would keep it and build it mopar aftermaket is getting a little less pricey these days.
I would put some oil down the cylinders like was mentioned above. I usually use penetrating oil or diesel since its thinner and will also help unstick the rings if they are stuck. MMO and diesel works real well. There is some stuff in the tech section on how to go about getting an old motor going again.
Isn't the 360 in the same series as a 340? A high school buddy of mine had an old 340 dart that was FAST. And come to think of it, I knew a guy who had one of those late 70's 360 magnums and it was fairly impressive for a smog era car. I'd say if it's free and it runs it's definitely worth keeping.
Thanks for the replies -- maybe I can get a stay of execution for it from LOMLWMBO -- IF I get it off the driveway PRONTO!!! Anybody got a good MoPar site? I searched last night and all I found were sites for the "new" Magnum I'll try some more tonight.
On motors that have been sitting for a long while, I pull the spark plugs and squirt ATF into the cylinders, put the plugs back in, dump some more down the carburetor (throttle held open, to help free any sticking valves) and let it sit for a couple of days and do it again. After a week or so, pull the spark plugs, connect a hot battery, and try bumping it over with the starter. Doing it this way, you can almost always get something to roll over unless it's had water in it and rusted solid. As far as the 360 goes, using an early 340 grind cam and late pre Magnum 308 heads (commonly found for cheap on 89-90 throttle body injected 360 pickups), replacing the Lean Burn stuff very likely to be on it with a straight 4 or 5 pin Mopar electronic ignition , adding headers, and keeping the stock Thermoquad, will really wake it up to the point of making a giant killer out of it.
'78 360's sucked; low compression and the heads were EXTREMELY prone to cracking thru the valve seats; last one I did (in '83) had similar mileage and the heads were scrap by then. the heads will be the rate-limiting event in all instances - if you want to run as-is, check 'em as soon as you tear it apart. If you want more HP, you'll need a set of aftermarket heads. Timing chains sucked, too...stretched to high heaven; the late 'A' block motors typically failed due to timing chain skip. If it were mine...I'd have to love the idea of making it go - and be willing to spend the jing to get it there. They cost more $$ to make go than a bellybutton motor, FWIW.
By comparison, a friend of mine had the Plymouth version of the Ramcharger about that same year and tells me he drove it "until the valves were square" something like 350,000 miles going back and forth to work - he worked for the railroad and lived about an hour one-way from the closest place he could work at. Maybe the truck motors were better.
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