I saw the HorsepowerTV show this last weekend where they built up an AMC 360 and it got me thinking. Sure, it made good power up high but that's pointless for real world driving.

I've got a 360 out of an 84 Wagoneer that really should be rebuilt. I want to put it in my 86 J10 and get some really great torque from off idle to a usable 4K+ RPM.

I don't want to say I have an unlimited budget but I've got more than enough room in the budget to build the engine the right way. I can have the machining done that needs to be done and can afford to do the things that are nice to do but not absolutely mandatory. I can do aftermarket heads and what not, but I don't necessarily want to throw money at the build just to say I threw money at it. I really only want to buy the parts that make sense to install to reach my power goals.

So if you were going to build a torquey 360, what would you do?

The engine probably has something like a 8.25:1 compression ratio or close to that. How much higher would you want the compression ratio to be? I don't want to have to run premium so I don't want to bump it too high.

What about heads? Is there any reason not to run factory heads? I know I don't need the port/polish job because I won't really go much over 5K RPM. But do aftermarket heads offer something for the power goal I'm targeting?

Is there a better manifold than the Edelbrock Performer for this kind of build?

What about the camshaft? What kind of profile is best for torque in the idle-5K range?

How much real difference do roller rockers make? Are they worth it for a street engine like I'm building?

What else would you do to the engine if you were building it?