300 HP out of a 318, is it possible with bolt ons?

Mean416 said
Boy ohh boy nothing gets a response like a good 318 question.

For the supposed Rodney Dangerfield of Mopar engines, they seem to garner a ton of respect.

I don't know about a ton respect, I find people over sale there weakness.

Mean416 said
Look, if you wanna make some power you have to address the culprits holding it back. They're the same with every gasoline engine. You need enough flow to get to a certain power number,

Top end is the key.

Mean416 said
you need compression and/or displacement to build torque,

And RPM for a certain power number, it all somewhat inter linked especially at similar torque per cid. A 360 is about 13% bigger than a 318, A 318 needs about 13% more rpms to make similar power, 13% more rpm makes 13% more hp for a given amount of torque or in this case somewhat cancels out the 13% less torque, making the same hp. If stalled and gear right Eg. for quarter mile the 318 will make similar torque to the ground. Obviously tq/cid varies so would the percentage would with them.

Mean416 said
There's no magic button (well , nitrous not withstanding) to get the combo where you want it. In my opinion you're gonna have to do some real work.

My 2c, find a relatively low mileage junkyard 5.2/5.9 out of any of a zillion trucks and swap it in. Buy a cheap intake and headers and you'll get to 300 hp or thereabouts. Throw a cam and a converter at it and things start getting serious.

I'd look for a 5.9l swap the magnum heads on the 318, and build the 5.9l for a later swap.