318 head porting for the average joe

polyjohn said
Its all about optimum port flow for the job at hand.

I agree, But

polyjohn said
If you are a grocery getter 318 then small ports are perfect.

A so called 318 port was basically designed for a 273 an engine that's 45 cubes smaller and that head is not really designed to make any real amount of hp with any displacement. Saying that a 273/318 heads aren't too bad if looking to make under 300 hp with moderate cam sizes.

polyjohn said
If you are a 7000rpm screaming 318 (@+60)/340/360 then X-heads will be fine for you...

The X head was mainly designed for a 275 hp 340 @ 5000 rpms, Not 7000 + rpm screamers that's what W2 where designed for.

There's nothing wrong with 340/360 type heads on a 318 if looking to make 300 + hp or even on a 273 if goal is the same. (yes you'll need to do something about CR).

And yes you can port and add 1.88/1.60 to a 318 head if you can do so, but your basically making a J head.