High Performance 318ci
Hi
Buddy of mine bought 69 Coronet Wagon some time ago. While he is restoring the body and interior he asked me to think about the 318ci thats in the car now.
Engine is supposed to be freshly rebuilt, looks very fresh but is standars spec.
Plan is to add some power with bolt on parts, or build it again with new forged pistons and some nice rods.
My initial idea was to get:
- TrickFlow 190 heads (with thin gasket target is 10:1 compression for pump gas)
- Edelbrock Air Gap intake
- Howards 710862-08 (238/238 @.050 558/558 lift) solid flat tappet cam
- 1,6 roller rockers to take advantage of high flowing heads better
- 750 or 850 Double Pumper with electric choke
- MSD 6AL2 + MSD distributor
I think this should be good for over 400hp. Not planning something crazy, just fun engine with some power and very good streetability.
Its an automatic car, transmission is almost stock, probably will need 2500 stall converter for the cam.
Do you have any better ideas? Suggestions?
Before anyone else says it, it is too much carb, cam, and heads for a stock 318 bottom end.
Even if you upped the compression to 10:1, it would still be too much for the car it is in.
Those cars are heavy (at least 4,000 pounds), and to get it to move and be a nice streeter, it would take an engine built for torque and bottom end power.
The engine you want to build is more of a 5,000 to 7,000 R.P.M. engine with little bottom end and torque.
And it's a relatively low displacement engine for the weight of the car.
And it would not be a fun cruiser at all.
It would actually be a big PITA to drive, maintain, and live with.
It sure would sound good though..........
It would be also be a complete dog off the line until it started revving up, and that would take quite awhile given the car's weight.
My suggestion is to build a mild big block (440) for it and you will reach your 400 H.P. goal quite easily.
You could even get 500 H.P. out of a fairly mild 440 if the parts are chosen right for the combination.
The car would be a lot more fun to drive, have gobs of low end torque, and be a lot easier to maintain.
All for about the same money in the long run.
And to top it all off, it would get better gas mileage to boot..........