'68 318 to carbed Magnum 5.2: Check my checklist

cudak888 said
Makes sense then - and I forgot about the 318 and it's 302 swirl port heads, though I remember reading about their use in the Dippy forums. Looks like I subsequently forgot everything in favor of 360 knowledge.

The enlarged pushrod tunnels and lack of roller cams on the early 318s sounds as if Chrysler was tooling for the TBI evolution of the engine and had to put the project on hold (for more than a few years) at the last minute, while the roller 360s showed up out of nowhere.

Sure explains why roller cam 318 discussions seem much more plentiful. Then again, more vehicles of enthusiast interest seem to have come with them, including the M-bodies. It's not as if there's a hoard of people out there with a fetish for crumbling 1980's B350 camper conversions. Ramchargers, D-series, and W-series trucks also seem to be kept either stock or carbed by their followers too.

It's not unlikely they added the roller cam blocks and roller cams into the vehicles they did to test the water much like they did with the Imperial's TBI. While the cars certainly weren't premium cars, Chrysler didn't offer anything larger or more akin to a luxury car at that time.

There's little value of all 318s outside of and even within those enthusiast circles, and the majority who care that they have a motor that does anything but run follow along the lines of the older MoPar enthusiasts- they don't care all that much if it is flat tappet or not since the cams are inexpensive. I've seen many a TBI truck with an older motor. That's of note since it's not exactly like any 318s are above or below another. Some folks build strong 318 roller cam motors or strong 318 Magnum motors and part of the reason's due to the 318's value typically meaning a good motor cheap.

cudak888 said
Well, this is the first 360 of any that I could lay my eyes on, so I have no idea what it would fetch (if anything) in our local market (if there is one, besides myself)

Really strange how the old blocks have a bias for strength; seems to be some talk of the 360-3 being of better metallurgy. Then again, I also see an unusual amount of bias towards using either pre-smog or modern aftermarket parts on many of these builds, seeing that a lot of builds are either restorations or street machine/drag builds.

-Kurt

I'm not sure how much of it necessarily even has to do with the motors. From what I've heard secondhand- it sounds like the valve seals weren't as good on the smog motors, and part of that impression comes from the fact that like the modern motors, the smog engines have greater recollections among many for having over 300k miles while most of the older cars are a total unknown. Most of the ones that weren't run hard and put up wet had around 200hp. Many of the higher HP 360s really have tons in common with the smog motors- just they're not identical- the E58s and Magnums being in that category.

cudak888 said
Some updates; replies at bottom.

One of the party pieces arrived today in the form of 1992/93 (w/late-1991 date codes) Magnum 5.2/5.9 exhaust manifolds. These are the semi-elusive 53006618 and 53006619 large-flange castings:

-Kurt

Think they'll clear the PS and the firewall?