318 r3?

what is the differance between the 318 and the 318 r3 blocks? i just had a 318 given to me and have been running numbers on it and it comes up with and r3 in the discription also found out it had 360 heads added to it at some point in time. casting number on the block is 4104230-318-7. also what does the 7 mean, im thinking year 1977

According to Galen Govier's books, casting 4104230-318 is a "Race Engine" block, cast sometime in the 70's. Could it be an old NASCAR block? Could be a cool find.


(shrug)