360 LA Roller Cam Retrofit

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Pent_Star_Power

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Hello all im in the midst of a new project. I am bring my old 85 w150 back to life with the help of a 88 w150 donor. I have been wanting to put a retrofit hydraulic roller setup in the 360LA I have in it now. Has any one done this here? I know comp cams has a kit but haven't found much info out there about them good or bad. I also haven't seen many other options either.
 

u2slow

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A friend did a Comp-cams roller retrofit on a 289 ford. Despite it working well when all was done, was very expensive. He would start with a roller block next time.
 

reek

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Hello all im in the midst of a new project. I am bring my old 85 w150 back to life with the help of a 88 w150 donor. I have been wanting to put a retrofit hydraulic roller setup in the 360LA I have in it now. Has any one done this here? I know comp cams has a kit but haven't found much info out there about them good or bad. I also haven't seen many other options either.
look for parts out of a 92 d150. the later gen 1 rams came with rollers, basically an LA bottom end with near-magnum top end. if you go rollers, you'll need the new roller cam, oil through push rods and new roller lifters. the push rods are where you might hit a road block on availability or spend some cash unless you go pull them from the junk yard for cheap.

If it's a project however, you can do a complete Magnum top end swap with zero issues. you need roller cams, lifters, rockers, the oil through push rods and magnum heads. I believe the intake manifold is not compatible. Magnum heads breath better anyway. there's also a bit of fussing with the front belt drive brackets. so if you can, go to the junkyard and grab the parts as well as the front belt drive brackets. or if you want to get really fancy, find an early gen 2 ram or grand cherokee and get the serpentine bracket. this will require a reverse rotation water pump however, tensioner and steering pump/alternator pulleys.

EDIT: I just looked on Rockauto, push rods are available and cheap. so are lifters.
 

u2slow

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While I can't speak for the LA specifically...

Usually old flat-tappet cam blocks need aftermarket/custom roller lifters and pushrods - not simply later oem ones. That's part of the kits costing a bunch.
 

reek

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While I can't speak for the LA specifically...

Usually old flat-tappet cam blocks need aftermarket/custom roller lifters and pushrods - not simply later oem ones. That's part of the kits costing a bunch.
absolutely agree. the Magnum lifters are taller than LA flat tappets. BUT... luckily, if you stick to OEM 92-93 LA roller lifters and oil through push rods, it's an easy swap. (actually they may have had rollers as early as 88) they still used LA bottom end and heads for those two years but had rollers instead of flat tappets. the only variable would be if the OP wants a significantly hotter cam, then new springs at a minimum would be needed. But considering how poor the LA heads breath, wouldn't be worth the money.

magnum heads breath a lot better so I'd say if you're taking apart the top end and want a bigger cam at a minimum I'd do the swap. or throw even more money at it and get Edelbrocks. Magnum lifters/pushrods are also a drop in swap for the LA block.
 

u2slow

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What keeps the roller lifters from turning in the non-roller block? And keeps the cam end-play in check?

I have a 90 360 which is supposed be roller. The heads are supposed to flow decent.

What I've read so far on magnum head swapping, is you might as well get the whole engine than suffer through the mix n match. JMHO.
 

reek

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yes, in the end, much more cost effective in both time and money just getting a full magnum motor.

as for the roller lifters, there is nothing physical machined into the block in the LA nor the Magnum to keep them from rotating. I assume it's the mating surface on the CAM that keeps it aligned?

Cam end play, it's controlled by the end plate/cam gear. no other 'adjust' available.

EDIT: it's been a bit of time since I did my last magnum rebuild so I forgot, there is a retainer plate that holds the top of the lifter from rotating. there is a flat surface machined on to the top 1/5 of the lifter it fits over. explains why the Magnum lifters are a bit longer than LA lifters
 
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reek

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one more BIG thing. everything I'm saying about the roller cam swap applies to LA blocks from 1984 (I believe) and newer. Older LA blocks won't directly fit roller lifters without some mods.
 
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Pent_Star_Power

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look for parts out of a 92 d150. the later gen 1 rams came with rollers, basically an LA bottom end with near-magnum top end. if you go rollers, you'll need the new roller cam, oil through push rods and new roller lifters. the push rods are where you might hit a road block on availability or spend some cash unless you go pull them from the junk yard for cheap.

If it's a project however, you can do a complete Magnum top end swap with zero issues. you need roller cams, lifters, rockers, the oil through push rods and magnum heads. I believe the intake manifold is not compatible. Magnum heads breath better anyway. there's also a bit of fussing with the front belt drive brackets. so if you can, go to the junkyard and grab the parts as well as the front belt drive brackets. or if you want to get really fancy, find an early gen 2 ram or grand cherokee and get the serpentine bracket. this will require a reverse rotation water pump however, tensioner and steering pump/alternator pulleys.

EDIT: I just looked on Rockauto, push rods are available and cheap. so are lifters.
I guess I should give a bit more detail about the motor i have now that we just built a year ago. Im not certain of the the block year, and will find out tonight, but i do have the 308 swirl port heads on the motor which flow far better than any stock la head and flow as well as the old x and j heads. I believe the motor orginally came out of a early 90's d/w250, well the heads did at least. They were just redone about a year ago with a valve job and resurfacing. Also upgraded the springs to support the purple cam that was added (which I have to figure out what springs and cam) I did replace the pushrods too.

The biggest reason I am wanting to do this is because of all the issues with oils not having soft metals anymore which, makes running a flat tappet setup a PIA now. I didnt do a good job with my initial cam selection and it is a bit to much of a street car cam (motor would be nasty in a dart with a 3000 stall though). Im planning to move to a lower lift higher duration cam to get that good bottom end torque.

Would my rotating assembly from the la 360 fit right into a magnum 360 block? I would think it does but have never tried. I suppose if so the best solution is to get a magnum block and switch it all over to it.
 

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my understanding is Magnum con rods and pistons are lighter than LA con rods and pistons. they wil fit in either block and so will the crank. but you will need to rebalance an LA crank if you use it with magnum pistons/rods. Never tried it in real life myself however.

If you take the intake manifold off your block, the valley will have 3 mbolt holes drilled into it down the center, to hold the lifter retainers spider plate. this would imply it is 'magnum' roller compatible. as well, the top of the lifter bores will have a machined opening that looks like you could place a washer into it. the siamesed lifter retainers sit in the machined depression. if your current block has this, it should be roller cam ready.

there are a few internet pics you can find to see what I'm talking about. if you google 'la vs magnum lifter valley' you'll find some pics.
 
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