318 LA roller block questions

Trust the machinist……

Excellent!
Aluminum heads, intake, headers, it keeps adding up.
Roughly…. 50 lbs for the heads, 25 for the intake, 5-10 for the header exhaust manifolds but this is a catch 22 since the exhaust piping is double but the power increase is a great off set most of the time. Aftermarket aluminum wheels etc…. Keep more weight off. It’ll be good.

Smart man! No sense falling in the same traps and pits.

I get that overthinking thing. The best for longevity would be Ductile iron. Aluminum has a long life. Galling is a lack of oil. Galling happens with any rocker (or other part) that doesn’t get enough oil.

I haven’t had an issue with the duel oiling myself but some have. The thing here is, when you’re oiling an engine, the oil that is protecting the moving parts from each other is a controlled bleeding point. If you’re going to build a relatively powerful engine (this is an opinion point of where that power level is, but let’s just say, “Not your average Hop Up.” RPM is a factor here.)
The engine is going to need a certain amount of pressure to keep oil thickness between parts in order for the parts not to rub on each other.

I have had no issue with a standard oil pump while turning 6500 rpm. This was also done with the dual, oil shaft and pushrod oiling methods working at the same time. It’s also not a sustained rpm but just a short visit and not often repeated.

Yes and no. Making a move to a 1.6 from a 1.5 often leads to increased performance. Sometimes, it doesn’t. If the ratio increase doesn’t lead to more performance, consider your cam right for the job and go back to the 1.5 rocker.

The thing with increasing the rocker no one ever really considers much even though it’s widely mentioned is the increased duration. Often you’ll hear, “OH! That’s a free 2*’s more at .050!”

Well my friend, believe it or not, not everything that is free is good. The extra lift is almost always useable even when the head stalls at the new lift. But it’s more of the cams timing events that are ever so slightly altered that can back fire.

And that’s why, every once in a while if you ears are open, you’ll hear someone say, “I added a ratio to the rocker and I went slower/there was no change.” Sometimes an extra ratio up on one side works well. Like a 1.6 on the intake and an1.5 on the exhaust.

Generally speaking you are correct BUT 99.5% of the hot rodders, enthusiasts and most engine shops do not know what the best cam is. The last .5% do. While most really smart people that cam pick the right cam, won’t because there customer has an idea of what they want even though it isn’t the best for what there doing.

Cam company recommendations can be horrible or even worse than a new guy trying to figure this out. The solution would cost more money than anyone is willing to spend paying the man who actually knows.

There’s better than HS but that’s even more money.
Normally when people send their rockers out it is to correct OE or very old HP/race units. This is worth the expense.


MoPars can be tricky. Let’s just say you can’t frisbee throw parts on and expect greatness much less properly working items. One of the things about a MoPar (and other) shaft rocker systems is proper placement of the rocker. All rockers are not created equal for perfect operation.

Find and ask a pro shop that actually knows MoPars.
Ask a racer what worked best with the least problems and modifications.

Correct. An LA engine that is roller cam equipped can use any LA roller cam (long snout) with roller lifters (OEM or not) though the OEM lifters will require the dog bones and spider. I just took apart of roller V6. I have 6 cylinders worth of dog bones. Would you like them?

Give me a minute to look at the cam…
Wow Rumble.. thank you for taking the time to reply and damn good answers :) I will be 100% honest about this years plan.. just a stock bottom end but next year probably a 390, so.. i plan to order TFS heads now, rpm intake and a mild cam to have a fun driver for the year. Also spreading the cost out some and wanting to pay for the big parts once and not twice :) I will rarely go over 5500rpm (when engine spin high i just see dollars burning).. so no need for a massive cam with long duration. Not worried about a nasty idle and all that.. rather have a good choice for the application and not the sound.

P.S. just reading about cams and looking at them can become an obsession honestly...