So it begins,

(Not sure if we post builds here, but I can move it if necessary!)

I have acquired my 360 out of a '99 full size, 98k ish miles, $250 loaded into the bed. It's currently in a million pieces in my garage (my mom loves me for it), but now its time to start collecting replacement parts. Of course at the expense of a good price, there are some issues with the engine. It sat outside for about a year (though under a carport), however, no cover on the TB so water was sitting inside of the kegger and consequently cylinders 1 and 8 had open valves so water made its way in there, more so 8 than 1. The other 6 cylinders are still in fairly decent condition, and after some sanding of the pitting I was able to get the engine to turn over completely, though I think I might need to get them cut out, not sure if I can save them with just a hone. The cylinder heads, rockers, and pushrods took the worst of the rust, though they will all be being replaced anyway so I'm not worried. The oil valley and bottom end still look great and when I pulled the plug only a small amount of oil came out, no water, so the water stayed in those 2 cylinders, the heads, and the intake.

I took a peak at some of the main bearings on the crank, and they are scored, notches that catch a fingernail, but the rod bearings are still good, though I was planning on getting a reman. crank anyway. Pistons at least to my knowledge look okay, and I'm hoping if I don't need to cut the cylinders I can give the pistons the scotchbrite special, throw on new rings, and run them.

I'm going to attach the pictures I took just for the build post and for any input of course, though the build will be on pause until May as I'm stuck at school until finals lol.

Just had some questions:

With the intake being full of water I'd imagine its going to be crusty (I didn't pull the bottom off yet to take a look), but would I be able to just take that cover off and give it a good blast in a sand cabinet and save it if the rust is too bad? I wouldn't see why not. Worst case I just run an eBay intake, but obviously if its an unnecessary purchase for the time being, I'd like to avoid it.

I know looking at a picture and physically touching the cylinder walls are very different things, but from the pictures below, do you think these walls are savable or should I just go take it to a shop and have them cut?

Lastly, very doubtful for this one, but do you think the old heads would be worth anything to anyone? Even if I sold the pair for like $50-100, or would they be worth more to just take to a scrap metal yard?

Looking forward to getting this project rolling!



Oil valley, you can see the crusty dusty push rods and the fun stuff in the heads.





Some shots of the rockers and top of the heads.


Of course had to get one of these pictures as well lol.

 

Send the block/heads out to a machine shop to be cleaned, and checked. Probably have to bore it out some, which means, new pistons..... Might consider converting to OBDII as well, so you can get a tune for it. Otherwise, you are going to have to stay pretty much stock for it to run good.

 

Yeah I was planning on at least getting it cleaned, maybe I’ll get lucky and I can just throw in the same pistons. Hopefully I can find a shop that won’t charge an arm and a leg around me.

 

How do you guys feel about reusing the original lifters? I've heard a lot of different things about it, and with the engine being barely 100k miles and the lifters looking good, why not reuse them? I've found a set of new lifters but they're almost $600, which is a really big bullet to bite.

If I am able to reuse the lifters, should I replace this one lifter that I broke a piece off removing? I got a little impatient removing one and ended up chipping some of the metal off, but its the part that extends up around the pushrod cup (I don't currently have a picture, but its the very thin rim at the top of the lifter).

 

600 bucks for lifters? Are they made out of unobtainium?? Should be able to get a set for under 3. Better than stock. (not that the stockers were bad....) Check Summit racing, or Jegs, for options.

If you are rebuilding the motor, re-using old parts of that nature ain't the best plan.

 

I'm having a new clutch put in the wife's Jeep. I hired out. I'm too old to be laying on the garage floor anymore. They want $1300. It's a ripoff. The clutch comes as an assembly...clutch plate, pressure plate, and flywheel all in one. Guess that's the way some of these carmakers do it these days.

 

I'm not sure how I missed those lol but I found some Melling lifters that are about $12 a piece, so about $190 for the set. Think I'll go with those instead, I think my filters were goofy on Summit so it only showed me the Howard Cams lifter set which is $600.

This is why I'm trying to do everything in house lol, I hate paying people to do work for me as I always feel like I'm getting ripped off.

I'm planning to get a Luk flywheel and clutch, 12" set. I think its about $350 for the set on rockauto. I've decided to run the AX-15 as its an easier option for me for future proofing. I'm going to keep my current AX-15 as there aren't any obvious issues with it as of now, and be gentle (which I would be for break in anyway), and then buy a new AX-15 from Novak for about $2300, swapping my Luk clutch set to the new trans. I've heard of people swapping the internals from the Toyota Supra trans which bumps up the torque rating up to about 650 I believe, though the new Novak trans is the upgraded AX-15 setup which can handle 385, which should be under what I put down anyway.

I'm hoping to get the engine to a machine shop the beginning of April when I'm home for my dads birthday so when I get back from school after finals the beginning of May I'm not waiting on the shop so I can throw my engine in. I've decided to do my build in stages, as with all projects, I'm way over budget. I've heard people using the cam I'm going with, they can use the stock tune, and because I'm not going too crazy with parts yet, I think to save myself the money I'm going to run the stock tune for now until I'm done throwing parts at it, then I'll get it tuned to optimize everything.

My "Stage One" is engine rebuild, gaskets, cam, bearings, pistons if I need to bore, piston rings, new dressed heads, Sharp rollers, then the misc stuff I need. Rad hoses, water pump, etc. I also am going to probably find an ECU from a van or something, and depending on the harness, if I can find one from an OBDII Dakota that would be ideal, but I may have to modify one from a full size. That keeps me around $5500 or so, which gives me some wiggle room to push off other things that aren't completely necessary. I was going to reinforce and repaint the frame, though I was going to pull the body off to do that without painting it as I wanted to do it with the engine, though if I'm going to do that I might as well wait until I can paint the body so I can do everything at once.

 

Have you looked at rock auto? They have the engine tech brand for 6.xx each. Instead of lifters, they call them cam followers.
FWIW I basically did what you are doing ....... Took a motor apart, used a pressure washer to clean, with degreasers etc. and put back together. I purchased a turned crank through advanced auto, with bearings for about 150. Honed the cylinders, cleaned the pistons and installed new rings. I purchased a set of new (china) heads through ebay for about 500-600 dollars. I put in new freeze plugs, oil pump, timing chain set, cam bearings, etc. but I reused the cam, lifters, etc. and I converted mine to a carb with a edelbrock 7577 intake and a HEI distributor. On advise from a few others, I used the engine tech brand for gaskets, rings, cam bearings, timing set, etc. and for a stock build it seems fine.
I would advise to keep lifters, push rods, rockers, etc. that you may reuse in order to put back in the same hole.
I just turned 4000 miles on my motor, oil pressure is good, not burning oil...... seems fine.
Good luck with the rebuild.
Just look at your parts and if you have any questions, post pictures, ask questions, and if needed ask your machine shop. Also, look real close at your cam for wear......

 

I am basically doing almost exactly the same thing you did, probably with a much crustier engine though lol. I have a spreadsheet with all my goodies.

• Mahle cam, rod, main bearings and piston rings
• Cloyes double roller
• Comp 20-745-9 cam
• EngineTech freeze plugs, lifters, pushrods
• Fel-Pro gasket overhaul kit
• Odessa cylinder heads with valves, .600 lift springs, etc.
• ProEngineRebuilders crankshaft
• Sealed Power Pistons (If i need to overbore)
• Luk flywheel and clutch set
• Melling oil pump
• Cardone distributor, JEGS tune up kit
• Other random bits and bobs like a new dipstick/tube, sensors, balancer, breather

I'm hoping this will be all I really need, obviously not including the electronics.

 

I really like the numbers on that cam..... If I had mine to do again, I would go with that cam and ordered a spring kit from Hughes......
Do you plan to use the Ram 1999 computer and harness?
I suspect you will have problems with the 92 5.2 factory tune.
And as far as I can tell, no one offers tuning for the OBD1 computer.
Where I am, im emissions exempt so I went with a carb. Mainly to make it easier to upgrade to a cam change in the future.