how much power do you guys think a 360 would make if: the block was bored 30 over and zero decked with stock compression pistons. It would also have:
Edelbrock heads, Rpm intake
Holley 600
msd dist. and 6a box
Harland sharp roller rockers
Crane roller cam
Lunati 00054lk camshaft
standard Fel-Pro head gaskets

The reason I am tinking of this is because I have a dirt track car and the engine displacement is limited to 380 C.I. and the car is already set up for an FE.

 

460 ft lbs at 4000 rpms and 440 horse at 5500 rpms... according to desktop dyno 2000... it spit out a compression of 9.8:1 which may be a bit low but the 360's were dog low compression factory...

 

are you saying that the compression will be to low to run that cam or just to low in general? Also what would happen if I were to use the steel shim head gasket? My boss was saying that it would bump the compression up some.

 

low in general... they don't really make a good piston for the 360 yet.. if you run the steel shim, i don't know if i'd zero deck it. it's only .020" thick and that's pretty tight tolerances to worry about smacking valves. it does raise the compression a bit and more importantly it reduces the quench. most guys around here try to run the pistons .010 or .015 down the hole and then run the steel shim for the magic .035"safe zone clearance.... i know you have to keep the cubic inchs tight, i just checked it and if you use a true 352 block (not just the ones with 352 cast onto them cuz they all have that) they have a 4.00 bore and you can run the 390 crank in it. that's a 3.78" stroke and is exactly 380 cubic inches.. there should be a better piston selection (350 Chevy and 302 Ford use that size bore) you'd have to check compression heights though, and you'll have an extra .28" of stroke which will build more torque and torque builds HP... the drawback is you may have to notch the cylinder walls to clear the CJ size valves in the edelbrock heads as i guess they're already tight on a 4.05" bore- i don't know, but it's just another idea since you're engine size limited... i think you could get more compression out of it that way and make more power...

 

You'd have to deck the block a LOT to get to zero deck. Then you'd run into problems with the intake manifold and valve cover alignment. According to my book, you'd have to deck the block .104" to get to zero deck!

I'd look at custom pistons. They may not be cheap, but nothing is in racing. The advantage you'll have with the 360 is RPM's. You should be able to spin it higher than it's long-arm FE counterparts. If you're getting custom pistons, be sure to get light ones.

In this application, the long rods should work fine. The smaller 3.5" stroke should lower piston speed enough. The problem with long rods is that when used in 390's, they tend to stretch around 6000rpm. They should work fine in a 360 due to lower piston speed.

If you zero decked it, with 10cc valve reliefs, a Fel-Pro head gasket, and 72cc chambers, you'd get 9.13:1 compression. With 4cc valve reliefs (as with custom pistons) you'd get 9.7:1. Better yet, leave the piston .015" in the hole and get steel shim head gaskets and custom pistons. Then you're looking at 9.95:1 compression.

Something else you might look at is taking the block to 4.13" bore size, and using the 3.5" stroke crank. That would get you 375 cubic inches, and also allow larger valves. Again, custom pistons. Be sure to get the block sonic checked if you're going this route though. Most mirror 105 360 blocks should take the 4.13" bore though.

 

It looks like I'll be getting pistons anyway I go. So do you know of a company that I can get in touch with about pistons? I have never had to get pistons made before. Also has anyone ever ran the harland sharp rockers? I was told by a buddy that I should go with the crane set up. One last thing is, I plan to run this motor to about 6500 RPM's, so will the long rods work or should I go with the short rods?

Also in the first post I meant Crane roller lifters not cam.

 

I cant say anything for certain, as I've never taken a long rod motor to 6500rpm. My guess is that with a 3.5" stroke crank and pistons that aren't too overly heavy they'd hold up just fine. Be sure to get ARP bolts though.

I'm going to have to get custom pistons for an E85 motor I'm going to build at some point. So far, the best prices I've found is from Ross pistons. http://www.rosspistons.com/

Of course, if you're going to get custom pistons, you can get them in pretty much any compression ratio you want. You could get a dish or dome so the compression ratio would perfectly match your selected camshaft.

Something else I recommend, is if you're racing, get a single plane intake and a Holley 750 double pumper, unless rules require the 600 and the dual plane.

 

the plans have changed, I was informed that the engine had to be a small block and the FE is not a small block. So my choices are set the car up for drag racing, or change out the engine. And I don't really like drag racing so I guess I'll be getting another engine.