318 build suggestions?
What the hell good is power at 6200, on the street?
Been there done that, with a 360, any manual trans/any rear gear; it's just a bad idea for a streeter especially one that runs, in my case, 3.55s; where 6200 was 73mph in Second gear, whereas, 60 was 5100. See, I needed power from between 55mph@4700 to 60mph@5100, and not 73@6200.
To properly make use of peak power at 6200 at 60mph in Second gear(M/T), requires 4.30s, which drives the cruize rpm up to 65=3500. I tried it and it sucked.
and that, with a 360.
I dropped 22 degrees off the cam, in a heartbeat, from 292 to 270, and then I had a real nice streeter.
So, from my experience; I can confidently aver that if, you're gonna run a small engine with a big cam, yur gonna need more that 3 or 4 gears, so you can put translate the high-rpm power, down to a favorable road speed, and with a streeter, there is no good street gear combination of auto-trans nor gears, that will put a 6200 rpm at 60 mph; well unless, I suppose, you figure 5.13s is good.
And yes I tried those.
And besides all that, just try and get the 318's SCR up to where that 6200rpm cam, doesn't fall on it's face at low-rpm. Now you need a ~3500rpm stall, just to get off the line ......... with street gears.
Finally, AFAIK, there are NO street-friendly hi-compression pistons made for a big-port headed 318 with a 6200rpm cam. At 900 ft elevation you're looking at needing
1) over 10.3 to get 165psi, for iron heads and the bottom end will be barely better than the stock 8/1 engine, thus requiring a much higher stall. or
2) over 11.2, to get 185psi, for alloy heads, with a barely decent bottom end.
Let me reiterate, I am NOT a 318 hater.
Go get you
1) some custom hi-compression 318 pistons
2) fancy alloy heads
3) a big roller cam
4) marry them appropriately
5) hang a big hi stall on the back
6) with a modified to survive transmission,
7) 5 series gears, and
8) you gotta have a Traction aid
9) and big sticky tires
10) and probably a roll cage
11) then go have some fun.
But just try running that in a car, that you want to drive more than just down to the 7-Eleven once a week.
With any SBM/A-body Street-combination,
The first problem is gonna be tires. We all have the same limited tires to work with, and the same tough time getting traction.
The Second is Hiway cruizing, which dictates which trans is to be used and the rear gearing. If you can't afford an overdrive, this is gonna put a severe handicap on your small-engine/big cam combo.
Thirdly will be the starter gear. The less bottom end power that a given engine makes, the more important the gearing becomes. or the stall.
Getting these three synchronized to your engine is paramount. Get it right and the combo will be immensely satisfying. Get it wrong and it could be immensely disappointing.
If you get it right, a 300hp streeter, is more than enough to satisfy.
If it was me, I would concentrate more on the Combo, than on any particular horsepower number.