Hi All,

I recently came into possession my Grandfathers 1987 W250. It has a 360 motor. It had a bad leak from the oil pan, buddy and I decided to change the gasket. Once we popped off the pan, found a lot of metal in the bottom of the pan. So I plan on rebuilding the motor. Start fresh. My Grandfather was the original owner, have all the original paperwork (invoice, dealership contract, everything), so I'd like to keep the original motor in it. This is a spare vehicle.

Any information for the rebuild would be greatly appreciated.

 

That'd be the LA version of the 360. LOTS o' stuff available for those. Is there a GOOD automotive machine shop near you? Yer gonna need one.

 

Yes there is a good machine shop close by. I've rebuilt motors before. Just wanted some info on this before I dig in.

 

Going to do some improvements while you have it scattered across the bench?

 

That's the plan, been doing some reading. Recommendations?

 

I would be tempted to go with a good RV/Towing roller cam.... (retro-fit.... as the LA motors didn't come that way.)
Headers, dual exhaust. (2.5 inch?) You want relatively small primary headers, 1 5/8ths would be good. (better for low end torque)
Heads, if you want to spend that much.
Maybe bump compression a bit?

is that a computer controlled carb??? TBI? If it is, that complicates things some.

 

Thanks, and I don't believe it is computer controlled carb. Then again, I haven't really looked into it.

 

My 91 318 came with a stock roller cam. I believe it was an upgrade in the late 89s to early 90s. Just be willing to pay for a roller cam. If your on a budget do allot price checking. Mopar speed parts ain't cheap, not as common as the Ford an gm stuff. Building a 360 is gonna be allot aftermarket stuff, unless you pay for Mopar performance stuff. I'm in the process of building a 318, stock bottom end, just opening up the top end to help it breath some. Lots of options for the 360, just depends on how deep your pockets are.

 

I think an a 87 is TBI so unless you put a carb on it you are a bit limited. Could go with a carb or aftermarket tbi. What kind of $ do you plan on spending?

 

I plan on spending a decent amount. Not throwing everything I have into it, but definitely not going on the cheap side of it either. Of all my projects this is going to be one that I keep for a very long time. So I want to build it right and not rush anything.