This was the only reason I built mine.

 

Whoops^^^


Sooper if you could keep us up to date on pricing etc that would be greaaaaat

 

Thanks everyone for the support. I hope your enthusiasm rivals your patience as this process unfolds.

Yeah I want to chronicle this process. I've seen threads where people reference their 408, or where they bought it, but I haven't seen a build thread yet and I want to make sure future searches end with a result complete with pics of someone building one...including links and prices as much as possible.

Today I'm going to get the machine shop labor time estimate and pricing. Once that's done I can plan a start date and tear down the 360 to be dropped off.

The 360 was an engine I bought for myself. I was going to rebuild it and put it in my Durango, and then use THAT 360 to build a 408 for MY truck. However, this change in plans means that my friend's 360 becomes my core that I will use for either a 360 in my Durango or a 408 in my truck.

 

Have a read thru this thread.

I am also going to advocate NOT using the stock heads. Don't even waste money having them checked. Just replace them. You can get a nice set of NEW casting heads, that are better than stock from Odessa/Clearwater..... for less than the price of ONE head from Hughes, or the like. O/C also offer larger valve heads...... just depends on what you want out of your motor.

That said... Just what IS the purpose of your truck? What is the end goal for the engine? This is something you need to decide on first, before you even buy the first new part. Since you have done builds before, I suspect you already have an idea of what you want. Clue us in, and we can be more helpful.

 

I'll look into the O/C heads and see what they offer.

This fried of mine owns a general contracting company that specializes in brick and masonry. He sometimes hauls heavy loads in the bed to job sites and sometimes has trailers with heavy equipment. (Yes he is aware that the suspension and rear end will need attention.)

Other than that he daily drives the truck, trips, errands, and so forth. It needs to be streetable and functional as a work truck with the power to pull and carry loads. He's noticed since buying the truck that with the loads there's a big difference in speed and acceleration and he wants some of that back.

I would say torque is a more important factor than high end HP so I will probably avoid the larger valves.

I think the suggestion I need to most from you guys is what cam to choose for this engine? I have a few in my mind that I have read about but would like to have some other options.

 

I will look at my cam card when I get home. I also built mine as more of a tow motor.

 

[quote=Sooper;2855444]Thanks everyone for the support. I hope your enthusiasm rivals your patience as this process unfolds. [quote]


WHATEVER gave you the idea that PATIENCE is a quality or characteristic that exists or is appreciated around here?......lol.....

 

That would be great if you could look that up. I'm also curious about your static compression ratio, and what pistons you chose to achieve it.

So far the big lingering questions are deck height...should I go zero, or leave it in the hole a little? I want this truck to be drivable even if 94 isn't at a pump in some small town he ends up in.

Can is also a choice I am very unsure about. I can save money on the build with the sock cam but at the same time if we're going through the trouble of building a 408 we should do it justice.

 

Zero deck it. It is one of the methods of reducing spark knock.

 

True, and that's on my mind, but a zero deck also increases SCR considerably. Even with dish pistons, I think it's the difference between a sub 10 CR and 10.5. I haven't calculated the possibilities yet...until I know all my options.

Doesn't a good tune eliminate spark knock? I'll be getting a tune for it from Hemifever.