Hey everyone. Im trying to get some opinions on what to do with my 73 Duster. I have a stock 71 Pickup truck 360 in it that I'd like to upgrade on the cheap. I have a set of reman heads for a 360 magnum sitting on my shelf in my garage. I was wondering if I put these heads on my engine if it would be an upgrade and if so what intake do you recommend?

 

Do you know what year the "magnum" heads are from? Secondly, on the intake question, it depends on what you're trying to do? I suspect by your questions, greater performance, but if stock bottom end and depending on what the heads turn out to be, I would not go too radical. I'd stay dual plain intake (better driveability) and probably go edelbrock RPM mode myself - just my opinion. Finally, what gears do you have in the Duster? That may be a more efficient route to go if you're looking for more "around town" grunt.

 

The heads are for a 96 Ram. I eventually want to upgrade to aluminum heads but that goal is a little too expensive right now considering Im a full time college student. Im not sure on the gears I have. All I know is I have an 8 1/4 with sure grip. The car was originally a 318 auto car.

 

i believe that there is machining work that needs to be done to make modern "magnum" heads work on your 360 block. perhaps im wrong, but i thought that there was an issue with the oiling or cooling system. once you do that, you are also bound to the fairly limited selection of intake manifolds available for the modern 360 magnum motors. parts for the magnums are RIDICULOUSLY overpriced, so I would never ever recommend putting any of those parts on an older motor. people do it, but i rarely see those cars at the track or in the staging lanes, and I wouldnt do it. i guess that if you have ALL of the parts laying around, it would be one thing, but look around..the aftermarket for the magnum heads isnt great, and what is available is expensive.

sell those magnum heads to someone with a truck who has had problems and buy a set of decent heads. you dont need aluminum heads, or the best on the market. im making 500-ish horsepower with the mirada running a set of small valve mid 80s 360 truck heads, and on the demon im running late run 340 heads (small valves), and its in the mid 13s. the idea that you need to spend a fortune on heads to make your mopar fast is a myth...it doesnt hurt, but you can make power without doing so.