FE 360 Performance

[Power Hungry]

Originally Posted by cleatus12r

Just to throw some numbers out there since math is fun....

FE deck height - 10.170"
360 Rod length - 5.540"
1/2 stroke length - 1.750"
Piston compression height - 1.760"

Deck clearance - 0.120" in the hole. GARBAGE!

Unfortunately, most blocks (this one is no exception) need more than a 0.010" overbore for wear which puts a guy out of the realm of using a 352 piston since the largest size available is 4.060" and the 360 starts at a 4.050" bore stock. A 352 would be fine with me as the compression height of the piston is higher, affording a better quench and higher compression (1.816 CH). This WOULD get deck clearance to about 0.060" or so. BETTER.......

What is Cody the mad hatter doing? Getting Dodge 340 pistons, that's what. Certain years had floating wrist pins (like the FE) and I SHOULD be able to go an extra 0.009" on the small end bushing. If there's no balancing problems due to weight, I'll have a 0.030" overbore (4.080") with 0.040" oversize 340 pistons.....and the best part....a 0.050" deck clearance. The static compression ratio will go from about 7.85:1 to almost 9.0:1 with much better quench and I can get away with a more "sporty" cam and not completely kill the cylinder pressure.

That's quite an interesting undertaking, but I like the way you think. At the end of the day parts are parts. If they fit and line up, so be it.

Actually, it's not much different than what I've been doing with the 200 Blaster. They use a factory piston with a 72.0mm diameter and then sleeve the cylinder to match. It's not what came from the Yamaha factory, but it works and bumps the displacement up to 240cc from 200cc.

Send some pics when you can. Want to see this buggy.