Making power out of the 318

Dartswinger70 said

My advice to the OP if you are a 15 year old kid, and you build your 318 bottom end with 360 heads you'll lower compression but there are things you can do get pistons that com up to deck height as the 318s sit low and mill the heads... get it to 8.5 or 9 to 1 and run it .don't get too crazy because it gets expensive. that's about as far as Id go and really you need a set of stock 318 heads and a replacement piston and it would run that's the least expensive way to go. 318s are about being cheap not dumping your life savings into them.

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Easiest way to raise the compression is to get a set of kb167's, they would be 0.012" down the bore. 360 improve flow but hurt compression as you said. The use of 360 heads increases the cost of the build due to having to have the heads milled so much. I think that he'd be better off in the long run to buy a set of aftermarket heads, by the time he has the guides done, valve job and the possibility of cutting the seats to a bigger size because of excess valve seat wear, milling the heads and milling the intake side of the heads, this is why I think that the use of 360 heads on a 318 can be costly