AMC & MOPAR V8's

[xj287]

I never realy gave this any thought, I should have, I work on them every day....Has any body looked REALY close at the old AMC V8's and then looked at the newer "magnum series" 318 and 360's? Looks to me like the same engines! I know the new magnums dont share the same block and heads as the older LA small block from the '60s and '70s, but I'm wondering if they just punched the old AMC 304 out to 318 and said "close enough". Alot of strange things happened when chrysler bought AMC, could that be one of them???

 

[bobby0872r]

Isnt the distributor in the back of the 318s not in the front like the AMCs

 

[jswatson0917]

Isnt the distributor in the back of the 318s not in the front like the AMCs

Wasn't Mopar making the 318 long before they aquired AMC?

 

[xj287]

mopar intoduced the new small block in 89, right after they aquired AMC (in 87)...it's probobly not the EXACT same engine, but man there is some seroius "cross polination"! And yes the magnum distributer is in the back.

 

[CJ]

They actually use a distributor in the magnum? I though they used coil packs? Is the camshaft position sensor driven from the cam gear in the back?

 

[xj287]

318's and 360's kept the distributer all the way through the end of the production run...they never went C.O.P., the OHC 287 (4.7 for you metric weenies) and the new hemi's have coil packs.

just for the hell of it, if any one as a magnum and a AMC V8 laying around I'd love to see the pic's posted up here for "analisys"

 

[TDHofstetter]

There are some similarities, but I think there are also too many differences to discount. The Magnum has the distributor in the rear (and so a very different crankshaft), and the starter on the left, at first glance. What's the timing chain cover like? Do they have the characteristic dogleg exhaust ports?