I can buy 20 running Magnum 318's or 360's at a Tucson wrecking yard for $795 a piece with no extra work to plug 'em in. I'm unsure why anyone would want to create a zombie when there are so many of these good-running Magnums around.

 

i agree. i think it would cost more to stick a LA 360 in it than it would cost to buy a magnum and drop it in.
you mean other than the plenum that the older LA engines never had?
you came here and ask for our help. i can guaranty you would probably get the same responses on any other dodge forums.

 

i did come on here asking for help...I already bought the la block so im sticking with that.I want to run a hughes roller cam so I want to try to keep the magnum valve train and keep the magnum heads so I can still run the surp. set up.if it all will work then I'm going to run the stock fi set up.if none of this will work I'm going to build the la and go carb.motor mounts for the la I can fab up.

 

but that makes no logical sense. it would cost you way more to use the LA engine then it would to get a magnum engine. converting to carb costs at least $300 for basic electrical and $200+ for an intake and carb. now if you can get the LA 360 to run you will most likely have to spend $365 and get a custom tune to run it plus whatever it would cost for all the parts you would need to stick magnum heads on a LA engine.

 

I hate the stock magnum heads, they are junk.

 

wont my stock 318 magnum valve train fit in the la 360?

 

I wouldn't put them on an old 360, but mine have been fine for me. And I use the hell out of my truck; towing waaaaayyyy overweight in 105° weather and crashing through washes and hauling 2500# of stone and dirt in the bed. If these heads are bad, I might have to tell my engine, because it doesn't know it. People can shoot shiite all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that the only people I know who have had issues with these Dodge engines and tranny's are people who don't maintain their rig.

 

Magnum heads are known for cracking between the intake and exhaust ports under the valves. It does not cause a coolant leak but it does leak compression.

You can google it or talk to your local automotive machine shop as I did. In my engine rebuild, both my heads were cracked in that same spot, nothing you can do about it. Tried several sets of heads and they were all cracked in the same location.

I spent the extra cash and went away from the stockers.

 

Stock heads are junk, but the aftermarket Magnums heads are better. I know because I have a set on my truck with 100K miles on them.

Not only that, but I don't drink girly man light beer and I'm a certified bad-as_s.

 

even if the heads bolt on i am pretty sure you would need new push rods. now if you plan on swapping in a roller cam you will also have to get an adapter to make the cam longer since la cams are longer than magnum cams. the amount of money that would need to be dumped into the engine is just not worth it. imo to drop all that money for so little if any gain at all is not worth it.