I've seen A LOT of posts about making HP with a 318-So why is it so ???

Kern Dog said

With proper parts selection, I see no reason why a 318 couldn't reach 1 HP per square inch.
The secret is in the heads and the cam!
The lift of a stock 318 cam is .373. Yeah. The valve springs could almost be compressed by an 87 year old dude with arthritis.
The 318/5.2 Magnum was rated at 230 HP, a number that could easily be boosted with better heads and intake, headers and a decent cam.

Click to expand...

You can make 300 hp using a cam with less than .480 lift and 220'[email protected] with headers and a 600 carb if the heads are ported to flow like a stock 360.. in which case buy the pistons and use the 360 heads with a good valve job w/1.94 valves.
Mostly people under or over cam, under compression always and don't do anything in the cylinder head department that's correct or verified...they grind away at nothing and 'make big'..'grunt grunt' and there is nothing to tell them if all 8 or 3 or 5 flow the same or worse or equal to the other. People wonder why even a mildly ported set of tested heads wake it up big time... its balance. Why you tell backyard bob to just go easy... because you can have one flowing 30 cfm more than the rest or none flowing any better.. it's a crap shoot.

318's are popular atm, interest just seems to have bloomed again. I think that's cool. I'm building one, restrained, and another radical.