360 small block & head indentification?

I've been searching for a 360 core to use for a HP rebuild.

My local Junkyard has one inside of wrecked 1985 Dodge Ramcharger but it's not the original engine (emission tag says it came with a 318).

I'm trying to find someone help me identify this engine and head combonation.  Here are the numbers I could find on the heads and block.

HEADS- 4027593   1706   8AWJ

BLOCK- (on driver side of block) 4179930-360-1?

BLOCK- (on front just below driver side cyl head) 5K360  8526  056014

This engine seems to be in pretty good shape and rotates normally. Price is $100 if I pull it out of the truck.

If anyone can tell me which heads/valves are on this engine and give a recommendation if this would be a good engine to build on I would appreciate it.

Please email jfalquez@juno.com

Thanks

Jesse

Come on guys...I know that there HAS to be someone out there who knows how to read casting numbers for MOPAR blocks and heads. 

What casting numbers would have been used on the highly desired X heads that have the 2.02/1.60 valves? 

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out which head or block casting numbers would be the best for a high horsepower/high torque build for a small block 360?  I've checked year one's sight but still couldnt I.D. these numbers.......

Thanks in advance

Jesse

It sounds like this engine has J heads they have 1.88 intake and 1.60 exhaust and are swirl ports they are good heads, the block should just fine for what ever you would do with it.  

How can I tell for sure if these are J heads with the 1.88 intake valves? 

 I had thought that one of the head casting numbers was 8AWJ, but it really was AAWJ.....does this mean it's a J head?  How do I reconize a head that has the 2.02/1.60 heads?

This junkyard is having a 50% off sale this saturday, so if i can find out what I SHOULD be looking fo it would really help out.  I have located 5ea 360 engines that I can choose from......problem is, that I don't know what to look for......There is one in a 3/4 ton truck, the others are 4BBL in van's and two in ramcharger SUVs..........any advice?

Thanks,

Jesse

The engines in will all have J heads if they are truck engines. The heads with 2.02 valves will be X heads they will have an X on the casting number.   

Thanks.....another question... are the smaller valve J heads better for a engine build that would we be used in a truck that would used for towing?  Is that why all the trucks used them?

Did the X heads only come on 4bbl 360 engines? (that way I don't waste my time pulling valve covers off of 2 bbl equiped engines to check).  What year range of cars should I check?

Where does the benefit of having the larger valves start to show itself?

With this saturday's sale at the pull your own parts junkyard, I can get a long block for $50 or a set of heads for $20...

Thanks for the help, I'm building my first engine and have a lot to learn.

The X heads came on 340s. The J heads will be on the 4bbl engines and will make good heads a hot rod, you can do alot of mods to them to make them flow go numbers.  

I've heard/read that 360 heads could be used on a 318 for an improvement.

I also have a stock reman 318 2 barrel with around 30K miles that I would like to try to make a little stronger. I have an edelbrock performer manifold and Q-jet carb to put on it and will be changing the cam/lifters and adding headers.

with that in mind.......Should I pick up an extra set of these J heads for that? If so, would they be a direct bolt on (after letting the head shop rebuild them)? Should I ask to have them milled to raise compression a little? What work should I request from the machine shop on these heads above and beyone a standard valve job?

Thanks you've been a great help. :-)

Jesse

The 360 heads will bolt on the 318 and will use all the other 318 parts as well. You should have a three angle valve job done on the heads. If you have them milled you will need to have the intake milled as well, for every .010 you have cut from the heads have .125 cut from the intake so the bolt holes will line up.

If you cut .050 off the heads this will bring the compression up to around 9.5:1 with felpro gaskets that have a crush of.042. You will need to run 92+ octane. 

Hey thanks alot for the info..You've been a great help. I'll pick up an extra set of heads for my 318 along with a long block 360 for my rebuild project. thanks again.

Jesse

Glad I could help!  

Well, I had the chance to pull the engine apart that I picked up last weekend at the junkyard.  It's a 360 from an 86 Dodge 250 van.  It has the 1.88/1.60 valves in the heads. How can I tell if these are the "swirl port" heads that came out the the mid to late 80's to early 90's? Is there an on-line site that I can look up the casting numbers?  Here's the numbers I found on these heads:

On the valve side of the head there is the casting number 4071051 and there may be the letter A at the end of that sequence but I can't tell for sure.

On the rocker arm side of the head the is the number 21G in one place and the letter HP in the center.  What would this HP stand for? I'm hoping it's for some type of high prerformance casting.....?

Thanks

If there j heads they have swirl ports all truck 360s were j heads with swril ports.  

Thanks, any idea what the HP in the casting stands for? I never noticed it on the other heads I looked at.  The techs at year one told me that most people considered "the swirl port" heads of the late 80's and 90's were the better ones although they did not have the casting number listing with my number on it.  I'm taking them by the machine shop today to get checked out and have a valve job.  They look in pretty good shape.  The engine "looked" like it was having a cooling problem was running hot.  The freeze plugs had been replaced recently, but the ones in the back end of the block had still been leaking a little. I'm guess that this is why the van was turned in to the junkyard. The headgaskets were not blown and the timing was right on the money. nothing internal looked damaged at all. The body was still in great shape as was the interior. They drove it into the yard so I'm hoping no problems will show when everything is magnafluxed and otherwise checked out by the machinist and that it will make a good core for my rebuild.  

I don't know what HP is, could be high performance. Maybe they came from a 360 out of a 74 cuda, that would be cool but i just don't know.