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Expert
Posts: 4589
  
Location: Northern New Jersey | I met someone, purely by accident, who has been saving a 383 block and complete long ram setup, from his father's 60 Plymouth Wagon, which he ordered new, with lots of options, including the Sonoramic Commando. He claims to have all the linkages, air cleaner, carbs,exhaust manifolds, and crossover pipes. The Block is partially apart, with no cam, but 2 sets of heads, the originals, and a set of High Performance heads he says he bought new from a Plymouth dealer in 1969. My question to the group is, what is the complete Long ram setup worth? The engine is something I may or not be interested. I May have to buy the complete package, to get the intake setup.
Thanks for any insight you can give me.
Steve |
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Location: Under the X in Texas | Are the cast heat tubes between the exhaust manifolds and the bottom of the heat chamber at the manifold outer ends also present? Do the carbs have numbers on them? You said "air cleaner" -- should be two. Are the ears of the castings all unbroken? |
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Expert
Posts: 4589
Location: Northern New Jersey | Here are some photos the seller sent.
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 ram1.jpg (198KB - 105 downloads)
ram2.jpg (466KB - 112 downloads)
ram3.jpg (383KB - 103 downloads)
ram4.jpg (356KB - 115 downloads)
ram5.jpg (88KB - 112 downloads)
ram6.jpg (87KB - 108 downloads)
ram7.jpg (109KB - 116 downloads)
ram8.jpg (92KB - 113 downloads)
ram9.jpg (100KB - 109 downloads)
ram10.jpg (87KB - 120 downloads)
ram11.jpg (77KB - 113 downloads)
ram12.jpg (78KB - 107 downloads)
ram13.jpg (93KB - 108 downloads)
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 8947
Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | for what is pictured 4800 buying piece by piece without the engine blocks ----------------------------------------------------later |
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Location: Parts Unknown | I am too far gone from tracking current values, but this pile
shows a remarkably complete and correct set, ready for rebuild
without long searches for missing parts. To my way of thinking
this would make it worth a premium. A correct 1960 383 B-block
would be icing on the cake.
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 6502
Location: Newark, Texas (Fort Worth) | http://www.ebay.com/itm/383-Big-Block-Chrysler-Dodge-Mopar-Engine-M... |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 494
Location: Alberta | I would ask more questions and a few more photos with descriptions of condition and an itemized list here although you can put it all together visually.The brackets that hold the carbs solid and level to manifold are not in the photos unless I missed them.These brackets are impossible to find. I was told once by a mechanic that most of these set ups were replaced by Chrysler to a standard four barrel/intake and the spare parts were just thrown under a shop bench and eventually into a dumpster.The complex carb/intake set up was a heat score for Chrysler to say the least. Chrysler technicians could not get these to run properly and we've all heard that before.The key issue is the carb being set so called level requiring the manufactured bracket that I mentioned before and then the ability to calibrate the carbs and vacuum demanded in conjunction with the operation of the automatic transmission. Taking this all into account they're worth a fortune and will cost you that plus prior to driving this car down the road in Blood $weat and Tears. Hope i didn't discourage you. This was the forewarning by someone to me when I casually mentioned dealing on a set up similar to this about 3 or 4 years ago.
Edited by RUSTORICHES 2017-03-15 10:22 PM
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Location: Parts Unknown | I have driven 2 ram cars as daily drivers for years. They are not that
hard to keep running well. They deliver surprisingly good gas mileage
if driven easily. |
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Expert
Posts: 1491
Location: Lordstown, Ohio | About 5 years ago My dad sold a complete engine with all the above mentioned items still attached to it including the gen,water pump and a P/S pump. engine was locked For $3800.00 it was offered back to me about 2 years ago for $5500 |
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Expert
Posts: 1740
Location: Alaska | I am not sure what you are talking about, " brackets that hold the carbs level and solid to the manifold" When I ran my ram setup I did not have the exhaust heat or tubes but it ran fine as a daily driver and was easy to tune. I had a standard trans, but the auto just needs the linkage adjusted once and it would be OK also. Sounds like you have been told a lot of "hearsay" Listen to the people here that run them for the truth, I would love to have this setup again but can't afford it. |
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Expert
Posts: 2519
Location: central Illinois | This setup was at Carlisle 2012 and included the Plymouth Sonoramic fender emblems. It was priced at $3000.
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0707021023.jpg (228KB - 110 downloads)
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Expert
Posts: 1288
| Lads --
While a correct date 383 would be nice, a similarly dated 361 would also be period correct for a 1960 model. The ram 361 was supposed to be Plymouth's big engine in 1960, but when Dodge started dropping 383s in the Dart, the junior partner got them as well, just a couple or so months later in the model year. In fact, 361 SonoRamic Commandos were continued in production throughout the year with about half of the 1577 total being 361s. I don't know very much about the Dart side, but I have heard that some dealer-intalled ram inducted set-ups came out of their shops, much the same way a few '58 2X4V were put on '59 Plymouth 361 Golden Commandos.
As to drivability, if tuned correctly and with the carbs properly balanced, a ram car doesn't pose any particular problems except for the inevitable poor gas mileage -- especially in the case of a guy like me that can't keep his foot out of it as that torque is too tempting. There also can be an issue with raw fuel puddling in the plenum chambers under the carbs when the engine is cold which can cause stalling on corner turns. But my experiences back in 1960-1964 and from 2000 to the present with SonoRamic Commandos have not presented any insurmountable problems beyond those of any high-performance engine and about the same as with my '65 fuel-injected 327 Vette.
Joe Godec |
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Regular
Posts: 93
| Here is a better question: Where is the car? |
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What's a LongRamm Setup Worth?
